# The Best Books I Read This Year (2021)

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2021/12/31/the-best-books-i-read-this-year-2021/
- Published: 2021-12-31T07:00:42-06:00
- Author: tollelege

[⌊e468d top 36 2021 final 1⌉⌊e468d top 36 2021 final 1⌉[

I hunt for fabulous books, reads that leave me reeling. Here is what I want from
a book, what I demand, what I pray for before I read the first sentence: _I want
everything and nothing less_. By God’s grace, I found 36 fabulous books this year,
and I thoroughly enjoyed every last one of them.

**My Top 12:**

[⌊cece4 top 12 2021 final 1⌉⌊cece4 top 12 2021 final 1⌉[

**1. [_God of All Things_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0310109086?tag=toletaupanre-20)/
Andrew Wilson**

All of creation is [the theater of God’s glory](https://atomic-temporary-43488.wpcomstaging.com/2006/07/12/the-church-is-the-divine-orchestra-by-john-calvin/)
because “the earth is the LORD’s and everything in it.” (**Psalm 24:1**) In this
wonderful new book, Wilson helps his readers delight in the knowledge that “everything
in creation tells us something about our Creator.” (201) The world is _theomorphic_,
that is, all things “take the form they do because they are created to reveal God.”(
4) Along the way, Wilson shows the scriptural significance of dust, earthquakes,
pigs, livestock, stones, galaxies, honey, mountains, rainbows, gardens, donkeys,
salt, rain, water, bread, trees, viruses, clothes, light, and more. (Check out these
delicious excerpts [here](https://atomic-temporary-43488.wpcomstaging.com/2021/05/19/god-is-a-gardener-by-andrew-wilson/),
[here](https://atomic-temporary-43488.wpcomstaging.com/2021/05/04/except-the-lamb-by-andrew-wilson/),
[here](https://atomic-temporary-43488.wpcomstaging.com/2021/08/21/we-look-for-the-city-that-is-to-come-by-andrew-wilson/),
and [here](https://atomic-temporary-43488.wpcomstaging.com/2021/05/05/the-new-creation-will-be-dust-free-by-andrew-wilson/).)

> “For now, the created order is filled with signposts. One of my dreams in writing
> this book has been that you might look around you and see reasons to worship that
> you hadn’t noticed before. But the day is coming when the signposts will not be
> needed, because the reality is here. We will know fully, even as we are fully 
> known. And on that day the things of God will stop pointing and start praising.‘
> The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all
> the trees of the field shall clap their hands’ (**Isa. 55:12**). ‘Let the rivers
> clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together’ (**Ps. 98:8**). ‘The stones
> will cry out’ (**Luke 19:40**). The things of God will sing to the King of Kings
> and the God of things, for whom and through whom and to whom they exist. So will
> we.” ([201-202](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0310109086?tag=toletaupanre-20))

Charles Simeon [once said](https://atomic-temporary-43488.wpcomstaging.com/2020/08/07/enjoy-god-in-everything-and-enjoy-everything-in-god-by-charles-simeon/):“
There are but two lessons for the Christian to learn: the one is, _to enjoy God 
in everything_; the other is,_ to enjoy everything in God_.” This book, my favorite
book of the year, can help you do both.

**2. [_Exodus Old and New: A Biblical Theology of Redemption_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0830855394?tag=toletaupanre-20)/
L. Michael Morales**

When Dr. Morales writes a book about the Bible, I read it. His [volume on Leviticus](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0830826386?tag=toletaupanre-20)
is one of my all-time favorites. This new biblical-theological feast traces the 
exodus theme in Scripture around three movements: the _historical_ exodus out of
Egypt, the _prophesied_ second exodus, and the _new_ exodus of Jesus the Messiah.
Exegetical insights abound. The section on the Servant Songs in Isaiah is worth 
the price of the entire book.

> “All the streams of heavenly blessings converge through the one unifying sieve
> of this servant, the Messiah. He is the Rock through whom every divine promise
> pours out as a rushing river, transforming the wilderness of this age into the
> paradise of a new creation.” ([145](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0830855394?tag=toletaupanre-20))

Morales helped me see more fully how “the cross on which Jesus shed His blood has
become the doorpost of the world (**John 19:29; Exodus 12:22**).” ([164](https://atomic-temporary-43488.wpcomstaging.com/2021/03/31/the-cross-on-which-jesus-shed-his-blood-has-become-the-doorpost-of-the-world-by-l-michael-morales/))

**3. [_Faith in the Time of Plague_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1733627251?tag=toletaupanre-20)/
Eds. Stephen Coleman & Todd Rester**

How might pastors learn to shepherd well through a global pandemic? One way is by
gleaning heavenly wisdom from godly pastors who faced the worst of plagues in the
past. Coleman and Rester have translated and edited an enriching volume of treatises,
letters, hymns, and prayers, from the Reformation and Post-Reformation eras, that
help us to think _theologically_ and _pastorally_ about living and shepherding during
times of great crisis.

> “Plague and disease deeply shaped the ministries of pastors and the congregational
> life of the early modern churches. A faithful pastor in this context needed a 
> solid theology of God’s providence and the dignity of every human being, especially
> of the sick and the infirm; a deep love of neighbor; a strong commitment to the
> duties of pastoral vocation; and a robust Christian prudence to navigate the physical
> and spiritual needs of his family, congregation, and community. As we can all 
> attest, pandemics tend to reveal the seams and tensions within a society. It was
> no different in the sixteenth century.” ([xxvi](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1733627251?tag=toletaupanre-20))

You will find thoughtful reflections on **Philippians 2**, **Psalm 91**, **Exodus
9**, **1 Samuel 24**, **1 Chronicles 21**, and **Ezekiel 5 and 14**, as well as 
pearls of wisdom like this one from Theodore Beza:

> “This especially must be agreed upon, that as our sins are the chief and true 
> cause of the plague, so this is the only proper remedy against the same: that 
> if the ministers would not dispute about infectiousness (which belongs to physicians)
> but, by their life and doctrine stir up the people to earnest repentance, love,
> and charity one towards another, then the sheep themselves would hear clearly 
> and heed the voice of their pastors.” ([29](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1733627251?tag=toletaupanre-20))

**4. [_The Incomparableness of God_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1848715366?tag=toletaupanre-20)/
George Swinnock**

George Swinnock is one of the _easiest_ Puritan authors to read. He’s also one of
the most _edifying_. This little volume is a God-enthralled meditation on **Psalm
89:6**: “For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? Who among the sons
of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?” Here’s a taste:

> “Who could have imagined that God should become man, infinite become finite, the
> Creator a creature; the Father of spirits become flesh, and the Lord of life be
> put to death? Who could conceive, that He who made all things of nothing, should
> be made Himself of a woman, made by Him? That He whom the heavens, and heaven 
> of heavens cannot contain, should be contained in the narrow womb of a woman? 
> That the only bread of life should be hungry, the only water of life be thirsty;
> the only rest be weary, the only ease be pained, and the only joy and consolation
> be sorrowful, exceeding sorrowful unto death? Who could have imagined that one,
> yea, millions, should be rich by another’s poverty, filled by another’s emptiness,
> be exalted by another’s disgrace, healed by another’s wounds, eased by another’s
> pains, be absolved by another’s condemnation, and live eternally by another’s 
> temporal death? Who could have imagined that infinite justice and infinite mercy
> should be made fast friends, and fully satisfied by one and the same action; that
> the greatest fury and the greatest favour, the greatest hatred and the greatest
> love, should concur in, and be manifested by one and the same thing? Could men
> or angels speak such mysteries? Surely no.” ([106](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1848715366?tag=toletaupanre-20))

Glory!

**5. [_Be Thou My Vision: A Liturgy for Daily Worship_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1433578190?tag=toletaupanre-20)/
Jonathan Gibson**

If you find yourself wayward and wandering, distracted and distressed, during your
times of daily worship with the Lord, you might find help from this simple but incredibly
rich devotional guide. Here’s [a sample](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0021/5210/3983/files/Be_Thou_My_Vision-_EPDF_dragged.pdf)
of what’s inside. Praying the daily offices and the rhythms of a fixed liturgy can
be an oasis for the soul. Also, especially if you’re a pastor, avail yourself of
Gibson’s [_Reformation Worship_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1948130211?tag=toletaupanre-20).
It’s a liturgical goldmine.

**6. [_Pure in Heart: Sexual Sin and the Promises of God_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1433574896?tag=toletaupanre-20)/
Garrett Kell**

Robert Murray M’Cheyne once gave[ this priceless wisdom](https://atomic-temporary-43488.wpcomstaging.com/2019/09/19/do-not-take-up-your-time-so-much-with-studying-your-own-heart-as-with-studying-christs-heart-by-robert-murray-mcheyne/):“
Do not take up your time so much with studying your own heart as with studying _Christ’s
heart_. For one look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ!” I was reminded of this
quote while reading this earnest, humble, and Scripture-saturated book by a pastor
and friend I deeply love and respect. Garrett wisely helps us see the deceitfulness
of sin and the deception of the devil:

> “Satan is a historian. He is the master of replaying old sins to the tune of accusation.
> He digs up past failures and then blackmails us with reminders of why God is disappointed
> with us. Before sin, Satan is the tempter who whispers, ‘You should do this!’ 
> After sin, Satan is the accuser who whispers, ‘How could you have done this!’ 
> Satan kills through temptation and then buries with guilt. But whether he allures
> with sugar on the tongue or accuses with salt in a wound, the devil is always 
> working. His aim is to turn your gaze from God, because seeing him with sober 
> eyes strengthens your fight for faith in the one greater than all your foes.” (
> [64](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1433574896?tag=toletaupanre-20))

But more than anything, Kell helps us long to see God. “When the hope of seeing 
God fills our hearts, it has a purifying effect on our lives.” (94) “We know that
when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. And everyone
who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure.” (**1 John 3:2-3**)

**7. [_Handbook on the Gospels_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1540960161?tag=toletaupanre-20)/
Benjamin L. Gladd **

