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This is Undaunted Life, a man's podcast on your host Kyle Thompson.
0:53
Let's get into it.
0:54
All right, guys.
0:55
Thanks so much for listening to the show.
0:56
We do appreciate it.
0:57
Today's show.
0:58
But really quick, a couple of announcements.
0:59
Number one, I got an email from Spotify the other day and guess what Spotify is doing now?
1:03
They're allowing reviews.
1:04
They haven't allowed reviews basically up until this point, but you can go to our show and
1:08
this is my call to action for you.
1:09
Please go to our show on the Spotify app or if you're listening on your desktop or something
1:12
like that.
1:13
And please give this show a five star rating.
1:16
Again, I'm getting these weird things on Apple podcast where people are like, I love this
1:19
show.
1:20
It's my favorite.
1:21
I can't wait to hear it.
1:22
And then they give me a three star rating.
1:23
It's like, no, no, if you're going to do it, please do it with a five star rating.
1:26
So go to Spotify and do that.
1:28
Spotify.
1:29
Also, guys, we're right towards the end of the year.
1:30
So keep us in mind with year and giving.
1:32
You've heard me talk about that before, but let's go and get into today's content.
1:35
So today we're talking about the best books of 2021.
1:38
The thing is I'm so excited to bring these to you because I think about this podcast literally
1:44
all year.
1:45
So if I finished a book in the first week of January, I'm thinking about whether or not
1:48
I'm going to be giving an award at the end of the year, so I'm really, really glad to get
1:51
this to you.
1:52
And for this year, for 2021, this was oddly enough the most prolific year of reading for
1:56
me personally.
1:57
Okay.
1:58
So I know there are guys out there that that read a hundred plus books a year.
2:01
They're just crushing books.
2:02
Some guys read a reading like a book or two, like every few days, it's just kind of crazy.
2:07
But by the time you will have heard this podcast, I will finish 45 books this year.
2:11
And so that's the most I've ever done.
2:13
I think I've been in the mid thirties before, so I absolutely crushed it this year.
2:16
So was able to find some time and most of that was me actually tangibly reading the books,
2:20
reading every single word of the book.
2:22
It's not listening to them.
2:23
I think I listened to maybe five or six books and I counted those, but read a lot of books
2:27
this year.
2:28
And just so you guys know, in terms of how I read, some of you are like, man, that's
2:30
so many books.
2:31
I read like, you know, one every couple of months, like how are you able to read that
2:33
much?
2:34
The biggest thing.
2:35
And I talk about this every year as I basically read off of my phone or off of my tablet.
2:39
So the thing with my phone is today, for instance, for my wife for Christmas, we got
2:43
her some window tint.
2:44
And so while I was waiting for the window tint to get done, I've got my phone with me, which
2:48
means I've got my book with me.
2:49
So here I am waiting an hour and a half.
2:51
You know, I could use that time non productively, but I've got my foot, my book right there
2:56
on my phone.
2:57
And so I know some of you guys are like tangible book readers, but for me, you don't always
3:00
remember your book.
3:01
And here you are waiting at the oil or the gas station or waiting at the, you know,
3:05
somewhere waiting for your kid to get out of practice or something like that.
3:08
And you're like, crap, you know, my book sitting there on the bookshelf or it's sitting there
3:10
on my nightstand.
3:11
I don't have it with me.
3:12
That's one way that you can get a lot of reading in is make sure that you have it around
3:15
you at all times.
3:16
And this is another thing before we get into the awards that I'm giving out today is one
3:20
of my favorite quotes that I've heard from somebody and I don't know who it's actually
3:23
attributed to.
3:24
It's like, there are people that read and then there are idiots.
3:26
Okay.
3:27
So you probably heard me say that basically every year I don't understand why adult men
3:32
don't read one of the things about the kind of Christian men's space is there's a dearth
3:37
of content in that space because there's a dearth of readers.
3:40
There's a lot of guys that are in that space that kind of fit that dynamic that just don't
3:43
read.
3:44
You know, they want to do something else entirely, but one of the easiest ways for you to be
3:48
able to stave off, you know, the degradation of your brain and to encourage yourself to
3:53
continue to develop as you grow into old age is to read books.
3:56
I highly, highly, highly encourage you guys to read books.
3:59
And if you're listening to this podcast, I'm going to keep banging that drum.
4:01
So just get used to it.
4:02
Now, we're going to go and get into the awards that I'm giving out for this year, but I'm
4:05
making a slight change this year that I haven't done in all my other years that I've done best
4:09
books of the year.
4:10
So what I'm doing is I'm giving the same category out, but I'm going to describe two
4:15
winners for each category, okay?
4:17
Because this year I read a lot of books that were released in 2021 and I released a lot
4:22
of books that were released not in 2021.
4:24
So 2020 or before that.
4:26
And so that's the big thing is I didn't want you guys to miss out on books that I read
4:30
this year for the first time that maybe we're classics or maybe we're released just a few
4:34
years ago.
4:35
So typically I just kind of mix and match those, but this year I'm going to give you one in
4:38
each one of these categories, one for 2021 and one for any year.
4:41
So here are the awards that I'm going to be giving out today in both of those different,
4:44
you know, categories of 2021 and other years.
4:47
Most interesting book, most timely book, most challenging book, best classic, most useful
4:53
book, most impactful book, most entertaining book, best fiction book, best reread book,
5:00
most disappointing book, worst book, almost the best book, and then best book.
5:06
And guys, I'm just going to tell you right now, you're going to want to stick around
5:09
by the time we get to the worst book section of this podcast, because I read the worst
5:15
book of my entire life this year.
5:18
Okay.
5:19
And I read it early.
5:20
So I knew in like February that this was going to be the worst book that I read this year,
5:25
but as time has gone on, I think it literally is from cover to cover the absolute worst book
5:30
I've ever read my entire life.
5:32
And it's one that you may have heard of before.
5:33
So you're going to want to stick around for that.
5:35
So let's go ahead and get into the first one here.
5:36
The most interesting book from any year is a conflict of visions, ideological origins
5:41
of political struggles.
5:42
This is from Thomas soul in 2007.
5:44
So with all of these, I'm going to be reading the description, why I'm giving it that award,
5:48
give you my favorite quote, and then we'll we'll move on to the next one.
5:50
So here's the description of this book controversies and politics arise from many sources.
5:55
But the conflicts that endure for generations or centuries show a remarkable, a remarkably
6:00
consistent pattern.
6:01
In the classic work, Thomas soul analyzes this pattern.
6:04
He describes the two competing visions that shape our debates about the nature of reason,
6:08
justice, equality, and power, the constrained vision, which he sees as human nature as unchanging
6:13
and selfish.
6:14
And the unconstrained vision in which human nature is malleable and perfectible, a conflict
6:19
divisions offers a convincing case that ethical and policy disputes circle around the disparity
6:25
between both outlooks.
6:27
So the reason why I'm naming this as my, as my one of the most interesting books that
6:31
I read this year, the most interesting book I read from any year is because this is such
6:36
a dense subject.
6:37
And if you've ever read anything by Thomas soul, and you know, he's going to make another
6:40
appearance on this list a little bit later, it's incredibly dense.
6:44
He has an insane amount of citations, but I've never thought about conflicting viewpoints
6:49
in terms of constrained vision and unconstrained vision.
6:52
And so this is a book that really gets into that.
6:54
It's a classic, I believe, if you've already got a subscription to, oh gosh, I'm it's going
6:59
through my head right now.
7:00
There you go.
7:01
Audible.
7:02
I think you can get this book for free on there.
7:03
So guys, you should definitely check this one out, but I'm going to read my favorite
7:05
quote to you here.
7:06
And guys, with any of these that are my quote unquote favorite quotes, it's one of many
7:10
favorite quotes, especially with a book like this.
7:12
I have so many quotes that I could pull out for you, but I'm just pulling out a random
7:15
one that is especially good, but there are a lot of great quotes, but here's a great one
7:18
from that.
7:19
The most dangerous state in the growth of civilization may well be in which man has come
7:23
to regard all these beliefs as superstitions and refuses to accept or to submit to anything
7:28
which he does not rationally understand.
7:30
The rationalist whose reason is not sufficient to teach him those limitations of power of
7:34
conscious of the power of conscious reason and who despises all the institutions and
7:38
customs which have not been consciously designed would thus become the destroyer of the civilization
7:43
built upon them.
7:44
So there you go.
7:45
That is my most interesting book from any year I conflict divisions ideological origins
7:48
of political struggles.
7:50
Now the one that is the most interesting book that I read of 2021 of a release from 2021
7:55
is breathe a life and flow by Hicks and Gracie.
