Six Impactful Books I Read in 2017

Reading actual books is one of the habits found among the successful. Because reading and thinking go hand in hand. 

Reading is key to becoming the very best version of yourself. It fills your mind and shapes your character like nothing else can. 

Too many sit on the couch, and binge on Netflix, rather than turn off the glass box and get after it instead. 

“The man who does not read good books,” Mark Twain said, “has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.” 

I don’t want these words to characterize my life and I know you don’t either. For that reason, I’d love nothing more than to share the books that impacted me most this year with you here. 

What follows are those books that challenged my mind, and encouraged my heart most. Books that helped me grow, learn and develop more and more into the man I’d like to be. 

Extreme Ownership by Jocko Wilink and Leif Babin - It’s easy to say a book changed your life. You hear it all the time and may have even uttered it once or twice yourself. It is almost never the truth, but when that rare occasion comes it is worth taking note. I did that by sharing 21 Things I Learned From Reading Extreme Ownership earlier this year. 

Chasing Excellence by Ben Bergeron - “The mindset of a champion,” Bergeron says, “is not some innate character trait that you have or don’t have based on DNA, fate or sheer dumb luck.” This book is about building character and embracing the process that’ll get you to the top. It is an approach you can deploy in every area of your life. One that will transform you if you let it.     
 
Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon - “Art,” Pablo Picasso said, “is theft.” These words form the theses for Austin Kleon’s classic flip book on the creative’s journey. Everything the artist creates is a mash-up of everything they’ve experienced. In short, “there is nothing new under the sun.” This small book is about answering the questions every creative asks themselves. In finding a path forward you'll soon realize you have all the permission you need to do great things. 

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and His Confrontation with the World by D.A. Carson - Our community group is walking through the Gospel of Matthew. We are taking our time and working through the text a verse at a time. The chief aim is to move beyond “quiet times” and have God’s Word change us. D.A. Carson’s work on Matthew 5-10 has been a tremendous help in digging deeper. 

The Story of Reality by Greg Koukl - Every worldview is an attempt to make sense of the world. Yet, not every worldview deals with the way the world actually is. In The Story of Reality, Greg Koukl sets forth how Christianity answers fundamental questions about life, death, evil and why we are here. He provides a concise and winsome encapsulation of the Christian worldview. One that I trust you'll find a helpful and compelling companion on your journey to find and know the truth. 

Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney - “Ours is an undisciplined age.” V. Raymond Edman said, “The old disciplines are breaking down…Above all, the discipline of divine grace is derided as legalism or is entirely unknown to a generation that is largely illiterate in the Scriptures. We need the rugged strength of Christian character that can come only from discipline.” Penned atop page one of Donald Whitney’s modern classic are the above words. They serve as far more than a primer to the Spiritual Disciplines, but a call to modern man. A call to something bigger, deeper, and greater. A call away from the entangling enticements of our day and back to the life and character that are only achieved through discipline. 

Honorable Mention  

The Way of the Writer by Charles Johnson

Church History in Plain Language by Bruce Shelley

Romans 1-7 For You and Romans 8-16 For You by Timothy Keller 

The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller

Keeping Truth Before You

“Everything,” Andre Gide said, “that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.” 

And better still—it is worth hearing again.

There are messages you need to set before your eyes and ears on a regular basis. 

Cheif among them are the truths of the gospel of grace. 

Preach it to yourself daily, even moment by moment if need be. 

Make it the refrain of your life. 

Reading excellent books is one of the best ways to keep biblical truth before you. 

I’m inviting you to read Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney with me for this reason. 

You can find out more about what we’re doing here if you missed last Sunday’s post. 

I am excited to dive into the Spiritual Disciplines once more and see all the Lord has in store for us these next thirteen weeks. 

We will kick off the series next Sunday, August 20th and I would love for you to jump in with us. 

If you’d like to read along, I found the best price on Amazon. You can order it here if you’re so inclined. 

Note: The link above is an affiliate link. I earn a small commission should you choose to use it while making your book purchase. 

Have you done the reading?

Failing to do the prep work for your chosen field looks bad. It's unprofessional.  

Even more absurd is acting like you have it all together without having done the reading. 

Reading is doing the hard work of preparing to be the best. To understand those who’ve come before. To be familiar with the latest thought. It’s caring enough to put in the time and thinking things through. 

The problem is that this approach requires two things above all others: hard work and discipline. 

It’s far easier to skip out on the reading and pretend you know it all. 

