I found this on my friend’s Facebook page, and decided to re-post it here. I don’t know where he found the list, and I don’t think some of these books should be on it. Still, I’m amazed at how many of them I’ve read. Almost 50! Hmm… Guess that means I’m still two-thirds an idiot, right?

1. The Republic, by Plato
2. (read partial) The Art of War, by Sun Tzu
3. The Prince, by Machievelli
4. (read) The Illiad, by Homer
5. (read) The Odyssey, by Homer
6. (read partial) A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking
7. The Post American World, by Fareed Zakaria
8. A Long Walk to Freedom, by Nelson Mandela
9. Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller
10. A Passage to India, by E.M. Forster

11. (read) Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
12. (read) Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
13. Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad
14. (read partial) Animal Farm, by George Orwell
15. (read) 1984, by George Orwell
16. (saw the movie) Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
17. (read) Lord of the Rings trilogy, by JRR Tolkein
18. (read) Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein – They blow up giant bugs with big guns.
19. (read) Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
20. (saw the movie) The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara

21. (read) Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
22. (read) The Divine Comedy, by Dante
23. (read) Paradise Lost, by John Milton
24. (read) The Jungle Book, by Rudyard Kipling
25. (read) As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
26. (read partial) I, by Robot, by Isaac Asimov
27. Across Five Aprils, by Irene Hunt
28. Utopia, by Thomas Moore
29. The Social Contract, by Rousseau
30. Reflections on the Revolution in France, by Edmund Burke

31. The Federalist Papers, by Publius (pseudo; Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay)
32. (read) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
33. Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse
34. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
35. (read) Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe
36. Napoleon: A Biography, by Frank McLynn
37. Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings, by Marcus Borg and Jack Kornfield
38. (read) Macbeth, by William Shakespeare
39. (read) Midsummer’s Night Dream, by William Shakespeare
40. (read them all) Harry Potter, the series, by JK Rowling

41. His Dark Materials, by Philip Pullman
42. (saw the movie) The Never Ending Story, by Michael Ende
43. (read) Peter and Wendy, by JM Barrie
44. A Separate Peace, by John Knowles
45. The Children’s Story, by James Clavell
46. (read) Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
47. (listened to audiobook) The Giver, by Lois Lowry
48. (read) The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, by Bill Waterson
49. (read) To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
50. Catch 22, by Joseph Heller

51. (read) Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger
52. (read) Chronicles of Narnia, by CS Lewis
53. (saw the movies) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl
54. (read) Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo
55. (don’t want to read) Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
56. (read) Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden
57. (read) Dune, by Frank Herbert
58. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
59. (started to read, then watched the movie) Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas
60. (read) Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens

61. (read) Dracula, by Bram Stoker
62. Speeches that Changed the World, by Owen Collins (Editor)
63. The Last Lecture, by Randy Paush
64. Zen Buddhism, by Daisetz T. Suzuki
65. The Power of One, by Bryce Courtenay
66. The Good War, by Studs Terkel
67. The Relativity of Wrong, by Isaac Asimov
68. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. Le Guin
69. Robert E. Lee on Leadership, by H.W. Crocker III
70. Ulysses, by James Joyce

71. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
72. The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway
73. V., by Thomas Pynchon
74. (read partial) Neuromancer, by William Gibson
75. The Professional Chef, by The Culinary Instutue of America
76. Treatise on the Three Imposters, by Unknown
77. Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn
78. Surely You Must Be Joking, Mr. Feynman, by Richard Feynman
79. Quotations from Chairman Mao, by Mao Zedong
80. The Cask of Amontillado, by Edgar Allan Poe

81. (read) Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince), by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
82. The Diary of Anne Frank, by Anne Frank
83. Where The Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak
84. The Celestine Prophecy, by James Redfield
85. The Outsiders, by S. E. Hinton
86. (read… I think) Shogun, by James Clavell
87. The Color of Water, by James McBride
88. Night, by Elie Wiesel
89. The American President, by Kathryn Moore
90. The White Tiger: A Novel, by Aravind Adiga

91. Triumph of the American Imagination, by Neal Gabler
92. The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World, by Niall Ferguson
93. (read) The Abolition of Man, by C. S. Lewis
94. The Elegant Universe, by Brian Greene
95. Relativity: The Special and the General Theory, by Albert Einstein
96. The Future of Ideas, by Lawrence Lessig
97. Civilization and Its Discontents, by Sigmund Freud
98. The Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin
99. The World Is Flat, by Thomas L Friendman
100. Walden, by Henry David Thoreau

101. Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
102. Common Sense, by Thomas Paine
103. (read) The Bible
104. (read partial) The Koran
105. Tao Te Ching
106. (read) A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
107. Non-Violent Resistance: Satyagraha, by Mohandas K. Gandhi
108. Deliverance, by James Dickey
109. (read partial) The Brothers Karamazov, by by Fyodor Dostoevsky
110. The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien

111. (read partial) The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
112. (read) Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
113. For Whom The Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway
114. Revolutionary Road, by Richard Yates
115. (read partial) Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
116. (saw the movie) One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
117. Winter’s Tale, by Mark Helprin
118. So Long, See You Tomorrow, by William Maxwell
119. The Dharma Bums, by Jack Kerouac
120. Life of Pi by Yann Martel

121. Notes from the Underground, by Dostoyevsky
122. On the Genealogy of Morality, by Friedrich Nietzsche
123. I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, by Tucker Max

Before Heath Ledger died, he did work on a film called The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. I’ve just seen the trailer for it, and it looks beautiful.

