On books...

I was tagged by the Artesian pastor Brad Hightower from 21st Century Reformation about books. Wow, I feel like a real Blogger now. People actually cue me in! So here it goes...

1. Total number of books I own or have owned:

I actually did some actual counting to estimate the answer for this question. My home office has 17 occupied shelves of about 600 books. Roughly 250 of them are business and computer books, relating to my work, the rest are relating to faith, less than 10 are fictions. At work, I have about another 150 computer/business related books.

But here's the kicker. The books on the shelves were not really my library. My library consists of 678 books in the Logos/Libronix Digital Library on my Tablet PC. I have been pouring money to keep accumulate more books on it, so it had become very valuable to me. And I actually read them as book and not just use them as reference tools. Every night, when I am putting my son to sleep, I am holding the 3 pounds Tablet PC and just go through the titles I had in Logos.

(By the way, if you want to buy Logos, check with your local seminary first, they may be able to give you a deep discount first...)


2. Last book(s) I bought:

When we came up to Seattle last month, I found a Christian outlet book store (the first of its kind for me). There, I bought "Preaching that Changes Lives" by Michael Farabez for $4.00 - please don't feel bad if you are the author of the book. I also picked up "Show Time: Living Down Hypocrisy By Living Out The Faith" from my professor there on a deep discount too.

I am such a cheapskate. If I can read from the net, I will do that first; if I can read for free, I will do it next. I will only buy if it's a bargain, or if I must absolutely needs it.


3. Last book I read:

"The Dead Sea Scrolls & Modern Translations of the Old Testament" by Harold Scanlin (from my Logos system). This is a fascinating read for me since as a proponent of expositional study of the Bible, I had always wrestled with the issue of "How reliable is every single word of the Bible, especially since we don't have the original?"

The book might be a bit technical but basically after examine all the evidences, one will have to conclude: “The textual evidence of the Dead Sea Scrolls, in fact, confirms the general reliability and stability of the text of the Old Testament as we have it today” (p.140).


4. Five books that mean a lot to me:

* "What They don't Teach You in Seminary". Actually, this is not a real title, but what I called the collection of resources I picked up from Logos. It includes the 8 volumes of "The Pastor's Soul", the the 12 volumes "Mastering Ministry" and 20 volumes of "The Leadership Library" from Christianity Today including "The Contemplative Pastor". These books were written by pastors for pastors so you learn a lot from their experiences, from the obvious things about preaching, to the not so obvious things about the occupational hazards. I've read and re-read them on a regular basis.

* Bill Hull's "The Disciple-Making Church" as well as any other books by him. Since I am committed in the SonLife philosophy, as adopted by our Vietnamese Alliance Youth, I am sold on the Disciple-Making framework in ministry as well as in personal life. This will probably become my operating philosophy instead of Purpose-Driven-Church.

* Richard Foster's "Celebration of Discipline". Recently, I began to realized that "Spiritual knowledge is not the same as spiritual life!" That realization prompted me to ask, "and then how can I nurture a spiritual life?" This class book is the the answer which helps me to anchor my soul in God.

* Dallas Willard's "Divine Conspiracy". Honestly I haven't finished this one yet, but even from the few chapters that I read so far, it had affected my thinking a great deal in pointing the problem with viewing the Christian faith as something for later (eternal life) and not for the now (transformation).

* That's it for now - I don't have the fifth entry yet. It's embarassing to admit, but I am not widely read. Most of the books above I read out of "obedience" (from schoolwork, from someone recommended to me, or my mentors wanted me to read...)


5. Two major books when I was a kid:

The first was "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" by Jules Verne (in Vietnamese translation). I was six-year-old at the time, and my aunt started reading the book to me but she didn't have time to continue one. As a result, I read the whole book myself. Captain Nemo became a kind of hero for me. Cold, isolated, smart. I just want to be like him when I grow up. In a way, he messed up my personality big time for my rebellious teen years later on.

The second one was "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" by Richard Bach (also in Vietnamese translation). I was preteen at the time I read the book. I like the seagul character so much that I wrote a sequel for it back when I was in seventh grade. The book fueled my teen's attitude even more. Since I came to the US, I even watched the motion picture based on the book as well.


Well, that's it about me and the books I read. I guess the adage "you are what you eat" would also applicable here. But before you think I am all work and no play, let me add that I also enjoy reading murder-mystery fictions; but I am limited to murder-mystery short-stories only (long novels just take too much time...)

What do you read? You can also answer the same 5 questions here:

1. Total number of books I own or have owned
2. Last book(s) I bought
3. Last book I read
4. Five books that mean a lot to me
5. Two major books when I was a kid

You don't have to even be detailed on your answers. People I want to tag to answer this same book meme are...

- Sir Knights Bridge, he usually has good conversation.
- Susanio, since she will be a "professional readers" starting this Fall- she should have something to answer.
- ShorteeVi, may be she had read something new since Dan Brown's.
- Drewbie82, I hope he would have some times to answer.
- Faith604, a friend I mmade because she visited our church website. Finally Jenney and I met her in real life last May in Vancouver.
- Shrek_azn, I think this Xangan would have something to say too.
- And finally, Steve Stanley from Seneca South Carolina, whom I have never met.