It’s even worse to replace reading with sarcasm and snide remarks. 

Do you know what your reading must include? Are you aware of what’s on the list? Do you understand the ideas, arguments, and history you need to know? 

If you won’t take the time to do the reading, why expect others to take you seriously? 

Discipline does the reading and in so doing helps you take that next step forward. The step towards professionalism. The step towards being your best self. 

Today's Enemy And Tomorrow's Friend

While reading books, blog posts and trying to learn in general, one comes across sentences and ideas that bear particular relevance to the present. This can be remarkably stunning when the persons involved are long dead. What’s captured in those moments is the essence of human nature. That collection of values and principles hard wired into our very souls. 

Respect is one of the many shared and treasured values of mankind. You find it in every culture and people group throughout history. Respect for one’s elders. Respect for one’s family. Respect for one’s self. Respect even for one’s enemies.  

“From Cyrus through Alexander,” Steven Pressfield said, “to the Greeks and Romans and on down to Rommel and the Afrika Korps, today’s enemy was considered tomorrow’s potential friend—and thus granted his full humanity.” 

Said another way, today’s enemy should be seen a likely friend tomorrow—and treated with both dignity and respect.

How do we measure up? Are we succeeding in treating our enemies respectfully? 

It seems we are far too quick to demonize and dehumanize our rivals. 

How can we unite, work together and be friends again after such brutal attacks? 

Who wins if everyone only serves to ratchet things up in a never ending game of one-ups-manship?

An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth leaves a blind and slobbery world in the end.

I’m for ratcheting things down, lowering the temperature and introducing respect back into the conversation. 

Because the other game isn’t one we should be playing in the first place. 

It requires discipline to hold your tongue and to listen instead of speaking. It takes discipline to control your emotions and respond instead of react. 

Engage discipline. Bring it to bear on your conversations with your enemy. In the end, it might save more than your neck. It might just save your country as well. 
 

Capturing The Power In Small Moments

While in college I took part in an aptitude assessment. For two days they put problem after problem before me to see how I responded. It felt more like a game than series of tests until I reached one involving spacial awareness. The test was simple. They showed me a square block composed of several different pieces, like a puzzle. They would then have me turn around as they dissembled the block. After turning around they asked me to put it back together as they timed me. I couldn’t do it the way they wanted me to.

I kept “failing” the test because when faced with a complex problem, I broke it up into smaller ones. I made two different blocks out of the pieces and then put those two together. I couldn’t do it the other way, the “right” way, no matter how many chances they gave me.

This is how I solve complex problems, I break them up into smaller more manageable ones. I don’t try to eat a steak all in one bite, and I don’t attempt to tackle large goals or issues in one bite either. I chop them up into many smaller pieces, solve them and get to work putting them back together.

My wife and I do this as a team on a daily basis. Most divide most projects between the two of us. We split a wedding day evenly for instance. While she is capturing the bride getting ready, I’ll do the same for the guys. While she is shooting from the aisle, I am getting a different angle. While she is taking family pictures, I'm calling out names and lining up the next photo. At every moment and in every way we divide big things, like weddings, into small bite size chunks.

Chunking like this not only helps us do big projects at work, it also aids us in reaching large personal goals. No area is this more evident in my life than my reading habits. I determined to continue learning and growing the rest of my life many years ago. I read a lot as a result. I don't read with the prolific nature of Tim Challies—who reads over 100 books a year—or the determined spirit of Stephen King— who prescribes reading four to six hours a day—but, I still read more than a lot of people.

I read in the neighborhood of thirty books covering the span of the literary world each year. Some books stretch my mind, some inform my heart, and others show how stories get told. Regardless of the genre or style each page I turn helps me become whoever it is I’ll grow up to be.

The same could true for you. You don’t have to set aside hours for reading or take a speed reading course do the same feat. All you have to do is carve out small moments of focused effort.

Read in small bits here and there. I break it up into three small bite size bits. I read three pages when I wake up, three more over my lunch break, followed by three more before bed. That’s almost ten pages without breaking a sweat.

Why three pages? It’s a number so small, it’s not worth not doing. Why would I skimp on reading such a small number of pages? We look at the stack of books we want to read and chicken out before trying because it all seems too big. Three pages is a number so small in comparison, that it’s laughable not to take them on.   

The funny thing is I rarely stop at three pages per sitting. Once I’m deep in a book, there is little knowing how many pages I’ll end up turning. It varies day to day, but it’s far more than I’d read otherwise.