Reading Wish List

If you want to read and are willing to invest money and time to purchase and study good books, how do you know which books are worth reading and which ones are not? How can you be wise with your time and finances and purchase books that will be most valuable to you?

Here are some suggestions to help you purchase the best books out there:

1. Ask people you trust and admire to give you a list of books they would most recommend. One of the best and easiest resources to help you acquire good books is to talk to someone you know (i.e. parent, pastor, mentor) and ask them what their five favourite books are. Be sure to write down their suggestions and keep them in a handy place (maybe your phone or PDA) so that you can have it when you’re at a bookstore (new or used) or on Ebay or whatever. See if there are any books that have been recommended by more than one person. If so, move that book to the top of your list.

2. Get to know the “Classics”. There are some books that have been around for a long time. And there’s a reason for this too – they’re great reading! The first classic that comes to mind is John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. It is old (first written in 1678!) but people still buy it and enjoy its timeless truths. There are other books not quite as old that are excellent to read. You may have to hunt for them in used book stores or on Ebay but if you find them they will be worth their weight in gold.

3. Stay away from modern “best-sellers”. Generally speaking, if Koorong or Word advertise a new book as a best-seller, I stay away from it. Whatever is popular today is typically going to be weak in content and probably aberrant in theology. If there is some compelling reason to read it, I will get a copy from the local public library so I don’t waste my money purchasing a personal copy.

4. Start with smaller, inexpensive books and work your way up to the “big ones.” There have been several times I have purchased large (and expensive) books based on trusted recommendations, only to find out that they are too “heavy” for where I am presently at in my Christian understanding and walk. No doubt they are good books to read but I’m just not ready for them yet. I have found it much more helpful to get shorter, simpler works on the same subject to help me build up a base of knowledge first before I am ready to tackle the book that was initially recommended. If you start with the smaller volumes, you may find you’re not all that interested in that topic anyway and that will help to prevent you from spending money on unwanted books.

5. Buy books that recommend books. This is a variation of number one above. I basically do all of my book purchases based on three or four compiled lists. Two of the most thorough lists are Stewart Custer’s Tools for Preaching & Teaching the Bible. The author lists hundreds of books on any given Christian topic and provides short bibliographic material on most of his suggestions. The second list comes from chapter ten in John MacArthur’s Rediscovering Expository Preaching. This list is geared more towards preachers but will point any Christian interested in Bible study to the most helpful sources.

6. Check out book reviews on Amazon.com. Hundreds of books are being published everyday. No one can keep up with all of them. So if there is a new book available that I can’t find on any of my lists (because the list was compiled before the book was published!), I have found it helpful to look at the book on Amazon’s website. You will need discernment to evaluate each reviewer’s comments, but often you can view the book’s Table of Contents and even read an excerpt. Using this tool has helped me spend my money more wisely.

Start making your list and use it for your birthday and Christmas shopping.

---

When you comment, please keep these guidelines in mind. You can find an explanation of our commenting guidelines here.

1. Stay on topic.
2. Post your own material.
3. Links must be supplemental and thoroughly relevant.
4. Be concise.
5. Use your real name.

Stay connected by subscribing to our RSS or email feed! Or print this post.

Copyright © 2012 InFocus | ElegantBlue is a custom theme by Nathan Rice