7:57
So here is the description here from legendary Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA master Hicks and
8:02
Gracie comes a riveting insightful memoir that weaves together the story of Gracie's
8:06
stunning career with a large history of the Gracie family's dynasty and the founding of
8:09
the ultimate fighting championship showing how the connection between mind and body can
8:13
be harnessed for success both inside and outside the ring.
8:17
So the reason why this was the most interesting book that I read of this year is because it
8:22
was so unique to get a behind the scenes look at this guy's life.
8:25
Okay, so and we got a chance to talk to him about that on episode 242 of this podcast.
8:29
I think I'll be able to put that in the show notes.
8:30
If not, just scroll to 242 of this podcast because we have to talk actually talks about
8:34
this book because I knew a lot of things about Hicks and Gracie's life, but there were a
8:37
lot of details in there.
8:38
Obviously that had never been a part of it.
8:40
And when I saw, you know, how long this book was, it's a rather short read.
8:43
And you know, as I was kind of getting into it, I'm like, Oh, I'm wondering if this is
8:46
going to give me exactly what I want, but I could not believe how interesting it was
8:49
to hear about, you know, how he transitioned into being the Gracie family champion.
8:53
Some of the fights that he had that no one knew about some of the, the gym fights and
8:57
things like that, the gym storming that went on and incredibly, incredibly interesting
9:00
book.
9:01
And here's the thing.
9:02
If you're an MMA or a jujitsu person, you kind of have to read this book because it's
9:05
Hicks and Gracie.
9:06
He's like the name brand from the name name brand family, the first family of mixed martial
9:10
arts, essentially.
9:11
But even if you're not an MMA fan, even if you're not a jujitsu fan, there's a lot of
9:15
great tangible knowledge that you can gain from a book like this.
9:17
But let me go and read my favorite quote from that book.
9:19
And this is a quote where it's after he found out that his older brother holes, who at the
9:24
time was the Gracie family champion had died in an accident.
9:26
So here's a quote, although he looked perfectly fine, his neck was broken and holes was dead.
9:31
I received the news over the phone and it took me only seconds to know that my life would
9:34
never be the same.
9:36
Not only had I lost an idol, a teacher, my favorite brother, my, but I was now the official
9:41
family champion.
9:42
Now I would have to answer all the challenges and lead the next generation of Gracie fighters.
9:46
I was now the last line of defense for the Gracie family.
9:49
So that is my most interesting book that I read in 2021, breathe a life and flow by Hicks
9:55
and Gracie.
9:56
So let's move on to the next category here.
9:57
The next word is most timely book.
9:59
And the most timely book of any year is narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass and American
10:03
slave by Frederick Douglass.
10:04
This is from 1845.
10:06
Here's a description.
10:08
This classic of American literature, a dramatic autobiography of the early life of an American
10:11
slave was first published in 1845 when its author had just achieved his freedom.
10:16
It is a story that shocked the world with its firsthand account of the horrors of slavery.
10:20
The book was an incredible success.
10:21
It sold over 30,000 copies and was an international bestseller.
10:24
His eloquence gives a clear indication of the powerful principles that led Douglass to
10:28
become the first great African American leader in the United States.
10:32
So you might be thinking, Kyle, this book was released in the 1840s.
10:35
How is it the most timely book that you've read?
10:37
The reason is is because this is a guide that had an actual axe to grind.
10:42
Okay.
10:43
Frederick Douglass.
10:44
A very complicated character, there's not, I can't say that I agree with everything
10:47
he's ever said or written.
10:48
You can't really say that about anybody.
10:49
But the reason why I think it's timely is because to listen to this man's perspective
10:52
who experienced actual slavery, actual oppression, actual racial violence, not any of this made
11:00
up stuff that we see, you know, all these race things that happen end up being race hoaxes
11:04
in the long run that we see, most of them that we see in modernity, but to see his perspective
11:08
and see how he was able to come out that not come out on the other side, not just be this
11:11
incredibly bitter person would be this incredibly driven person.
11:14
I think it's very timely for today where in our modern society, we basically give people
11:18
plaudits for, for being victims.
11:20
We give them extra bonus points for being victims.
11:21
So I was glad to see that and read that this year.
11:23
Here's my favorite quote from that book.
11:25
My long crush spirit rose, cowardice departed, bold defiance took its place and I now resolve
11:31
that.
11:32
However, long I might remain a slave in form.
11:34
The day had passed forever when I could be a slave.
11:37
In fact, okay.
11:38
So that is the most timely book of any year narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass,
11:42
Douglas and American slave by Frederick Douglass.
11:44
All right, let's get into the one for this year.
11:46
And that is fault lines, the social justice movement and evangelicalism's looming catastrophe
11:51
by Vodie Bockham.
11:52
So let me read the description to you here.
11:54
The death of George Floyd at the hands of police in the summer of 2020 shocked the nation
11:58
as rights rocked American cities, Christians affirmed from the pulpit and in social media
12:01
that black lives matter and that racial justice is a gospel issue.
12:05
But what if there is more to the social justice movement than those Christians understand,
12:09
even worse, what if they've been duped into preaching ideas that actually oppose the kingdom
12:13
of God in this powerful book, Vodie Bockham, a preacher, professor and cultural apologist
12:17
explains the sinister worldview behind the social justice movement and critical race
12:21
theory, revealing how it already has infiltrated some seminaries leading to internal denominational
12:26
conflict, canceled careers and lost livelihoods, like a fault line, it threatens American culture
12:31
in general and the evangelical church in particular, whether you're a lay person who has woken
12:36
up in a strange new world and wonders how to engage sensitively and effectively in the
12:39
conversation on race or a pastor who is grappling with a polarization or the polarized congregation.
12:45
This book offers the clarity and understanding to either hold your ground or reclaim it.
12:49
So obviously, this shouldn't be a surprise why I think this is the most timely book that
12:53
I read this year.
12:54
This book has done incredibly, incredibly well, we're working on getting him on the show
12:59
to talk about and all those different things. The thing with this book is it's speaking
13:03
directly to things that are happening on the ground because one of the worst things that
13:06
I saw that happened in 2020 and then one of the worst things I saw basically in culture
13:10
is I assume that leftists were going to make everything a cultural issue and they were
13:14
going to make the George Floyd thing a racial issue, even though race had nothing to do
13:18
what happened in that situation. We see no evidence whatsoever of that. Anyone that says
13:22
that is just projecting. They don't have any evidence to provide that either. But it's
13:26
what I saw within congregations. Congregations all of a sudden, you know, posting black
13:30
squares on their Instagrams, we're saying Black Lives Matter are doing an entire series
13:33
basically saying that, you know, they need to treat people in their congregations differently
13:37
based on the color of their skin, not based, you know, immutable characteristics. And Vodie
13:41
basically tackles that directly. I want to read my favorite quote from that book here.
13:45
The facts about Black Lives Matter are not in dispute. The organization is Marxist, revolutionary,
13:49
feminist, misanderest, pro-LGBTQIA+, pro-abortion and anti-family with roots in the occult.
13:56
It is unacceptable for Christians to partner with, celebrate, identify with, or promote
14:00
this organization. And that includes being bullied or pressured into using the phrase
14:04
Black Lives Matter. This will not repair the fault lines. Nothing will. These divisions
14:09
are both real and necessary. As I said at the outset, the goal here is to be on the right
14:14
side of the fault line when the catastrophe comes. In the meantime, we must love. I do
14:18
not mean that we must accept the world's faulty, emasculated, unbiblical version of love. The
14:23
version that sees any disagreement or confrontation as inherently unloving. No, we must love each
14:27
other with a tenacious biblical Christ-like love. So I love stuff from Vodie Bockam. This
14:33
book made it onto our 100 books that every modern Christian man should read list. You
14:36
should definitely definitely check that book out if you not have not done already. And
14:40
that is the most timely book that I read in 2021. Fault lines, the social justice movement
14:44
and evangelicalism's looming catastrophe by Vodie Bockam. Now we're going to move on
14:48
to the most challenging book from any year. And that is Scary God introducing the fear
14:52
of the Lord to the postmodern church. And that was from Maddie Montgomery in 2018. Here's
14:57
the description here. Discover the great wonder and wild freedom the fear the Lord can bring.