I spent much of 2021 pondering and preaching the Gospel according to Luke. No commentary
was more helpful to me than this one. This new series of NT handbooks focuses on
the _content_ of the biblical books, rather than historical-critical questions. 
Gladd faithfully summarizes the passage, makes textual connections to other passages,
paying careful attention to OT allusions and quotations. Check out this insight 
on the Parable of the Prodigal Son in **Luke 15**:

> “The father’s treatment of his prodigal son is remarkable in its similarities 
> to the Joseph narrative. He clothes the son in his ‘best robe’ and puts a ring
> on his finger and sandals on his feet (**Luke 15:22**). The language is close 
> to **Genesis 41:42**, when Pharaoh gives Joseph a ring and dresses ‘him in robes
> of fine linen.’ A few verses earlier, the prodigal son is forced to work with 
> pigs because ‘there was a severe famine in that whole country’ (**Luke 15:14**).
> According to **Genesis 41**, Pharaoh dreams that seven years of famine would descend
> upon Egypt after seven years of prosperity (**Gen. 41:25-32**). The combination
> of these plot points refers Luke’s audience back to the Joseph narrative. The 
> donning of clothes in the OT symbolizes the right to inherit and rule (**Gen. 
> 3:21; 37; Num. 20:24-28; 1 Kings 11:30-31; 19:19-21; Isa. 22:21**). The prodigal
> son, after recognizing his sin, comes and receives a great deal of inheritance
> and rule over the estate, just as Joseph is given the right to rule over Egypt.
> The father elevates his prodigal son to the status of ruler. The restoration of
> the prodigal son, the sinner, symbolizes all the outsiders within Luke’s narrative
> and their new identity as the true Israel of God. They are all identified with
> the great patriarch Joseph. The father twice announces that the son ‘was dead’
> but is now ‘alive again’ (**Luke 15:24, 32**). Life here should be understood 
> as resurrection life, the new creational act of God whereby He spiritually resurrects
> those who trust in Jesus (see **John 5:25; Rom. 6:11, 13; 1 Pet. 1:3; Rev. 1:18;
> 2:8; 20:5**).” ([267-268](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1540960161?tag=toletaupanre-20))

**8. [_An All-Round Ministry_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1848717954?tag=toletaupanre-20)/
Charles Spurgeon**

I read Spurgeon for _admiration_, not _imitation_. I don’t try [to imitate him](https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/mountains-are-not-meant-to-envy).
But I admire God for what _He did_ in and through His faithful servant. This sobering
collection of pastoral addresses is full of wisdom, encouragement, and testimonies
of God’s amazing grace. Even in the darkness of his depression, Spurgeon was used
by the Lord to minister the gospel of Christ to others who, like him, found themselves
in the silent shades of sorrow.

> “When you and I become weak, and are depressed in spirit, and our soul passes 
> through the valley of the shadow of death, it is often on account of others. One
> Sabbath morning, I preached from the text, ‘My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken
> Me?’ (**Matthew 27:46**) and though I did not say so, yet I preached my own experience.
> I heard my own chains clank while I tried to preach to my fellow-prisoners in 
> the dark; but I could not tell why I was brought into such an awful horror of 
> darkness, for which I condemned myself. On the following Monday evening, a man
> came to see me who bore all the marks of despair upon his countenance. His hair
> seemed to stand upright, and his eyes were ready to start from their sockets. 
> He said to me, after a little parleying, ‘I never before, in my life, heard any
> man speak who seemed to know my heart. Mine is a terrible case; but on Sunday 
> morning you painted me to the life, and preached as if you had been inside my 
> soul.’
> By God’s grace, I saved that man from suicide, and led him into gospel light and
> liberty; but I know I could not have done it if I had not myself been confined
> in the dungeon in which he lay. I tell the story, brethren, because you sometimes
> may not understand your own experience, and the perfect people may condemn you
> for having it; but what know they of God’s servants? You and I have to suffer 
> much for the sake of the people of our charge. God’s sheep ramble very far, and
> we have to go after them; and sometimes the shepherds go where they themselves
> would never roam if they were not in pursuit of lost sheep. You may be in Egyptian
> darkness, and you may wonder why such a horror chills your marrow; but you may
> be altogether in the pursuit of your calling, and be led of the Spirit to a position
> of sympathy with desponding minds. Expect to grow weaker, brethren, that you may
> comfort the weak, and so may become masters in Israel in the judgment of others;
> while, in your own opinion, you are less than the least of all saints.” ([172-173](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1848717954?tag=toletaupanre-20))

**9. [_Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners_](https://tollelege.net/2021/12/31/the-best-books-i-read-this-year-2021/?utm_source=nroark&utm_medium=blogpartners)/
Dane Ortlund**

This is an outstanding book about growing _in Christ_. Sanctification is about growing“
in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (**2 Peter 3:18**)
How does this growth happen? Here’s Ortlund’s answer: “The basic point of this book
is that change is a matter of going deeper… Growing in Christ is not centrally improving
or adding or experiencing but _deepening_. Implicit in the notion of deepening is
that you already have what you need.” (16) We already have _Christ_, the One in 
whom are hidden unsearchable riches of love and all the treasures of wisdom and 
knowledge.

> “Let me suggest that you consider the possibility that your current mental idea
> of Jesus is the tip of the iceberg. That there are wondrous depths to Him, realities
> about Him, still awaiting your discovery. I’m not disregarding the real discipleship
> already at play in your life and the true discoveries of the depths of Jesus Christ
> you have already made. But let me ask you to open yourself up to the possibility
> that one reason you see modest growth and ongoing sin in your life– if that is
> indeed the case– is that the Jesus you are following is a junior varsity Jesus,
> an unwittingly reduced Jesus, an unsurprising and predictable Jesus. I’m not assuming
> that’s the case. I’m just asking you to test yourself, with honesty. When Christopher
> Columbus reached the Caribbean in 1492, he named the natives “Indians,” thinking
> he had reached what Europeans of the time referred to as “the Indies” (China, 
> Japan, and India). In fact he was nowhere close to South or East Asia. In his 
> path were vast regions of land, unexplored and uncharted, of which Columbus knew
> nothing. He assumed the world was smaller than it was. Have we made a similar 
> mistake with regard to Jesus Christ? Are there vast tracts of who He is, according
> to biblical revelation, that are unexplored? Have we unintentionally reduced Him
> to manageable, predictable proportions? Have we been looking at a junior varsity,
> decaffeinated, one-dimensional Jesus of our own making, thinking we’re looking
> at the real Jesus? Have we snorkeled in the shallows, thinking we’ve now hit bottom
> on the Pacific?” ([22-23](https://atomic-temporary-43488.wpcomstaging.com/wp-admin/post.php?utm_source=nroark&utm_medium=blogpartners))

**10.[_ Invitation to Biblical Theology_](https://amzn.to/3pAfaiH) / Kimble & Spellman**

I love this intermediate-level introduction to the glorious world of biblical theology,
which the authors define as “the study of the whole Bible on its own terms.” (16)
The categories of canon, covenants, and Christ structure their approach. After sketching
the Bible’s grand storyline, they trace several of the Bible’s significant themes(
God’s glory, Kingdom, Covenant, Temple and Priesthood, Worship, Messiah and Atonement,
Salvation and Judgment, Holy Spirit, and Mission).

> “One of the main purposes of Scripture is to display Jesus Christ.” (81)
> “At the heart of the story of the biblical covenants is the bedrock conviction
> that the God of creation is the God of the covenants.” (82)
> “The gospel is still a story that takes two Testaments to tell.” (83)
> “Two hermeneutical statements can begin to capture the conviction of the New Testament
> authors. For them, Jesus both _fulfills_ and _fills out_ the Scriptures.” (94)
> “For the biblical theologian, the role of the reader is never to make a path to
> Christ, but always to follow the path to Christ that the biblical authors have
> laid down. Taking a canonical line to the cross may not be straight or fast, but
> it’s true.” (101)
> “The Pentateuch was meant to be read as a whole, with each of its five parts connected
> to and building upon the others. The five books of Moses are really five narrative
> components of the one Book of Moses.” (121)
> “The biblical _authors_ were also biblical _readers_. The task of biblical theology
> requires reading and rereading.” (453)

Take up and read.

**11. [_Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn’t_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1540964094?tag=toletaupanre-20)/
Gavin Ortlund**

Ortlund offers a winsome, rigorous, and engaging abductive argument for God’s existence.(
The sections in Chapter 2 on math and music are phenomenal.) He carefully considers
the _cause_, the _meaning_, the _conflict_, and the _hope_ of the world. He then
works backwards from a present set of conditions to the most likely explanation,
an inference to the best explanation, by showing the beautiful reasonableness of
Christian theism. This approach says, “If God doesn’t exist, so much of life– so
much of what _we already assume _in the way we function– becomes inexplicable.” (
[13](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1540964094?tag=toletaupanre-20)) Imagine this volume
as a book-length expansion of what good old Puddleglum [declared to the Witch in _The Silver Chair_](https://atomic-temporary-43488.wpcomstaging.com/2020/09/10/im-going-to-live-like-a-narnian-by-c-s-lewis/):

> “One word, Ma’am… One word. All you’ve been saying is quite right, I shouldn’t
> wonder. I’m a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face
> I can on it. So I won’t deny any of what you said. But there’s one thing more 
> to be said, even so. Suppose we _have_ only dreamed, or made up, all those things—
> trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have.
> Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal 
> more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours
> _is_ the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny
> thing, when you come to think of it. We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re
> right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real
> world hollow. That’s why I’m going to stand by the play-world. I’m on Aslan’s 
> side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian
> as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper,
> if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we’re leaving your court 
> at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for Overland. Not
> that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that’s small loss if the
> world’s as dull a place as you say.” ([159](https://amzn.to/32hvUzj))

This book is a masterclass in how to treat those with whom you disagree. Ortlund
engages the best atheistic arguments with charity, clarity, and grace. And he keeps
the promise he makes in the preface:

> “I tell you that I’ve given you my best effort as a writer so that I may invite
> you to give the book your best effort as a reader. We live in an age of distraction
> and sound bites. The careful reader of books is not our defining strength. But
> if you will give me your attention from cover to cover, I will do everything I
> can to make it worth your effort.” ([xi](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1540964094?tag=toletaupanre-20))

A worthy effort indeed.

