Reading the Classics in My Fields

Being in my forties has changed my reading priorities. I read 50-70 books per year. That means I will likely read only 2800 more books in my lifetime. I will only read 1500 more books before I reach retirement age. 

My approach was pretty haphazard from my 20's to my 40's. Unless it was required for school, I read whatever caught my eye and often was just the latest books that came out. That made my reading really random. If I heard a great interview with an author, I added it my list of books to read. I enjoyed that randomness, but I decided recently that I didn't want to be quite so random.

One of the ways that I have reprioritized my reading is that I want to read the classics in my fields. What I mean by fields is my areas of responsibility and interest--often career and hobbies but probably family as well. My fields are career-related (pastoring, biblical studies, and preaching), Christian-related (theology and devotion) and writing (literature and writing). I've started rereading some of the books from seminary because those are books that my professors selected in each discipline.

I changed the ratio of my reading. Now 2/3 of my reading is the classics of my fields and 1/3 are randomly selected books. I think that is healthier for me.

Right now, within my adjusted priorities, I'm reading and rereading:

Brothers, We are Not Professionals, John Piper

Preaching, Tim Killer

Luke (NIVAC Commentary), Darrell Bock.

The Chosen, Chaim Potok

Cross, Warren Weirsbe

Next on my lists are How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler, Ripe Tomato Revolution by Frank Hyman, and The Promise by Chaim Potok.

I don't think there are many books that every person should read because our fields and interests are different, but within a person's interests and responsibilities there are books that are classics and those are worth reading.


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