I’m glad we will have this film to remember him by. He did a wonderful job as the Joker, but he always seemed like such a nice, cheerful guy to me that it seemed wrong for him to be remembered as a villain. I don’t know much about this new movie, but it seems that in it he plays a hero. A kind, inspiring hero.

I like that.

I can quote almost every line of the original, in order. I can’t tell you how pleased I am to see this new footage… MAN! THEY’RE MAKING A NEW TRON – FINALLY!!!!

I got a new dog! He’s a blue heeler and his name is Charlie. My brother asked me why I picked the name Charlie, especially since I kind of wanted a futuristic post-apocalyptic nuclear sci-fi warrior name for my dog. He is the same breed that was featured in The Road Warrior, after all.

Well, first, I think Charlie is a good name for a dog of any modern or futuristic era. Charlie is a great name for a futuristic post-apocalyptic nuclear sci-fi warrior dog, because if you lived in a futuristic post-apocalyptic wasteland, you would want to name your dog something reminiscent of better days (unless you were a bad guy – then you would name your dog Blood or Ripper or Killface or something).

But besides that, I have some other reasons:
• Charles Xavier is the leader of the X-Men
• Charles Mingus is one of the greatest jazz players to have ever lived
• Willy Wonka is one of my favorite movies (the old one, not the new one)
• Charlie is the name of the star dog from All Dogs Go To Heaven
• Charlie is the name of a character from the Street Fighter series
• Names that end in the “ee” sound remind me of the words “happy” and “friendly”
There are other reasons, too, but the number one reason would be that it just seems to fit. I tried out all sorts of names, but when I called him Charlie, everything seemed right with the world.

Welcome to the family, Charlie!

So again, these are personal reflections on the Book of John.

“There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. There was the true Light, which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” – John 1:6-13

I’m going to keep this short, since my last one was kind of long. First, about being sent, I think every Christian should identify with John. If you follow Christ, then you have this Light of Life within you. Your life should be a testament to God, so that all might believe through you.

Not everyone will believe. I mean, if they didn’t believe Jesus, who IS God, then you can’t expect them to believe you. But you still have to be there for those who will believe.

I think being sent is less of an exclusive thing than a lot of church people think. I’ve heard a lot of people say that missionaries are sent, but normal people just do their thing. I think that we can have a mentality of being sent, i.e. a mindset that is always on the lookout for opportunities where we can help people and spread the Light of Jesus Christ.

No matter what choices have led you to where you are now, God has a purpose for you. Whether or not you notice is largely up to you.

One of the most tragic consequences of sin and selfishness is that it distracts us. Have you ever been driving, and then you all of a sudden ‘wake up’ and realize, “Whoa, I don’t even remember driving that last mile or two!” I think sin is the same way. When we sin, it clouds our minds, and even though God is still working in our lives, our ability to notice it can be obscured.

The second part of these verses could be a great catalyst for a discussion about predestination VS free will, but I’m not going to go there because I don’t believe it’s one or the other. I think it’s both. When I look forward, all I see are choices, but when I look into the past, I see how God’s hand has guided me.

What I like more about the verses is the emphasis on being sons of God, and how that occurs. You receive Him, and believe in His name. Simple. No works save you – you just believe.

Of course, the Bible mentions in other places that good works should be the natural result of accepting Christ, but no works are ever set up as a means to salvation. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Christianity the only religion in which man cannot save himself? What I mean is, in Christianity, salvation isn’t about what you do, it’s about what was already done for you, and who you choose to be in response to that. But in other religions, it’s about trying to be a good person, or saying certain prayers so many times, or visiting certain holy sites. You have to do this or do that, and even then, most of the time your fate isn’t assured unless you go to an extreme (death while killing infidels, etc.). I once heard someone say that Mohammed, on his death bed, said that he did not know what would become of him when he died.

Humans have this epic sense of needing to atone. It’s pride, really. Let me make it up to you. We want power over our mistakes. Instead, you just have to give it up, and say, “Please fix me, my life, my situation… I wish I could take this back, but I can’t. I need help.”

Jesus likes to help people.

About a week ago, some friends mentioned that they would like to start a Bible study on the gospel of John. We haven’t begun yet, but I thought I’d get a head start and post my own personal reflections here. It’s just so much easier to understand the Bible when you put your thoughts down in writing – kind of like taking notes in class.

By the way, I’ve been going to a new church lately, which I love. You can find their websites here and here.

