The Best 8 Books I Read in 2008

If you are still looking for some books to add to your reading list this year, below are my top 8 from 2008 in no particular order. The topics are a mixture between business and Christianity. They became my top reads for various reasons, but you certainly don't have to agree with my picks.

(RSS/EMAIL READERS MAY NEED TO CLICK ON TITLE TO SEE CAROUSEL)



Here are my posts on these books.

• Thou Shall Prosper: Ten Commandments for Making Money
• Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices
• Becoming a Category of One: How Extraordinary Companies Transcend Commodity and Defy Comparison
• The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism
• Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
• Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends
• Good in a Room: How to Sell Yourself (and Your Ideas) and Win Over Any Audience
• The Encore Effect: How to Achieve Remarkable Performance in Anything You Do
  

No Easy Road

Several months ago we were given a copy of No Easy Road: Discover the Extraordinary Power of Personal Prayer by Dick Eastman. Even though the book was fist published over 30 years ago, it remained remarkably relevant to today. I suppose the subject of prayer never loses it relevancy.

The book uses the metaphor of a journey to guide you through the discipline of prayer. Eastman presents a lot of great stories on how prayer has impacted certain people, movements, revivals, and countries from the past. He also refers often to George Müller who was no doubt a tremendous man of prayer.

The book was in no way a heavy theological study on prayer, but it's goal was more to persuade the reader to simply, pray. He attempts to identify the obstacles that keep us from praying and how we should overcome them. He ends with challenging the reader to give 1-2 15 minute periods of time each day dedicated to prayer.

This was a good book for me to read simply because as I read it, I was continually reminded of how little I pray compared to how much I could should. I'd say it is worth your time to read it.

2009 Reading List

2011 2010 2009 2008 2007

Anderson, Chris. Free: The Future of a Radical Price. New York: Hyperion, 2009.
ISBN-13: 978-1401322908

Beam, Joe. Your Love Path. Nashville: Love Path International, 2009.
ISBN-13: 978-0615251677

Camp, Lee. Mere Discipleship: Radical Christianity in a Rebellious World. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2008.
ISBN-13: 978-1587432309

Cavey, Bruxy. The End of Religion. Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2007.
ISBN-13: 978-1600060670

Claiborne, Shane. The Irresistible Revolution. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006.
ISBN-10: 0310266300

Collins, Jim. How the Mighty Fall and Why Some Companies Never Give In. New York: HarperCollins, 2009.
ISBN-13:9780977326419

Eastman, Dick. No Easy Road: Discover the Extraordinary Power of Personal Prayer. Grand Rapids: Chosen Books, 1971.
ISBN-0800793366

Ferrazzi, Keth and Thal Raz. Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time. New York: Doubleday, 2005.
ISBN-13:9780385512053

Fisher, Roger and William Ury. Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. New York: Penguin, 1991.
ISBN-13:9780140157352

Follett, Ken. Night Over Water. New York: Penguin, 1991.
ISBN - 13: 978-0451211477

Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. New York: Little, Brown, 2008.
ISBN - 13: 978-0316017923

Godin, Seth. The Big Moo: Stop Trying to Be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable. New York: Portfolio, 2005.
ISBN-10: 1591841038

Graves, Joshua. The Feast. Abilene TX: Leafwood, 2009.
ISBN-13: 9780891126393

McCullough, David. 1776. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006.
ISBN-10: 0743226720

McCullough, David. John Adams. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001.
ISBN-10: 141657588X

Meeker, Meg MD. Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know. New York: Ballentine Books, 2007
ISBN-10: 0345499395

Riffenburgh, Beau. National Geographic Society Exploration Experience: The Heroic Exploits of the World's Greatest Explorers. Washington: National Geographic Society, 2008.
ISBN-13: 9781426203596

Thaler, Linda Kaplan and Robin Koval. The Power of Small: Why Little Things Make All the Difference. New York: Broadway, 2009.
ISBN-13: 9780596529963

Shuen, Amy. Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide: Business thinking and strategies behind successful Web 2.0 implementations. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly, 2008.
ISBN-13: 9780385526555

Sutton, Robert I. Weird Ideas that Work. New York: Free Press, 2002.
ISBN-13: 978-0743227889

Viola, Frank. From Eternity to Here: Rediscovering the Ageless Purpose of God. Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2009.
ISBN-13: 978-1434768704

Weeks, Holly. Failure to Communicate: How Conversations Go Wrong and What You Can Do to Right Them. Boston: Harvard Business Press, 2008.
ISBN-13: 978-1578518999

Wright, N.T. Justification: God's Plan & Paul's Vision. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2009.
ISBN-13: 978-0830838639

Wright, N.T. Simply Christian: Why Chritianity Makes Sense. New York: Harper One, 2006.
ISBN-13: 978-0060507152

37signals. Getting Real. 37Signals.com, 2006.
ISBN: N/A

RSS for your daily Bible reading

One of the common New Year resolutions people have is to read the entire Bible in one year. There are tons of reading plans out there that will help you accomplish your goal. However, the English Standard Version web site provides the ability to RSS the reading for each day.

So, if you already use something like Google Reader, you may want to check this out.