Browsing Category

Book Reviews

Book Reviews,

Three Book Suggestions

Has there ever been a better time to pick up a good book?

Staying at home is our new national calling, and reading a good book is a great investment of our extra time (besides, Tiger King is basically fast food for the brain; you really shouldn’t have too much of it).

If you need book suggestions, here are three favorites I’ve read this year. It took some doing for me to limit this to just three books!

It’s hard not to love with The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce. This is something like a …

Book Reviews, Family, Random Thoughts,

The Color of Life

About ten or fifteen years ago I was part of a small mentoring organization in the Bay Area. The focus was to identify and nurture “home grown talent” in ministry, business, church work … really anything that involved the integration of faith and vocation. I met some wonderful people, including Cara Meredith.

Cara struck me as thoughtful, a good listener, and eager to learn. We had several mutual friends — not unusual when you both live and work in the same region — so even though the mentoring program faded away I still heard occasional updates about Cara’s life and …

Book Reviews,

2019 Reading List

Another great year of reading! Here are the 2019 books I finished. Some good, some just okay, some really lousy.

The Infinite Game, by Simon Sinek. So very good. It’s a must read for anyone in business, and will resonate with everyone who owns their own business.

Call for the Dead, by John le Carre. Basically how it all began. Really really good.

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, by David Epstein. It can drift into the academic sometimes, but it’s still well worth reading.

Ten Caesars, by Barry Strauss. An …

Book Reviews,

Seven Books Better Than Mine (Though You Should Still Buy Mine)

Each year I read around 100 books. During the holiday season we all need gift ideas, and books are one of my favorite things to give or receive. Naturally, I think you should buy my book Salvaged for your friends and family! But many of you have, and, grudgingly, sigh, I hate to admit this, but there are seven books even better than mine. Here’s the list, plus a few honorable mentions almost as good. 😊

There are some great fiction books worth checking out. Honorable mentions are The Delight of Being Ordinary, We Are Legion (We Are

Book Reviews, Leadership,

Unreasonable People

Fred Smith is not an unreasonable person despite the title of this post. I have invited Fred to be my first guest blogger in years because I love his quirky sense of humor, balanced perspective on cultural shifts, and genuine love for the unreasonable people who change the world. Plus he’s a great writer.

I met Fred at The Gathering, an annual conference focused on faith-based philanthropy. Fred is the founder of The Gathering and until just recently its President. Fred is a graduate of Denver University and Harvard Divinity School. He is the co-founder of Leadership Network with

Book Reviews,

How to Pray, by Pete Greig

How to Pray is a great book about prayer. It’s simple, approachable, and filled with engaging stories. If you struggle with prayer (as I often do) this is an encouraging book.

On a personal note, Pete likes to say he and I met in a bar in Hawaii almost a decade ago (more or less true, though I remember it as a restaurant). We immediately hit it off. Since then we have prayed together in Norman era churches and drank wine with friends as we watched a California sunset. Just last week he and his wife Sammy joined …

Book Reviews,

Shrewd Samaritan

My latest favorite book is Shrewd Samaritan: Faith, Economics, and the Road to Loving Our Global Neighbor by Bruce Wydick. This book so impressed me I bought a dozen copies and gave them to people who should read it. And who should read it? Anyone working in poverty alleviation, anyone giving to charitable organizations, and anyone interested in how to measure impact.

Reading this book was like a breath of fresh air. Faith based but not preachy, practical but compassionate, and thoughtful without being academic. If you read this blog then you know a book that focuses on how to …

Book Reviews, Leadership,

The Advantage

On a recent trip to Belize with the PathLight board, one of the board members suggested I read The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni. Most of Lencioni’s books are in my library but for whatever reason this one got past me.

My mistake. This might be his best ever.

The subtitle of the book sums it up nicely, “Why organizational health trumps everything else in business.” Think about that for a moment — Lencioni is saying organizational health trumps strategy, product, marketing, service, hard work and talent.

Anyone who has run any kind of organization will intuitively sense the truth in …