i LOVE the smell of a book

i know, i know, i'm probably really weird, but...

i LOVE the smell of a book.

i'm not talking about scratch & sniff books either.

it could be a brand new book with fancy gloss pages that has that new car smell...

or a regular average book with that regular page smell...

or even a really old old book with that kind of musty smell... like you just stumbled onto something mysterious in an old chest in an attic somewhere...

don't matter what kind of book. i love the smell.

it's ok if that makes me weird.
i love books and i even love the smell of a book as i sit down to read it. hard to explain, but i love it.

top 10 books i read in 2011

it's becoming somewhat of a tradition for me on renown to post the top 10 books i read each year. (Top 10 list from 2010 HERE. Top 10 from 2009 HERE.)

my planned reading list did change a lot when we found out we were pregnant because i read several books like: Pregnancy Sucks for Men; The Guys Guide to Surviving Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the First Year of Fatherhood; and 30 Things Future Dads Should Know About Pregnancy. but only 1 full on pregnancy/baby book made the list.

*some may accuse me of cheating, but as i often do in my Top 10 lists i have a 3-way tie for 10th.
so, here we go - the Top 10 books i read in 2011:

#10  Getting Things Done - David Allen 
fairly boring read but BRILLIANT strategy & system for productivity. i've implemented the system and it's awesome. worth the boring read.

#10  Evil and the Justice of God - N.T. Wright
good book that caused me to think, but Wright never really offers many helpful solutions.

#10  In This Place - Kim Abernethy
part 1 of a Memoir from a good friend of mine. a moving and emotional account of her time as a missionary in Liberia. a great read.

#9  Freakanomics - Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner
BRILLIANT book. these guys are WAY smart and see how the world works differently than anyone else. very "Gladwell-ish". again, the reader is left to come up with practical application on his/her own. but wow... brilliant & fascinating stuff.

#8  Emotional Intelligence 2.0 - Travis Bradberry
the latest on emotional intelligence - complete with a test to rank yourself + strategies to improve. extremely practical action plans.

#7  Strengths Based Leadership - Tom Rath
The newest book in the Strengths revolution. This one focuses on helping leaders lead from their strengths and how to recognize and lead others through their specific strengths.

#6  Fields of Gold - Andy Stanley
awesome little book on what God and Paul said about giving. so simple, yet so powerful. it's pretty obvious what money is for and the reason God blesses it with us. if we want to keep being blessed with more we better be giving it away. thanks to Andy for making it so painstakingly clear.

#5  The Likeability Factor - Tim Sanders
almost like a modern Carnegie with a new "9 Ways". very relevant and practical.

#4  Under the Dome - Stephen King
wow. the best ever from the best ever. over 1,000 pages and i couldn't put it down. this thing kept me up until i fell asleep with it on my face at 4am many mornings. it was like Lost meets The Stand meets Lord of the Flies. simply brilliant.

#3  Love Wins - Rob Bell
yep, loved it. very moving. very powerful. very refreshing. i didn't even read any heresy... which may make me a heretic for saying that, but nothing i can do about that i guess? and please, don't send me hate comments or mail until you have actually held the book in your own hands and read it cover to cover. happy to have a conversation then.

#2  The Baby Bump - Carley Roney + thebump.com
this is the 2nd best book i read in 2011, but largely based on context of the timing i read it in. it was SO helpful for me. i recommend it to every soon-to-be dad to figure out what the heck is going on during pregnancy and after. so helpful, practical, and easy to follow.

#1  Humility - Andrew Murray
i've already written on this book several times including HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. so, i don't need to say much more other than i never expected this book to be the best book i would read all year, but WOW. it rocked my world. SO thankful for this little book i picked off my late grandmother's shelf. changing my life...

now, i'd love to hear your top books you read in 2011!

it's over: no more Borders

Borders is done. it's over.

Borders was my favorite store. it was the best bookstore in my opinion because... well, let's see, it was the coolest, most posh, 5 minutes from my house, brilliant & visually pleasing set up that was way better than all the rest, + always had the best selection in store. need more reasons?

pretty much every time i went to the mall the past 5 years i parked at and walked through Borders. the time duration of that walk through directly depended on whether or not my wife was with me.

books.
it's like my 1 thing.
i'm a reading junky.
and Borders was my Mecca. in fact i referred to it as just that.
often.

even driving by the mall and seeing the huge towering Borders made my heart beat faster.

i was thinking just the other day why i like walking through so much? i know i'm not going to buy anything.
why do i love to walk through and look at all the books in all the different sections. i'm sure i could look through them faster on the internet.
i think it's because i love the thrill of actually picking them up and looking at them. holding them in my hands. it's refreshing.

