Last year, when I wrote about my reading journey through 2018, I did not know what to expect. I worried about coming across as braggy. I wondered at the anxiety that would come from broadcasting my yearly reading goal. However, I only wanted to encourage others to engage in one of God’s greatest gifts to humanity—reading.
The response was exactly what I had hoped for. In the weeks that followed, readers replied with questions about certain books. Others recommended books for my 2019 reading list. Through the year, many have shared parts of their own reading journey. It has been awesome!
The problem is, now my hands are tied! Apparently, when you let the world know what your plans are for the year, people expect a follow-up. Who knew?
So, here we are a year later. I am happy to report that I have achieved my goal of reading 60 books this year.
The following is a summation of my year in reading.
First is the list of the sixty some-odd books I read this year. Feel free to peruse, critique, or skip altogether. If you have read any of the same books, I would love to hear your thoughts. Please share!
(By the way, if you remember last year, I mentioned that I had seven books that I read every year. Each hold a special place in my heart and mind. So, I revisit them every year. This year, my “Yearly Seven” has grown to my “Annual Eight” with the addition of a new all-time favorite. See below!)
Next, in lieu of the reading advice I gave last year, I would like to share my thoughts on a controversial topic for us bibliophiles: audiobooks. Again, I would love to hear your opinions and experiences about this polarizing issue.
Finally, I have listed the three books I enjoyed the most this year. These highpoints made the greatest impact on me. For whatever it’s worth, I recommend these three books with enthusiasm.
My 2019 Reading List
The Annual Eight
- Knowing God by J.I. Packer
- Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
- On the Mortification of Sin in Believers by John Owen
- Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
- Think by John Piper
- How Should We Then Live by Francis Shaeffer
- How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler
- The Lessons of History by Will Durant (New to the list!)
The Rest of the List
- Evangelism in a Skeptical World by Sam Chan
- Bringing Up Boys by James Dobson
- Bringing Up Girls by James Dobson
- The Triumph of Faith by Rodney Stark
- The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal
- God and Philosophy by Etienne Gilson
- If There’s a God Why Are There Atheists? by R.C. Sproul
- American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion by John D. Wilsey
- Basic Bible Interpretation by Roy B. Zuck
- Counseling by John MacArthur & Wayne Mack
- Competent to Counsel by Jay E. Adams
- 3 Theories of Everything by Ellis Potter
- The Consequences of Ideas by R.C. Sproul
- Turning Points by Mark Noll
- Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
- Alone Together by Sherry Turkle
- The Victory of Reason by Rodney Stark
- Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
- Four Loves by C.S. Lewis
- The Weight of Glory (and other essays) by C.S. Lewis
- Philosophical Thoughts by C.S. Lewis
- C.S. Lewis: A Life by Alister McGrath
- Think by Simon Blackburn
- 1776 by David McCullough
- Cultural Anthropology by Paul G. Hiebert
- Desiring God by John Piper
- Significant Work by Paul Rude
- The World Is Flat 3.0 by Thomas L. Friedman
- Tactics by Gregory Koukl
- The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Letters to the Church by Francis Chan
- Inside the Atheist Mind by Anthony DeStefano
- The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller
- Benjamin Franklin by Thomas Kidd
- On Guard by William Lane Craig
- Prelude to Philosophy by Mark W. Foreman
- No God but One: Allah or Jesus? by Nabeel Quershi
- The Essentials of Christian Thought by Roger E. Olsen
- Augustine for Armchair Theologians by Stephen A. Cooper
- Aquinas for Armchair Theologians by Timothy Renick
- Seven Days that Divide the World by John Lennox
- A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- Ten Philosophical Mistakes by Mortimer J. Adler
- Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
- Contagious by Jonah Berger
- Confronting Christianity by Rebecca McLaughlin
- Every Good Endeavor by Timothy Keller
- The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- The Tech-Wise Family by Andy Crouch
- Scientism and Secularism by J.P. Moreland
- Minimalism by Joshua Bell
- The End of Reason by Ravi Zacharias
(Continue reading for numbers 64, 65, and 66.)
On Audio Books
“Every book should be read no more slowly than it deserves, and no more quickly than you can read it with satisfaction and comprehension.” – Mortimer J. Adler
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As you may have noticed, How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler is on my yearly shortlist. Last January, I read this classic as my first book for 2019 with a question in mind: What would Dr. Adler have to say about audiobooks?
Audiobooks are obviously not the best possible way to engage a book. Listening to someone read can never replace your own internal voice absorbing and processes a written work. As convenient as audiobooks are, the comprehension is not as thorough, and the experience is not as satisfying.