**_12. [Institutes of Elenctic Theology, Vol. 1](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0875524516?tag=toletaupanre-20)_/
Francis Turretin**

I plodded my way through Volume 1 of Turretin’s _Institutes_. Like other scholastics,
his writings are lectures not sermons. The goal of an elenctic theology is to demonstrate
and assert the truth of sound doctrine by refuting false doctrines. So expect an
apologetic feel throughout. His reputation for doctrinal precision is well founded.(
His section on the Trinity is wonderful!) But I also found some amusing surprises.
For example, Turretin has an entire section devoted to the argument that the world
was created in autumn rather than in spring, making his case, in part, from the 
timing of Israel’s feasts in Exodus and Leviticus. (1: 441–444) Most surprising 
of all was his warm-hearted devotion:

> “These four things in the highest manner commend the love of God towards us:
> (1) the majesty of the Lover;
> (2) the poverty and unworthiness of the loved;
> (3) the worth of Him in whom we are loved;
> (4) the multitude and excellence of the gifts which flow out from that love to
> us.”
> He in whom we are beloved is Christ, the delight of His heavenly Father and the‘
> express image of His person.’ He could have given us nothing more excellent, nothing
> dearer, even if He had given the whole universe.” ([242](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0875524516?tag=toletaupanre-20))(
> 3.20.6)

Logic on fire.

**My Next 12:**

[⌊175e5 next 12 2021 final 1⌉⌊175e5 next 12 2021 final 1⌉[

**13. [_Remembrance of Earth’s Past Trilogy_](https://amzn.to/3pr3ezz) / Cixin Liu**

The _London Review of Books_ called this recently translated Hugo Award-winning 
trilogy “one of the most ambitious works of science fiction ever written.” I found
this to be a gross understatement. These novels are mind-blowing, no matter the 
genre. The scale of the tale is staggering. Three volumes, _[The Three-Body Problem](https://amzn.to/3sLvA9B),
[The Dark Forest](https://amzn.to/3EJ8LpE)_, and [_Death’s End_](https://amzn.to/3zcT2Oo),
tallying over 1,600 pages. A narrative timeline spanning 18,906,450 years, encompassing
ancient Egypt, the Qin dynasty, the Byzantine Empire, the Cultural Revolution, the
present, and a time eighteen million years in the future. One entire scene is told
from the perspective of an ant. (An ant!) The first book is set on Earth, but many
of its scenes take place in virtual reality, inside a video game. By the end of 
the third book, the scope of the action is interstellar and annihilation unfolds
across multiple dimensions.

Liu’s prose is plain. He writes like a computer engineer. This isn’t Dickens. This
is _hard_ science fiction (‘hard sci-fi’ has a lot of science in it, ‘soft sci-fi’
doesn’t). So expect lots of astronomy, cosmology, math, particle physics, molecular
biology, all shot through with the [Fermi Paradox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox).
[_The Three-Body Problem_](https://amzn.to/3sLvA9B) takes its title from an [analytical problem in orbital mechanics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-body_problem)
which has to do with the unpredictable motion of three bodies under mutual gravitational
pull.

This might not be your bag, but I’m telling you the plot pops. Just stick with it.
I almost gave up, but everything picks up 300 pages into the second book. Think 
contact with alien life cranked up to beyond sinister levels. Think H. G. Wells’s“
The War of the Worlds” (1898) but on a cosmic scale. The trilogy concerns the catastrophic
consequences of humanity’s attempt to make contact with extraterrestrials. According
to Liu, the reason we haven’t heard from aliens yet is that we’re the only species
dumb enough to reveal our own location in the universe:

> “The universe is a dark forest. Every civilization is an armed hunter stalking
> through the trees like a ghost, gently pushing aside branches that block the path
> and trying to tread without sound. Even breathing is done with care. The hunter
> has to be careful, because everywhere in the forest are stealthy hunters like 
> him. If he finds other life—another hunter, an angel or a demon, a delicate infant
> or a tottering old man, a fairy or a demigod—there’s only one thing he can do:
> open fire and eliminate them. In this forest, hell is other people. An eternal
> threat that any life that exposes its own existence will be swiftly wiped out.
> This is the picture of cosmic civilization. It’s the explanation for the Fermi
> Paradox.”
> Shi Qiang lit another cigarette, if only to have a bit of light.
> “But in this dark forest, there’s a stupid child called humanity, who has built
> a bonfire and is standing beside it shouting, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’” Luo Ji 
> said.
> “Has anyone heard it?”
> “That’s guaranteed.”

It goes without saying, the author’s darkly pessimistic secularism permeates the
story. Which is what makes the glimmers of hope and beauty and love in the face 
of death all the more strange. It’s like he can’t force himself to go gentle into
that good night.

**14. [_Empire of Pain_](https://amzn.to/3FrscEl) / Patrick Radden Keefe**

It’s been said that behind every great fortune there is a crime. For years, the 
name “Sackler” has been synonymous with art and philanthropy. But instead of their
donations to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre, the British Museum, Harvard,
and Yale, the Sackler legacy now includes $10 billion in profits from OxyContin,
millions of opioid addicts, a half million dead Americans, and an ever-growing tsunami
of civil lawsuits. Keefe chronicles the fascinating, devastating, and infuriating
history of the family who founded Purdue Pharma, the company which made a painkiller
stronger than morphine in 1996. Here’s what happened next:

> “In 1996, Purdue introduced a groundbreaking drug, a powerful opioid painkiller
> called OxyContin, which Americans from every corner of the country found themselves
> addicted to these powerful drugs. Many people who started abusing OxyContin ended
> up transitioning to street drugs, like heroin or fentanyl. The numbers are staggering.
> According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the quarter century
> following the introduction of OxyContin, some 450,000 Americans have died of opioid-
> related overdoses. Such overdoses are now the leading cause of accidental death
> in America, accounting for more deaths than car accidents– more deaths, even, 
> than than most quintessentially American of metrics, gunshot wounds. In fact, 
> more Americans have lost their lives from opioid overdoses than died in all of
> the wars the country has fought since World War II. ([4-5](https://amzn.to/3FrscEl))

If you don’t want to read the book, check out [Keefe’s 2017 exposé published in _The New Yorker_](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/30/the-family-that-built-an-empire-of-pain),
or listen to this [NPR interview](https://www.npr.org/2021/04/14/986736258/journalist-investigates-crime-story-of-the-sackler-family-and-the-opioid-crisis).

**15. [_Cloud Cuckoo Land_](https://amzn.to/3JfNQhi) / Anthony Doerr**

Ursula Le Guin once noted, “There have been great societies that did not use the
wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories.” ([34](https://amzn.to/32Ck4CX))
Anthony Doerr tells a beautiful story that will resonate most in the hearts of βιβλιοφάγοι,
book worms, those who love and live in books. The story is really several interlocking
stories, Swiss-watchery in its construction, dizzyingly told from the perspective
of five characters in the ancient past, the present, and the distant future. In 
my favorite passage, Doerr perfectly describes the transportive power of reading
as a frightened orphan named Anna is stranded in a Constantinople under siege. Anna
finds consolation in a mysterious tale told on a Greek codex:

> “The quiet moments frighten her more: when the work pauses and she can hear the
> songs of the Saracens out beyond the walls, the creaking of their siege machines,
> the nickering of their horses and bleats of their camels. When the wind is right,
> she can smell the food they’re cooking. To be so close to men who want her dead.
> To know that only a partition of masonry prevents them from doing their will.
> She works until she cannot see her hands in front of her face, then trudges home
> to the house of Kalaphates, takes a candle from the scullery, and climbs onto 
> the pallet beside Maria, her fingernails broken, her hands veined with dirt, and
> pulls the blanket around them and opens the little brown goatskin codex.
> The reading goes slowly. Some leaves are partially obscured by mold, and the scribe
> who copied the story did not separate the words with spaces, and the tallow candles
> give off a weak and sputtery light, and she is often so tired that the lines seem
> to ripple and dance in front of her eyes.
> The shepherd in the story accidentally turns himself into an ass, then a fish,
> and now he swims through the innards of an enormous leviathan, touring the continents
> while dodging beasts who try to eat him: it’s silly, absurd; this cannot possibly
> be the sort of compendium of marvels the Italians sought, can it?
> And yet. When the stream of the old Greek picks up, and she climbs into the story,
> as though climbing the wall of the priory on the rock– handhold here, foothold
> there– the damp chill of the cell dissipates, and the bright, ridiculous world
> of Aethon takes its place.
> _Our sea monster battled with another, bigger and more monstrous even than he 
> was, and the waters around us quaked, and ships with a hundred sailors on each
> sank in front of me, and whole uprooted islands were carried past. I closed my
> eyes in terror, and fixed my thoughts on the golden city in the clouds…_
> Turn a page, walk the lines of sentences: the singer steps out, and conjures a
> world of color and noise in the space inside your head.” ([314-315](https://amzn.to/3JfNQhi))

Doerr reminded me to be ever thankful for the written word, for books, for libraries,
for stories. “A text– a book– is a resting place for the memories of people who 
have lived before. A way for the memory to stay fixed after the soul has traveled
on.” (51)

**16. [_Ghost Wars_](https://amzn.to/344z3G1) and [_Directorate S_](https://amzn.to/33XqCwk)/
Steve Coll**

In the Pulitzer Prize-winning [_Ghost Wars_](https://amzn.to/344z3G1), Steve Coll
details the C.I.A.’s operations in Afghanistan, from the Soviet invasion in 1979
through the summer of 2001, including the rise of the Taliban, the secret efforts
of the CIA to capture or kill Osama bin Laden beginning in 1998, and the intelligence
failures that led to September 11th. In [_Directorate S_](https://amzn.to/33XqCwk),
Coll “seeks to provide a thorough, reliable history of how the C.I.A., I.S.I., and
Afghan intelligence agencies influenced the rise of a new war in Afghanistan after
the fall of the Taliban, and how that war fostered a revival of Al Qaeda, allied
terrorist networks, and, eventually, branches of the Islamic State.” (5) Contemplating
the myriad catastrophic and unforced errors is incredibly painful. But if you want
to know what happened, and especially what went wrong in Afghanistan, read these
books. And [continue to pray for the Afghan people](https://operationworld.org/locations/afghanistan/).

