An interesting look into his conversion from acknowledging there is a being greater than us, to that on which forms his Christian faith. Many don't realize that he wasn't a Christian and was to an extent an agnostic. This book shows his thoughts process on how he realized there has to be something more. A wonder argument.

Really this is two parts, the Dao, and the Abolition. But his part on the Abolition is mind blowing. CS Lewis argues that as man claims to conquer nature, in truth, he is really putting more dependency on man, and as time goes by, less and less men become the ones who control everything.

I'm currently working on a project with a buddy of mine and it involved reading all the books in the Book of Enoch. It is an Apocryphe, but there are great reasons why it should have been in the bible. Helps to explain the nephalim, as well as why God did the flood...make way more sense

Wow...I mean wow. I'll be reading more Heiser books. Heiser takes from some of the apocrypha and dives deep in the bible to discuss exactly what the bible and people of the time knew about demons and the unseen realm. 

Got to listen to him speak at our church last week so I decided to re-read his book that came out right at COVID. Always a great read as it analyzes the parallels of key parts in history and today and how christians should respond. 

The better of the two since it gives more of a path forward and more detailed steps in transition. I'm going to take Kian camping this summer, and start the journey. 

And excellent book that explores how we raise our children to face the perils of today, and become mighty like David.

A book about helping you to navigate technology (social media, iPhones, etc) with your children. How to protect, but also be present and more importantly, be a guiding light.

Figured I'd try a previous book of his before the speech. Not as good as Live Not By Lies and a bit aged over certain observations, but definitely took some very good nuggets of truth that made it worth it.

This is my second time reading it, but wanted to revisit certain numbers for a specific reason.

Recommended by a friend, this is a book that explores how Christ loves all unconditionally and a great exploration of Christianity.

My pastors book explores the gifts we are given that are designed for service. Excellent content, but I had a hard time figuring out mine.

Read this years ago, but as Kian grows older, I needed to be reminded on how a father can help his son grow.

Not worth the read. Many say this is his book on how he became a Christian. However, it really is a biography where there are two important points on his turn to Christianity and they are about the total length of 4 paragraphs: the makeshift atrium or garden his brother made and gave him in their room, and he bus ride to the zoo. 

Was recommended this book by Kirk Cameron. Basically it's a game plan on how to change the status quo, written years ago, and has major applicability - I should probably write a large discussion on this one since out of context this could be questionable.

As always Gladwell is amazing and even though I didn't have an interest in the bombers of WWII, he created an amazing journey down that history. 

As I posted before, this was one of the best leadership books I've read. He started by trying to write his memoir, but realized there is no such thing as the perfect leader. All of histories top 'leaders' were flawed. So, his book pivoted to look at leaders in history and why their flaws didn't matter. GREAT points came from this. 

I was surprised with how well this was. I've heard a lot about it, but figured it was the usual vet gung-ho motivational books. Did a great job of weaving in stories into the lesson.

The author is a writer for big websites. He decided to write a book that combined all the different things he's covered, but weaved it into the story of going Carriboo hunting. At first, I didn't understand the structure, but after 3 chapters it was clear. Very interesting way to write. 

I've trained in Black Swan negotiations on multiple levels and one of my instructors wrote this book. It basically applies tactical empathy principles for workplace leadership. 

A great reminder of analyzing the right data to get the right answers, but I wasn't a fan of how it was written or presented. 

A look at colleges of today and their trajectory on young minds. Heard about him from a friend and on the Joe Rogan podcast. Interesting ideas, but not as well written as I'd of liked/expected.

Interesting ideas but I wasn't a fan of how it was written. Has great points, but could have explained them better - fleshed it out more.

Just about every book on hiring and managing mentions or references this book. Granted it was written in the 70's, I still found many parts were not as pertinent and was geared more towards giant corporations. Perhaps I'll revisit it latter down the road.

Eh...this basically just said that those three words are important for successful entrepreneurs.

One of my favorite side-notes of history. I'm a huge fan on Stephen Decatur - one of American's most bodacious heroes that people don't know about. This books was a fun read and well done. 

