Lots of people know me as the junkyard guy. Or the Belize guy. Or the devotions guy. Or even, though increasingly less common, the real estate guy.
But here’s a surprise. I’m also the book guy. I read a lot of books. For a long time I averaged about 100 a year, but that’s lower lately. Lots of reasons why — though falling asleep faster when I go to bed is probably the main reason!
Now here we are at the halfway point of the year and I’ve read about 40 books. On the list you’ll find some fun …
A few years ago, when I published my second book, I was asked to write a short article about the five books that changed my life (and the Bible was assumed so they asked me not to include it). I recently came across the article and thought you might find it interesting. Or not.
Full disclosure, a lot more than five books have changed my life. But when I had to cut it down to just five it made me reach across various literary genres and styles. That was fun, but it created an eclectic list.
So here goes …
Okay, it’s actually the ten best books I read in 2022. Does that count? I think it does. It’s my list, so it reflects my interests. All of them would make good gifts to the right people. Or not, I don’t know. I just loved them.
So here goes:
My favorite book of the year is The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman. This is the third installment of the Thursday Murder Club series, and all of them are a blast. Great contemporary British mysteries that make you chuckle, keep you engaged, and won’t make you roll your eyes …
Emails, snail mail, Slack messages, texts, books, tweets, posts, blogs, reports, articles, shared documents … we are awash in communications!
Shouldn’t we stop a moment and think about how we write all this stuff?
Back in 2020, when the world felt unprecedented, a friend suggested the news service Axios. Short, simple emails that cover the top news stories in 2-3 minutes arrive each day, with links to go deeper.
Just recently the founders of Axios have written Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More With Less.
The world needs this book.
At least I do. And many …
This post was written years ago, but it’s worth reposting. It’s about a book almost everybody I know should read. A friend mentioned the book recently, so it seemed timely to repost my thoughts.
Henri Nouwen was brilliant, of course. He gave a talk on fundraising and somebody had the good sense to publish it as A Spirituality of Fundraising.
And I think everybody should read it. Here’s why.
In his book To Sell is Human, Daniel Pink said that we are all in sales now.
True, but we are all in fundraising now, too.
You don’t have …
A friend of mine was sitting next to me in the front row of a conference. It was the opening session and we were listening to the host, a pastor, give the welcome. My friend was going to speak immediately after the pastor was finished.
But just before my friend was introduced, she whispered, “Our host likes the stage just a little too much.”
My friend’s snarky comment was exactly what I was thinking. There was something about the pastors mannerisms that just shouted, “I’m in charge, I’m important, and I belong on the stage.”
I started to laugh at …
My friend Steve Gumaer wrote, “After all these years of leading a multinational and motivated team, I have finally realized that what shapes my leadership style is not primarily context, techniques, or social recognition. It is love and the audacity to push into the world with a transforming idea lovingly and with others.”
You might remember Steve as the guest blogger a few weeks ago when he introduced us to Rose Mu. Well, Steve originally wanted to share his thoughts about my book Salvaged and put the focus on me. I refused. He persisted. I refused. He persisted.
And …
Each year I read around 100 books. During the holiday season we all need gift ideas, and books are one of my favorite things to give or receive. Naturally, I think you should buy my book Salvaged for your friends and family! But many of you have, and, grudgingly, sigh, I hate to admit this, but there are seven books even better than mine. Here’s the list, plus a few honorable mentions almost as good. 😊
There are some great fiction books worth checking out. Honorable mentions are The Delight of Being Ordinary, We Are Legion (We Are …