**17. [_The Wild Places_](https://amzn.to/3msXX8U) / Robert Macfarlane**

No living writer helps me marvel at the manifold splendor of God reflected in His
creation more than Robert Macfarlane, Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. His
prose is perfect. And his point is often the same: _go outside, pay attention, find
beauty, be still, and be amazed_. In this volume, he records his search for the 
wild places in Britain and Ireland. Here is the lyrical description of his exploration
of a sea cave hidden among the jagged cliffs along the shoreline of [Ynys Enlli](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardsey_Island),
a small island off the westernmost tip of the Lleyn Peninsula in Wales:

> “I dove in. Blue shock. The cold running into me like dye. I surfaced, gasping,
> and began to swim towards the cliffs at the eastern side of the bay. I could feel
> the insistent draw of the current, sliding me out to the west, back towards Enlli.
> I swam at a diagonal to it, to keep my course. Nearing the cliffs, I moved through
> different ribbons and bands of temperature, warm, then suddenly cold again. A 
> large lustrous wave surged me between two big rocks, and as I put a hand out to
> stop myself from being barged against them, I felt barnacles tear at my fingers.
> I swam to the biggest of the caves. Holding on to an edge of rock, and letting
> the swell lift me gently up and down, I looked inside. Though I could not see 
> the back of the cave, it seemed to run thirty or forty feet into the cliffs: cone-
> shaped, tightening into the earth from its mouth. I released the rock, and drifted
> slowly into the opening. As I crossed the shadow cast by the cave’s roof, the 
> water grew cold. There was a big hollow sucking and slapping sound. I shouted,
> and heard my call come back at me from all sides. As I got deeper in, the water
> shallowed. I swam breast-stroke, to keep myself as flat as possible. I was passing
> over dark red and purple rocks: the voodoo colours of basalt, dolerite. The lower
> sides of the cave were lined with frizzy green seaweed, which was slick and shiny
> where the water reached it, like wet hair. Further back into the cave, the light
> was diffused and the air appeared powdery. The temperature had dropped, and I 
> sensed the whole gathered coldness of the unsunned rock around and above me, pushing
> out into the air and water. I glanced back over my shoulder. The big semicircular
> mouth of the cave had by now shrunk to a cuticle of light. I could only just see
> out to the horizon of the sea, and I felt sudden involuntary lurch of fear. I 
> swam on, moving slowly now, trying to sense the sharp rocks over which I was moving.
> Then I reached the end of the cave, and there, at its very back, and in its very
> centre, lifted almost entirely out of the water, sat a single vast white boulder,
> made of smooth creamy rock, shaped roughly like a throne or seat. It must have
> weighed five or six tons. I climbed awkwardly out of the water, slipping on weed,
> and sat on the rock, while the water slopped around its base, and looked back 
> down the cave to the curved rim of light, all that remained of the world beyond.
> Remembering the white rock now, it seems like a hallucination. I cannot explain
> what it really looked like, certainly not what it was doing there, among the red
> and purple basalts. Nor could I conceive of the might of the storm waves that,
> over the centuries, must have brought that boulder to the cave, and then shifted
> it deeper and deeper in, until finally they had heaved it into that position, 
> placed perfectly at the centre and the back of the cave.” ([37-38](https://amzn.to/3msXX8U))

Breathtaking.

**18. [_Crime and Punishment_](https://amzn.to/32vfrtZ) / Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Trans.
Pevear and Volokhonsky)**

Mark Twain defined a classic as a book which people praise and don’t read. In my
experience, classics are those books I read in high school and didn’t quite grasp.
I’ve now read [_Crime and Punishment_](https://amzn.to/32vfrtZ) three times and 
it gets better every time. After my re-reading this year, what lingered with me 
the most was Raskolnikov’s feverish, haunting, and prescient dream at the novel’s
end:

> “He lay in the hospital all through the end of Lent and Holy Week. As he began
> to recover, he remembered his dreams from when he was still lying in feverish 
> delirium. In his illness he had dreamed that the whole world was doomed to fall
> victim to some terrible, as yet unknown and unseen pestilence spreading to Europe
> from the depths of Asia. Everyone was to perish, except for certain, very few,
> chosen ones. Some new trichinae had appeared, microscopic creatures that lodged
> themselves in men’s bodies. But these creatures were spirits, endowed with reason
> and will. Those who received them into themselves immediately became possessed
> and mad. But never, never had people considered themselves so intelligent and 
> unshakeable in the truth as did these infected ones. Never had they thought their
> judgments, their scientific conclusions, their moral convictions and beliefs more
> unshakeable. Entire settlements, entire cities and nations would be infected and
> go mad. Everyone became anxious, and no one understood anyone else; each thought
> the truth was contained in himself alone, and suffered looking at others, beat
> his breast, wept, and wrung his hands. They did not know whom or how to judge,
> could not agree on what to regard as evil, what as good. They did not know whom
> to accuse, whom to vindicate. People killed each other in some sort of meaningless
> spite. They gathered into whole armies against each other, but, already on the
> march, the armies would suddenly begin destroying themselves, the ranks would 
> break up, the soldiers would fall upon one another, stabbing and cutting, biting
> and eating one another. In the cities the bells rang all day long: everyone was
> being summoned, but no one knew who was summoning them or why, and everyone felt
> anxious. The most ordinary trades ceased, because everyone offered his own ideas,
> his own corrections, and no one could agree. Agriculture ceased. Here and there
> people would band together, agree among themselves to do something, swear never
> to part– but immediately begin something completely different from what they themselves
> had just suggested, begin accusing one another, fighting, stabbing. Fires broke
> out; famine broke out. Everyone and everything was perishing. The pestilence grew
> and spread further and further. Only a few people in the whole world could be 
> saved; they were pure and chosen, destined to begin a new generation of people
> and a new life, to renew and purify the earth; but no one had seen these people
> anywhere, no one had heard their words or voices.” ([547-548](https://amzn.to/32vfrtZ))

Wow. Here’s a helpful [guide](https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/reading-well/)
to the classics just in case you want to visit (or revisit) that daunting work of
literature you’ve never quite finished and was never quite finished with you.

**19. [_Slavery By Another Name_](https://amzn.to/3EnDA2R)**** / Douglas Blackmon**

It’s easy to think that slavery in America is, thankfully, a thing of the past. 
But in this Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Blackmon, senior national correspondent
for _The Wall Street Journal_, documents with devastating detail the re-enslavement
of black Americans from the Civil War to World War II. In an effort to give a voice
to the voiceless, Blackmon introduces his readers to Green Cottenham. In many ways,
this book is his story:

> “On March 30, 1908, Green Cottenham was arrested by the sheriff of Shelby County,
> Alabama, and charged with ‘vagrancy.’ Cottenham had committed no true crime. Vagrancy
> the offense of a person not being able to prove at a given moment that he or she
> is employed, was a new and flimsy concoction dredged up from legal obscurity at
> the end of the nineteenth century by the state legislatures of Alabama and other
> southern states. It was capriciously enforced by local sheriffs and constables,
> adjudicated by mayors and notaries public, recorded haphazardly or not at all 
> in court records, and, most tellingly in a time of massive unemployment among 
> all southern men, was reserved almost exclusively for black men. Cottenham’s offense
> was blackness. After three days behind bars, twenty-two-year-old Cottenham was
> found guilty in a swift appearance before the county judge and immediately sentenced
> to a thirty-day term of hard labor. Unable to pay the array of fees assessed on
> every prisoner—fees to the sheriff, the deputy, the court clerk, the witnesses—
> Cottenham’s sentence was extended to nearly a year of hard labor. The next day,
> Cottenham, the youngest of nine children born to former slaves in an adjoining
> county, was sold. Under a standing arrangement between the county and a vast subsidiary
> of the industrial titan of the North—U.S. Steel Corporation—the sheriff turned
> the young man over to the company for the duration of his sentence. In return,
> the subsidiary, Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company, gave the county $12 a
> month to pay off Cottenham’s fine and fees. What the company’s managers did with
> Cottenham, and thousands of other black men they purchased from sheriffs across
> Alabama, was entirely up to them. A few hours later, the company plunged Cottenham
> into the darkness of a mine called Slope No. 12—one shaft in a vast subterranean
> labyrinth on the edge of Birmingham known as the Pratt Mines. There, he was chained
> inside a long wooden barrack at night and required to spend nearly every waking
> hour digging and loading coal. His required daily ‘task’ was to remove eight tons
> of coal from the mine. Cottenham was subject to the whip for failure to dig the
> requisite amount, at risk of physical torture for disobedience, and vulnerable
> to the sexual predations of other miners— many of whom already had passed years
> or decades in their own chthonian confinement. The lightless catacombs of black
> rock, packed with hundreds of desperate men slick with sweat and coated in pulverized
> coal, must have exceeded any vision of hell a boy born in the countryside of Alabama—
> even a child of slaves—could have ever imagined… Forty-five years after President
> Abraham Lincoln’s _Emancipation Proclamation_ freeing American slaves, Green Cottenham
> and more than a thousand other black men toiled under the lash at Slope 12. Imprisoned
> in what was then the most advanced city of the South, guarded by whipping bosses
> employed by the most iconic example of the modern corporation emerging in the 
> gilded North, they were slaves in all but name… This slavery did not last a lifetime
> and did not automatically extend from one generation to the next. But it was nonetheless
> slavery—a system in which armies of free men, guilty of no crimes and entitled
> by law to freedom, were compelled to labor without compensation, were repeatedly
> bought and sold, and were forced to do the bidding of white masters through the
> regular application of extraordinary physical coercion.” ([1-2, 4](https://amzn.to/3EnDA2R))
> “The commercial sectors of U.S. society have never been asked to fully account
> for their roles as the primary enforcers of Jim Crow segregation, and not at all
> for engineering the resurrection of forced labor after the Civil War. The civil
> rights movement focused on forcing government and individual citizens to integrate
> public schools, reinstate full voting rights, and end offensive behavior. But 
> it was business that policed adherence to America’s racial customs more than any
> other actor in U.S. society. American banks maintained ubiquitous discriminatory
> lending practices throughout the country that until the 1960s prevented millions
> of working-class African Americans from obtaining the lines of credit that millions
> of white families used to accumulate wealth and move from lower- to middle-class
> status. Indeed, the opportunity for blacks to pursue the most basic American formula
> for achieving middle-class status—buying a home in desirable neighborhoods where
> real estate values were likely to appreciate over time—was openly barred by legions
> of real estate agents in every city and region. Until the 1950s, rules of the 
> National Association of Realtors made it a violation of the organization’s code
> of ethics for an agent to sell a home in a white neighborhood to an African American,
> or vice versa. It was hundreds of thousands of individual businesses that refused
> to give blacks jobs, equal pay, or promotions. It was wealthy men on Wall Street
> and in the executive suites of southern banks that financed the organized opposition
> to passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” ([383](https://amzn.to/3EnDA2R))
> “In my quest to find Green Cottenham, I also discovered an unsettling truth that
> when white Americans frankly peel back the layers of our commingled pasts, we 
> are all marked by it. Whether a company or an individual, we are marred either
> by our connections to the specific crimes and injuries of our fathers and their
> fathers. Or we are tainted by the failures of our fathers to fulfill our national
> credos when their courage was most needed. We are formed in molds twisted by the
> gifts we received at the expense of others. It is not our ‘fault.’ But it is undeniably
> our inheritance.”([383](https://amzn.to/3EnDA2R))

