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Abundance, by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler

We often hear about the challenges our world faces. There seems to be a shortage of everything sometimes, from water to food to clean air. And the future looks bleaker.

But we also hear of progress being made. The last several decades have seen a significant rise out of poverty for millions. Innovation continues to accelerate. The internet and other technology flattens the playing field for us all.

It’s with this in mind that Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler have written Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think. At a time when we are constantly reminded of our …

Twenty Five Books That Influenced My Life – #9

History was an easy subject for me to grasp in school, maybe because history is simply a collection of stories that actually happened. I have always loved the subject. History helps us understand how we got to where we are today, and then to make sense of it all.

The first David McCullough book I read was Truman. I was spellbound. This was a way to explain history I had never encountered before. It was respectful without pulling any punches, it offered insight without promoting an agenda, and it was detailed without being boring. On top of all that, …

Twenty Five Books That Influenced My Life – #10

So we begin the top ten countdown in this series, and I start it off with a great one. Shantaram: A Novel by Gregory David Roberts is simply brilliant. It might be my favorite novel on the list, and it might be the wisest book of fiction that I have read.

Of course, it’s not entirely a book of fiction. The parallels between the author’s life and Lin’s life (the main character) are very similar. So where does the truth begin and fiction begin? Like everything else about this book, it’s living on the edges and learning to cope with …

Antifragile

Rarely do I read a book that puts words to ideas that I wasn’t aware I had. Rarely do I like a book by an author with an immense ego and insults all kinds of groups. Rarely do I read a 544 page book that holds my attention.

But Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb manages to do all of the above.

Taleb is well known for his book Black Swan, which came out just as the economic collapse was raging. He is often called “one of the foremost thinkers of our time.” That may …

Twenty Five Books That Influenced My Life – #12

When I want to learn about another country I will turn to all the usual sources: history books, travel guides, online articles, etc. Turning to a novel would not be my first instinct.

But The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón changed that perspective.

A few years ago we had plans for a trip to Spain. The Shadow of the Wind was on the suggested reading list, so I thought I’d give it a try. Wow. Not really knowing what to expect, the book grabbed my imagination and kept me up late each night turning pages.

The story …

Twenty Five Books That Influenced My Life – #15

Two years ago I began reading the daily devotionals of Celtic Daily Prayer: Prayers and Readings From the Northumbria Community. Each day, usually in the mornings, I would turn to the daily entry and read the three suggested Scripture references and then the daily meditation. Of course there have been times I fell behind — sometimes by as much as ten days — but my consistency has been fairly good. The book has two years worth of these daily devotionals, and I’ve enjoyed them so much that I’m going to start back at the beginning again.

At the same …

Twenty Five Books That Influenced My Life – #20

If you read this blog you know that I grew up working in my father’s junkyard. Many of the people who worked for my Dad were Mexican-American. Spanish was spoken as often — perhaps more often — than English.

My point is that I spent a lot of time around people of Mexican heritage when I was growing up.

Several years ago I picked up a copy of The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle. It sat on my end table for a long time before I finally got around to reading it. I probably kept putting it off because …

Twenty Five Books That Influenced My Life – #21

The first time I heard Tony Campolo preach was in chapel at Westmont College. I fell out of my chair laughing at his irreverence, passion, and incredible sense of humor. That he was preaching a message of justice, love for others, and concern for the poor resonated even more deeply for me.

About a decade later I picked up a copy of The Kingdom of God is a Party and found myself laughing once again. Tony is an incredible storyteller and has a knack for weaving humor into spiritual insights. Like most of Tony’s books, Kingdom is a collection of …