For the third year, I’ve kept track of the books I’ve read and have chosen a favorite and least favorite. I managed to read 91 books in 2019, down considerably from last year but still a substantial number.
Here are links to the previous two years:
https://www.douglasdouma.com/2017/12/23/books-i-read-in-2017-and-a-favorite-declared/
https://www.douglasdouma.com/2018/10/13/rating-100-books-ive-read-this-year/
In 2019 I finished re-reading the complete set of Gordon Clark books I’ve acquired, all of which I have reviews of on my blog. Trying to save money, the majority of the rest of the books I’ve read in 2019 are from my unread stacks. My interests remain Christian philosophy and church history, though I’ve read a number of lighter novels for sanity sake.
So here’s everything I read this year, rated out of ten.
10/10
Faith and Saving Faith by Gordon H. Clark 10/10
The Biblical Doctrine of Man by Gordon H. Clark 10/10
The Trinity by Gordon H. Clark 10/10
The Incarnation by Gordon H. Clark 10/10
Sanctification by Gordon H. Clark 10/10
The Word of God and the Mind of Man by Ronald H. Nash 10/10
Protestant Reformed Theological Journal, April 2019, 10/10
Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung 10/10
Heirs of the Reformation by James E. McGoldrick 10/10
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis 10/10
Christianity in Conflict by J. Gresham Machen 10/10
9/10
Protestant Reformed Theological Journal, Vol. 52, No. 1. 9/10
God’s Hammer by Gordon H. Clark 9/10
Christian Philosophy Made Easy by Gary Crampton and Richard Bacon 9/10
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., 9/10
The Atonement by Gordon H. Clark 9/10
Essays on Ethics and Politics by Gordon H. Clark 9/10
Lord God of Truth by Gordon H. Clark 9/10
Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance 9/10
Herman Bavinck, by Ron Gleason 9/10
Modern Bible Versions by David J. Engelsma 9/10
Tess of the d’Urberville’s by Thomas Hardy 9/10
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, 9/10
8/10
Presbyterians in the South, Vol. 1 by Ernest Trice Thompson 8/10
Predestination in the Old Testament by Gordon H. Clark 8/10
War of Words by Paul David Tripp 8/10
Confessions by St. Augustine 8/10
Ephesians by Gordon H. Clark 8/10
Logic by Gordon H. Clark 8/10
Language and Theology by Gordon H. Clark 8/10
First and Second Thessalonians by Gordon H. Clark 8/10
The Holy Spirit by Gordon H. Clark 8/10
The Incredible Scofield and His Book by Joseph M. Canfield 8/10
Woodstock ’69: Three Days of Peace, Music, & Medical Care by Myron Gittell 8/10
7/10
How Do We Know? By Dew and Foreman 7/10
Presbyterians in the South, Vol. 2 by Ernest Trice Thompson 7/10
First Corinthians by Gordon H. Clark 7/10
Colossians by Gordon H. Clark 7/10
The Concept of Biblical Authority by Gordon H. Clark 7/10
1 and 2 Peter by Gordon H. Clark 7/10
First John by Gordon H. Clark 7/10
Behaviorism and Christianity by Gordon H. Clark 7/10
The Voynich Manuscript by Gerry Kennedy 7/10
The Captives of Abb’s Valley by James Moore Brown 7/10
Faith & Reason by Ronald H. Nash 7/10
Problems in the Prayer Life by J. Oliver Buswell Jr., 7/10
Clark Speaks from the Grave by Gordon H. Clark 7/10
Logical Criticisms of Textual Criticism by Gordon H. Clark 7/10
Today’s Evangelism by Gordon H. Clark 7/10
A History of Presbyterians in West Virginia by Dennis Bills 7/10
Heaven on Earth by Derek W. H. Thomas 7/10
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel DeFoe 7/10
Minisink, A Bicentennial History 7/10
Grandma Gatewood’s Walk by Ben Montgomery 7/10
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The First Forty Years by Iain Murray 7/10
Modernism and the Board of Foreign Missions by J. Gresham Machen 7/10
Reformed Dogmatics (Abridged) by Herman Bavinck, 7/10
The Real Lincoln by Thomas DiLorenzo 7/10
Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis 7/10
6/10
By Scripture Alone by W. Gary Crampton 6/10
Calvin on Scripture and Divine Sovereignty by John Murray 6/10
What About Baptism? By F. N. Lee 6/10
Gospel Grace by Mark Karlberg 6/10
Principles of Biblical Interpretation by Louis Berkhof 6/10
Augustine Wayward Genius by David Bentley-Taylor 6/10
The Lost History of Christianity by Philip Jenkins, 6/10
Philippians by Gordon H. Clark 6/10
The Pastoral Epistles by Gordon H. Clark 6/10
The Origin of Paul’s Religion by J. Gresham Machen 6/10
Biblical Christianity, Letters from Professor Allan A. MacRae 6/10
5/10
Biblical Hermeneutics by Milton S. Terry 5/10
Biblical Theology by Geerhardus Vos 5/10
The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship by George Marsden 5/10
God Tells Us About the Mastermind of the Mediterranean by Roy T. Brumbaugh 5/10
Unionville, As It Was, 1929-1939 by Fred Gilson 5/10
4/10
Presbyterians in the South, Vol. 3 by Ernest Trice Thompson 4/10
3/10