15:02
God's character is like a mighty diamond, a glorious convergence of respect, all reverence,
15:07
adoration, thanksgiving, and yes, fear. Yet why is it so difficult to reconcile the wrath
15:12
of God with the love of God? As Maddie teaches, it is simply a continual awareness of Jesus,
15:17
our mighty warrior king. We should not be afraid to come to God. Rather, we should be afraid
15:21
to be against him. So I had him on episode 244 of this podcast to discuss this book in
15:27
detail. So you should definitely check out episode 244 with Maddie Montgomery. But the
15:30
reason why this was the most challenging book that I read of any year from this year is
15:35
I never really, you know, I knew about a just God and I knew about the anger of God, but
15:40
he spent, you know, 60, 70,000, maybe words or more words talking specifically about the
15:45
subject of an angry God and how that's a good thing and not something that we should be
15:50
afraid of in the sense that we normally think of being afraid. And so it really gets into
15:54
a lot of detail within the book. You should definitely pick that book up. But I'll read
15:56
my favorite quote from in here. I've lived most of my life in a church culture that has
16:00
tried to teach us that our God is passive, weak and indifferent. We have developed the
16:04
ologies and philosophies that offer excuses for the seeming absence of his power or presence
16:08
with us. And we have diminished the indescribable glory of his weighty nearness to a short list
16:13
of palatable buzzwords like uplifting or family friendly or safe. Man, it is just awesome.
16:18
I'm like, I'm getting excited as I'm reading. I'm messing up my own quotes. I'll get back
16:21
on to it. But don't we need a God that is more than that? When your marriage is hanging
16:25
on by a thread, don't you need a God who is just more than just safe? When your kid's
16:30
faith is being shaken by the seductive song of a godless culture and the call of secular
16:34
humanism is growing louder in their ears. Don't you need a God who is more than an uplifting
16:39
idea? As true biblical faith finds itself on the chopping block of inclusivity and religious
16:44
relevance, we more than ever need a God who is not subject to our ever shifting philosophies
16:49
or worldviews, one who is not open for debate, but one who cannot will not be tame for the
16:54
comfort of a self indulgent generation. So that is the most challenging book that I
16:58
read this year from a year that is not this year. I'm trying to find a good way saying
17:02
it, but scary God introducing the fear of the Lord to the postmodern church. And that
17:06
is from Nadi Montgomery. But the one from this year from 2021, that is the most challenging
17:10
book is beyond order 12 rules for life by Jordan B. Peterson. So here's the description
17:15
for those of you that did not read it. In 12 rules for life, clinical psychologists and
17:18
celebrated professor at Harvard and the University of Toronto, Dr. Jordan B. Peterson helped millions
17:22
of her leaders impose order on the chaos of their lives. Now in this bold sequel, Peterson
17:28
delivers 12 more life saving principles for resting the exhausting toll that our desire
17:32
to order the world inevitably takes. So the reason why this is the most challenging book
17:36
is because if you've read anything from Jordan Peterson before, it's nothing if not challenging.
17:40
Okay. So I even have guys in my foxhole, they're not really big fans of Peterson because they
17:45
feel like he kind of weaves throughout his writings and his talks and different things
17:49
like that and maybe doesn't land on a on a particular point. I feel differently. I feel
17:52
like he weaves a lot of different narratives and stories together and then does get to
17:56
his point. Now the interesting thing about beyond order versus the first 12 rules book
18:01
is he was writing beyond order, you know, that these next 12 rules, he was writing that
18:06
while he was sick while his wife was very, very sick at different points. He thought
18:10
his wife was going to die. He thought he was going to die. It was a very trying situation
18:13
and trying time for everything going kind of going on in his life. It's great to see that
18:17
he's going to be going on tour next year that he's kind of passed all that, but he's writing
18:20
this in the midst of that. And so you can almost feel a little bit of that angst and
18:23
that pain in the writing of this book, 12 rules for life, in my opinion, is definitely
18:27
better than beyond order. But this is still a fantastic book that I feel like is a must
18:30
read. But here's one quote, a favorite quote of mine from this book. If power is the problem,
18:35
then those who have established any authority at all are the singular cause of the world's
18:39
suffering. If masculinity is the problem, then all males or even the concept of male must
18:44
be attacked and vilified. Such division of the world into the devil without and the saints
18:48
within justifies self righteous hatred, necessitated necessitated by the morality of the ideological
18:54
system itself. This is a terrible trap. Once the source of evil has been identified, it
18:58
becomes the duty of the righteous to eradicate it. This is an invitation to both paranoia
19:03
and persecution, a world where only you and people who think like you are good is also
19:08
a world where you are surrounded by enemies bent on your destruction, who must be fought.
19:13
So beyond order 12 more rules for life from this year from Jordan B. Peterson, that is
19:18
the most challenging book that I took in this year. Now let's move on to the next category
19:22
here. We're going to go to best classic. So since we're talking about a classic, I can't
19:25
talk about one from this year. So we're only going to do one from the past. And this is
19:29
going to be 1984 by George Orwell. That was released in 1949. So for those of you not
19:33
aware, let me go and read the description here. In 1984, London is a grim city in a totalitarian
19:40
state of Oceania, where big brother is always watching you and the thought police can practically
19:44
read your mind. Winston Smith is a man in a great in grave danger for the simple reason
19:49
that his memory still functions drawn into a forbidden love affair. Winston finds the
19:53
courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called the brotherhood dedicated to the destruction
19:57
of the party together with his beloved Julia. He hazards his life in a deadly match against
20:03
the powers that be. So why this is the best classic is because for me personally, I read
20:07
this book, I think in like eighth grade or something like that. And at that time it wasn't cool
20:11
to read. Oh man, you read the book and did the homework. What a loser. And so I didn't
20:15
really remember anything from this book, but it's been a culturally relevant, relevant
20:19
book since the 40s. And especially with what we've seen now, you know, in this COVID era,
20:24
I would love to say post COVID era, but we're still living in the middle of it, you know,
20:27
we're getting variants all the time. And you know, they were trying these lockdowns.
20:31
Again, it's a bad kind of crazy time for all of us. And we're just stuck in this milieu.
20:36
And we're on this hamster wheel trying to get past this COVID stuff. But it was a wonderful
20:41
read for me to take in this year, because it was as if I was reading it for the first
20:44
time. But it could have very been very well been the most timely book that I read this
20:47
year as well, even though I kind of gave that award to somebody else. But if this is a book
20:50
that you haven't read yet, you definitely need to. And this isn't like the most, I guess
20:54
quotable book because it's not, you know, a nonfiction book, but there is a quote here
20:57
that I think really sums up this book, which is who controls the past controls the future?
21:02
Who controls the present controls the past? And so we're seeing a lot of that, you know,
21:05
you talk about big tech, you talk about big media. There's a lot of that really trying
21:09
to control the narrative. And if you're doing that, you're controlling the past, you're
21:11
changing articles, a lot of stuff that we saw predicted, you know, I don't know if Orwell
21:15
was best basically trying to predict what was going to be happening in the future. We're
21:19
seeing that now play out in a totalitarian way, which is kind of kind of scary. But hey,
21:23
that's not the subject to today's podcast. But that is the best classic that I read this
21:26
year. And that is 1984 by George Orwell. Now let's move on to the next category here.
21:31
That is most useful book. So the most useful book from any year is family shepherds calling
21:35
and equipping men to lead their homes. And that is by Vodie Bockum making another appearance.
21:39
And that's back from 2011. So that is a book that shout out to Ryan, you know, he's one
21:44
of our biggest supporters. He's he actually gave me a copy of this book. It took me a
21:47
while to get to it. But I did actually read it this year. Very, very, very useful book.
21:51
I'll read the description here. God has mandated the transfer of his truth from one generation
21:55
to the next because his transfer takes place primarily in the home. Vodie Bockum Jr. seeks
21:59
to guide men and faithfully shepherding their families derived from Bockum's monthly meetings
22:03
with men in his church. Family shepherds calls them into accountability for their God given
22:07
responsibilities as husbands and fathers. This book will inspire them to live better, love
22:11
better and lead better so that their families will thrive in every way. Bockum's clear
22:15
style and practical approach will help men protect their marriage, raise kingdom minded
22:19
children, value the synergy between church and home and navigate difficult family dynamics.
22:24
It will inspire them to carefully evaluate and live out their roles in all areas of life.
22:29
Family shepherds is a book that every father needs and that every church will want as a
22:32
resource for training them in in their congregations. So I feel like from that description it answers
22:37
the question why this is the most useful book of this year because it's not very long.
22:41
I think it's less than 200 pages long, but it is chock full of wisdom for Daddy's, right?
