Rob Sutherland’s Musings on Life, Code, and Anything Else

Books Worth Sharing

I try to read a lot. Sometimes I do. Here's a list of books I've read in no actual order. There may be affiliate links to purchase a copy and a link to any notes or other information I wanted to capture or share.

The list below is not an exhaustive list of reading, but it captures books that I enjoyed or made me think. Eventually, I'll move my paper or other notes here.

Quotes, Passages, and Reminders

I've been using Readwise since mid-2021 to remind me of quotes and passages from books, articles, and emails I've read. I recently started sharing some of those quotes and my thoughts on them here.

Sutherland Library

Feel free to peruse the list of books in the Sutherland Library. The topics are broad and varied. Having more books makes me want to read more (1,300 and counting). I'm always looking to add to our collection. [Amazon], [Thrift Books], [Better World Book], others, and local thrift and used book stores.

Currently reading

I usually have a few books going at a time. I switch from topic to topic and style to style to keep me engaged and thinking.

Completed in 2024

Listed in order of completion.

  1. The Sabbath, Abraham Joshua Heschel
  2. Better Onboarding, Crystal Higgins
  3. No Fail Meetings, Michael Hyatt
  4. Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee
  5. The Christian Manifesto, Allistair Begg (2023)
  6. Warren Buffett Speaks, Janet Lowe (audio)
  7. Christian Manifesto, Ernest T. Campbell (1970)
  8. Blood Brothers, Elias Chacour
  9. Escape from Reason, Francis A. Schaeffer (audio)
  10. The Need for Creeds Today, J.V. Fesko
  11. The Expulsive Power of a New Affection, Thomas Chalmers
  12. Expository Apologetics, Voddie Baucham Jr (audio)
  13. When Heaven Invades Earth, Bill Johnson (I do not recommend this book or the author)
  14. Basic Christianity, John Stott
  15. Souls, Matthew Everhard
  16. Animal Farm, George Orwell
  17. A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles
  18. Be Paitient (Job), Warren Wiersbe
  19. Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe
  20. Taking London, Martin Dugard
  21. How to Walk into a Room, Emily P. Freeman (There are some good principles, but questionable theology)
  22. Why We're not Emergent, Kevin DeYoung, Ted Kluck (the Epilogue is a wonderful exposition of how we should be the church)
  23. ...

Currently Reading

Completed in 2023

Listed in order of completion.

  1. The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs, Betty G. Birney
  2. Anything You Want, Derek Sivers
  3. What Can We Know About God, R C Sproul
  4. The Bicycle Book, Steven J Anderson
  5. Azusa Street, First Hand Accounts of the Revival, Frank Bartleman
  6. The Art of Software Testing, Gelnford J Myers
  7. The Way of the Shepherd, Dr. Keven Leman and Bill Pentax
  8. The Heart of the Church, The Gospel's History, Message, and Meaning, Joe Thorn
  9. The Character of the Church, The Marks of God's Obedient People, Joe Thorn
  10. Humble Calvinism, J.A. Medders
  11. Letter to a Christian Nation, Sam Harris
  12. The Apostle's Creed, R. Albert Mohler Jr
  13. Code that Fits in Your Head, Heuristics for Software Engineering, Mark Seemann
  14. I Will Judge You by Your Bookshelf, Grant Snider
  15. Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores, Jen Campbell
  16. Know the Creeds and Councils, Justin S. Holcomb
  17. The Balanced Christian Life, Watchman Nee
  18. The Furious Longing of God, Brennen Manning
  19. Exploring the Gifts of the Spirit, John Michael Talbot, Steve Rabey (audio)
  20. Staff Engineer, Will Larson (audio)
  21. The Anglican Way, Thomas McKenzie
  22. Draw to Win, Dan Roam
  23. Everlasting is the Past Walter Wangerin, Jr
  24. Psalms Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Walter Brueggemann (audio)
  25. Creativity, A Short and Cheerful Guide, John Cleese (audio)
  26. Does God Control Everything, R.C. Sproul
  27. How Should I Think, R.C. Sproul
  28. Letter to the American Church, Eric Metaxes (audio)
  29. Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, Richard P. Feynman (audio)
  30. Rivals! Frenemies Who Changed the World, Scott McCormick (audio)
  31. 24/6, Matthew Sleeth, MD (audio)
  32. Rivals 2! More Frenemies Who Changed the World, Scott McCormick (audio)
  33. The Magician's Nephew, C.S. Lewis (audio)
  34. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis (audio)
  35. The Horse and His Boy, C.S. Lewis (audio)
  36. Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, Rudyard Kipling
  37. Prince Caspian, C.S. Lewis (audio)
  38. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C.S. Lewis (audio)
  39. The Silver Chair, C.S. Lewis (audio)
  40. The Last Battle, C.S. Lewis (audio)
  41. Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis (audio)
  42. Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl
  43. Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens
  44. Why I'm Not a Calvinist, Jerry L. Walls, Joseph R. Dongell
  45. Why I'm Not an Arminian, Robert A. Peterson, Michael D. Williams
  46. In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, Mark Batterson
  47. Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning (audio)
  48. The Art of Thinking Clearly, Rolf Dobelli
  49. Expository Preaching, David Strain
  50. Unquestioned Answers, Jeff Myers