Faulkner was right: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” ([73](https://amzn.to/3EIFxr1))

**20. [_Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11_](https://amzn.to/3yVHSxn) / Mitchell Zuckoff**

In September, on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, I began reading Zuckoff’s definitive
account of the tragedy, because I never want to forget. The great WWII historian,
Ian Toll, once [said](https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2016/12/04/the-paradox-pearl-harbor/LZBn53zn42duzAFRvklqWN/story.html)
this about Pearl Harbor: “The passage of time strips away the searing immediacy 
of the surprise attack and envelops it in layers of exposition and retrospective
judgment. Hindsight furnishes us with perspective on the crisis, but it also undercuts
our ability to empathize with the immediate concerns of those who suffered through
it.” Already an entire generation has no direct memory of 9/11, despite its daily
effects on their lives. Zuckoff helps us all remember so that we’ll never forget.

> “Torn open, aflame, weakening from within, the Twin Towers of the World Trade 
> Center spewed paper like blood from an arterial wound. Legal documents and employee
> reviews. Pay stubs, birthday cards, takeout menus. Timesheets and blueprints, 
> photographs and calendars, crayon drawings and love notes. Some in full, some 
> in tatters, some in flames. A single scrap from the South Tower, tossed like a
> bottled message from a sinking ship, captured the day’s horror. In a scrawled 
> hand, next to a bloody fingerprint, the note read:
> 84th floor
>  west office 12 People trapped
> After the paper came the people. After the people came the buildings. After the
> buildings came the wars. The ashes cooled, but not the anguish.” ([xviii](https://amzn.to/3yVHSxn))

**21. [_The Baseball 100_](https://amzn.to/3ekErqu) / Joe Posnanski**

The best baseball writer in the world gives his best shot at listing the 100 best
players of all time. I devoured this book. Each chapter profiles a different player
for 4-5 pages, delivering stats and anecdotes galore. And Posnanski is a gem of 
a writer. This is how he describes [Ken Griffey Jr.’s swing](https://youtu.be/kZOown0SLw8?t=94):“
Junior’s swing was majestic, gorgeous, the Grand Canyon of swings, the Machu Picchu
of swings, the ‘Here Comes the Sun’ of swings. It tilted upward, and when bat met
ball, you could feel the breath rush out of you.” (366)

I experience shortness of breath every time I watch [this home-run swing](https://youtu.be/6IdbOxI2N7I?t=42).
And just in case you haven’t heard, the Atlanta Braves finally won the World Series
again and it was glorious. Go Braves! That is all.

**22. ****[_Right Ho, Jeeves_](https://amzn.to/3poSvpc) / P.G. Wodehouse**

I try to read at least one Bertie and Jeeves novel every year because Wodehouse 
never misses:

> “Ask anyone who knows me, and they will tell you that after two months of my company,
> what the normal person feels is that that will about do for the present.” (34-
> 35)
> “She cried in a voice that hit me between the eyebrows and went out at the back
> of my head.” (40)
> “I have had occasion, I fancy, to speak before now of these pick-me-up drinks 
> of Jeeves’s and their effect on a fellow who is hanging to life by a thread on
> the morning after. What they consist of, I couldn’t tell you. He says some kind
> of sauce, the yolk of a raw egg and a dash of red pepper, but nothing will convince
> me that the thing doesn’t go much deeper than that. Be that as it may, however,
> the results of swallowing one are amazing. For perhaps the split part of a second
> nothing happens. It is as though all Nature waited breathless. Then, suddenly,
> it is as if the Last Trump had sounded and Judgement Day set in with unusual severity.
> Bonfires burst out in all parts of the frame. The abdomen becomes heavily charged
> with molten lava. A great wind seems to blow through the world, and the subject
> is aware of something resembling a steam hammer striking the back of the head.
> During this phase, the ears ring loudly, the eyeballs rotate and there is a tingling
> about the brow. And then, just as you are feeling that you ought to ring up your
> lawyer and see that your affairs are in order before it is too late, the whole
> situation seems to clarify. The wind drops. The ears cease to ring. Birds twitter.
> Brass bands start playing. The sun comes up over the horizon with a jerk. And 
> a moment later all you are conscious of is a great peace. As I drained the glass
> now, new life seemed to burgeon within me.” (48)
> “He sat listening like a lump of dough.” (71)
> “A man’s brain whizzes along for years exceeding the speed limit, and then something
> suddenly goes wrong with the steering-gear and it skids and comes a smeller in
> the ditch.” (90)
> “His brow cleared, his eyes brightened, he lost that fishy look, and he gazed 
> at the slug, which was still on the long, long trail, with something approaching
> bonhomie.” (104)
> “My guardian angel had not been asleep at the switch.” (115)
> “A tankard of their special home-brewed was in my hand, and the ecstasy of that
> first Gallup is still green in my memory.” (118)
> “He rose and began to pace the room in an overwrought sort of way, like a zoo 
> lion who has heard the dinner-gong go and is hoping the keeper won’t forget him
> in the general distribution.” (123)
> “There is a time for studying beetles and a time for not studying beetles.” (166)
> “One thing I have never failed to hand the man. Jeeves is magnetic. There is about
> him something that seems to soothe and hypnotize. To the best of my knowledge,
> he has never encountered a charging rhinoceros, but should this contingency occur,
> I have no doubt that the animal, meeting his eye, would check itself in mid-stride,
> roll over and lie purring with its legs in the air.” (267)

**23. [_Butcher’s Moon_](https://amzn.to/3emjL1h) / Richard Stark**

Parker is a professional super-thief, the brilliant invention of Richard Stark, 
the prince of noir. [_Butcher’s Moon_](https://amzn.to/3emjL1h) is a continuation
of a robbery caper Parker began in [_Slayground_](https://amzn.to/32DN0dF), and 
serves as a culmination of the best of the series. The Parker novels all follow 
a four-part structure, with prose as orderly as a classical symphony, and most of
them begin in medias res with a sentence that starts with the word “when.” For me
and Parker, it was love at first line:

> [_The Man With the Getaway Face_](https://amzn.to/3eAMn78) (1963): “When the bandages
> came off, Parker looked in the mirror at a stranger.”
>  [_The Mourner_](https://amzn.to/3pHnVHA)(
> 1963): “When the guy with the asthma finally came in from the fire escape, Parker
> rabbit-punched him and took his gun away.” [_The Jugger_](https://amzn.to/3mFuXL9)(
> 1965): “When the knock came at the door, Parker was just turning to the obituary
> page.” [_The Seventh_](https://amzn.to/32AAT0Y) (1966): “When he didn’t get any
> answer the second time he knocked, Parker kicked the door in.” [_Slayground_](https://amzn.to/32DN0dF)(
> 1971): “Parker jumped out of the Ford with a gun in one hand and the packet of
> explosive in the other.” [_Butcher’s Moon_](https://amzn.to/3emjL1h) (1974): “
> Running toward the light, Parker fired twice over his left shoulder, not caring
> whether he hit anything or not.” [_Backflash_](https://amzn.to/3eJx7Vr) (1998):“
> When the car stopped rolling, Parker kicked out the rest of the windshield and
> crawled through onto the wrinkled hood, Glock first.” [_Firebreak_](https://amzn.to/3EOboqk)(
> 2001): “When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man.” [_Ask the Parrot_ ](https://amzn.to/3sIt2Jy)(
> 2006): “When the helicopter swept northward and lifted out of sight over the top
> of the hill, Parker stepped away from the tree he’d waited beside and continued
> his climb.”