22:48
So for all you guys out there that have a spouse that have children and you're trying
22:52
to lead them in a gospel centered way and have no idea how to do it because it's not
22:55
been modeled for you. This is a great model. Again, it's better if you have a pastor or
23:00
or an elder or someone in your life that can help lead you in this way, but this is a tremendous
23:04
resource for those of you that really have no idea. So here's a favorite quote from this
23:08
book. Our goal is the gospel, the approach to family shepherding in this book and the
23:12
things we do in our church are not predicated on statistics about church dropouts, though
23:16
that is important, nor it is our belief that all the church's problems stem from a lower
23:20
view of the family, though that issue is significant. We do not and what I'm writing about here
23:26
are well, sorry, let me go back. What we do and what I'm writing about here starts with
23:30
the belief that the gospel is our only hope. The family is not the gospel nor is the family
23:34
as important as the gospel. The family is a delivery mechanism for the gospel. So guys,
23:40
most useful book I read from any year, family shepherds calling and equipping men to lead
23:44
their homes by Vodie Bockham. Also 2021, the one I read for this year is what to say when
23:49
the complete new guide to discussing abortion by Sean Carney and Steve Carlin. So I had those
23:53
guys on the podcast on podcast 262. And it was a great conversation. But let me read the
23:58
description here before I get into why I gave it the award. What do I say when abortion and rape
24:03
come up? What about my body, my choice? When should I avoid politics? From forced birth to
24:08
gender to shout your abortion, much has changed since abortion was legalized in 1973, yet it
24:14
remains the most controversial controversial issue of our time. What to say when equips you to with
24:19
proven approaches from the front lines to help you know exactly what to say and not to say when
24:23
abortion comes up, balance converting hearts versus winning arguments, navigate the changing
24:28
in bizarre new ways abortion is promoted, go on offense and stay on topic when defending life.
24:34
So obviously this is a how to book, right? So the reason why it's the most useful book is because I
24:38
talk to you guys about abortion all the time and I try to equip you with how you can deal with a lot
24:42
of the arguments in in those different areas. You've heard me talk about one of my favorite
24:46
podcasts that I did this year was where I taught you how to deal with pro abortion argumentation.
24:50
A lot of that argumentation came from that resource came from this book. So again,
24:54
go back to episode 262 of this podcast where I talked to those guy about it. But but this is a
24:58
great short book for you guys to have as a reference guide for when you know you're going to be talking
25:02
to somebody and this these subjects come up and or to have these arguments written on your heart.
25:06
So when it comes up and you don't have time to prepare for the conversation, it's able to just
25:09
kind of roll off your tongue. But I'll give you my favorite quote from the book here.
25:12
As deeply as abortion impacts a woman, her body is impacted secondarily. Her body is the setting for
25:18
the abortion. In other words, the abortion will be done on the baby, not the woman. It's the baby
25:24
who experiences the primary effects of abortion. And it's the baby's body that is affected directly.
25:29
The heart stopped by abortion belongs to the baby, not to the mother. Abortion tears the baby's limbs
25:34
apart, not the mother's limbs. The aftermath of an abortion is the lifeless body of the baby,
25:40
not the mother. So it's a great quote from that. That's obviously for some of that's making the
25:44
my body, my choice argument. But again, the most useful book that I read this year. What to say
25:48
when the complete new guide to discussing abortion by Sean Carney and Steve Carlin. And this is probably
25:54
a good time to mention that with all these different awards, all these books are going to be in the
25:57
show notes so you guys can check them out later and have them for your use. But let's move on to
26:01
the next one here. And that is the most impactful book that I read not from 2021. And that's the
26:06
theft of America's soul blowing the lid off the lies that are destroying our country by Phil
26:11
Robertson. So that's back from 2019. Here's a description of that book. It's time to take back
26:16
what the devil has stolen and put God back into our culture. The theft of America's soul is a
26:21
prophetic wake up call for all who desire to see our nation thrive, challenging readers to exchange
26:26
to exchange these 10 lies for truths that will bring peace of mind, harmony, and prosperity back
26:31
to our country and invitation to experience the life giving peace filling, holy, transforming love
26:37
of God. Phil Robertson, patriarch of A&E's Duck Dynasty, and one of the most recognized voices
26:42
of conservative Christianity in America believes that little by little, generation by generation,
26:47
America has allowed the lines of morality, decency, and virtue to be erased. Our values have disappeared
26:52
as we began to believe lies, such as that God is dead, truth is relative, and unity is impossible,
26:58
and have brought discord, division, and protest. But Phil also believes that things can change.
27:03
So the reason why this is one of the most impactful books is because I read this book before I went
27:07
out there and was interviewed on Phil's show down in Louisiana this summer. And he's got a way of
27:11
saying things in such a simple way that leave a profound impact. So again, you know, this is
27:16
the most impactful book, but you're not going to get these unbelievably deep theological takeaways.
27:22
It's not going to be, you know, like, you know, talking to Eric Metaxas or Dr. Jonathan McLatchy
27:26
or some of these people that just go way out into the ether and a lot of these academic or
27:30
philosophical arguments. He keeps it very, very straightforward. I mean, he talks about it all
27:34
the time, like he's trying to preach to rednecks, you know, to people that can, you know, understand
27:38
things in a very, very simple way. And there's a lot of profound nature and even keeping things
27:42
at such a simple level. And my favorite quote from this is whenever he was a guest at Angola in prison,
27:47
and so Angola is a maximum security prison in Louisiana. It's where the roughest of the rough
27:52
criminals from that area go. A lot of those guys are actually on death row. And this was whenever
27:56
he was talking to the prisoners there. Gentlemen, this is the end of the line for most of you, I said,
28:01
most of you are going to die in this prison, but I have some good news for you. You can be under lock
28:05
and key, but you can still be free. So he made a big impact in that prison. A lot of those men
28:10
accepted Christ. They are because of the things that he was able to do, because the Holy Spirit
28:14
working through his words. So very, very impactful book, the theft of America's soul blowing the
28:18
lid off the lies that are destroying our country by Phil Robertson. Now, the most impactful book
28:24
that I read this year from 2021 is sacrifice a gold star widows fight for the truth. And that's
28:30
by Michelle blacks. Let me read the description here. The shocking and affecting memoir from a
28:34
gold star widow searching for the truth behind her green beret husband's death. This book bears
28:39
witness to the true sacrifices made by military families. When green beret Brian black was killed
28:44
in ambush in Niger in 2017, his wife Michelle saw her worst nightmare become a reality. She was
28:50
left alone with her grief and with her two young sons to raise. But what followed Brian's death
28:54
was an even more difficult journey for the young widow. After receiving very few details about the
28:59
attack that took her husband's life, it was up to Michelle to find answers. It became her mission
29:03
to learn the truth about that day in Niger. And sacrifice is the result of that mission.
29:07
In this heartbreaking and revelatory memoir, Michelle uses exclusive interviews with the
29:12
survivors of her husband's unit, research into the military leaders leadership and accountability,
29:18
and her own unique vantage point as a gold star widow to tell a previously unknown story.
29:22
Sacrifice is both an honest, emotional look inside the military marriage and a searing
29:27
investigation of the people and decisions at the heart of the US military. So I had her on our
29:32
podcast for episode 198. And guys, just to be straight up honest with you, the reason why I'm
29:37
giving this the most impactful book award is because I'm not an overly emotional guy.
29:40
When it comes to being teary eyed or crying or getting sad or any of those things, I'm usually
29:45
emotional and the excited and you know, fired up way. Several points during the reading of this book,
29:50
I was brought to tears and I had to close it. I had to close it, kind of walk away from my,
29:54
from my iPad or from my phone or from my whatever. I just couldn't deal with what was being described
29:59
in the book. And it was almost like I could feel part of her pain. You know, when her and her father
30:04
in law, when told the boys and trying to trying to deal with that whole situation, it's an unbelievable
30:09
story that that she had to endure that she still, still enduring to this day, you know, losing love
30:15
of her life and raising her two sons alone and those different things. But I do have a favorite
30:18
quote that I want to share with you because I definitely want to encourage you to go listen to
30:21
episode 190 of this podcast. You should definitely check out this book. But this is a quote from when
30:25
she goes to the airport with her two boys to receive the body of her dead husband. I thought that
30:30
this was absolutely amazing. With a storm forecasted to move in that day, it was breezy and the air
30:36
was crisp as we stepped through the door into the bright light of the day. I pulled my sweater tied
30:40
around me as one by one we filed carefully down the metal steps to an area where we were to await
30:45
the plane. We were offered earplugs for the noise. I helped the boys put theirs in, but I declined
30:50
any for myself. I wanted to feel and hear the full impact of everything just as Brian had when he
30:56
died. No comforts, nothing to soften the blow. I needed to stare this beast down even if it brought
31:02
me to my knees. I repeated in my head the thoughts that had kept me going since the beginning of
31:07
October. I am heartbroken, but I am not broken. I will face this with fury and let every ounce of
31:13
it hit me full force and dare it to break me. I've heard it said that you marry your equal.