Completed in 2022

Listed in order of completion.

  1. Every Day Matters, Brandon D. Crowe
  2. Introduction to Mathematical Thinking, Keith Devlin
  3. All of Grace, Charles Spurgeon
  4. Structured Programming, O.J. Dahl, E.W. Dijkstra, & C.A.R. Hoare
  5. So Good They Can't Ignore You, Cal Newport (audio)
  6. Get to the Point, Joel Schwartzberg (audio)
  7. The Icarus Deception, Seth Godwin (audio)
  8. The Hero Code, Admiral William H McRaven (audio)
  9. Good Math, Mark C Chu-Carroll
  10. Problem Solving 101, Ken Watanabe
  11. The Apostles' Creed, Ben Myers
  12. God and Man at Yale, William F. Buckley Jr. (audio)
  13. A Simple Way to Pray Martin Luther
  14. Break Shot: My First 21 Years James Taylor (audio)
  15. The Secret Footballer's Guide to the Modern Game, The Secret Footballer (audio)
  16. Divided Nation: Cultures in Chaos & a Conflicted Church, Ken Ham
  17. Demolishing Supposed Bible Contradictions (Volume 1), Ken Ham (editor)
  18. Demolishing Supposed Bible Contradictions (Volume 2), Ken Ham, Bodie Hodge, & Tim Chaffey (editors)
  19. Replacing Darwin Made Simple, Nathaniel T. Jeanson, PhD
  20. Metadata, Jeffrey Pomerantz
  21. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
  22. The Call of the Wild, Jack London (audio)
  23. How to Lead When You Are Not In Charge, Clay Scroggins (audio)
  24. The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking, Edward B. Burger and Michael Starbird
  25. The Carpenter, John Gordon
  26. Annotation, Remi Kalir; Antero Garcia
  27. Zonal Marking, Michael W Cox (audio)
  28. Hiding in the Light, Rifqa Bary
  29. Luke: The Gospel of Amazement, Michael Card
  30. The Captain Class, Sam Walker (audio)
  31. Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs, Niklaus Wirth
  32. How to Win: Lessons from the Premier League, The Secret Footballer (audio)
  33. Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis (audio)
  34. Don't Teach Coding (until you read this book), Stephen R Foters, PhD; Lindsey D. Handley, PhD
  35. Pagan Christianity?, Frank Viola; George Barna
  36. Alan Turing David Boyle (audio)
  37. Atomic Habits James Clear (audio)
  38. Machine Learning, Ethem Alpaydin
  39. Shaking the Gates of Hell, John Archibald

Completed in 2021

Listed alphabetically.