The Faith That Wins by Roy Talmadge Brumbaugh 3/10
The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills by Charles Bukowski, 3/10
1/10
The Lost Continent of Mu by James Churchward 1/10
Christianity Face to Face with Islam by Robert Louis Wilken, 1/10
Not rated
Constitution of the Bible Presbyterian Church (not rated)
The Mike Anvil Stories, Volume 1 by Frankie Chocolate (not rated)
A Fur Coat to Die For and Other Stories by Frankie Chocolate (not rated)
Good Guys, Bad Guys, and Buffoons by Frankie Chocolate (not rated)
Mikey’s Holograms and the Wolverine Rescue Fund by Frankie Chocolate (not rated)
The Mike Anvil Stories, Volume 2 by Frankie Chocolate (not rated)
The Poop Stories by Frankie Chocolate (not rated)
Under the Broom Tree and other stories by Frankie Chocolate (not rated)
The Sunday School Stories by Frankie Chocolate (not rated)
The Mike Anvil Stories, Volume 3 by Frankie Chocolate (not rated)
Session Book of Unionville Presbyterian Church 1831-1851. (not rated)
My favorite new book that I read this year was Heirs of the Reformation by James E. McGoldrick. And least favorite was Christianity Face to Face with Islam by Robert Louis Wilken.
Douglas,
I think this is an interesting post and have so every year. Since I am a GHC devotee many of the books you’ve read I have also. But here’s my question (after my 10 month old Cairn terrier just jumped on my iPad!).
How is your retention? In my youth I had great retention but now as I get older my retention is diminished although thankfully it seems to have leveled off and isn’t continuing to digress, whew! My lack of ability to retain has negatively affected my desire to read the heavier theological works since they require in my view a high degree of retention to follow the arguments as they develop.
I never read the quantity in a year that you manage. I’m guessing but I don’t think I managed over 20-30 total theological works in any given year. You’re an amazing young man!
But I’m curious about your ability to retain what your read?
Blessings,
LJ
Its hard to say how much I retain. Part of my work in re-reading Clark’s corpus was to collect passages that spoke on his epistemology. So I have retained those in a document at least where I’m (slowly) working on writing a book on his theory of knowledge.
There are some books that bring to mind little-to-no recollection. If a book is general or dull, I’m unlikely to be able to distinguish it from others I’ve read! Then there are other books that are so original that I think it is unlikely I’ll ever forget the main thrust of them.
I’m very much on the look out for more interesting books. Since I got married, however, and since I’ve become a lowly (or at least low-paid) church pastor, I’ve slowed down my Amazon book buying habit, and am working through the stacks of books that have mostly been given to me for free.
Doug,
Thanks for bringing some of these books to my attention. I am curious if you have reviewed Crampton’s By Scripture Alone or Karlberg’s Gospel Grace. You only gave them 6 out of 10 stars.
I am interested in the book The Voynich Manuscript. I too like to read mysteries (such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamam_Shud_case and as a hiker you might also like this one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyatlov_Pass_incident) , true crime and graphic novels as well as theology to level myself.
I did review Crampton’s book here: https://www.douglasdouma.com/2019/01/11/review-of-by-scripture-alone-by-w-gary-crampton/
I did not review the Karlberg book.
I’m familiar with both the Taman Shud case and the Dyatlov Pass Incident. I’ve heard news recently on each of them. Someone is working on DNA testing the unknown Australian man. And then I read one person’s theory that a katabatic wind was responsible in Russia.
I’ve long been interested in reading about oddities. Cryptozoology is a favorite topic of mine.
Thanks Doug,
I will read your review of the Crampton book.
The latest I have heard on the Dyatlov Pass is the second book by Keith McCloskey called Journey to Dyatlov Pass see https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Dyatlov-Pass-Explanation-Mystery/dp/1539583023/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Journey+to+Dyatlov+Pass&qid=1577063404&s=books&sr=1-1 where he announces he changed his mind from his first book https://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Dead-Dyatlov-Pass-Incident/dp/0752491482/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=mountain+of+the+dead&qid=1577063705&s=books&sr=1-3 and now holds to a Russian Conspiracy. This has been my favorite view for a while. As a Detective I did not test for radioactivity in a dead person unless there was some prevailing reason to do so. That this was part of their investigation tells me they knew something they were not telling!