2008 Book List
Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2008 is off to a great start for you.
A couple of weeks ago, I asked our faithful blog readers for some help in finishing up my 2008 book list. You provided some great suggestions. Thanks for the help.
As promised, I have put my 2008 list below. In addition, let us know if you
want to see my 2007 reading list and my primary takeaways from those books.
Occasionally, people will ask why the Bible isn’t on the list. It’s only because the Bible is a non-negotiable. It’s on my lifetime reading list. Another question I get is how do I compile the list. I try to find a wide-range of authors so that I’m hearing from different voices. The subjects range from parenting, leadership, creativity, spiritual, relationships, biographies, nutrition, novels and a few others. I may add a few books to the list during the year. I hope you’ll share any other ideas or books you’re planning on reading this year by adding a comment here on the blog.
By the way, I’m really looking forward to this coming Sunday. We’re going to be talking about something very important as it relates to our journey with the Lord in 2008. See you then!
2008 BOOK LIST
(in no particular order)
1. Wikinomics by Don Tapscott & Anthony D. Williams
2. Your God is Too Safe by Mark Buchanan
3. Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
4. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
5. Healthy Eating. A Guide to the New Nutrition by the Harvard Medical School
6. UnChristian. What a New Generation really thinks about Christianity…and why it matters by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons
7. Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know
by Meg Meeker, M.D.
8. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
9. The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Martin Luther King, Jr. and Clayborne Carson
10. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseni
11. The Preacher and the Presidents: Billy Graham in the White House by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy
12. Judgment. How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls by Noel Tiche and Warren Bennis
13. 1776 by David McCullough
14. The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America’s Leading Design Firm by Thomas Kelley, Jonathan Littman
15. Real Christianity by William Wilberforce
16. A Whole New Mind. Why Right-Brainers will Rule the Future by Daniel Pink
17. The Bema by Tim Stevenson
18. First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong by James Hansen
19. Five Faces of Genius: Creative Thinking Styles to Succeed at Work
by Annette Moser-Wellman
20. Tough Choices by Carly Fiorina
21. Getting Things Done by David Allen
22. The Faith by Charles Colson
23. Walking with the Wind. A Memoir of the Movement by John Lewis
24. The 4:8 Principle by Tommy Newberry
25. The Dynamic Path by James Citrin
26. Becoming a Coaching Leader by Daniel Harkavy
27. The Year of Living Biblically by Al Jacobs
28. Authentic Leadership by Bill George
29. The Three Signs of a Miserable Job by Patrick Lencioni
30. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
31. Me, Myself & Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables by Phil Vischer
32. The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama
33. Nurturing the Leader within your Child by Tim Elmore
34. Small is the New Big by Seth Godin
35. Rich Kid. Smart Kid by Robert Kiyosaki
36. Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall
37. Schulz and Peanuts. A Biography by David Michaels
38. A Grace Disfigured. How the Soul Grows through Loss by Jerry Sittser
39. Thoughtless Acts? Observations on Intuitive Design by Jane Fulton Suri
40. The New Glucose Revolution. The Dietary Solution for Lifelong Health by Dr. Jennie Brand-Miller and Dr. Thomas M. S. Wolever
41. The Shack by William P. Young
42. One Christmas in Washington. Roosevelt and Churchill forge the Grand Alliance by David J. Bercuson and Holger H. Herwig
do stuff
discuss nicelytags
Personal Developmentposted
jan 1, 2008by Buckhead Church
January 1, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Hey Jeff! Happy New Year. I posted a late comment to your book request and I wanted to make sure you received it. A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken is a great read. It is a love story between God, the author and his wife and it contains several letters from C.S. Lewis.
By the way, I would love to see your 2007 list!!
See you Sunday!
January 1, 2008 at 5:58 pm
jeff, i love that you have machiavelli on your list!
January 2, 2008 at 8:47 am
Hey Jeff…cool list!…i think I’ll dive into some of your book list as well in 2008!
Rick
January 2, 2008 at 9:11 am
Great list Jeff, thanks for sharing.
I would definitely like to see the list from 2007 and your takeaways from them.
Do you read all of these books over the year?
What system do you use to keep track of your reading and takeaways? I have started to record the books I read and when I started and finished them in a journal. I want to try to upgrade that system to also document what I learned from them. I think that will help me to read for depth instead of reading for quantity and forgetting a lot of what I read.
Looking forward to 2008.
Josh
January 2, 2008 at 9:43 am
Jeff, thanks for including the “4:8 Principle” by Tommy Newberry. I read it and agree, it’s a must read for 2008! It puts things into such perspective. I might be a bit partial to him (he’s my cousin’s husband) but have recommended this book to many, many people. Great pick!
Also- I’m a bit late on the draw here- but “Three Cups of Tea” by Gregg Mortenson is an incredible read as well. It’s a bit of a tedious read at the beginning but Gregg Mortenson is doing wonderful things in the lives of children through education around the world.
January 2, 2008 at 11:53 am
Josh, I track my primary takeaways by writing them on the inside cover of the books. That way, I can transfer them to an overall document that tracks all my book learning from the year. You’ll see what I mean when you get the 2007 Primary Learnings Document. I add to this document after every book I read and refer to it often. Thanks!!
January 2, 2008 at 11:55 am
Thanks Emily. I just finished 4:8 over the holidays. A great book to begin the new year. I’m reading “Getting Things Done” by David Allen now. Another good one to start the year.
January 2, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Be careful reading “Same Kind of Different as Me”. You might not be able to put it down until it is finished and then realize that it is 6am and you have read through the night. Great book.
January 2, 2008 at 7:48 pm
John, thanks for the suggestion regarding A Severe Mercy. If I don’t get to it this year, I’ll definitely add to next years. Hope you and Misty had a great Christmas! See you soon.
Jeff
January 3, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Jeff:
One of my mentors, Regi Campbell, taught me the importance of “netting out” each book I read so that I can refer to it later. I’d love to see your 2007 list and your learnings document to add it to my system.
January 3, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Thanks Kevin. Regi Campbell is one great guy!! The 2007 list is on the way. Thanks!
January 4, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Jeff- I would also love to see the 2007 list. I’m working to become more of a reader over the next year. Thanks for the encouragement!
January 6, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Hey Jeff,
I can’t say that I am much of a reader myself so when I saw your list I was amazed that you read that many books in just one year. It would be a great accomplishment for me to finish that many books in my lifetime! Your list made me think that I need to start reading more and stop watching tv, reading magazines, and surfing the web. Being a little analytical and a little bored at work I have broken down a few stats on your list, which will hopefully help me to start reading a little more this year.
Total number of pages – 14,084
40 pages per day every day of the year
271 pages per week for 52 weeks
1174 pages per month
335 average number of pages in each of the books on the list
3.5 books per month
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!
Thanks for being the inspiration that you are!
January 7, 2008 at 5:58 pm
I’d love to see your 2007 list!
Billy Graham and the Presidents is also definitely on my list for this year!
January 9, 2008 at 9:47 am
thanks for the list jeff… how can i see your ’07 list? i do the exact same thing and have a whole file folder for my book takeaways. i record them all in separate word docs. thanks for sharing.
patrick
January 10, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Jeff,
Stumbled across your website via Tony Morgan’s website (and I found his name through another blogroll). I, too, am an avid read and the director of a private Christian school, so I am always trying to “stay current” via good books, but I prefer to purchase books that are recommended by reliable sources–not just the New York Times Book Reviews. I would love to see your 2007 book list and takeaways, if your willing to share.
Thanks,
Holly