5's

 

I can't believe it was 18 years ago that I posted about my "5's," which are books I've read that have fundamentally changed my worldview (on a 1-5 scale in which, for example, 3 = recommended). Since then, I'm happy to have added a few. I wanted to take today's post to say a few words about some of these 5's, and specifically what it is about them that has continued to influence how I look at the world. These are kind of in chronological order from when I first read them, but sometimes I've clumped some together.

* The Holy Bible, The Message (Peterson). I suspect that the Bible is the most influential book for the most people in the world. It certainly is for me. I have since enjoyed reading Peterson's contemporary translation, which is a stark reminder that God's Word is meant to be conversational and approachable.

* Pleasures of God (Piper). Besides the Bible itself, this book has had the most profound influence on my understanding of what God is like. And guess what? He is a happy God for whom pleasure is a foundational characteristic.

* Crabgrass Frontier (Jackson), The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Jacobs). Cities are not accidents, but products of human choices in design and policy.

* Moneyball (Lewis), Good to Great (Collins). I love counter-intuitive narratives that sneak up on you, and both of these bestsellers are reminders that success in this world doesn't look like we might think.

* The Night is Dark and I am Far From Home (Kozol). A searing account of how public education has dulled our sense of humanity.

* Strangers from a Different Shore (Takaki). Growing up in an Asian-American household and in a school and neighborhood in which Asian Americans were pretty well represented, this account of how immigrants to this country from Asia (which I first read when I first left home, for my freshman year in college) have been treated was a profound eye-opener.

* Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents (Wilkerson), The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America (Rothstein), The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (Alexander). An essential trilogy of how much of America is built on individual and systemic racism towards Black people.

* The Body Keeps Score (van der Kolk). Trauma is literally unspeakable, and it has been life-altering for me to come to grips with just how visceral and lasting an impact it leaves on its victims.