Well, I didn’t start the year with an aim to accomplish this, but I’ve read over 100 books this year. People ask me how I find the time to do it. Truth is that I don’t know. It just sorta happens.
Even when I was a kid I read a lot. My mom instilled that passion in me by buying me as many books as I wanted. Her only rule: I had to finish them. In college I was known for skipping classes and making up for it by reading the assigned text books and everything else about the topic. And everybody in my family knows that if I open a present and it’s a book, I tend to tune out to everything else so I can read the book! But until now I have never read over 100 books in a year.
How did I do that? Part of the answer is that I read fast. Part is that I read a lot. But another important reason is that I listen a lot. I download a lot of books from audible.com and hit double speed on my iPhone (which actually sounds better….normal speed is agonizingly slow). Thus a 300 page book that normally takes 8-hours is cut to 4-hours. I can almost finish a book a week just by listening to it during my workouts!
Eventually I will post my favorite books of the year, just like I did last year. But for now here’s the current 2011 reading list if you are interested.
Between Heaven and Mirth, by James Martin
The President and the Assassin, by Scott Miller
Sanctuary of the Soul, by Richard Foster
25 Books Every Christian Should Read, pulled together by a renowned editorial board
Grant’s Final Victory, by Charles Bracelen Flood
Churches, Cultures & Leadership, by Mark Lau Branson and Juan F. Martinez
Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans, by A.J. Baime
One Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon.com, by Richard Brandt
Essential Alfa Romeo, by David Hodges
Destiny of the Republic, by Candice Millard
Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson
The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, by Lesslie Newbigin
The Long Ships, by Frans G. Bengtsson
Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me), by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronsen
The Great A&P and the Struggle for Small Business in America, by Marc Levinson
The Deep and Secret Color of Ice, by Paul Willis
Jaguar: One Man’s Struggle to Establish the World’s First Jaguar Preserve, by Alan Rabinowitz
XEALOTS: Defying the Gravity of Normality, by Dave Gibbons
Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend, by Susan Orlean
Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World, by Michael Lewis
Confidence Men, by Ron Suskind
The Pun Also Rises, by John Pollack
1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, by Charles C. Mann
A Credible Witness, by Brenda Salter McNeil
The Miracle of Freedom: 7 Tipping Points That Saved the World, by Chris Stewart and Ted Stewart
Macbeth, by William Shakespeare
The Madman and The Pirate, by R.M. Ballantyne
American Tempest, by Harlow Giles Unger
After You Believe, by N.T. Wright
The Pirates of Somalia, by Jay Bahadur
Illustrated Alfa Romeo Buyer’s Guide, by Joe Benson
The Sword of the Lord, by Joseph Hocking
The Yugo: The Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History, by Jason Vuic
David Crockett: The Lion of the West, by Michael Wallis
The Last Narco, by Malcolm Beith
It Happened in Montana, by James A. Crutchfield
The Words of Jesus, by Phyllis Tickle
A History of the World in 6 Glasses, by Tom Standage
Sex on the Moon, by Ben Mezrich
My Journey to Hope, by Don Goehner
Christians Are Hate Filled Hypocrites, by Bradley Wright
Tangled Webs, by James B. Stewart
Generation Freedom, by Bruce Feiler
The Path of Celtic Prayer, by Calvin Miller
Devotion by Design, by Scott Nethersole
The Heart and the Fist, by Eric Greitens
Practicing the Way of Jesus, by Mark Scandrette
The Thank You Economy, by Gary Vaynerchuk
Blood Money, by David Ignatius
Stealing the General, by Russell Bonds
King’s Cross, by Timothy Keller
24-7 Prayer Manual, by Pete Greig and David Blackwell
In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson
Making a Difference, by Larry Little
Five Days in London, by John Lukacs
The Greater Journey, by David McCullough
Allah: A Christian Response, by Miroslav Volf
What Can I Do?, by David Livermore
Defending Constantine, by Peter Leithart
Lost in Shangri-La, by Mitchell Zuckoff
Knowing Christ Today, by Dallas Willard
The Lost History of Christianity, by John Philip Jenkins
Red Moon Rising, by Pete Greig and Dave Roberts
Moonwalking With Einstein, by Joshua Foer
Then Everything Changed, by Jeff Greenfield
Decision Points, by George W. Bush
Lindbergh vs. Roosevelt, by James P. Duffy
Approaching God, by Lisa Repko Borden
Understanding Belize, by Alan Twigg
Wild Bill Donovan, by Douglas Waller
Content Rules, by Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman
Unfamiliar Fishes, by Sarah Vowell
Falling Upward, by Richard Rohr
The Social Animal, by David Brooks
Our Kind of Traitor, by John le Carre
The Steve Jobs Way, by Jay Elliot
Chocolate Wars, by Deborah Cadbury
The Fiery Trial, by Eric Foner
Washington: A Life, by Ron Chernow
Where Good Ideas Come From, by Steven Johnson
The Future of Power, by Joseph Nye
The End of the Free Market, by Ian Brenner
The Referral Engine, by John Jantsch
Left to Tell, by Immaculee Ilibagiza
To Change the World, by James Davison Hunter
Without Hesitation, by General Hugh Shelton
Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd, by Youngme Moon
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, by Donald Miller
American Grace, by Robert Putnam
The Bed of Procrustes, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb