Due to the underwhelming response to my previous "favorite" post (see below, if you think you'll care more than other people), I've come to a conclusion -- you need more exposure. Sooner or later, you'll come to appreciate my perspectives and opinions. Or stop reading. Or, more than likely, you never started reading in the first place, so it doesn't matter. That said, here we go with the 10 (plus a couple) most insightful, helpful, and generally enjoyable books (Bible excluded) that I've been through. There are plenty of people who are much better read than I am, but based on the fact that you're on-line reading my blog, I'm guessing that you're not one of them. So:
Honorable Mention:
Courageous Leadership, Bill Hybels: I didn't want to have more than one book by a single author on the top 10, so this gets left off. Inspiring and courage-inducing ("encouraging" sounds to weak and sentimental to mean something similar to "courage-inducing," doesn't it?).
A Whole New Mind, Daniel H. Pink: Fascinating and legitimately helpful.
Brothers, We Are Not Professionals, John Piper: 31 day-sized nuggets of wisdom that prove eternally helpful in keeping the pastor centered.
And the winners:
10) Chasing Daylight, Erwin Raphael McManus: Inspiring and particularly influential in helping me to stop living in fear and make my life worth living.
9) Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl: You can skip the psychology part if you want and I don't think you'll miss a thing. But the section on experiences in a concentration camp will give the (even minimally) thoughtful reader a whole new outlook on how amazing their life really is and how little they have to whine about.
8) How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie: Hmmm, maybe if more Christ-followers read this and did what it said, less people would hate us. I mean, we'd be FOR that, right?
7) The Next Generation Leader, Andy Stanley: At a modest 160 pages, Stanley is twice as helpful as most leadership books that are twice the size.
6) The Purpose Driven Church, Rick Warren: It's sad, but more than 10 years after publishing, far too many churches show no evidence of having thought about what they're doing. It's ok if you disagree or don't take his articulation as gospel, but at least the dude thought about stuff.
5) Just Walk Across the Room, Bill Hybels: If you only read one book on personal evangelism, this should probably be the one.
4) Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller: The most readable, honest, attractive, non-threatening, and all together delightful account of Christ-following that I've come across. Plus, he made me laugh. PLUS, the "Christian Book Store" has a disclaimer on it.
3) Teaching to Change Lives, Howard Hendricks: If you teach anything, ever, on any level or in any way, read this book. You won't remember to thank me, but you'll have a great time and be much more effective if you listen to what Hendricks has to say.
2) Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis: I know it's a generic choice, but page for page, this book makes me smile more than anything I've probably ever read. Seriously, if you read my blog but haven't read this, you need to start reading better material. And you just might remember to thank me!
1) Good to Great, Jim Collins: Another generic choice, I know. And he's not a Christ-follower and isn't writing about churches per se, yada yada yada. Almost everything applies almost directly, though (and the Christian clone books have failed miserably, in my opinion), and if you're smart enough to read good books you should be smart enough to make the leap. Anyway, I don't think I've ever been as fascinated with any book ever as I was this one. And I know it doesn't make me right, but with millions of copies sold, I'm in good company.
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4 comments:
Dude, you should let me borrow some of those books.
And what does the disclaimer say?
Yeah, you can borrow some. Any idea which you would be most interested in? Several of them probably wouldn't apply to you as much, but I'll bet you would love Mere Christianity. Blue Like Jazz might come off as a little bit floofy (is that a word?) to you, but it might be worth a shot, too. Let me know and I can bring something on Sunday.
I don't remember what the disclaimer said (and I actually bought that one at Half Price Books, but the disclaimer was at LifeWay). It said something about how there might be some things in the book that were not in line with historic or biblical Christianity and to read with discretion or something like that. I read the whole thing waiting for something controversial . . . you have to reach pretty far to have an issue with it, in my opinion.
After looking at the list, you might even want to try Just Walk Across the Room, Chasing Daylight, How to Win Friends . . . (not a "Christian" book, but helpful and fun to read), or maybe even Man's Search for Meaning (NOT a fun book to read, but should really change the way anybody sees life). More there that you could benefit from than I first thought. Anyway, if one sounded interesting, let me know, or if you want me to chose for you I would start with Mere Christianity.
What you recommended sounds like a good start.
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