Near the end of 2010 I went away to do some annual planning. Â For the first time I had planned 12 books to read across 4 categories: spiritual formation (ie. personal, marriage, parenting, etc), leadership, business resources, and biographies.
The biographies were an attempt to move outside the textbook and business genre. I really enjoyed reading a handful of the biographies. Seeing others repeated failures on their way to success helps me stay the course.
One of the other things I sought to do in 2011 was to write more. So for many of the books I did some simple observational and applicational thoughts. Â Peter King, of Sports Illustrated fame, suggests that you need to write 1,000 words per day to become an accomplished writer. While I don’t have aspirations of becoming an accomplished writer like he, I do want to be able to communicate my thoughts clearly as Dan George taught me many years ago (“You can’t have a real thought if you can’t communicate it in writing.”)
My favorite spiritual formation book of 2011: Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk with God by Voddie Baucham.
My favorite business book of 2011:  The Five Temptations of a CEO: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni.
My favorite leadership book of 2011:Â Leaders Who Last by Dave Kraft.
My favorite biography of 2011: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.  A close second goes to Herb Brooks: The Inside Story of a Hockey Mastermind by John Gilbert.
Here are the books I read in 2011:
- Stephen Davis: Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend
- Jay-Z: Decoded
- Voddie Baucham: Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk with God
- The Editors of New Word City: Vince Lombardi’s Winning Ways (Insights From Great Business Minds)
- Patrick Lencioni: The Five Temptations of a CEO:Â A Leadership Fable
- John Eldredge: The Way of the Wild Heart
- The Editors of New Word City:Â John Wooden’s Winning Ways (Insights From Great Business Minds)
- Susan Wise Bauer & Jessie Wise: The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home
- Donald J. Trump & Tony Schwartz: Trump: The Art of the Deal
- Jennifer Grappone & Gradiva Couzin: Search Engine Optimization (SEO): An Hour a Day
- Eric Ries: The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
- John Gilbert: Herb Brooks: The Inside Story of a Hockey Mastermind
- Walter Isaacson: Steve Jobs
- Dave Harvey: When Sinners Say “I Do”: Discovering the Power of the Gospel for Marriage
- Dave Kraft: Leaders Who Last
- Michael D’Antonio: Hershey: Milton S. Hershey’s Extraordinary Life of Wealth, Empire, and Utopian Dreams
The books I bought, but did not read:
- James B. Stewart: DisneyWar
- Mark Hughes: Buzzmarketing: Get People to Talk About Your Stuff
- Aron Ralston: Between a Rock and a Hard Place
- John C. Maxwell: The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential
The books I had planned to read during 2011 but for some reason did not get around to and were replaced by the others up top.
- Gary Thomas: Sacred Marriage: What If God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy
- Betsy Corning & Dave Corning: Entrusted with a Child’s Heart: A Biblical Study in Family Life
- Adam Smith: An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
- Voddie Baucham: What He Must Be: …If He Wants to Marry My Daughter