Oh my goodness...true story about Samuel Zemurray, the Banana King and his rise to power, mercenary soldiers, CIA agents, and more. It really explains a lot about why America is seen the way it is in South America.  

This was a fun one that focused on the history of Hannibal and used it as a life lesson and teaching unit. While that might sound like a stretch, it was actually quite insightful. I really enjoyed this book.

 Excellent read that covers the creation of the Dark Web's Silk Road and gives an understanding of how something like that could happen and why it did. 

Incredible true story about a Navy seal. But it was more than that. It focused on the dark places and drug addiction and his faith in Christ that gave him strength. Heartfelt and raw.

Walter Isaacson is one of my favorite biography writers (second only to Chernow). He does an amazing job of not putting his 'thoughts' in his writing and allows you to decide on what is or isn't. However, as far as I can see, it's pretty clear that Franklin had many affairs during his time - something Isaacson decided to not discuss or make it sound like it was unfounded by omitting it. But I will say, Franklin was mind blowing in ALL the things he did. 

Full look at the history of all the people who create PayPal. I've read many books that center on certain people or touch on this history. It was great to put it all together in one.

A history of both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. I don't think it was well written based on pacing and where he jumped between the two. However, the subject matter is well worth studying and learning.

This is an excellent example of terrible journalism. I was all about reading something counter popular opinion - in this case an analysis of why Jack Welch was a terrible leader and change the industry for the worse. But, because the author was hellbent on writing anything they could on it, they chose key facts and points to…just not bring up at all.

A biography on Peter Thiel. This book was terrible because it is clear that the author does not like Thiel. I think a good writer can present the facts and allow the reader to decide...but this was just terrible with slanted facts.

An incredible look at the way technology and business can hit a dramatic change and how to prepare for them. Helps that it’s written by the first CEO of AOL. 

Having been someone who was irate with him when this happened, I started to realize that maybe he wasn’t wrong… considering all that has happened since. This book was eye opening and caused me to do even more research.

A great look at the right kind of mindset that helped to bring about space exploration, and created parallels to business today. 

This book reads like a self-righteous pious ode to himself. There is a lot between the lines here that makes me lose a lot of respect for Benioff and his actions and not trust the altruistic story he weaves.

Feynmans biography that basically read like a pride fueled bender. This book was such a letdown. I could almost imagine him smiling saying… see, aren’t I weird AND cool? And I was like no, not by my definition.

Like “Never Split the Difference, this book is an educational piece on negotiations and getting to the yes. Well done and a great compliment to the other book as well. 

A long book on the thoughts and experience of Ray Dalio, an epic investor. Most of it is extremely useful, but honestly, whole books could have been written on all the nuggets he discussed. Therefore, not useable if you don't fully understand those concepts already, but definitely a good reminder to focus on those things if you do.

This was an amazing book that changed the way I look at KPI's and I'm now more of a fan of OKRs. Added to my list of books to read every year.

Excellent read that was recommended by a friend who just sold her software business.

Excellent read that was recommended by a friend who just sold her software business.

Excellent and fun read that goes through the history of Bitcoin, and the two sides to how it should operate.

An excellent book on the process of startups and venture capitalism. I have no intention to look into getting any, but this was a side of the business that I was very unfamiliar with and wanted to learn.

This book was about how they 'created' the company of Google and focused more on the bureaucracy and structure and leadership management. However, I saw a lot of problems with what they did - things they lauded as incredible, I see as a fault of their company. I won't expand further here, but suffice it to say I don't agree with what they 'championed' and I think is actually a systemic problem to the company. While I don't agree, and I am not at their level on business, I still learned a lot from it and acknowledge it is a good corporate book - if not perhaps something to learn what not to do. 

Great introduction to NFTs and some of blockchain tech.

A look at the process by which a company scales at an insane rate by burning lots of money and not take a profit until they can own the market. While not applicable to myself, it did shed light on how/why companies do this and when one should consider.

More of a sales pitch to their program, but it is a way to scale and grow a business and effectively manage the team as well. Many parallels to previous readings in the hiring process. 

I wasn't a fan of this. I think the problem with it was that since the subject is squarely in Michael's area of experience, he didn't do a great job explaining thing. I'm well versed in a lot of this terminology, but most times I was lost and got terms/abbreviations mixed up. It's as if you needed to study the things he briefly mentioned in order to follow.

