Category: Books (Page 14 of 15)

I just finished the book, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, by Greg McKeown, for the second time. I rarely read a book more than once, unless it’s the Bible, but I read this on my own last year, and then for a team with Cru this spring. The idea of essentialism is basically “less in better,” i.e. focusing on a few vital areas of work is better than spreading limited time and energy over many. We must learn to discern and say no to good things in order to have time for the best. Few things done better, describes the idea.

In that spirit, I’ll keep this short – it’s a good book, worthy of your time if you’re thinking about doing better work and enjoying it more. If you’re too busy to read it because you’re swamped with work, well, that’s the issue…

Here’s my booklist of works I read in 2014. Some are great, some not so much. Listed by title and last name of author:

The Book Thief – Zusak
The Power of Habit – Duhigg
Blindness – Saramago
Night of the Living Dead Christian – Mikalatos
Now What? – Lutz
The Rules of Life – Templar
A Death on the Wolf – Frazier
The Secret Holocaust Diaries – Bannister
The Advantage – Lencioni
Winners Never Cheat – Huntsman
The Lowland – Lahiri
The Magic of Thinking Big – Schwartz
The Big Rich – Burrough
Why Cities Matter – Um & Buzzard
The Pursuit of Happiness – O’Neill
Elephant Girl – Devine
Mystic River – Lehane
Iron Curtain – Applebaum
To-Do List Makeover – Scott
Killing Floor – Child
The Pause Principle – Cashman
Five Decades and a Forward View – Mott
The Powerful Percent – Burgin
To Change the World – Hunter
A Good Man Is Hard To Find – O’Connor
Restoring Your Spiritual Passion – MacDonald
Necessary Endings – Cloud
Platform – Hyatt
The Decisive Hour of Christian Missions – Mott
The Joy of the Gospel – Pope Francis
Write It Down, Make It Happen – Klauser
The Gift of Being Yourself – Benner
Essentialism – McKeown
Do The Work – Pressfield
The Gifts of Imperfection – Brown
Tribes – Godin
The Myths of Creativity – Burkus
Twelve Years a Slave – Northrup
The Critical Journey – Hagberg & Guelich
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Angelou
The Contemplative Pastor – Peterson
Courage & Calling – Smith
How the Irish Saved Civilization – Cahill
The Boy in the Suitcase – Kaaberbol & Friis
To Sell is Human – Pink
Day Job to Dream Job – Oberbrunner
The Search for God and Guinness – Mansfield
Close – Ken Cochrum
The Dubliners – James Joyce
Replenish – Witt
The Circle Maker – Batterson
The Flowers of War – Geling Yan
The Passage – Cronin
The Twelve – Cronin
Master and Commander – O’Brian
Gray Mountain – Grisham
To Sir, With Love – Braithwaite

I just finished this book which has been recently made into a movie. It’s very good – one that will keep you coming back. Plus it’s easy to read, from the genre of young adult fiction, which also brought you The Hunger Games and Harry Potter. The Book Thief deals with Germany, the Holocaust and similar themes, which sounds distressing, but is actually entertaining as sad as that sounds. Which brings me to one of the reasons I read at all – entertainment. I read to enjoy and escape. A lot like watching TV but much better for you as it involves imagination and thought. The second reason I read is to learn. A third is to stay up to date on ideas, trends, news. A fourth is to develop professionally. But absolutely the best reason to read is the enjoyment I get from a good story. The Book Thief is a good story and well worth your time.

One thing I enjoy is reading. This has always been the case, even from my youth, and I find great pleasure in a good book. So, I thought I’d share some of the books I’ve read this year and give some of the best. Here’s my list to date for 2013, by title and author’s last name:

A Long and Happy Life – Price
A Praying Life – Miller
Civilization – Ferguson
Missionary – Marco
Wolf Hall – Mantel
Bourne Ultimatum – Ludlum
Zorba the Greek – Kazantzakis
Toxic Charity – Lupton
White Bread – Bobrow-Strain
Deep River – Endo
The Racketeer – Grisham
Silence – Endo
Torch Ginger – Neal
Blood Orchid – Neal
A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bryson
Daughter of the Bamboo Forest – Lin
Escape from Sobibor – Rashke
A Farewell to Arms – Hemingway
Boundaries for Leaders – Cloud
Lead Like Jesus – Blanchard & Hodges
The 4 Disciplines of Execution – McChesney, Covey, Huling
Deep Change – Quinn
The Bible, New Living Translation
Daring Greatly – Brown
Bring Up the Bodies – Mantel
The Book of Maybe – Carmen
The Jungle Book – Kipling
An Autobiography – Agatha Christie
We Wait You – Hutchison
Stories from Puerto Rico – Wagenheim
Of Human Bondage – Maugham
The Orphan Master’s Son – Johnson
The God Ask – Shadrach
Who Is This Man? – Ortberg

In my next post I’ll share some of the best and some that you might just want to skip. Plus, as a bonus, I’ll share some of my reading philosophy.