31:17
If that's true, I'm a beast, a force to be reckoned with. I will do Brian proud.
31:23
This is my mantra. I will take deep breaths, hold my children close and handle things. I will not be
31:29
another victim of the men who took my husband's life and those of his fellow soldiers. Those men
31:34
were left in a desert without a choice, but I have a choice. My children and I will not be further
31:38
victims of this tragedy. We will be victors. Guys, I don't think I need to say another word about it.
31:44
That is the most impactful book from 2021. Sacrifice a gold star widows fight for the truth by Michelle
31:50
Black. All right, now let's go on to the most entertaining book and the most entertaining book
31:55
that I read not from 2021 is Mission Blacklist number one, the inside story of the search for
32:00
Saddam Hussein as told by the soldier who masterminded his capture. And that's by Eric Maddox from 2008.
32:06
Let me read the short description here. A behind the scenes chronicle of the search for Saddam Hussein
32:11
is a dramatic moment by moment narrative account that also profiles the author's nonviolent
32:16
psychological interrogation method. So guys, if you want to hear my interview with Eric Maddox,
32:21
where we talked about this book in grave detail, go back to 252 episode 252 of this podcast.
32:26
But the reason why this is the most entertaining book is because I usually have the most entertaining
32:30
category for fiction, because that's kind of what fiction is supposed to be. It's supposed to be a
32:34
thrill ride, it's supposed to take you on a journey. And you know, we're going to get to some on this
32:37
list that were certainly that. But this book read like, like a spy novel, right? It read like a
32:44
jack car novel, because I just could not believe that these things were actually happening during
32:48
these interrogations. You know, all these close calls where they thought they had Saddam Hussein,
32:52
but then they missed him, but then they went over here, then everything seemed like it was straight
32:56
out of a Hollywood script in a too good to be true Hollywood script. And so it was a very,
33:00
very fun ride. It's a great book for you guys to check out. Here's my favorite quote from this.
33:04
And this was after they had actually captured Saddam Hussein. I've got a souvenir for you, Eric.
33:08
He said, as we greeted each other, is it my share of the 1.9 million I asked? He laughed.
33:13
No, we already spent that. But when we pulled Saddam out of the hole, we found a couple of
33:17
things he kept close to him. There was a 9 millimeter pistol he gave that we gave to President Bush,
33:22
and there was a box of Cuban cigars. He pulled out a cigar and handed it to me.
33:26
We saved one for you. So, I mean, he has not smoked that cigar to this day. He has it in a safe place,
33:31
but he has one of the cigars that was at Saddam's side when he was captured. So that's pretty awesome.
33:35
So that is the most entertaining book that I read this year, not from 2021. Mission Blacklist
33:40
number one, the inside story of the search for Saddam Hussein as told by the soldier who masterminded
33:44
his capture by Eric Maddox. And the one for this year, the most entertaining book is The Devil's Hand
33:50
by Jack Carr. So surprise, surprise, I mentioned Jack Carr just a second ago, but The Devil's Hand
33:54
was his latest novel in his series in his James Reese series. It was a fourth novel, but we'll
33:58
read the description here. It's been 20 years since 9/11, two decades since the United States
34:03
was attacked on home soil and set out to make the guilty pay with their lives. In the shadows,
34:07
the enemy has been patient, learning and adapting, and the enemy is ready to strike again.
34:12
A new president offers hope to a country weary of conflict. He's a young, popular,
34:16
self-made visionary, but he's also a man with a secret. Halfway across the globe,
34:20
a regional superpower struggles with sanctions imposed by the United States and her European
34:24
allies, a country whose ancient religions spawned a group of ruthless assassins faced with internal,
34:29
dissent and extra-digital targeted killings by the United States and Israel. The supreme leader
34:34
puts a plan in motion to defeat the most powerful nation on earth. Meanwhile, the young PhD student
34:39
has gained access to a bioweapon thought to be confined to a classified military laboratory,
34:43
known only to a select number of officials, a second generation agent. He has been assigned a
34:48
mission that will bring his adopted homeland to its knees. So I had Jack on this podcast on
34:53
episode 168. So this was as he was in the process of finishing this book. And so you can go back
34:58
and check out episode 168 of this podcast. But guys, do I really need to describe why I named this as
35:04
the most entertaining book I read this year? You can pretty much be assured that his novels are
35:08
going to win most entertaining or going to win best fiction every single year. Because I messaged
35:12
Jack after I finished the Devil's Hand this year. And I was like, brother, I don't know if if I'm
35:16
just getting better at reading or if you're just getting better at writing, because every single
35:19
year, I feel like you won up the previous year's book. So the Devil's Hand again is just one of the
35:24
most entertaining books that I've read maybe ever. But it's definitely the most entertaining book I
35:27
read from this year by Jack Carr. Oh, but before I let you go off of that one, let me read you a
35:31
favorite quote from that. One of the most striking proofs of personal existence of Satan is found
35:36
in the fact that he has so influenced the minds of multitudes in reference to his existence and
35:40
doings as to make them believe that he does not exist. So that is my favorite quote from
35:46
that book from the Devil's Hand by Jack Carr. But let's move on to the next one here. Best fiction.
35:51
So best fiction, not from 2021. That is Animal Farm. And that is from Georgia Orwell in 1945. So
35:58
I've got a lot, a lot of repeats with Orwell and Bacham and all those different things. But
36:02
there will be one more that you'll see here in a second. But here's a description of Animal Farm.
36:05
George Orwell's timeless and timely allegorical novel, a scathing satire on the downtrodden society,
36:11
blind downtrodden societies blind march towards totalitarianism. The book tells the story of a
36:16
group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where
36:20
the animals can be equal, free and happy. Ultimately, however, the rebellion is betrayed and the farm
36:25
ends up in a state as bad as it was before under the dictatorship of a pig named Napoleon. Today,
36:31
it is devastatingly clear that whenever and wherever freedom is attacked, under whatever banner,
36:35
the cutting clarity and savage comedy of George Orwell's masterpiece have a meaning and message
36:40
still ferociously fresh. So a lot of people will buy and read Animal Farm in 1984 together,
36:46
both from Georgia Orwell. And there's a lot of great reasons for that. But the reason why I put
36:50
this as best best fiction as opposed to 1984 is because I felt like this one was the most descriptive
36:55
of kind of the degradation of our society from within that we're experiencing right now.
37:00
Yeah, people that are looking at, you know, the farmer in this case, which might be big government
37:05
or might be, you know, whatever, just society in general. And they're trying to tear it down
37:08
from the inside because they know better, right? Just like the animals on this farm,
37:12
they know better. But just like with any, you know, authoritarian takeover into a totalitarian
37:17
regime, it only benefits the people at the tippy top, right? It doesn't benefit all people. That's
37:22
why communism doesn't work. That's why socialism doesn't work in practices because it's ran by
37:26
fallible humans that will screw people over. And my favorite quote from that book is animals are all
37:31
or sorry, all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. So I feel like that is,
37:37
you know, maybe the most important quote from that book, but that's also applicable to today.
37:40
So that is the best fiction book I read this year that was not from this year,
37:44
Animal Farm by George Orwell. Now the best fiction book I read this year from this year
37:49
is a man at arms by Stephen Pressfield. So I'll get into the description here.
37:52
Jerusalem and the Sinai desert. Sorry, we'll start over. This is not going well. Here we go.
37:58
Jerusalem and the Sinai desert, 85 in the turbulent aftermath of the aftermath of the
38:02
crucifixion of Jesus, agents of the Roman Empire receive information about a pilgrim bearing an
38:07
incendiary letter from a religious fanatic calling himself Paul the apostle to insurrectionists in
38:12
Corinth. What's in the letter could bring down the empire. The Romans hire a former legionary,
38:17
a solitary man at arms named Telamon to interpret or to intercept the letter and destroy the courier
38:23
and just oh God, this is not going well guys. I'm trying. You know, we have to read this much.
38:27
I'm sorry to Stephen Pressfield. We're just going to start at the beginning of that sentence here.
38:30
The Romans hire a former legionary, a solitary man at arms named Telamon to intercept a letter
38:35
and destroy the courier. Telamon fights for money, not principles. He's been promised a rich reward.
