The Best Books of 2023
I always look forward to this podcast. The opportunity to think back through a year of books is humbling and encouraging. On one hand, we live among an embarrassment of riches. There is more wisdom at our fingertips than at any point in history. On the other, even what we can read in a year is a gift to steward, full of stories to ponder, wisdom to embody, and information to put into practice. The Bible remains the most important book I read each year, and we didn't mention a lot of the devotional and nourishing materials we use, although one of the most significant books of my year was Reformation Heritage Books' The Family Worship Bible Guide. It has been a tremendous boon to my spiritual life and I would recommend that everyone get a copy and use it in family worship.
This year on the podcast, we went for breadth over depth. On the whole, there's surely something here for everyone. These books span genres, years, and interests. It's my hope that one of these picks will mean as much to you as they have to me. Enjoy the podcast and this list of every book we mentioned in the episode. Happy reading in 2024!
Terry’s Top 5:
Dynasty - Tom Holland
Finding Calcutta - Mary Poplin
Scalia - James Rosen
The Matter with Things - Iain McGilchrist
Business Not by the Book - David Green and Bill High
Cole's Top 5
Timothy Keller - Collin Hansen
Remaking the World - Andrew Wilson
Dominion - Tom Holland
The Pastor of Kilsyth - Islay Burns
The Fellowship - Philip and Carol Zeleski
Best of History:
All the President’s Men - Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
The Final Days - Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
The Haldeman Diaries - H.R. Haldeman and Stephen Ambrose
Richard Nixon: The Life - John Farrell
Nixon: An Oral History of His Presidency - Gerald S. Strober and Deborah H. Strober
An Ordinary Man: The Surprising Life and Historic Presidency of Gerald R. Ford - Richard Norton Smith
King's Counsellor: Abdication and War: The Diaries of Sir Alan Lascelles - Sir Alan Lascelles, edited by Duff Hart-Davis
The Fringes of Power: 10 Downing Street Diaries, 1939-1955 - John Colville
John Quincy Adams: Diaries Vol. 1 1779-1821 - John Quincy Adams, edited by David Waldstreicher
An Infinite Fountain of Light - George Marsden
Yale Works of Jonathan Edwards (see our podcast episodes on the Great Awakening, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3):
Freedom of the Will, Vol 1
Religious Affections, Vol 2
The Great Awakening, Vol 4
Best of Biography
Elon Musk - Walter Isaacson
Going Infinite - Michael Lewis
Scalia: Rise to Greatness: 1936-1986 - James Rosen
R. C. Sproul: A Life - Stephen Nichols
Introduction to John Owen - Crawford Gribben
Christian Resources and Theology:
Lead - Paul Tripp
You Are a Theologian - Jen Wilken and J. T. English
Christian Beliefs: Twenty Basics Every Christian Should Know - Wayne Grudem
Family Worship - Donald Whitney
The Family Worship Bible Guide - edited by Joel Beeke
Looking Forward to in 2024:
Conflict - Andrew Roberts and David Petraeus
The World’s Greatest Book - Jerry Pattengale and Lawrence Schiffman
Roosevelt and Hopkins - Robert Sherwood
You’re Not Crazy - Sam Allberry and Ray Ortlund
Creator - Peter Leithart
Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age - Rosaria Butterfield
Dr. Cole Feix is the founder and president of So We Speak and the Senior Pastor of Carlton Landing Community Church in Oklahoma.
