Books I Recommend

Here are excellent books I've read:

The Kingdom of God in History by Benedict Viviano

Great book on the history of the understanding of what the Kingdom of God is.

The River of Doubt by Candice Millard

Recommended by a friend of mine who is a Teddy Roosevelt enthusiast, I asked him, "If I were to read one book about Teddy Roosevelt, which one should I read" and this was it. Great book, amazing story.

The Gospel of Christ Crucified by John Harrigan

This is a sort of systematic theology, but done through a very rigorous historical lens, starting with the worldview of a 1st Century Jewish believer.

Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose

As comprehensive of a story about the Lewis & Clark Expedition as you will find. Definitely a raw picture of who the two men were, what the expedition was like and was the aftermath was.

In the Kingdom of Ice by Hampton Sides

I've read one other Hampton Sides book (On Desperate Ground, about the Korean War) - he is an excellent historian and writer and though this book is slow to start, once it gets going, the story is unbelievable. I like books about people who are pushed to the absolute limit because invariably, the absolute limit is so much farther than we would think it is.

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

I read this book for the first time when I was a senior in college and ended up writing my senior Psychology paper about it. I hadn't picked it up again until recently and was reminded of its penetrating wisdom. There is the first part of the book which is a gut-wrenching first-hand account of what like was like in a concentration camp in WWII. The second half of the book, however, is what is most striking. Frankl lays out his outlook on life itself, wrapped up in a discussion about his thoughts on psychology and logotherapy, his major contribution to the field.

The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett Graff

I've read a few book about 9/11 and this one is different. The author compiled hundreds of interviews with people who were in all of the different locations that 9/11 affected directly, he also interviewed several high-ranking government officials and the book is set in chronological order with the voices of what was happening. Very well done.

The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lesson on Wealth, Greed and Happiness by Morgan Housel

I have not read a ton of books on personal finances/wealth management, but I have read a few, and this one is the best one I've read. This book is honest, humble and also thought-provoking. It invites us to look at our finances differently while also inviting us to look at the world around us differently. I'll never see a fancy/luxurious car out on the road the same way again.

Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why by Laurence Gonzales.

My brother recommended this book to me - we had been talking about the value of doing hard things and that reminded him of this book. I read it in a few days - phenomenal book - it's a mixture of stories of survival and the psychology of survival, blended together perfectly. I think there are a lot of lessons that can be taken from the psychology of survival and applied to many other areas in life - we all go through hard things from time to time and in some ways, we are all survivors if we still have breath in our lungs. So - whether you like adventure stories or not, you will get something out of this book, I promise.