EACH OF THESE HAND-PICKED BOOKS delves into deep truths—the principles—behind how we live day-to-day. They're organized below by the categories of my blog site, and because I think the clarity of these authors sets them apart, I offer my take on each in the text beside the book images.
If you want to know more, click on the book to go to Amazon.
Marriage, Family, and Health
OUR BODIES, MALE AND FEMALE, do matter to how we understand ourselves and the purpose of our lives. Despite the claims of "freedom" to be whatever we feel, LGBTQ and all the variations require a mindset that devalues our physical selves and risks turning over personal liberties to the State. The high view of physical reality promoted by Christianity, by contrast, elevates our personal worth and freedom. Nancy Pearcy delivers copious research and a fascinating connecting of the dots about reality.
IN MEN AND MARRIAGE, George Guilder takes command of the issue of how feminism has undermined Western culture. When I first read the book in 1990, I recognized it as the pivotal work that it is and am profoundly grateful to Gilder for bringing such unflinching rationality to an issue that is otherwise overrun with sound-bite philosophy and impulse-driven reactions to real argument. The truth of Gilder’s premise lies in the foundation he sets for understanding the necessity of gender roles.
PREPARE FOR COUNTLESS "A-HA" moments when you read Eggerichs view on the differing needs of men and women in heterosexual relationships. Psychologist Eggerichs sidesteps politically correct ways of interpreting men and women to unmask how to touch the heart and soul of each. Once you allow that men crave respect from their wives and women long to feel loved, healing, growth, and moving past dysfunctional communication can happen.
SHAUNTI FELDHAHN'S FASCINATING series of books that began with For Women Only: What You Need to Know About the Inner Lives of Men has made her one of my favorite authors and bloggers. She overflows with remarkable insights into how men think about everything from work to relationships to sex. Based on personal interviews with more than a thousand men, she parlays her viewpoint as a woman into stunning insights about men. She opens women's eyes to mysteries they've wondered about the men in their lives, and men who happen to read Feldhahn will feel remarkably well understood.
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WITH HER HUSBAND, JEFF, Shaunti wrote the natural—and equally astute companion book, For Men Only: A Straightforward Guide to the Inner Lives of Women. Both books have been valuable reading for me, after 38 years of marriage, and I have seen the benefits for young marrieds as I've shared them with my own children. These books will help anyone who's already married as those who want to prepare well for a someday marriage.
Faith, Church, and Spirituality
EUSEBIUS IS THE BEST FIRST STEP I know in opening the "black box" of early church history. He wrote in the fourth century (300s) A.D., and for anyone who thinks we don't really know much about what happened in the first few hundred years after Christ's resurrection, this historian is mind-blowing. He'll tell you who the Cephas was that Paul "opposed to his face" (it wasn't the Apostle Peter). You'll read of Pontius Pilate's report to Tiberias Caesar about Jesus the Nazarene (and what Caesar did as a result!). And you'll witness the remarkable development of the New Testament canon and what the church did for the 300 years before it had "The Bible."
Business, Politics, and Government
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES of well-intentioned laws plague America today, probably more than any other single problem in modern government. And Frederic Bastiat saw it all coming. Even in the early 1800s, this French economist grasped the deep, dark downside of burgeoning legislation. He explains why sweeping legislation, even when crafted toward helpful ends, rarely provides the benefits its creators had in mind. And worse, laws all too often generate complications that have to be fixed—by more legislation. Each subsequent generation of law only makes matters worse (can you say, "vicious cycle?"), unless we're smart enough to keep legislators in check.
WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT A FICTION story could be one of the best primers on capitalism ever written? Ayn Rand's feat of writing demonstrates the power of a novel to teach concepts and principles as a page-turner. In the railroad-dependent world of the mid-1900s, Rand delivers characters of immense depth and believability who face a tsunami of American socialism. Some are heroes, others patsies, and still others, veritable supermen, depending on their personal convictions and culpabilities. The answer to the famous Atlas Shrugged question, "Who is John Galt?" shouts at us to beware what may come of a free nation that discards its most precious economic principles.
BONUS SECTION: Books I've had a hand in writing.
BONUS SECTION: Books I've had a hand in writing.
DEMONSTRATING CHRISTIAN FAITH AND SPIRITUALITY AT WORK IN THE MOST DESPERATE circumstances, this trio of books I wrote with Tom Doyle tell the stories of astounding encounters with Christ and how converts in the Middle East hold fast to their faith, even when facing almost certain death. Read them in order:
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Dreams and Visions shares the supernatural touch of Christ as He reaches behind closed doors to call people to faith.
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Killing Christians delivers riveting stories of modern-day believers faced with martyrdom.
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Standing in the Fire shows what happens when Christians choose to stay and resist the devil in the very places he is most at war with the Faithful.
"EXACTLY WHICH BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES are the ones you think won't work?" That's the question Joe Greene asked friends and colleagues who doubted that he could successfully run a multi-million-dollar company based solely on teachings in the Bible. Joe's winsome stories from youth to old age underscore the value of the principles that made him the owner and CEO of a major healthcare company that eventually "went public." What can you learn about your heavenly Father by delivering soft drinks? How can cracker crumbs create a management breakthrough? Why would paying company vendors within 24 hours of receiving an invoice be more profitable than keeping the money invested for 30 days? Joe explains all this and more. Dare to read about it!