i am so thankful that when i saw on Twitter that Borders was closing we went last Thursday - when Borders was still Borders. i enjoyed it one last time.

because now Borders is already gone. it's dead and no more. That's not Borders that's still open at the corner of Northlake Mall. it has already ceased to be what it once was.
as my wife put it - "it's a hot mess in here."

it sucks. it went from the best, coolest, "poshest" bookstore ever to... a nasty garage sale.
from the UGLY "going out of business" signs all over the windows to the books scattered randomly all about, etc...
people rushing about like scavengers/vultures.

as soon as we pulled up and i saw the ridiculously nasty "GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE. EVERYTHING MUST GO!"  signs i commented to my wife about how they had "lost" it. but then she pointed out that there's nothing left to preserve.

wow. i'm sure there are a lot more profound thoughts & illustrations just about that above thought. when an organization loses any fight to preserve what it is. you can see it happen long before they go out of business.
but i guess whether or not they're still truly "in business" at that point is debatable.

so long Borders. or "Farewell" as your president put it in the email. you will be missed. i hope someone else moves in - Walden, Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, anybody...
but they won't be as cool as you.

sticky ideas

i have spent the last 7 years of my life and plan to spend the rest of my life sharing some really really important ideas. not my ideas, but Jesus' ideas. ideas about love, about joy for all peoples of all nationalities, ideas about social justice, ideas about this Kingdom/Revolution that's coming to fix what's broken and making all things new.

but, if the ideas i share don't stick in peoples heads & hearts and CHANGE how they live... it's a waste.

i have GOT to spend MORE time on making the ideas that i present STICKY instead of spending time on just the content itself.

best book i read last year (2010) was Made to Stick by brothers Chip & Dan Heath.

so much great, practical stuff in this book, but here is just a small sampling/intro:
- The truth that there are tons of great ideas that simply NEVER stick. that's a problem. [just think about that one]
- The curse of knowledge - the authors brilliantly point out that "the curse of knowledge" works against us in trying to communicate effectively. we have so much knowledge in an area that it makes it impossible for us to imagine what it's like for someone who lacks that knowledge.
- if you have to tell someone the same thing 10 times, then the idea was NOT very well designed. [wow! how many times do we talk about this in church world!? that we have to say stuff 10 times before people even hear it once.]
- creating sticky ideas can be LEARNED! it can be systematic. that's what this model is for. and tomorrow's post is all about HOW to make your idea sticky!

that model i'll share with you tomorrow has become my Framework for all things creative and everything i communicate.

thx to the Heath bros for writing this awesome book!

3 new books

just when I think I’m finished with my 2011 reading list (you can see HERE) I have to add MORE books. For some reason I always forget about the books that WILL COME OUT later in the year!

So, here are 3 that I’m adding to my list for this year. 2 just came out this month & the other comes out in the Fall.

Naked Spirituality – Brian McLaren

I always read everything this guy writes. One of my fav authors (if not my ultimate fav). Stoked to read this newest one.

Love Wins – Rob Bell

Not many who haven’t heard the hype around this book already. Pretty sure I know what he says on the topic, but looking forward to reading it. I’ve heard the 1^st few chapters are absolutely amazing.

*I already have my copies on hold/reserved at the library for both of these books above. Will be in my hands soon.

EntreLeadership – Dave Ramsey

I’ve read pretty much all the $ books Dave has written. Some call me a Ramsey-ite. But this is his 1^st non-financial book. I love learning Leadership stuff from Dave… soexcited about this book coming in the Fall.

Not sure if I’ll bump 3 other books from my list, but I know I’ll be reading these 3.

flying

in one of the best books i've ever read this guy talks about what to do with the vision God births in your soul.

and he actually starts out talking about the Wright brothers and their vision to build the 1st ever airplane. (i've actually got a crazy story about THE SPOT where that 1st airplane took off from... you'll have to ask me about it.)