38:41
Should he fail, the punishment is death by crucifixion. But once he meets the courier,
38:45
Telamon experiences an extraordinary conversion and instead of carrying out the mission takes on the
38:50
empire. Now, he came on episode 182 of this podcast to talk about this book. He sent this book to me,
38:55
you know, months in advance of kind of when it actually was released. And so I was able to take
39:00
it in well before. And in that particular podcast, I kind of broke it up to where there's like a
39:04
before the outro and after the outro. So for those of you that actually read the book after
39:08
the outro is really interesting because I give a lot of spoilers and we get into kind of why he
39:12
did this and why he did that. But I want to read my favorite quote from this actual book and it's
39:16
from the very beginning. And I'm actually going to read it from the advance copy that he sent me.
39:19
And this is the moment that the young man in this book, David, realizes that he could follow Telamon,
39:25
that he could follow the man in arms. So it's someone lengthy apart from the end of book two
39:30
inside this book. But I'll go and get into that here. David knew it once that he would follow this
39:35
man. What he taught David would learn. What he commanded David would perform. He the youth would
39:40
enroll himself in the Academy of the highway in the School of Conflict. Such secrets as the man
39:45
in arms might impart David knew would have to be prized from him one lesson at a time, one action,
39:50
one word. David did not care. Whatever the price, he would pay it. Why this one David asked himself
39:56
now as he trekked in the train of the solitary mercenary. Why him and not one of the thousands
40:01
of pike men and archers and cavalry writers, Jew and Gentile whom David had encountered over the
40:06
short McKinley Reserve span of years. David sent something about this individual. He could not
40:11
have articulated articulated its essence, even in part, even to himself. Yet the boy felt in this
40:16
man something deeper and more profound than simply strength or skill or even Andrea,
40:21
mainly virtue in the Greek sense. This man in arms had a religion too. It was not a faith of the
40:26
lamper of the blessed by and by. It was not a soldier's code or code of honor. It was stoner
40:31
and more solitary. A doctrine shorn of pity even for oneself, but which touched somehow David's
40:36
sense upon the truth as immutable as death and as primal as creation. David resolved that he would
40:42
give all he had, all he ever would have to acquire that which the miss man and arm possessed. This
40:47
wisdom, this understanding, the knowledge of these mysteries, he would die to be and to become
40:52
himself like this man. Just an absolutely fantastic book. I mean, you want to talk about thrill ride.
40:58
This could have won a bunch of other different awards inside of this particular episode, but
41:02
I figured I'd give it the best affliction award for 2021. And that is a man in arms by Stephen
41:08
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at prolonlife.com/now. All right, now we're going to get into the best reread book. So this is a
41:39
book that I've read in the past, but that I'm rereading and that I reread this year. And so I've
41:43
already talked about this one on this podcast, but that has 12 rules for life and anecdote to chaos.
41:47
And that was released by Jordan B. Peterson in 2018. That is a top 10, maybe even a top three book
41:52
for me in my entire life. But for any of you that have never heard of it, let me read the
41:55
description to you here. What does everyone in modern in the modern world know or need to know?
42:00
Renowned psychologist, Jordan B. Peterson's answer to this most difficult of questions uniquely
42:04
combines the hard one truths of ancient tradition with the stunning revelations of cutting edge
42:08
scientific research. Humorous, surprising and informative, Dr. Peterson tells us why skateboarding
42:14
boys and girls must be left alone, what terrible fate awaits those who criticize too easily,
42:18
and why you should always pet a cat when you meet one in the street. What does the nervous system
42:22
of the lowly lobster have to tell us about standing up straight with our shoulders back
42:26
and about success in life? Why did ancient Egyptians worship the capacity to pay careful
42:30
attention as the highest of gods? What dreadful paths do people tread when they become resentful,
42:36
arrogant and vengeful? Dr. Peterson, Dr. Peterson journeys broadly discussing discipline,
42:42
discipline, freedom, adventure and responsibility, distilling the words wisdom into 12 practical
42:46
and profound rules for life. 12 rules for life shatters the modern common places of science,
42:52
faith and human nature while transforming and ennobling the mind with the spirit of its readers.
42:57
So why this is the best reread? Again, this is a book that I think I've read three or four times
43:01
now. Every time I read it, I have to find a different highlight color because I'm finding things
43:06
that I didn't find in the initial translation or in the initial not translation, but the initial
43:09
reading. And then also I've done a couple of different times I've read through the book
43:14
by listening to it, right? So I've listened to Jordan Peterson actually read his book and it provides
43:18
a lot of profound impact. And there's so many great quotes from this book, but this is my favorite
43:22
one. And this is from rule 11, do not bother children when they are skateboarding. Men have to toughen
43:27
up men demand it and women want it, even though they may not approve of the harsh and contemptuous
43:32
attitude that is part and parcel of the socially demanding process that fosters and then enforces
43:37
that toughness. Some women don't like losing their baby boys, so they keep them forever. Some
43:42
women don't like men and would rather have a submissive mate, even if he is useless. This also
43:47
provides them with plenty to feel sorry for themselves about as well. The pleasures of such
43:51
self pity should not be underestimated. Men toughen up by punishing themselves and by pushing each
43:56
other. So obviously if you guys listen to my show for any length of time, you know, I agree with a
44:00
lot of the stuff in there. So the best reread that I did from this year is 12 rules for life
44:04
and antidote to chaos by Jordan B. Peterson. All right, now we're going to get into the most
44:09
disappointing book. Okay. So the most disappointing book that I read this year that was not from 2021
44:14
is the Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. And that was released in 1895. So let me read the
44:18
description to you here. The Red Badge of Courage is a war novel by American author Stephen Crane.
44:24
Taking place during the American Civil War, the story is about a young private of the Union Army,
44:28
Henry Fleming, who flees from the field of battle. Overcome with shame, he longs for a wound,
44:32
a Red Badge of Courage to counteract his cowardice. When his regiment once again faces the enemy,
44:37
Henry acts as a standard bearer. Although Crane was born after the war and he had not
44:42
had time to experience battle firsthand, the novel is known for its realism. He began writing
44:47
what would become his second novel in 19 or in 1893, using various contemporary and written
44:52
accounts, such as those published previously by Century magazine as inspiration. It is believed
44:56
that he based his fictional battle on that of Chancellor Bill. He also had given interviews
45:02
veterans of the 124th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, commonly known as the Orange Blossoms.
45:07
Initially shortened and serialized in newspapers in December of 1894, the novel was published in
45:14
full in October of 1895. A longer version of the work based on Crane's original manuscript was
45:18
published in 1982. So the reason why this was the most disappointing book that I read this year
45:24
is as I mentioned to you guys before on previous podcasts, it's really, really hard for me to follow
45:28
fiction. Okay. If it doesn't grip me from the very, very beginning and basically drag me through,
45:33
like some of the stuff I've already described from Jack Carr or from Stephen Pressfield,
45:36
it's very, very hard for me to pay attention. And that happened to me with this book.
45:40
So I'm not saying that this classic book is bad. Okay. I'm about to get into some bad books here
45:46
in a second, but it was disappointing because I was very excited to take in this book. I was very
45:51
excited to kind of learn from it. But for whatever reason, there was some sort of a block whenever I
45:55
went through this book, which basically means I'm going to have to try to do it again at some point
45:59
in the future to go through it. Because I know that this book is a fantastic book, the number of
46:03
people that suggested it to me would basically be evidence to that. But it was disappointing,
46:07
because I basically didn't feel like I got very much out of it. Now, the most disappointing book
46:12
that I got that I read in 2021, it that was from this year is atomic habits, an easy and proven way
46:18
to build good habits and break bad ones. And that's by James Clear. So this is a book I actually
46:24
forgot to put the description here. So I'm going to go ahead and look it up real quick.
46:26
The thing about this book that is interesting to me is that it's it was suggested to me by about
46:31
a thousand different people. And one of the things about this book that I felt like was very, very
46:36
interesting is the completely different number of ways that people describe this book and why it
46:42
would be awesome and why I should read it. But let me go ahead and read read the introduction to it
46:46
here, the description here. No matter what your goals, atomic habits offers a proven framework
46:50
for improving every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation reveals
46:55
practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones and master
47:00
the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results. So here's the thing about this book.