Funny that I read this book after the above. Eric comes from Jack’s realm and discusses the influence of GE and the use of his information and processes. However, this book wasn’t applicable to myself. It was for large organizations looking to adopt the agility of small startups. 

This was incredible. Basically wrote a fiction that was designed to truly be a nonfiction that taught about the role of IT in a company, and corporate issues. I learned a LOT from this and am waiting to get my hands on the next book which focuses on software. 

Written by the founder of Twilio, it gives a great description of how companies should work with their programmers but fell short on better applicability. 

Extremely well written, especially for the subject matter. I've always enjoyed learning about that period and the dinosaurs.

Perhaps this should have its own review, but WOW. It was written back in 1992, and literally talks about the Metaverse (his name for exactly what Meta wants to be), explains NFTs and Cryptocurrency, and even talks about Avatars (which many credit this book as the first use of the phrase for such things...but the author said someone else used it). Even though this was written before most of us knew about the internet, it reads like it was written this year. Insane.

This was a free Audiobook on Amazon and professionally made. Sounded like you were listening to a movie. And, while I normally don't like Vampire books, this was AMAZING and a great story. Can't wait to get the next ones in the series.

Perhaps this should go in the Nonfiction section? A book that I've always heard about, but never read. Interesting that in Live Not By Lies, he says we're more in Huxley's world than 1984's Orwell's since it's not about fear as much as it is in personal pleasure.

After reading Snow Crash, figured I'd read the next of his. This was a bit confusing at first - jumping back and forth between generations each chapter, but a very unique and extremely detailed book. 

Not worth the read. Many say this is his book on how he became a Christian. However, it really is a biography where there are two important points on his turn to Christianity and they are about the total length of 4 paragraphs: the makeshift atrium or garden his brother made and gave him in their room, and he bus ride to the zoo.  

Book one of series, this wasn’t the greatest of stories, but I loved the different characters and their angle. I’ll keep reading.

Book two of the First Law series. Again, excellent multifaceted fantasy book with one of my favorite literary characters, Sand Dan Glokta.

Book three and final of the First Law series, this ended incredibly.

 A short story about ants vs dinosaurs - sounds crazy, and yet incredibly good and well thought out. 

Having read book 1 of the 3 Body Problem, I figured I’d keep going. However, I don’t find this very entertaining. The science is good, and the creativity to the story is insanely good though.

Final book to the 3 Body Problem. In truth, I wasn't a fan of this series but kept reading because it's one of those SciFi books everyone talks about. However, book 3 helped to make it worthwhile. I think, in the end, this series is actually a Cosmic Horror book - many will disagree, but the vastness of space was best shown in book 3.

A great continuation to the Jedi Academy series.

Such a great series and a lot of fun.

I'm a big fan of Kel Kade and her books. It was great to pick up book 2 series. It had been a while since book 1 and took me a bit to jump back in. 

Book 2 to Mistborn was a little slower than 1, but still absolutely amazing. Finishes strong!

Book 2 of Mistborn, this was absolutely amazing and an incredible continuation.

Having loved Mistborn, I decided to read the series that comes after that. Cool part is that Mistborn took place in a Medieval times (sort of), and this next series that continues takes place in a Western time period. Brave of Sanderson to do, and the characters were excellent, but just not as good as the first series.

I love the Mistborn series books 1-3. I love that Brandon moved into another time period. It's incredible and brave to do so. However, I just didn't like this series as much or near as much as 1-3. But I tip my hat to him on doing what he does. He's still the best author of our time...yeah, I said it. 

I love the Mistborn series books 1-3. I love that Brandon moved into another time period. It's incredible and brave to do so. However, I just didn't like this series as much or near as much as 1-3. But I tip my hat to him on doing what he does. He's still the best author of our time...yeah, I said it. 

I love the Mistborn series books 1-3. I love that Brandon moved into another time period. It's incredible and brave to do so. However, I just didn't like this series as much or near as much as 1-3. But I tip my hat to him on doing what he does. He's still the best author of our time...yeah, I said it. 