I’m going to take it slow through John because I don’t want to miss anything, so here are the first five verses:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” — John 1:1-5

I like these first few verses. They are so simple and profound. In the beginning, there was God, and he created everything. Pretty simple, right? :)

I like this idea of the Word being a particular aspect of God. Some people have a problem with the Trinity, or with Jesus being God. I think sometimes they struggle with the idea of God being one, but also being separate.

I have to say, I’ve never been entirely comfortable with the modern church description of the Trinity – “A triune God, three in one.” I can understand how Jews sometimes accuse Christians of polytheism.

The three major aspects of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – are definitely good to recognize, but I also like the Jewish way of thinking. There is one God, but he has many names. Provider, Savior, Purifier, Protector, Creator, and so on. In fact, since God is infinite, it’s not unreasonable to assume that he has an infinite amount of names to describe his greatness. The only thing that really limits God is our own human language, and that doesn’t so much limit God as it limits our ability to understand him.

When I think of the different aspects of God, I like to think more of a line than a triangle. To get what I mean, take a piece of thread or string and stretch it out on a table. Now imagine that the string goes on forever – it has no beginning or end. This string represents God.

Now take another shorter piece of string, and place it underneath the first string. This string represents mortal life (or human history). It has a beginning and end.

Now pinch the middle of the first string so that it comes to a point, and make that point touch the second string. That is how I understand an aspect of God showing up in my life. It’s still one string, but I am only seeing one point of it right now.

(If you want to get really fancy, you could make the top string woven out of three fibers, representing the three major aspects of God.)

Anyway, that’s how I get it.

The second part of these verses reminds me to be thankful. God created me. He also created everything that I enjoy. No matter how depressed or frustrated I may feel sometimes, there is something I can thank God for.

God created mankind in his image, but he also created the animals and plants and sunsets. I’ve always said that a person’s art is very revealing of that person’s heart. If you doubt God’s goodness, just watch a sunset sometime. Even though it may not help you understand your situation, I hope it helps you find peace.

The third part of these verses is awesome. In God is life, and that life is the Light of men. It shines in the darkness, and the darkness can’t comprehend it.

Everything about our existence is meaningless if we don’t have God, because God is life. Without life there is death – emptiness – meaninglessness.

That’s why you should choose God over everything. Would you really deny God just to hang on to an unhealthy relationship?

I love something a friend once said: “It’s okay if you’re not okay, but it’s not okay for you to stay that way.”

I can immediately think of several people who are making very poor decisions. Some claim to follow Christ, others do not. It’s okay for me to hang out with them – I care about them, after all! But what is true friendship? Ignoring their poor decisions because I don’t want to get in an argument? Or would it be better to call them out, to tell them the truth?

Obviously you should let prayer and scripture guide you, but in many cases, it is better to say something, even if it costs you your friendship. I mean, if your friend was hooked on drugs, wouldn’t you want to intervene for the sake of that friend’s health, even though they might hate you for it? Then why wouldn’t you speak up if they were doing other stupid stuff?

You have to be careful, of course, because you are NOT the lord and master of their lives. You can’t go around always telling people what they should and shouldn’t do. But in a clear cut case of, “Hey, this thing your doing is very much against what Jesus teaches,” then pray, make sure you have a spirit of humility (as opposed to self-righteousness), and then carefully speak the truth.

The timing has to be right, and your heart has to be right. If you’re set there, then go for it.

You know, as a follower of Christ, you just have to expect that certain people aren’t going to like you. Of course we all mess up – I’ve done dumb things in the name of Christ (and dumb things in the name of my own self interest). But even when we’re doing everything right, and we want to bless other people, there are going to be people out there who hate us for it.

You just can’t sweat it. I mean, who cares if you lose your job or your home or your life for the sake of Christ? Didn’t Paul say that any loss for the sake of Christ should be considered gain? What is a job or a friendship or a possession really worth if it’s tainted by compromise?

I think that’s what Jesus meant when he said that whoever doesn’t hate his own brother is not worthy of him. I think he meant that you have to put God above everything and every relationship you have. You need to risk sharing God with your family, even if they hate you for it, because no matter how strong your family relationships are, they are worthless without God.

Anyway, you can read John and come to your own conclusions. I have to go to work. Until next time!

I got my dog, but I had to give her back because she was a biter. I’m in the process of looking for another one. In January I started working for a wine distribution company called Prestige. It’s pretty cool because our portfolio is incredible – just yesterday I got to taste several different wines that retail for around $200 a bottle.

Lots and lots of little things have been happening, and a few incredibly huge things. It would take me forever to go into detail about it all. The short version is that the past several months have been both good and bad. I made some incredibly stupid decisions, but also some good ones. The best thing that’s happened is that the Lord has finally opened up my eyes to a few things about my life that I was blind to. I am so far from perfect, but with this new perspective, I can finally start making some positive changes.

I recommend a book called The Noticer. It’s not solely responsible for my turn around, but it does contain a lot of the wisdom that I was taught since the last time I updated. Someone much smarter than me wrote it.

Of course, there’s always the book of Proverbs. That one’s pretty good, too ;)

Hey, guys! Check out this dog breed. Lord willing, I’m going to get one on Thursday!!!