3 BOOKS

Yesterday I invited havoc into my daily schedule. I ordered three new books at once.

And since I ordered through Amazon, all three arrived today.

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene. (I've heard this book referenced by many different people over the last few years and finally decided to put it in my "cart". It was first published in 1998. It is a lot more involved than I imagined it - 430 pages of small print!)

Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg. (Communication is a topic which has long interested me and all the more so since I became a pastor. Years ago, Duhigg authored the first truly influential book on habit formation, so I was familiar with the quality of his work. This book is brand new - published this year. I heard Duhigg promoting it on a recent podcast.)

The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem by Nathaniel Branden. (I heard a podcaster cite this as a book which has greatly influenced his life. I had never heard of it, but I was intrigued by an idea which the podcaster cited from the book - something which might fit with my dissertation. The book was first published in 1994 and represents the culmination of decades of research on self-esteem by Branden. Interestingly, the author is the one who popularized the term "self-esteem" in the first place. That's a good sign you are hearing from THE expert in the field.)

This evening I took time to read a few pages in each of the 3 books as a way to determine which I wanted to dive into first. The easy winner was The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem. It drew me in entirely.

This is good - it means I can justify the time reading as being toward my dissertation. And from what I have read so far, I think it will be helpful to me not only academically, but personally and professionally. 

Based on the book's insight into human nature in the early pages, I have already decided it is something every pastor should read - we will see if that opinion strengthens or weakens as I continue on.