**24. [_The Apollo Murders_](https://amzn.to/3H8Bnds) / Chris Hadfield**

One of most accomplished astronauts in the world, who graduated as the top U.S. 
Air Force test pilot, and was CAPCOM for twenty-five Shuttle missions, and NASA’s
Director of Operations in Russia, and served as Commander of the International Space
Station, wrote a ripping murder mystery that takes place on a fictional Apollo Mission
18 during the space race and the Cold War in the early 1970s. This book is like 
Clancy’s [_The Hunt For Red October_](https://amzn.to/3pIqysw) but set on the moon.
Some readers don’t care for all the technical jargon but I dig it:

> “Starting the world’s most powerful engine wasn’t easy. It took about nine seconds
> to crank one up—the time an Olympic sprinter could run 100 yards. The time it 
> takes to tie one shoe. The most dangerous nine seconds of the whole flight. The
> amount of fuel needed to push the Saturn V off the pad was staggering: 3,400 gallons
> every second. That required fuel pumps with their own jet engines, just to spin
> them fast enough.
> The rocketship had five of these jets pumping the kerosene and oxygen into the
> rocket chambers, where it would mix, explode and storm out the 12-foot-tall exhaust
> nozzles in a 5,800-degree, 160-million-horsepower inferno. The crew’s eyes were
> glued to the engine instruments as the clock counted down into single digits.
> ‘T minus ten, nine, and we have ignition sequence start.’
> Four fireworks ignited inside each engine: two to spin up the fuel pump, and two
> to burn any flammable gases lurking in the exhaust nozzle.
> ‘Six, five, four…’
> Two big valves opened, and liquid oxygen poured from its high tank down through
> the spinning pump and into the rocket, gushing out the huge nozzle under its own
> weight like a frothy white waterfall. Two smaller valves clicked open, feeding
> oxygen and kerosene to fuel the jet engines, spinning the pumps up to high speed.
> The pressure in the main fuel lines suddenly jumped to 380 psi. Conditions were
> set, with everything ready to ignite the rockets. Just needed some lighter fluid.
> Two small discs burst under the high fuel pressure, and a slug of triethylboron/
> aluminum was pushed into the oxygen-rich rocket chambers. Like the ultimate spark
> plug, the fluids exploded on contact.
> ‘Three, two…’
> The middle engine lit first, followed quickly by the outer four; if all five had
> started at once, they would have torn the rocketship and launch pad apart. Two
> more big valves opened, and high-pressure kerosene poured into the growing maelstrom.
> ‘One, zero, and liftoff, we have liftoff, at 7:32 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.’
> Hell, unleashed, creating 700 tons of thrust in each of the five engines—enough
> total power to lift more than 7 million pounds straight up. The ultimate deadlift.
> The last of the ground umbilicals feeding the rocket disconnected and snapped 
> back. The four heavy hold-down arms that had been clamping the base to the pad
> hissed in pneumatic relief and pivoted away. The Saturn V was free.” ([141-142](https://amzn.to/3H8Bnds))

**My Final 12:**

[⌊35e38 final 12 2021 final 1⌉⌊35e38 final 12 2021 final 1⌉[

**25. ****[_Precious Promises_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1800400195?tag=toletaupanre-20)/
Joseph ****Alleine**

I’ve given away dozens of copies of this devotional classic over the years and I’m
thrilled the good folks at [_the Banner of Truth_](https://banneroftruth.org/us/store/christian-living/precious-promises/)
have reprinted it in a new edition. Alleine uses his encyclopedic knowledge of Scripture
to string together the “exceeding great and precious promises” (**2 Peter 1:4**)
of God with the goal of comforting the struggling believer:

> “And in that day you shall know that I am a rewarder of them that diligently seek
> me (**Heb. 11:6**); and that I did record your words (**Mal. 3:16**), and bottle
> your tears, and tell your wanderings (**Psa. 56:8**), and keep an account, even
> to a cup of cold water, of whatever you said or did for my name (**Matt. 10:42**).
> You shall surely find that nothing is lost (**1 Cor. 15:58**); but you shall have
> full measure, pressed down and running over, thousands of years in paradise, for
> the least good thought, and thousand thousands for the least good word; and then
> the reckoning shall begin again, till all arithmetic be at a loss. For you shall
> be swallowed up in a blessed eternity, and the doors of heaven shall be shut upon
> you, and there shall be no more going out (**Dan. 12:2, 3; Rev. 3:12; Luke 16:
> 26**).
> The glorious choir of my holy angels, the goodly fellowship of my blessed prophets,
> the happy society of triumphant apostles, the royal hosts of victorious martyrs,
> these shall be your companions for ever (**Matt. 8:1, 12; Heb. 12:22, 23**). And
> you shall come in white robes, with palms in your hands, everyone having the harps
> of God, and golden bowls full of sweet-smelling aromas, and shall cast your crowns
> before me, and strike in with the multitude of the heavenly hosts, glorifying 
> God, and saying, Hallelujah! The Lord God omnipotent reigns (**Rev. 7:9-12; 19:
> 5, 6**). Blessing, honour, glory, and power be to him who sits on the throne, 
> and to the Lamb for ever and ever (**Rev. 5:13**).
> In short, I will make you equal to the angels of God (**Luke 20:36**), and you
> shall be the everlasting trumpets of my praise (**Rev. 7:10-12, 15**). You shall
> be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of my house, and I I will make you drink
> of the rivers of my pleasures (**Psa. 36:8**). You shall be an eternal excellency(**
> Isa. 60:15**), and if God can die, and eternity run out, then and only then, shall
> your joys expire. For you shall see me as I am (**1 John 3:2**), and know me as
> you are known (**1 Cor. 13:12**); and shall behold my face in righteousness, and
> be satisfied with my likeness (**Psa. 17:15**). And you shall be the vessels of
> my glory, whose blessed use shall be to receive the overflowings of my goodness,
> and to have mine infinite love and glory poured out into you brimful, and running
> over for evermore (**Rom. 9:23; 2 2 Tim 2:20; Rev. 22:1**).
> And blessed is he who has believed, for there shall be a performance of the things
> that have been told him (**Luke 1:45**). I the Lord has spoken it, you shall see
> my face, and my name shall be written in your foreheads; and you shall no more
> need the sun, nor the moon, for the Lord God shall give you light, and you shall
> reign for ever and ever (**Rev. 22:3-5**).” ([39-40](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1800400195?tag=toletaupanre-20))

**26. ****[_How to Eat Your Bible_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0802420397?tag=toletaupanre-20)/
Nate Pickowicz **

Wise Bishop Ryle once said:

> “Next to praying there is nothing so important in practical religion as Bible-
> reading. God has mercifully given us a book which is “able to make us wise unto
> salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” (**2 Tim. 3:15.**) By reading
> that book we may learn what to believe, what to be, and what to do; how to live
> with comfort, and how to die in peace. Happy is that man who possesses a Bible!
> Happier still is he who reads it! Happiest of all is he who not only reads it,
> but obeys it, and makes it the rule of his faith and practice!” ([91](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1848712243?tag=toletaupanre-20))

I love books that point me to _the Book_. Nate Pickowicz’s brief and superb new 
book does just that. The subtitle says it all: “A Simple Approach to Learning and
Loving the Word of God.” I can give this book to any member of my congregation knowing
it will help both new and seasoned believers read and study their Bible more faithfully
and more fruitfully. Buy several copies and give them away to those you’re discipling
as a New Year’s gift.

**27. [_The Deep Places_](https://amzn.to/3FvbdkF) / Ross Douthat**

Imagine suffering excruciating and bewildering pain for five years due to a devastating
disease that doesn’t officially exist. That’s Douthat’s story, struggling day-by-
day with Lyme disease. This poignant memoir helped me grow in sympathy for those
who suffer with chronic illness. Chronic sufferers often feel all alone in their
pain, surrounded by others who still feel “at home” in their own bodies.

> “A friend could listen, another friend could visit, a family member could watch
> our kids or make us dinner, but there was a gulf fixed between my world and theirs,
> between my morning-to-evening experience of pain’s variety and novelty and their
> inability to comprehend what it would mean to be sick every day, the same thing
> waiting every morning upon waking, without recourse or relief. I could understand
> their bafflement, because I remembered what the term “chronic illness” had meant
> to me in the before times. Even with my mother’s struggles as an example, I still
> associated it with the fatigue that comes after you’ve stayed up with a newborn
> baby, or the aches and pains you feel after exercising for the first time in monthssuffering
> that was challenging but manageable, with recourse, in the worst case, to an exhausted
> sleep. Whereas the reality was pain that didn’t let you relax, let alone sleep;
> pain that made your body feel like a cage around your consciousness; tension, 
> always tension, the opposite of a Victorian lady picturesquely swooning on a couch.
> All this was an education, an experience of what it meant to be an embodied human
> being that could be endured but not really explained to someone whose body was
> still a home, a cooperator, a friend.” ([90](https://amzn.to/3FvbdkF))

Douthat has done a great service for the chronic-Lyme community and for those, like
me, who don’t live on that “prairie of pain.” He beautifully lays bare both his 
_struggle_ and his _striving_ for life.