However, it’s not nothing.
I would argue that the proliferation of audiobooks in recent years is one of the great blessings of living in the 21st century. I have benefited greatly from audiobooks, more this year than ever. But, I also believe Dr. Adler would approve. Allow me to explain.
Adler outlines four levels of reading: elementary reading, inspectional reading, analytical reading, and synoptic reading. Of course, it is well worth your time and effort to discover what he prescribes at each level. But, I only want to focus here on the middle two.
Adler describes inspectional reading as getting the most out of a book in a limited amount of time. To do this, he proposes two skills: systematic skimming and superficial reading. Systematic skimming involves perusing the structural elements of the book like chapter titles, preface, index, pivotal chapters and paragraphs, and publisher blurbs. Superficial reading entails a fast-paced read (speed-reading, if you will) through the book, “without ever stopping to look up or ponder the things you do not understand right away.” The goal on this level of reading is to gain a provisional understanding of a book that lays a foundation for more comprehensive levels of reading.
Adler describes analytical reading as getting the most out of a book given an unlimited amount of time. To do so he proposes that the reader should not only absorb the book but also engage the author. It is on this level that reading goes from being a lecture to a dialogue. The goal on this level of reading is to gain a comprehensive understanding of a book.
Here is my claim: Listening to audiobooks typically falls somewhere between inspectional and analytical reading.
Having a book read to you certainly acquaints you with the book more than systematic skimming and usually more than superficial reading. It clearly does not allow you to grapple with a book and achieve optimal comprehension. But, it is not difficult to get a solid understanding of the book and retain major details (especially with the bookmark features in most audiobook apps).
The key is concentration. How much are you concentrating on what is being said? If you are allowing the words of a book to float through the air without grabbing at any of the content, yeah, you’re not really reading. But, isn’t this a potential problem with any type of reading? Haven’t we all turned the page of a book, unable to recall the anything we were staring at just seconds ago?
But, what if as you listen, you are catching the major points, following the major arguments, retaining the major details? By way of listening, you can attain a level of comprehension worth your time and effort.
(I hope to write a blog post soon with my advice on how to get the most out of audiobooks. Keep an eye out!)
My Favorites
As I look back over the year, the following three books were highpoints for me. As I ponder all that plagues us in the early twenty-first century, I have come to appreciate books like these more and more. The books are not just good; they are needed. Please read them.
(The links below are Amazon.com affiliated links. I receive a small kickback when you use them to purchase the books.)
Last Call for Liberty by Os Guinness
In the United States, we are living through the highest levels of political polarization since the Civil War. We have moved beyond seeing people who disagree with our politics as opponents, to seeing them as enemies. Os Guinness brings some desperately needed historical, philosophical, and theological clarity to our current situation. The reality is that our problems are rooted deeper than most of us are willing to dig. In this book, one of the great Christian intellectuals of our time hands us a shovel and points to the spots where we need to begin.
If you are a U.S. citizen of voting age, please read this book!
So the Next Generation May Know by Sean McDowell and J. Warner Wallace
There has been more talk of generational differences over the past few years than there was over the past few decades combined. At times it seems like Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials, and Gen Zers are all just staring at each other thinking, “If only they were more like us.” McDowell and Wallace offer some well-informed and much needed clarity. They succinctly educate previous generations on who and what we are dealing with regarding the youngest among us. They then go on to prescribe a dynamic and Biblical way forward. (Read my full review of this book here.)
If you are a Christian parent, teacher, or pastor, please read this book!
Why Suffering? by Ravi Zacharias and Vince Vitale
The problem of evil is perhaps the most pervasive challenge to Christian belief. As big of a problem as it is, Christian thinkers often treat the problems of pain and suffering with either intellectual rigor or emotional care—usually emphasizing one at the expense of the other. In this book, Zacharias and Vitale have achieved both. Their treatment of this massive topic is both rational and careful. They demonstrate that while the problem of evil is a problem for everyone, it is not a problem without a solution.
If you have ever been troubled by the problem of evil, please read this book!
My Goals
“In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.”
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I am happy that I met my reading goal this year. However, I must admit, it was a stretch. There are several books I plan to revisit, simply because I did not read them for all they are worth. As much as I recommend using audiobooks, I feel like I was a little too dependent on them this year. Pushing to meet my goal had me getting to the point of valuing quantity reading over quality reading. And that is a point I want to avoid.
So, here’s the thing…
I am dialing back my reading goal for 2020 to 50 books. This year, I want to focus less on how many books I get through and more on how many books get through me.
Thanks for reading!
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Here's the thing... 