What I’m Learning
I’ve had one consistent goal every year since my late twenties, to be a lifelong learner. I try my best to read everyday for a couple of hours. I also try to write down my observations about life, people, relationships, influence, church, and politics a few times a week. And I’m actually holding myself accountable again to blog about those observations at least three times/week.
On top of that, I love to meet with people and challenge them to grow as well. In my spare time I watch the videos on TED and occasionally audit classes on Academic Earth.
Those around me know that I’m extremely concerned about what Jim Rohn called “rickets of the mind”. A condition caused by poor or nonexistent intellectual nutrition.
So, here’s my reading and studying list for this past year, I hope you enjoy it. Really, I hope it stirs you to engage in some ongoing academic endeavor.
Feel free to share your lists in the comment section provided below.
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2011 List:
Greatest Revelation:
The Kingdom is about the exchange of breath between God and I. Therefore, Kingdom living is as simple as breathing - He expires and I get inspired
Top Ten Favorite Books (actually top 11):
The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen
The Help - Kathryn Stockett
I am the Messenger - Markus Zusak
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
The Lords of Discipline - Pat Conroy
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
Falling Upward: Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life - Richard Rohr
Love Wins - Rob Bell
Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand
The Post American World - Fareed Zakaria
Lincoln Letters - Abraham Lincoln
Five Least Favorite:
The Goal - Eliyhahu M. Goldratt (read for the second time, yuch)
Erasing Hell - Francis Chan (I really don’t understand the infatuation with him)
The Blind Assassin - Margret Atwood (Sorry to my sons N,J,&W)
Believe in America: Mitt Romney’s Plan… - Mitt Romney
Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview - James Moreland
Books I’d Like to be My Favorites, but…
The Einstein Theory of Relativity - HA Lorentz
Six Easy Pieces - Fundamentals of Physics Explained - Richard Feynman (I still don’t understand it, I really want to)
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Favorite Lesson:
God is a faithful master recycler of the junk in life
Least Favorite Lesson:
People are consistently creating junk that God has to recycle
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Favorite TED Talk:
How to Live Before You Die – Steve Jobs (Stanford University)
Favorite Online Class That I Audited (even though I Only Understood about 15-20%):
Physics: Course Introduction and Newtonian Mechanics - Professor Ramamurti Shanker (Yale)
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2012 Plan:
To work hard at finishing my degree - Masters in Pastoral Leadership
To write my manifesto – actually, a book of questions
To read the 30+ books in the queue - #1 on the list: The Afghan Campaign – Steven Pressfield