> “The gift of chronic illness is the space and opportunity to strive and seek. 
> The purpose of the illness in your life has to involve finding something– finding
> strength in learning how to endure, finding virtue in how to live for others, 
> finding some hidden truth in unraveling the mystery of what actually ails you.
> And not to yield is often the hardest task of all.
> I can’t claim to have gained all the things I should have gained from the past
> six years. _Who will I be when this is over?_ my mind would sometimes ask in the
> depths, since it was hard to imagine the same self that went into this illness
> coming out the other side. But now that I’m closer, God willing, to the end than
> the beginning, I can still recognize the person beneath the peeling dragon scales–
> maybe a little wiser, a little more patient, a little less consumed by the political,
> little more open-minded, but still carrying many of the same habits and vices 
> and temptations as the me I knew before.
> But I have learned, at least, something about what it means not to yield, to go
> on searching and fighting and simply living in the shadow of despair, to do what
> must be done even when it seems like your body is incapable of the task and your
> mind is brutally imprisoned.
> What doesn’t kill you doesn’t necessarily make you stronger. But what doesn’t 
> kill you _doesn’t kill you_, and sometimes that alone supplies the thin reed of
> hope, the solid thing to cling to when every other help and possibility goes through
> your fingers like sand.
> That first sickened summer in Maine, sixteen months into the illness, when nothing
> was working and my body blazed with pain, I  forced myself to do what I would 
> do as a child, to run along the packed brown surface of the sandbar, splashing
> through the inch of water rippling beneath my feet, and then suddenly pivot and
> stagger out deeper and fling myself up and out and down, belly-whopping into the
> freezing water of the bay.
> For an instant or more, the shock to my system would be more pressing than the
> pain, and I would come up spluttering, every nerve jangling, and think: _I am 
> still alive._
> _I am still alive._
> That’s where this not-yet-finished story ends. I have lived for six years with
> invaders in my flesh, I have seen the world from way down underneath, I have done
> things I couldn’t have imagined, I have fought and fought and fought.
> And I am still alive.” ([196-197](https://amzn.to/3FvbdkF))

**28. [_Crux, Mors, Inferi: A Primer and Reader on the Descent of Christ_ ](https://amzn.to/3EuLcAC)/
Samuel Renihan**

In 2019, Matthew Emerson wrote an [incredible book](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0830852581?tag=toletaupanre-20)
on Christ’s descent to the dead. Christ experienced the fullness of human death;
He also defeated it. He entered the realm of death itself, our mighty enemy, and
came away with his keys. The keys of Death and Hades are now held in our Savior’s
nail-pierced hands. (**Rev. 1:18**) The good news of Good Friday, and the ecstasy
of Easter Sunday, is infused with the hope of Holy Saturday. In Samuel Renihan’s
new book, he builds upon Emerson’s solid foundation, provides some more exegetical
footing, and does significant theological retrieval of his own by including over
100 pages of historical excerpts on the descent from Reformation and Post-Reformation
theologians. Hilary of Poitiers is [right](https://atomic-temporary-43488.wpcomstaging.com/2021/04/03/this-is-our-salvation-by-hilary-of-poitiers-a-d-315-368/):“
_Virgo, partus, et corpus; postque crux, mors, inferi, salus nostra est_. The Virgin,
birth, and body, then the cross, death, and lower world; this is our salvation.”

**29. [_The God of the Garden_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1087736951?tag=toletaupanre-20)/
Andrew Peterson**

This is a biographical meditation about trees, gardens, and the importance of place.
But it’s really all about trees.

> “It’s winter. I hear a gusty wind in the night beyond the window, low and groaning
> like a distant jet plane, and it occurs to me that the trees are speaking. Their
> limbs are shaken and bent by the cold front tearing across Tennessee. The Chapter
> House is warm, with the embers of a tired fire crackling like morse code in the
> hearth beside me—again, the voice of trees. The temperature has been dropping 
> all day, so the wooden bones of this little building are contracting, causing 
> the wood-paneled ceiling to creak now and then. When I came in just now, shoulders
> up to my ears from the chill, I slammed the arch-top door a friend made out of
> reclaimed barn wood, rattling the wooden picture frames on the wall—one of them
> containing that eighteenth-century print of the Castle Kalmar (printed on wood-
> pulp, of course). I stomped my feet on the hardwood floor, and the trees spoke
> again. The wooden shelves I built out of pine planks hold hundreds of books: Sayers,
> Chesterton, Lewis, and Tolkien; Wordsworth, Coleridge, Wilbur, Merton, and Berry.
> Trees made the pulp that made the pages (also known as leaves) where the words
> were preserved and printed and bound, each book the fruit of a life’s labor. There
> are journals full of songwriting ideas: bad lines scratched out and reworked, 
> furious scribblings, prayers preserved on paper. The walls around the drafting
> desk are covered with drawings made by wooden pencils (there’s no smell quite 
> like the aroma of pencil shavings dumped from the sharpener to the bin). Those
> drawings are mostly of trees, on sketch paper—again, made from trees. On the wooden
> mantel over the hearth there’s a collection of old smoking pipes made from briar
> wood, one of which I bought in a busy tree-lined market in Bordighera, Italy, 
> just across the street from George MacDonald’s house, and it whispers a tale of
> Scotland and the North Wind and my family’s journey south to Italy from the forested
> Swiss Alps. To my right, on the little wooden table beside my chair, sits a black,
> leather-bound Bible with my name embossed on the lower right of the cover. The
> many pages within carry a translation of the Word of God, the Word that told trees
> to exist in the first place, and those words are made alive by a holy wind blowing
> through the book’s leaves. That living Word planted a seed in my parents, a seed
> that fell on good soil, and they in turn planted in me and my siblings an imagination-
> grounding story about a tree in a garden, a tree on a hill of death, and a tree
> in a heavenly city. Those trees fill my heart and my head, and they keep my compass
> trained on the Kingdom. Here in the Chapter House, at the dark edge of Warren 
> Wood, the trees keep me company, and they keep me warm. I am kept by trees.” (
> [191-192](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1087736951?tag=toletaupanre-20))

I particularly loved the book’s final chapter, where Peterson describes his visit
to Israel, culminating with his journey to the Temple Mount at the heart of Jerusalem:

> “This was Mount Moriah, where Abraham was spared from sacrificing Isaac by the
> ram caught in the brambly tree. This was where Solomon completed the temple whose
> pillars were pomegranate trees, where the Ark of the Covenant rested—the same 
> ark that contained the ten commandments, the manna, and, yes, a tree: Aaron’s 
> staff that had budded with new leaves. Not far away was the site where the crucifixion
> tree was planted atop Skull Hill, and not far away from that the Root of David,
> Abraham’s seed, was planted and reborn in a garden. This was where, at Jesus’ 
> triumphant “It is finished!” the curtain was torn in two and he opened for us 
> the gate of glory, which leads his children to a New Jerusalem where a Tree of
> Life will straddle the holy river. I was overwhelmed with love, and by love. I
> stood in the eye of a storm made up of living stories. Stories were the wind and
> the rain and the rolling thunder, and Jesus is king of it all.” ([177-178](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1087736951?tag=toletaupanre-20))

[Allison and I](https://tollelege.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/d0dad-a-n.jpg) 
also visited Israel this year, and we met some [new friends](https://tollelege.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/797a7-boys.jpg),
and we saw an [old friend](https://tollelege.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/8a6a0-peyton-manning.jpg),
and even though we didn’t see enough trees, we did make some wonderful memories (
and friends) that I pray will last a lifetime.

**30. [_The Dark is Rising_](https://amzn.to/3qqYb1c) / Susan Cooper**

I was a latecomer to the “**_Dark is Rising_**” series. Apparently they’ve been 
hugely popular for decades, especially in the UK. The opening tale, _[Over Sea, Under Stone](https://amzn.to/38iFKSs),_
is wonderful. English children, on holiday in Cornwall, discover an ancient treasure
map in a secret room hidden behind a wardrobe. Mysterious enemies lurk about, waiting
to steal what the three Drew children are seeking: clues from the map that could
lead them to King Arthur’s grail. The second book in the series, [_The Dark is Rising_](https://amzn.to/3qqYb1c),
is, well, _darker_. It’s not a horror story, but a story of ever-present dread. 
A “shadowy awareness of evil” pervades the tale. It’s Midwinter Eve in a small English
village, four days before Christmas and one day before Will Stanton’s eleventh birthday.
A snowstorm is brewing in the north, animals are fidgeting in the fields, and rooks
are swirling in the grey sky. An old farmer sees these signs and warns Will, “This
night will be bad and tomorrow will be beyond imagining.” The Dark _is_ rising. 
But there’s hope:

> ‘_When the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back;_
>  _Three from the circle,
> three from the track;_ _Wood, bronze, iron; water, fire, stone;_ _Five will return,
> and one go alone_.’ ([63](https://amzn.to/3qqYb1c))

**31. [_Rejoice and Tremble_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1433565323?tag=toletaupanre-20)/
Michael Reeves**

Michael Reeves wrote a book on the fear of the LORD. Seriously, what else do you
need to know?

> “The filial fear of God is the soul of godliness and the essence of the new life
> implanted by the Spirit. It is the ultimate affection and the very aroma of heaven.
> It is the affection that expels our sinful fears and our anxieties. It is the 
> affection that expels spiritual lethargy. To grow in this sweet and quaking wonder
> at God is to taste heaven now.” ([168](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1433565323?tag=toletaupanre-20))

Amen.

**32. [_I Heard You Paint Houses_](https://amzn.to/32snVlT) / Charles Brandt**

This book is the basis of Martin Scorsese’s film, [_The Irishman_](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1302006/),
and Brandt tells the true story of [Frank Sheeran](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Sheeran).(
Maybe.)

> “The thread of this story is Frank Sheeran’s unique and fascinating life. The 
> witty Irishman was raised a devout Catholic and was a tough child of the Great
> Depression; a combat-hardened hero of World War II; a high-ranking official in
> the International Brotherhood of Teamsters; a man alleged by Rudy Giuliani in 
> a Civil RICO suit to be “acting in concert with” La Cosa Nostra’s ruling commission—
> one of only two non-Italians on Guiliani’s list of twenty-six top mob figures,
> which included the sitting bosses of the Bonnano, Genovese, Colombo, Luchese, 
> Chicago, and Milwaukee families as well as various underbosses; a convicted felon,
> mob enforcer, and legendary stand-up guy; and a father of four daughters and a
> beloved grandfather.” (5)

Sheeran was not only the right-hand man and mob enforcer for [Russell Bufalino](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Bufalino),
he was also a close friend of Jimmy Hoffa.

