Do you read non-fiction books? Reading good non-fiction books help me gain more clarity, here are 12 non-fiction books that cover my 3 most concerned topics: Christianity, Love and Art.
Art
The War of Art – Steven Pressfield
Sounds and Sweet Airs – Anna Beer
Undistracted – Bod Goff
Counterfeit Gods – Timothy Keller
“The War of Art” removes all my excuses for not pursuing music and literature. We all have talents, and talents are also responsibilities. The responsibility is to just show your work. In “Sounds and Sweet Airs”, the 8 women composers remind me, in spite of gender inequality, class issues, poverty, war, illness, being a foreigner and etc. , don’t wait for perfect weather to do art. “Undistracted” like the title, is keeping me undistracted to execute my creativities. “Counterfeit Gods” teaches me how important is it to do art without worshipping it as a false god.
Love
The Art of Loving – Erich Fromm
Conversations on Love – Natasha Lunn
The 5 Love Languages – Gary Chapman
The Four Loves – C.S. Lewis
To me, love is the most important thing in life, the utmost rule for a Christian. We do not have “love” as a subject in school. Real life example of true love is unfortunately so rare. So how do I equip myself for the most important thing in life? “The Art of Loving” is a good textbook for the subject. “Conversations on Love” collected some brilliant real life examples of what love is. “The 5 Love Languages” is a wonderful exercise book on how to show love so that the person you love understand it. “The Four Loves” discusses love can be dangerous if it is not defined by the true source of love. God is love, but love is not God.
Christianity
God is Not Great – Christopher Hitchens
The Stillborn God – Mark Lilla
The Reason For God – Timothy Keller
Mere Christianity – C.S. Lewis
Growing up in a Christian family, have I ever doubted about Christianity? Of course, yes. However, when the clouds of doubt is cleared, faith becomes more solid. A hardcore atheist book “God is Not Great” and “The Stillborn God” claim religion is responsible for wars. If you do not have time to read these two books, you can read “The Reason For God”, for the book responses to the 2 books mentioned and more. “Mere Christianity” is a collection of BBC radio programmes by C.S. Lewis during World War 2. What kind of hope that C.S. Lewis and his audiences were clinging to in the face of war?
“you will never make a good impression on other people until you stop thinking about what sort of impression you are making.” – Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
Note:
The weather is getting cold, it would be really nice if you can sponsor me a cup of coffee via:
https://ko-fi.com/thejourneywriter
Thank you so much!