This was AMAZING. I immediately crushed through the series. I'd highly recommend this book to just about anyone.

This was bad. I had high hopes since the character is amazing. However, the author basically made an average episode of Clone Wars that I don't think Filoni would have approved. It just fell flat and wasn't well thought out. 

Was excited about this, however, it was a bit of a let down. Not as well done as others in Star Wars, and fell flat. 

As you'll see, I'm going to catch up on a bunch of Star Wars books. This was well done and weaved into Star Wars 1 very well. 

An award winning scifi novel written by a Chinese writer. There are a lot of layers to this book that I should probably write a whole review on. Undertones are weaved into this book and I wish I was in a book club to talk about this - not sure it deserved all the awards, but definitely a great book.

Dakota makes the list again. I've read this before, but I wanted to repickup the story again before I move into book two. Again, another entertaining, and funny unique book that will have you laughing. Typical Dakota 

I didn't realize this was a side-story to a main series - and you can read it without reading the series. This book had me literally laughing out loud the most out of any book. It's an LitRPG book about an old chiropractor who wants to experiment in the game to hone his skills, and has 'negative' charisma. He also gains T-Rex hands...yes, hands that turn into T-Rexs. Haha...Also, this was perfect for Luke Daniels. 

Another LitRPG novel which was excellent and well executed. It's of the Tokugawa Japanese era/style mixed with a bit of Avatar the Last Air Bender (which I'm a huge fan of both). Looking forward to book 2. 

Had a dragon on the cover, and had great reviews - but I didn't know what I was getting into. Extremely well written, and executed. Reads more like a version of vikings in a fantastical world with its own rules, magic, and history. Immediately picked up book 2 in the series.

Book 2 to the series...loved it and can't wait to read book 3...whenever it comes out.

I'm just going to say it...all things Brandon Sanderson has been a 5/5. But this was excellent. Even more so, because Brandon is clean, I was able to play the audible in the car with the kiddos, and Kian told me that he loved that book, and wants to listen to the rest of them. He's never said that. 

This isn't my usual type of book, however, this is about what a potential world war would look like today and how it would start. Being a prior military Chinese specialist, I can tell you this book was DEAD accurate, and very scary in truly what is happening in the world. Absolute recommendation if you're into espionage, world war type books.

This author truly cracks me up. A great LITRPG cultivation book, and a sense of humor and lots of fun. 

The final book in the VGO series and it ended extremely well. A great series from start to finish.

This is one of those great award winning scifi classics that I never got around to reading. But HOLY MOLY was it amazing. Brilliantly written and extremely unique. Worthy of all its awards. 

 I love all things Sanderson. However, this one almost didn't get a 5. It started SUPER slow and it took me over a couple of months to read it. But then it picked up and was amazing.

This is book 4 of the Red Rising series. This is still my absolute favorite series and book 4 continued that. It too was a bit slow at the start, but then it came to fruition and was brilliant. Can't wait to read the next one! 

Started pretty slow, and I was starting to regret reading it (since this is my favorite series and I want to protect that), but then it really picked up and was great.

This series is awesome. Can’t wait for book 5.

It started off slow but then picked up well and kept me in the series.

Advanced space faring humans go to another planet, and discover other humans…that know magic. This was some classical fun and well written.

This was highly recommended and was an interesting read. It's The Godfather meets the Yakuza with a tiny dash of Marvel. I'll continue the series.

Book two to the Jade war series. Still extremely smart with real scenarios of international espionage. Basically what you'd get if God Father was mixed with the Yakuza and given powers - but smartly written wit international economics realism. Some elements of the book I wasn't a fan of though. 

The final book in the Jade series. It ended the way it should and Ike had an awesome finish.

Thrawn is my favorite Star Wars character and this book helped to tie it all together and finish the series. But pacing was a bit slower than normal. 

Eh…interesting to continue Revan’s story from the video game, however, this wasn’t the most entertaining of Star Wars stories.

Interesting premise on a town on an island all of a sudden gets zapped back to colonial times.

I didn't like the first book in this series, but thought I'd give book 2 a try. Nope. The main character is hard to like and follow and other characters aren't very interesting.