> “The first words Jimmy ever spoke to me were, ‘I heard you paint houses.’ The 
> paint is the blood that supposedly gets on the wall or the floor when you shoot
> somebody. I told Jimmy, ‘I do my own carpentry work, too.’ That refers to making
> coffins and means you get rid of the bodies yourself.” (11)

Before he died, Brandt interviewed Sheeran one last time and he confessed to killing
Hoffa. Some doubt the veracity of Sheeran’s claims. (See [here](https://slate.com/culture/2019/08/the-irishman-scorsese-netflix-movie-true-story-lies.html)
and [here](https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/09/26/jimmy-hoffa-and-the-irishman-a-true-crime-story/)
and if you’re ready to go down the rabbit hole, read the [“Hoffex” FBI memo](https://www-tc.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/static/media/downloads/2014-07-21/The_Hoffex_Memo_--_Barnes_Ashenfelter_version.pdf)).
I don’t know what to believe, but I do know [_I Heard You Paint Houses_](https://amzn.to/32snVlT)
is an engrossing glimpse inside La Cosa Nostra. (I think.)

**33. [_The Body Keeps the Score_](https://amzn.to/3msC3m0) / Bessel van der Kolk**

This book does a good job introducing the experience, the history, and the treatment
of trauma from a secular perspective. The strength of the book lies in awakening
an awareness of what survivors of trauma _fear_ and _feel_. Two quotes stuck with
me:

> “One does not have to be a combat soldier, or visit a refugee camp in Syria or
> the Congo to encounter trauma. Trauma happens to us, our friends, our families,
> and our neighbors… Trauma, by definition, is unbearable and intolerable. Most 
> rape victims, combat soldiers, and children who have been molested become so upset
> when they think about what they experienced that they try to push it out of their
> minds, trying to act as if nothing happened, and move on. It takes tremendous 
> energy to keep functioning while carrying the memory of terror, and the shame 
> of utter weakness and vulnerability. Long after a traumatic experience is over,
> it may be reactivated at the slightest hint of danger and mobilize disturbed brain
> circuits and secrete massive amounts of stress hormones. This precipitates unpleasant
> emotions intense physical sensations, and impulsive and aggressive actions. These
> posttraumatic reactions feel incomprehensible and overwhelming. Feeling out of
> control, survivors of trauma often begin to fear that they are damaged to the 
> core and beyond redemption.” ([1-2](https://amzn.to/3msC3m0))
> “At the opening session for a group of former Marines, the first man to speak 
> flatly declared, “I do not want to talk about the war.” I replied that the members
> could discuss anything they wanted. After half an hour of excruciating silence,
> one veteran finally started to talk about his helicopter crash. To my amazement
> the rest immediately came to life, speaking with great intensity about their traumatic
> experiences. All of them returned the following week and the week after. In the
> group they found resonance and meaning in what had previously been only sensations
> of terror and emptiness. They felt a renewed sense of the comradeship that had
> been so vital to their war experience. They insisted that I had to be part of 
> their newfound unit and gave me a Marine captain’s uniform for my birthday. In
> retrospect that gesture revealed part of the problem: You were either in or out—
> you either belonged to the unit or you were nobody. After trauma the world becomes
> sharply divided between those who know and those who don’t. People who have not
> shared the traumatic experience cannot be trusted, because they can’t understand
> it. Sadly, this often includes spouses, children, and co-workers.” ([17-18](https://amzn.to/3msC3m0))

As I reflected on this book, I was reminded of the importance of what Bonhoeffer
called “the ministry of listening” in the local church:

> “The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists in listening
> to them. Just as love to God begins with listening to His Word, so the beginning
> of love for the brethren is learning to listen to them. It is God’s love for us
> that He not only gives us His Word but also lends us His ear. So it is His work
> that we do for our brother when we learn to listen to him. Christians, especially
> ministers, so often think they must always contribute something when they are 
> in the company of others, that this is the one service they have to render. They
> forget that listening can be a greater service than speaking. Many people are 
> looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians, because
> these Christians are talking where they should be listening. But he who can no
> longer listen to his brother will soon be no longer listening to God either.” (
> [97-98](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060608528?tag=toletaupanre-20))

It doesn’t mean we don’t speak. We _must_ speak. But we must first be quick to listen
and slow to speak.

**34. [_How to Take Smart Notes_](https://amzn.to/3yWyWYA) / Sönke Ahrens**

I’m an avid notetaker. My children often make fun of my ever-present notebook and
pen. I was immediately drawn to this book when I learned of it from an [episode of the _Reformed Forum_ podcast](https://reformedforum.org/podcasts/rmr126/).
A German sociologist, Niklaus Luhmann, developed an idiosyncratic form of note-taking
that’s organized in an interconnected card catalog-type system called a Zettelkasten(‘
notes box’). All of the note-taking is directed toward _atomic_ writing. In the 
book, Ahrens explains and expands Luhmann’s system. He proposes dividing your note-
taking into three types:

 1. **Ephemeral notes** (these eventually get thrown out)
 2. **Literature notes** (write these as you read a book, but keep them separate from
    the next type)
 3. **Zettel** (process your literature notes and write permanent notes—one note per
    idea)

Camden Bucey [explains](https://reformedforum.org/podcasts/rmr126/) what happens
next:

> “Once written, you must then link a note to the other notes in your existing network
> of note-ideas. In my conceptualization, Luhmann’s method is a form of _atomic 
> writing_. You must force yourself to formulate your thoughts and write them as
> if writing them for someone else. This can be difficult, and you may find much
> personal inertia to this approach. That’s because you think you know the subject
> matter better than you do. Writing is the thinking process. By using this method,
> Luhmann was able to write more than 70 books and 400 scholarly articles before
> he died at the age of 70. That is impressive. But perhaps even more impressive
> than his scholarly output is the nature of his scholarship. He was able to approach
> subjects in fresh ways, finding surprising connections among disparate disciplines.
> This was due in part to the unexpected connections made within his Zettelkasten.”

I’ll admit we’ve now reached peak levels of nerdishness. But if you’ve made it this
far then you have to be… intrigued. You don’t have to build an old-school wooden
card catalog. After all, there are lots of _digital_ options for creating a Zettelkasten.
I’m gonna give this approach a try in 2022. Have any of y’all ever used the “Smart
Notes” method? Let me know.

**35. [_The Law of Innocence_](https://amzn.to/32h601H) / Michael Connelly**

Michael Connelly is a storyteller extraordinaire. You probably already know his 
beloved police detective, [Harry Bosch](https://amzn.to/3qAVWsu). But you might 
be less familiar with Bosch’s half-brother, LA defense attorney Mickey Haller, also
known as “The Lincoln Lawyer.” Here’s his legal philosophy:

> “A murder case is like a tree. A tall tree. An oak tree. It has been carefully
> planted and cared for by the state. Watered and trimmed when needed, examined 
> for disease and parasites of any kind. Its root system is constantly monitored
> as it flourishes underground and clings tightly to the earth. No money is spared
> in guarding the tree. Its caretakers are granted immense powers to protect and
> serve it. The tree’s branches eventually grow and spread wide in splendor. They
> provide deep shade for those who seek true justice. The branches spring from a
> thick and sturdy trunk. Direct evidence, circumstantial evidence, forensic science,
> motive, and opportunity. The tree must stand strong against the winds that challenge
> it. And that’s where I come in. I’m the man with the ax. My job is to cut the 
> tree down to the ground and burn its wood to ashes.” ([4](https://amzn.to/32h601H))

This latest story is the sixth (and best) in the series and we find Mickey in the
trial of his life, but this time he’s the one on trial.

> “A trial often comes down to who is a better storyteller, the prosecution or the
> defense. There is evidence, of course, but physical evidence is at first interpreted
> for the jury by the storyteller. The physical evidence fits both stories. One 
> might be more believable than the other when writ small. But a skilled storyteller
> can even the scales of justice or maybe even tip them the other way.” ([190-191](https://amzn.to/32h601H))

**36. [_Prayers of a Parent for Young Adults_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1629958204?tag=toletaupanre-20)/
Kathleen Nielson**

Kathleen Nielson has done a great service for parents who long to pray without ceasing
for their children. She’s penned Scriptural prayers for [young children](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1629958174?tag=toletaupanre-20),
for [teens](https://tollelege.net/2021/12/31/the-best-books-i-read-this-year-2021/?utm_source=nroark&utm_medium=blogpartners),
for [young adults](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1629958204?tag=toletaupanre-20), and
for [adult children](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1629958263?tag=toletaupanre-20), 
covering requests for saving faith, delight in God’s Word, love for the church, 
friendships, generosity, humility, hope, strength for suffering, and even one for
a good night’s rest.

> **For Nighttime Rest**
> _My son, do not lose sight of these– keep sound wisdom and discretion, and they
> will be life for your soul and adornment for your neck. Then you will walk on 
> your way securely, and your foot will not stumble. If you lie down, you will not
> be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. (**Prov. 3:21-24**) _
> How good to pray for our children’s rest! (We can’t help but be praying for our
> own rest as well.) And how important– not just that their bodies would be healthy
> and refreshed by regular, deep, peaceful sleep, but also that their souls would
> be at rest, at peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ and the ministry of
> the Spirit. Our grown children do not go alone into their days and nights. What
> a comfort to commit them to the Lord who does not slumber or sleep (**Ps. 121:
> 4**).
> May he know the rest of one who labors well and wisely,
>  having aimed in hours
> of light to please you, Lord, then resting in the hours of night as one who knows
> his way along the path you put before him, going before him night and day and 
> by your Spirit showing him the way.
> I pray he would embrace the rhythm of dark and light,
>  of sleep renewing and of
> morning zest. When he lies down, would you make his sleep sweet? May evening prayers
> seep into dreams that would not haunt or frighten– comfort, rather; gladden; or
> pass harmless by. And if he wakes, Lord, may he know You with him, there to lighten
> the dark watches of the night with echoing sustenance of the Word and comfort 
> from the saving love of Christ and songs that sweeten all the shadows ’til the
> morning sends the dark away.
> Now, Lord, I do admit,
>  I’m praying for my rest as well– so let me rest in offering
> this prayer to you. ([56-57](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1629958204?tag=toletaupanre-20))

Now may the God of peace grant you perfect peace, and living hope, and glorious 
grace, and steadfast love with faith, through Jesus Christ our Lord, until the day
breaks and the shadows flee away.

As always, happy reading and Happy New Year!

–Nick Roark

 

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