Mohler on reading
September 12th, 2007Albert Mohler has posted some thoughts on the reading of books. Good stuff here.
How do you approach your reading? Do you have any kind of system or routine?
I probably need to be more systematic in my reading, because most of the time there’s no rhyme or reason to it. I typically read what I’m in the mood to read.
I just finished “While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within,” by Bruce Bawer. I highly recommend it, but it’ll scare the snot out of you. He shows how many European countries are so sold out to political correctness and so intimidated by Muslims that they’re allowing radical Muslims to take over their countries. It’s too bad Europe didn’t learn anything from World War II.
I’m getting ready to start Tony Dungy’s book and Steve Weaver’s new book on Hercules Collins.
Might have slipped by in the comments before, but Albert Mohler is speaking at my church as part of the “Straight Up” Conference.
Any of you guys going to that?
http://www.straightupconference.org/
Reading is for suckers.
Go podcasting!
Seriously…great article by Mohler. Super and sound advice. I like to read..really I do.
My system or routine at the moment is just to make sure I always have a book I am workign on. When I don’t know what book to pick up, I will be less likely to read. So, I keep at least one book I am working on and then I make sure I always have a book with me. That way I can make the most of spare moments. I also try to tie my reading in with something- what myboys are doing in history, what I am working, etc. But some books I read simply because they tie into my interest!
Probably the most helpful thing for me is keeping a list each year of every book I read. This gives me accountability and gives me some goals- it also provides a bit of anintellectual history to be able to look back and see what I was reading in a certain year. Of course this can get messed up (looking for shorter boos to read to up the list, etc.) but it has beenhelpful to me.
Right now, I’m about halfway through Arthur Sloane’s biography on Jimmy Hoffa entitled, who would have guessed it, Hoffa.
Up next, it’s Journey to the Cross, by a good friend of mine named Ellsworth and then David McCullough’s biography on former President Harry Truman.
Tim, I’d be interested to hear more of your thoughts on While Europe Slept. I read it this past spring and agree with you - I highly recommend it, even though it is full of scary stuff. (I blogged about it here.)
I thought about that book again today when I read this post about a story in the Brussels journal. They just don’t get it.