Books I read in 2022

Including my top 5 books

At the start of 2022 I planned to finish reading 52 books in the year, which meant one book a week. It was a monumental goal for me because as much as I enjoy reading I know I can be distracted easily and not reach my goal. However, I did manage to finish reading 35 books—some of which I partially read a year before and some are audiobooks. Whether starting a book in 2021 or listening to an audiobook counts as “a book read in 2022”, I will leave that up to you.

How I tried to keep up with my goal

Prior to starting the last semester of my Graduate Diploma in Theology with Union School of Theology in 2022, I recognized that I needed to be disciplined in my studies. I was reading piles of books and journal articles for my essays and sermonette, while keeping up with New Testament Greek and fulfilling my Pastoral Assistant duties at Calvary Grace. So I finally got into learning about productivity and applying principles and tactics to keep me disciplined and focused.

I can’t remember exactly how I got into reading about productivity in 2022 and implementing tools and disciplines to be “more” productive, but likely it was from this blog post by Reagan Rose of Redeeming Productivity. He is a Christian and cares about being productive to the glory of God. From then on I got into reading books like Deep Work by Cal Newport, Douglas Wilson’s Ploductivity, and Tim Challies’ Do More Better.

One of the methods I used to make sure I keep up with my reading goals included a reading log. In a small notebook I would write the date, the books I read and the number of pages for each book I read for that day. I tried setting a goal of at least 100 pages a day. Looking back I probably averaged 40-50 pages a day. I did try to keep track of the number of pages I read, but I stopped recording halfway through the year. It may seem redundant to write down the pages per day, but at times it helped me to see that I’m making progress in my reading goals. Other methods I implemented to get my reading done was to make sure I have books to read when away on a vacation, when taking a trip to the mountains or while waiting in my car!

My top 5 books (in no particular order):

1. Deep Work, Cal Newport.

   As mentioned above I first heard of this book from a blog post by Reagan Rose. In a world of competing priorities your eyes and focus are pulled from all directions. But Newport showed how deep work is hard work, but gratifying work. Our tendency (or at least my own) is to find the least point of resistance when it comes to do deep work. I used to think that multi-tasking is a useful skill (which I think there’s a time and place for it) but this book emphasized the need to expend the greatest amount of energy in concentrating to do hard work.

2. Four Thousand Weeks, Oliver R. Burkeman.

   This book I also encountered in Rose’s blog post. I found this book quite fascinating that even though the author is not writing from a Christian perspective he recognizes the finitude of our life here on this earth. He addresses the reality that human beings are bound by time and have only limited amount of it. Hence, he ventures on how we should steward the time we have knowing that we only have 4000 weeks if we live into our 80s.

3. Harry Potter (books 1-4), J. K. Rowling.

   I have watched and re-watched all of the Harry Potter movies ever since I was a teenager. I’ve enjoyed the adventures of the three friends and the magical world of Hogwarts. But then I’ve heard a few times that reading the books is far better than the movies, so I did (at least the first four books for now). Truly, it did live up to its name. Knowing the characters and plot beforehand, I knew there was nothing that would surprise me, but I was amazed that I was still amazed reading the books. Rowling has blended the imaginary world of magic with the reality we experience in this world like good overcoming evil and virtues of courage and love.

4. None Greater, Matthew Barrett.

   This is the second book I read by Matthew Barrett (the first is Simply Trinity–also sublime). Ever since a great friend from church introduced me to Barrett’s podcast, I knew I had to read his books. None Greater is a book about God and who he is, or what others would describe as a book on theology proper. What I appreciated about this book is its focused on highlighting who God is in himself: he is life, he is simple (not made up of parts), he is unchanging, and he is eternal. What helped me with this book is how to properly view and describe God as drawn from the whole Bible with the help of Christians throughout history.

   If [God] is the most perfect, supreme, glorious being, then he is where the greatest joy in life is to be found. If God did not draw attention to himself as the supreme being, then we would not experience the greatest joy there is in life.[1]

5. Good to Great, Jim Collins.

   This book was recommended to me by my pastor. So when I saw a copy at a local used book store, I bought it and read it right away. This might be the first business book I read from start to finish, and appreciated the findings and insights the author laid out. It’s more than two decades old, but the principles are evergreen for what makes a company from good to great: finding a leader who is driven towards the success of the company than for personal gain, getting the right people first before crafting a vision, focusing on what your organization is best at, and cultivating a culture of discipline.

List of books I read in 2022:

Theology

1. None Greater, Matthew Barrett

2. Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis

3. Who is Jesus?, Greg Gilbert

4. Why Trust the Bible?, Greg Gilbert

5. Interpreting Scripture with the Great Tradition, Craig A. Carter

6. Christianity and Liberalism, J. Gresham Machen

7. Rejoice & Tremble, Michael Reeves

8. The Loveliest Place, Dustin Benge

9. The Mystery of Christ, Samuel Renihan

10. The Doctrine of Repentance, Thomas Watson

11. Christmas Playlist, Alistair Begg*

Church Life

1. Deacons, Matt Smethurst

2. The Trellis and the Vine, Colin Marshall and Tony Payne

3. Listen Up!, Christopher Ash

4. Gospel Speech, Lionel Windsor

5. The Book Your Pastor Wishes You Would Read, Christopher Ash

Autobiography, Biography and Memoir

1. Confessions, Augustine*

2. R. C. Sproul: A Life, Stephen J. Nichols

3. Tortured for Christ, Richard Wurmbrand

Productivity

1. Ploductivity, Douglas Wilson

2. Deep Work, Cal Newport

3. Four Thousand Weeks, Oliver Burkeman

4. Do More Better, Tim Challies

Fiction

1. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J. K. Rowling

2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J. K. Rowling

3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J. K. Rowling*

4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J. K. Rowling*

5. Animal Farm, George Orwell*

6. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde

7. The Tales of Beedle the Bard, J. K. Rowling*

8. Prince Caspian, C. S. Lewis*

Other

1. Strange Death of Europe, Douglas Murray

2. Thank God for Bitcoin, Jimmy Song

3. Get the Girl, Douglas Wilson

4. The Elements of New Testament Greek, Jeremy Duff

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[1] Matthew Barrett, None Greater, 243.

*Listened from an audiobook (either entirely or in tandem with reading)