Here's what Andy said that grabbed me - "experience sparked in the boys an insatiable desire to fly… So they immediately went to work removing the obstacles that stood between them and their dream.”

what is that spark in you? what do you have an insatiable desire to do? you may not want to build an airplane and fly but you would say you have an insatiable desire to ___________?

have you started removing the obstacles yet?

the honorable mentions

not to be confused with "unmentionables", these are the honorable mention books who made my initial 2011 book list, but when the final cuts had to be made these had to go... they're still sitting on my shelf, so maybe i'll get to them one day.

the point of this is hopefully to highlight my new reading philosophy that i wrote about HERE. these are some REALLY GOOD books i'm intentionally choosing NOT to read. to focus on just the great stuff, a lot of good has to be sacrificed.

boiling it down to the final 15 was REALLY hard. here's some of the books that made it so hard:
Lynchpin – Seth Godin

Radical - David Platt

Wild Goose Chase – Mark Batterson

Bioethics – Gilbert Meilaender

A Primer on Postmodernism – Stanley Grenz

The End for Which God Created the World – Jonathan Edwards

Tribes – Seth Godin

Mavericks at Work – William Taylor

Rework – Jason Fried

Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long – David Rock  

Wide Awake – Erwin McManus

The Intelligent Entrepreneur: How Three Harvard Business School Graduates Learned the 10 Rules of Successful Entrepreneurship – Bill Murphy, Jr.

Making ideas happen - Scott Belsky

Rescuing Ambition – Dave Harvey

Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long – David Rock 

When I Don’t Desire God– John Piper

The Jesus of Suburbia– Mike Erre

Trusting God – Jerry Bridges

Brothers We are Not Professionals – John Piper

Primal – Mark Batterson

The God Delusion – Richard Dawkins

Microtrends – Mark Penn 

Justice – Michael Sendel

The Revolution: A Field Manual for Changing Your World – Heather Zydek

Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love – Saint Augustine

The Gospel of the Kingdom – George Ladd

Humility –Andrew Murray

The Biography of George Muller – A.T. Pierson 

The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team – Patrick Lencioni

Corageous Leadership – Bill Hybels

Leadership – Rudolph Giuliani  

The One Thing You Need to Know – Marcus Buckingham

Crazy Good Sex – Les Parrott

The Modern Kama Sutra– Kamini and Kirk Thomas

Think and Grow Rich - Napolean Hill

This is over 40 great books that didn't make my list! maybe another year.

my new reading philosophy

i mentioned earlier this year while scripting my 2011 reading list that i'm going to be reading fewer books... like maybe only 12-15. not because i'm just lazier this year - but it's very strategic and intentional.

my new reading/learning philosophy/strategy actually came from a book i read in 2010. Phillip Jenkins (a new authority on Global Christianity) wrote "The world is simply changing too quickly for printed books to keep pace."

That line actually had nothing to do with his book, but it was the most impacting for me when i read it back in September. i haven't stopped thinking about that and have changed my philosophy accordingly. That line is strikingly true. In our age, print media is dying. Print newspapers and magazines will be obsolete in my generation. Printed books will never go out of style (i don't think), but they are extremely behind.

my new reading philosophy/strategy:
1.  so, part of my new strategy is to obviously read fewer books this year. But i'll keep reading just as much... it just won't be books.

all the pressure is off me to try to read 50 books again this year. i'm gunning for 12-15 at a chillin' pace. [that 12-15 ends up turning into around 30 pretty easily with all the books i'll read that don't "count". more on that later.]

2.  i will be reading a TON more magazines, online articles, blogs, and e-magazines. These are the mediums that CAN keep pace with our changing world! so i'll turn my focus more to these resources.
[i have a couple subscriptions (CT and Relevant) that i haven't read in over a year because of book reading being my #1 priority.]

i hesitated at 1st to do this because it's harder to measure progress with articles. when you finish a book, that's a big accomplishment. when you read 50 then that's awesome. Articles are so different that they're difficult to measure. but i'll read a minimum of 10 articles per week = Catalyst articles, New York Times, the above mentioned magazines, top blogs, etc... that will be at least 500 articles in 2011 - which will realistically end up being more like 1,000 as i'm already reading closer to 20 a week with the help of my iPhone when stuck in a line somewhere and situations like that.

3.  a way bigger focus on compiling my notes/takeaways from the books i read. The whole purpose is to put into practice what i've learned. it's all about helping me be more effective in life, not just reading a certain amount of books. so, i'll read less for more. (less books, more effective results.)

4.  a change in the kind of books i'll read. i'm mainly going to read the TOP books. i can't waste time on books that everyone isn't raving over. and i'll only read books that contain helpful stuff i can't get anywhere else.

5.  + i read books to improve. all about the knowledge i get that can make me better. if i can get that same helpful knowledge from a book summary or a blogger's takeaways on a book then that's EVEN BETTER. i'll read that instead of committing to read the whole book. i'll still learn probably almost the same stuff, but it only takes 5% of the time!

there you go. that's why my reading list is WAY smaller. i'll be posting my 2011 reading list (and maybe the books that got cut) soon.

What is YOUR reading philosophy and what do you think of my new one?