47:05
Why I thought it was the most disappointing book? Because this book could have not been
47:08
titled atomic habits. It could have been titled how to be an adult. Or this is
47:15
emplately obvious. The thing about reading through this book is if you're a dutiful person,
47:19
if you're a dependable, reliable person, you're reading through this like, yeah, and
47:25
yeah, yeah, and yeah, I get it and like a lot of the things that he described in this book
47:31
were just basic common knowledge. Okay. Now I will say there was one thing that I took away from
47:36
this book that's a quote that I've been able to take through and give to other people. It's that
47:40
winners and losers have the same goals. Now, I feel like that I really wish I wouldn't have wasted,
47:46
you know, several hours reading through this entire book to come away with, you know,
47:49
winners and losers have the same goals. That's a great thing to think through and a great thing to
47:53
think about like, Hey man, there can only be one gold medal winner. There can only be one person at
47:56
the top of the heap. So that may not be you and it may just be unfair. You may not be tall enough,
48:00
you may not be smart enough, whatever the situation is. But again, this book I felt like was very,
48:05
very disappointing because of the sheer number of people that suggested it to me. Now this book
48:09
also, I'm going to be in the major minority here because I think this book has been in the top 10
48:13
on the New York Times bestseller list for like two or three years at this point. Or not not two
48:17
years it was released this year. But it's just one of those things where I found it are actually
48:20
just kidding. I messed up my own podcast because this book was not released in 2021. This book was
48:24
released in 2018. But at the same time, this book was very, very hard to get through because it was
48:31
so simple and I just didn't really didn't really jive with my brain for whatever reason. So again,
48:36
I know I kind of messed it up because this book was released several years ago. I know a lot of
48:39
you guys are going to disagree with me. But there you go. I gave you two not from 2021 that are most
48:43
disappointing. But this one was atomic habits and easy and proven way to build good habits and break
48:49
bad ones, even even in the subtitle and easy way to break bad habits, there's no easy way to break
48:53
it. But anyway, we can be done with that one. Now we're going to move on to the worst book
48:58
category. Okay, so we're going to get into the worst book that I read this year. Okay, from from
49:04
2021. But guys, I got to prepare myself because I've literally been stewing about this book
49:13
since February. This is the worst book that I've ever read cover to cover. Because as you know,
49:19
I'm the type of guy that I have to finish books, which you remember that I said that
49:22
here in a second, we talk about the book after this one. Okay, but the worst book that I read,
49:27
not from 2021, but read this year is the way of the superior man, a spiritual guide to mastering
49:32
the challenges of women, work, and sexual desire from 2017 by David, I think you pronounce his last
49:39
name data, D E I D A David data or data, whatever. So think about this book is just by the title,
49:46
the way of the superior man, this has been on my want to read list for several years and that
49:50
really got around to it. But then it was picked as our book that we were going to be going through
49:54
in my foxhole. And I was very excited to read this. And now the subtitle, you know,
49:59
a spiritual guide to mastering the challenges of women, work and sexual desire. Ooh, I was like,
50:04
okay, well, it's going to be a little bit new age, but I bet I can get through it.
50:06
Let me read the description and then I'll get into why I think it's the worst book. No matter your
50:10
goals are here. Now I got my notes all messed up. So I got my notes, you know, for a different book
50:17
from the last one. So here I am going to have to go over to Amazon again and do this live.
50:21
So guys, you can just make fun of me later. It's okay. The way of the superior man. All right,
50:26
here we go. You know, you get this far into the podcast, you know, I got my notes all squared away
50:30
for the rest of it. And you know, I should, I make a mistake towards the end, it's no big deal.
50:33
All right, let's read it here. Though much has changed in society since the first publication
50:37
of the way of the superior man, men of all ages still tussle with the challenges of women work
50:42
in sexual desire, including an all new pre preface by the author David data, this 20th anniversary
50:47
edition of the classic guide to male spirituality offers the next generation, the opportunity to
50:52
cultivate trust in the moment and put forth the best versions of themselves and an ever-changing
50:56
world. So there's, there's more to the description here, but I feel like I'm going to throw up. So I
51:00
need to just kind of talk about why this is the worst book. So I'm not going to give you a quote
51:03
from this book because there is not a great quote from this book. But the reason why this is the
51:08
worst book is because basically from beginning to end, it's all hogwash. This guy makes these
51:14
grandiose statements about psychology, about biology, about every single thing that you could
51:22
possibly imagine within the psyche and the physicality of a man and provides zero citations.
51:27
So some of you you aren't reading and then you don't actually check the citations,
51:32
but the fact that no citations were even listed may be made me really, really concerned towards
51:38
the beginning of this book because he's making these huge statements and providing nothing to
51:42
back it up. No data, no studies, no other books, no other authors words. It's just this guy saying
51:48
things, right? And he's making such big statements that you would think at some point he would,
51:53
you know, someone would be like, Hey, in your 20th anniversary of this book, how about we put
51:56
some citations in the back? But this, this book is like complete woo woo. That that is the number
52:03
one thing that I kept thinking I was I was reading through this book is this is complete woo woo.
52:07
And it's talking about it's kind of all this new agey stuff about how you can kind of control
52:11
the minds of women and what you need to do in order to kind of go here and in order to be like
52:15
sexually tan trick and all this blah, blah, blah, blah, bull crap. I mean, my goodness.
52:19
I had to finish reading this book because we were reading it in our foxhole and part of me
52:24
wanted to finish reading the entire thing so that I could include it on this list.
52:28
This book is a steaming heaping pile of garbage. Okay, the book from a few years ago, I think it
52:35
was called like there was some self help book that I talked about on this podcast a few years ago.
52:41
That was so, so bad. I find your why there was. And so, or there was like find your why and then
52:47
start with why I was like, I didn't think I would read a worst book than those books because they
52:50
were such such, you know, garbage. This is the worst book that I've ever read my entire life.
52:54
Guys, do not read this book. Do not try to prove me wrong. But, but you know what? If you've read
52:59
this book and you love it, please send me an email info at undaunted.life and let me know what I
53:04
miss because I'm telling you this book was absolute, absolute garbage. I cannot believe I
53:08
wasted so much time on that the way of the superior man, the spiritual guide to mastering the challenges
53:12
of women, work and sexual desire from David data. Now, the worst book that I read from 2021
53:19
is your brain is always listening tame the hidden dragons that control your happiness,
53:23
habits and hang ups by Daniel Ayman. Now, I'll say from the beginning, well, actually,
53:27
let me read the description, then we'll get into why I'm saying all these things.
53:30
Your brain is always listening and responding to these hidden influences and unless you recognize
53:35
and deal with them, they can steal your happiness, spoil your relationships and sabotage your health.
53:40
This book will teach you to tame the dragons from the past that ignite your most painful emotions.
53:44
Negative thought dragons that attack you feeling anxiety and depression. They and them dragons,
53:49
people in your life, whose own dragons do battle with yours, bad habit dragons that increase the
53:53
chances you'll be overweight, overwhelmed and an underachiever, addicted dragons that make you
53:57
lose control of your health, wealth and relationships and scheming dragons, advertisers and social
54:02
media sites that steal your attention. Dr. Daniel Ayman shows you how to recognize harmful dragons
54:07
and gives you the weapons to vanquish them. With these practical tools, you will stop feeling sad,
54:11
mad, nervous or out of control and start being happier, calmer and more in control of your own
54:16
destiny. Now with this book, this is another book that we're going over in my foxhole on Sundays.
54:22
It's actually a book that we're going through that we're in the middle of right now. This is one of
54:25
the few books in my entire life that I started and stopped reading, okay? Because one of the things
54:31
that I've changed is and I'm trying to get off of is I'm a finisher, right? So if I start a movie,
54:36
even if it sucks, I'm going to by golly, I'm going to finish this movie. You know, if I start
54:40
this show by golly, I'm going to finish it. If I start this book by golly, I'm going to finish it.
