The books I read in 2014


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.

  1. I read less sporadically
  2. I rarely watch TV now
  3. I don’t allow myself to get stuck in bad books
  4. I read more diverse types of books
  5. 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

2. Little Bets – Peter Sims

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 

13. AHA – Kyle Idleman

14. The Racketeer – John Grisham

15. Screwtape Lettters – C.S. Lewis

16. Leadership and Self-deception – The Arbenger Institute

17. On Writing – Stephen King

18. Who is this Man – John Ortberg 

19. Dad is Fat – Jim Gaffigan

20. Romans 1-7 for you – Tim Keller

21. Conform – Glenn Beck

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

29. Act of War – Brad Thor

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

41. Miracles – Eric Metaxas

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 

52. Compassion without compromise: how the gospel freeze us to love our gay friends without losing the truth – Adam Barr and Ron Citlau

53. Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time – Jeff Sutherland

6 thoughts on “The books I read in 2014”

  1. 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!

    1. 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.

  2. 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!

  3. 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.

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