  1. A Grief Observed, C S Lewis (audio)
  2. A Severe Mercy, Sheldon Vanauken
  3. A Technique for Producing Ideas, James Webb Young
  4. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle
  5. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carrol
  6. An Illustrated Guide to Linear Programming, Saul I Gass
  7. Animal Farm, George Orwell
  8. Basics for Believers, D A Carson
  9. Beginner's Mind, Yo-Yo Ma (audio)
  10. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
  11. Create vs. Copy, Ken Wytsma
  12. Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success, John Wooden, Jay Carry
  13. Computer Organization and Design (5th Ed)
  14. Finding Chika, Mitch Albom
  15. Finish, Jon Acuff
  16. Gathering Blue, Lois Lowry
  17. Gutenberg il Geek, Jeff Jarvis (audio)
  18. How to Fly a Horse, Kevin Ashton
  19. How to Ruin Your Life by 30, Steve Farrar
  20. Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World, Matt Parker (audio)
  21. if, Mark Batterson
  22. Journey to the Cross, Will Walker, Kendal Haug
  23. Last Words, Robert J Nash
  24. Letters to the Church, Francis Chan
  25. Listening for Lions, Gloria Whelan
  26. Make Your Bed, William H McRaven (audio)
  27. Make Your Bed, William H McRaven
  28. Mental Models: 30 Thinking Tools that Separate the Average from the Exceptional, Peter Hollins (audio)
  29. Messenger, Lois Lowry
  30. Orbiting the Giant Hairball, Gordon MacKenzie
  31. Principles of Program Design, Jackson
  32. Quiet Leadership, Carlo Ancelotti (audio)
  33. Quiet Leadership, David Rock
  34. Raising Men Not Boys, Mike Fabarez
  35. Searching for Christmas, J D Greear
  36. Scribbling in the Sand, Michael Card
  37. Seeing Christ in All of Scripture: Hermeneutics at Westminster Theological Seminary, Poythress, Duguid, Beale, Gaffin
  38. Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops, Shaun Bythell (audio)
  39. Sherlock Holmes: Beyond the Elementary, James Krasner
  40. Software Tools, Kerringhan, Plauger
  41. Son, Lois Lowry
  42. Soundtracks, Jon Acuff
  43. The Coffee Bean, Jon Gordon
  44. The Dip, Seth Godin
  45. The Field Guide to Understanding "Human Error", Sidney Dekker
  46. The Giver, Lois Lowry
  47. The Life of the Church, Joe Thorn
  48. The Lord's Prayer, Wesley Hill
  49. The Minuteman, Greg Donahue (audio)
  50. The Motive, Patrick M Lencioni (audio)
  51. The Practice of the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence
  52. The Signature of Jesus, Brennan Manning
  53. The Walk, Michael Card
  54. The Way of the Shepherd, Dr. Keven Leman and Bill Pentax
  55. We are all Weird, Seth Godin
  56. Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman, Peter Korn
  57. Your Future Self Will Thank You, Drew Dyck

Completed 2020

Below is an alphabetical list of books that I tracked completion in 2020. This was the first year that I started keeping track of what I was reading.

  1. Age of Crowns, Kori De Leon
  2. Beautiful Boy, David Sheff
  3. 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know, Kevlin Henney
  4. Classical Christian Education, Classical Conversations
  5. David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell (audio)
  6. Eat That Frog!, Brian Tracy
  7. Die Empty, Todd Henry
  8. Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering, Robert L Glass
  9. Free to Focus, Michael Hyatt
  10. Get Weird, CJ Casciotta
  11. Great at Work, Morten Hansen
  12. Home Grown, Tina Houser
  13. Just Do Something, Kevin DeYoung
  14. Leaders Eat Last, Simon Sinek (audio)
  15. Love Your Work, Robert Dickie
  16. Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemmingway
  17. Parenting, Paul David Tripp (audio)
  18. Parents Rising, Arlene Pellicane
  19. Paul and His Team, Ryan Lokkesome
  20. Poke the Box, Seth Godin
  21. Reading Romans with Luther, R J Grunewald
  22. Running Lean, Ash Maurya
  23. Shop Class as Soulcraft, Matthew B Crawford (audio)
  24. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Simon Armitage
  25. Smart Thinking, Art Markman
  26. Start with Why, Simon Sinek (audio)
  27. The 12 Week Year, Brian P Moran
  28. The Core, Leigh A. Bortins
  29. The Elements of Programming Style, Brian Kernighan (one of my favorite books on programming)
  30. The Garden, Jon Gordon
  31. The Great ScrumMaster, Zuzana Sochava
  32. The Long Tail, Chris Anderson
  33. The Magicians Elephant, Kate DiCamillo
  34. The Meaning of Marriage, Timothy Keller (this is an incredible book. Timothy Keller is one of my favorite authors.)
  35. The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg
  36. The Practice of Programming, Brian W Kernighan
  37. The Professional Product Owner, Don McGreal and Ralph Jocham
  38. The Pursuit of God, A W Tozer (audio)
  39. Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman
  40. Ways of Seeing, John Berger
  41. Zero, Charles Seife