This year I set a goal for myself to read 52 books. This was not to just say I did it, but as a way to push myself to read more. To grow more. This is my second year setting a goal for myself that pushed me to grow here are a few unexpected outcomes.
- I read less sporadically
- I rarely watch TV now
- I don’t allow myself to get stuck in bad books
- I read more diverse types of books
- I allow books I enjoy to lead me to more books I enjoy
Next year I plan to produce more and consume less. I want to read 26 books and write 500 words a day. Here is the books I read in 2014
1. A Tale of Three Kings – Gene Edwards
3. Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God. – J.I. Packer
4. 3 Signs of a Miserable Job – Patrick Lencioni
5. The Global Achievement Gap – Tony Wagner
6. Galatians for you – Tim Keller
7. Is God Anti-Gay – Sam Allberry
8. The Spirit Filled Church – Terry Vergo
9. Why the Church Still Matters – Jon Tyson
10. The Disciplines of a Christian Life – Eric Liddell
11. Brothers we are not professionals – John Piper
12. Leaders Eat Last – Simon Syneck
14. The Racketeer – John Grisham
15. Screwtape Lettters – C.S. Lewis
16. Leadership and Self-deception – The Arbenger Institute
18. Who is this Man – John Ortberg
20. Romans 1-7 for you – Tim Keller
22. Total Truth – Nancy Pearcey
23. The Effective Executive – Peter Drucker
24. The Magician’s Nephew – C.S. Lewis
25. Turn this ship around – L. David Marquet
26. How Should We Then Live? – Francis Schaeffer
27. The Preachers Kid – Barnabas Piper
28. What’s Best Next – Matt Perman
30. The Black Count – Tom Reiss
31. Practicing Afirmation – Sam Crabtree
32. The Pilgrims Progress – John Bunyan
33. The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
34. Proof – Daniel Montgomery / Timothy Paul Jones
35. The Mark of the Christian – Francis Schaeffer
36. Managing the Non-Profit Organization – Peter Drucker
37. Walking with God through pain and suffering. – Tim Keller
38. A prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
39. Following Jesus – NT Wright
40. The One Thing by Gary Keller
42. The Good News We Almost Forgot – Kevin DeYoung
43. The Bruised reed – Richard Sibbes
44. Start Here – David Dwight & Nicole Unice
45. Bad Religion by Ross Douthat
46. Tender Warrior – Stu Webber
47. Weakness is the Way – J.I. Packer
48. A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 – Phillip Keller
49. Taking God at His Word – Kevin DeYoung
50. Food: A love story – Jim Gaffigan
51. The Dawning of Indestructible Joy – John Piper
53. Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time – Jeff Sutherland
53 books? You inspire me! I remember reading your blog post about the books you read last year and I quickly started the year devouring a handful of books – but life got busy once again. I may email you about a handful of the books you read… I’ve got questions. Good job and I like your goal for next year. 500 words a day is a lot of content!
Sure anytime Kenny. I’m doing a post tomorrow about the ten I enjoyed most and why. We should work on a project together this year, miss collaborating with you.
Project together? We should make that a goal! Yes, let’s do something for sure!
Great list, Sam. Thanks for sharing. I actually have a few of these checked out from the library right now waiting to be read. I hadn’t heard of “Leaders Eat Last”, but I love Simon’s TED talks, so I’ll have to check it out!
Just wanted to say, great list of books. I also find the 500 words a huge challenge for me to think through what that would look like for me. Seeing that I also read your wonderful post on producing more than consuming (a challenge that I get from Karl Bastian all the time).
Well of I go to spend some time working this out for myself. Thanks for the challenging thoughts.
Thanks Todd. I’m still working on getting in a consistent groove to write 500 words a day. I’ll let you know when I figure something out.