54:43
But now the level of reading I'm going to be doing in order to prep for interviews and prep for
54:48
shows and in the limited amount of time that I have now with one kid on earth and, you know,
54:52
one kid on earth, but in my wife's stomach and how life's going to change in 2022,
54:56
I just can't give extra time to things that stink or things that aren't any good or things that
55:01
aren't going to go anywhere or things that I'm going to have to provide a whole lot more of
55:04
myself to just to get even a modicum of something out of. And that's what happened to me with this
55:09
book, because after the second or third part of this book, this guy had basically called
55:14
everything that could be possibly negative in your life, a dragon. And he gave that dragon a name
55:20
and that's kind of the theme of the book. And he's got like a website you can go to to find out
55:23
which dragon is yours. But all of the deciding factors as to whether or not this dragon is a
55:28
dragon in your life was so common to the majority of humanity to the point of being useless to even
55:34
define. And so you do this test. I think there were initially 12 dragons and then by the next
55:39
part, there were like 30 dragons and by the next part, there were like 70 dragons. And you're checking
55:43
so many of these questions as yes, you come out of even the first parts of this book thinking,
55:49
Oh my gosh, I've got all these dragons attacking me at all times. And the thing about that is you
55:54
can be a fairly well adjusted person that that has a lot of things going right for you. You know,
55:59
you're spiritually mentally and physically in their in the right place and you can read a book like
56:03
this and be like, Oh my gosh, I'm completely jacked up. I need to blow up my entire life and
56:07
change everything I'm doing because I read this stupid book about dragons, right? It's not even
56:12
about dragons all made up dragons, right? And so the thing is, a lot of people are getting
56:15
something from this work, even in my foxhole, a lot of people get stuff from the work of Dr. Daniel
56:20
Amen. But I just had a fundamental problem with what he was discussing and how he was discussing it
56:26
in this particular book, because if everything's a problem, nothing's a problem. Because if
56:31
everyone is attacking you, you can't attack anyone back, right? It just it's impossible to deal with
56:36
things. And so you might say, Hey, Kyle, you know, you know, go into that book and you define your
56:40
dragons, but then just pick one to fight with. But just fundamentally, it was so hard to get past
56:44
that in this book. So this is one of those books that I just could not finish reading, right? I
56:48
just moved on to other books. I was like, okay, I'm gonna put that in a different pile. I was
56:52
going to give it my full effort that I normally do. But I just couldn't get there with this book.
56:56
I just could not get there. So guys, your brain is always listening tame the hidden dragons that
57:00
control your happiness habits and hang ups by Daniel Amen. That was the worst book from 2021.
57:05
But now guys, we've made it all the way through here. We've only got two categories left.
57:09
So this is almost the best book. Okay. The reason why I do this is because I hate when
57:14
people say honorable mention for some reason. So I'm going to make it even more convoluted.
57:17
Almost the best book. So almost the best book from a year that's not 2021 is the gathering storm,
57:22
secularism, culture, and the church by Albert Mueller. And this was just released last year
57:26
in 2022. So here's the description. Western civilization in the Christian church stand at a
57:31
moment of great danger. Facing them both is a hurricane force battle of ideas that will determine
57:35
the future of Western civilization and the soul of the Christian church. The forces arrayed against
57:40
the West and the church are destructive ideologies policies and worldviews deeply established among
57:45
intellectual elites, the political class and our schools. More menacingly, these forces have
57:50
also invaded the Christian church. The perils faced by the West and the church are unprecedented.
57:55
Threats to religious liberty, redefinations of marriage and family, attacks on the sacredness
57:59
and dignity of human life. How should Christians respond to this multifaceted challenge?
58:04
Addressing each dimension of this challenge, the gathering storm provides answers and equips
58:07
Christians both to give an answer for the hope that lives within them and to contend for the
58:12
faith that has once and for all delivered to the saints. So again, I thought this book was
58:17
absolutely fantastic. About halfway through reading this book, I went ahead and put in all my 100 books
58:22
every modern Christian Man should read list. I've talked about it and I'm at this point at how
58:25
important Dr. Albert Mueller and the stuff that he does, especially with the briefing, his podcast
58:29
and what that does for me, what that does for this show and what that does for the listeners of this
58:33
show. But this book is a coalescing of a lot of the things that he talks about and sort of the
58:37
cultural drift that we've seen. There's a lot of great quotes, but here's my favorite quote from that
58:41
book. The secular temptation confuses beliefs with emotions, suggesting that all that matters is
58:47
feelings and fulfillment. And the society or as a society has become more secular, even faithful
58:51
church members unwittingly adopt strange and unbiblical ways of thinking and believing.
58:55
Furthermore, the ambient theological liberalism around us made inroads into many churches.
59:00
Secularization exerts upon the church both passive and active pressure.
59:04
The pressure is passive in that as society turns away from any semblance of a biblical morality,
59:09
churches sacrifice confessional conviction on the altar of cultural relevance. Just an absolutely
59:15
fantastic book dies. Guys, just you should definitely check this one out. The gathering storm secularism,
59:20
culture and the church by Albert Mueller. And then almost the best book almost it was right there.
59:25
Almost the best book of 2021 is atheism dead by Eric Metaxes. Here's the description here.
59:31
Is atheism dead? Is an entertaining, impressively wide ranging and decidedly provocative answer to
59:37
the famous 1966 time cover in itself provocatively asked is God dead? And a voice that is by turns
59:45
witty, muscular and poetic. Metaxes intentionally echoes C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton in cheerfully
59:50
and logically making an his astonishing case, along with his way of presenting breathtaking
59:55
and often withering new evidence and arguments against the ideas of a courageous universe.
1:00:00
Taken all together, he shows atheism not merely to be implausible in an intellectually sloppy,
1:00:05
but now demonstrably ridiculous. Perhaps the only unanswered question on the subject is why we
1:00:10
couldn't see this sooner and how embarrassed we should be about it. I mean, he's got a very
1:00:15
tongue and cheek way of writing. I absolutely love Eric Metaxes's writing. We were able to
1:00:19
have one for a short show into on episode 248 of this podcast to talk about this book. We hope to
1:00:24
have him on in the first quarter of 2022 to talk even more about this book, but also other books.
1:00:28
But this book is, you know, it's about 450 pages, but it gets into science and kind of the fine
1:00:34
tuning arguments, it gets into archeology, it gets into some of the atheistic arguments that
1:00:38
don't stand up to even philosophical criticism. It's just a fantastic read. And I got to be honest,
1:00:43
I got more positive reactions after he came on the podcast and more people that were like sending
1:00:48
me screenshots of them buying this book. And again, it's not an easy book to read for the most part
1:00:52
because it's long and it gets kind of heady in certain places. But my goodness, it is such an
1:00:56
important and great book. A lot of great quotes from here's one of my favorites. But as Western
1:01:01
culture has become increasingly secular, many of us have looked to science to be something like a
1:01:05
new priesthood dispensing wisdom they do not have. So that is a direct attack on people that
1:01:11
basically have the scientism point of view that want the scientists to give us all the interest
1:01:14
to everything, even though the worldview will simply not allow for that. All right, guys,
1:01:18
we've made it all the way through to the end here. Thank you for hanging around,
1:01:21
because now we are going to get into the best book that I read this year. We're going to get
1:01:26
into the two categories. So the best book that I read this year, not from 2021, Black Rednecks
1:01:31
and White liberals. And that's by Thomas soul. And that's from 2009. Here's the description.
1:01:35
This explosive new book challenges many of the long prevailing assumptions about blacks,
1:01:40
about Jews, about Germans, about slavery, and about education, plainly written powerfully
1:01:45
reasoned and backed with a startling array of documented facts. Black rednecks and white
1:01:49
liberals takes on not only the trendy intellectuals of our times, but also such historic interpreters
1:01:55
of American life as Alex Alexis to Tocqueville and Frederick Law Olmsted. In a series of long
1:02:00
essays, this book presented as his in depth looked at key beliefs behind many main mistaken
1:02:06
and dangerous actions, policies and trends. It presents eye opening insights into the historical
1:02:11
development of the ghetto culture that is today wrongly seen as a unique black identity. A culture
1:02:17
cheered on on toward self destruction by white liberals who consider themselves friends of blacks.
1:02:22
An essay titled the real history of slavery presents a jolting reexamination of that tragic
1:02:27
institution in the narrow and distorted way it is often seen today. The reasons for the venomous
1:02:32
hatred of Jews and other groups like them in countries around the world are explored in an
1:02:36
easy in an essay that it's that asks our Jews generic misconceptions of German history in general
1:02:43
and of the Nazi era in particular are also reexamined. So too are the inspiring achievements and painful
1:02:48
tragedies of black education in the United States. Black rednecks and white liberals is the capstone
1:02:53
of decades of outstanding research and writing on racial and cultural issues by Thomas soul.
1:02:58
Guys, this book is the first book that I read from cover to cover of Thomas Souls. Okay. They'd
1:03:06
always kind of been in the background, but a lot of his books are very, very long. They're very
1:03:09
involved. I wanted to make sure that was something that we were going to be able to take on. I was
1:03:13
going to really be able to spend time with. And luckily we read this book in our foxhole this year.
1:03:17
So, you know, we we struck out with a couple of the dragon book and the stupid man spirit book or
1:03:23
whatever. But this book was absolutely fantastic. I mean, from beginning to end, the thing that was
1:03:27
mind blowing was the sheer number of citations. Right. I talked about that earlier with the Thomas
1:03:32
soul book, but he's making I think in the first essay of that book, I think there were over 200
1:03:37
or maybe even over 300 citations. In one paragraph, there would be a dozen citations, right? So this
1:03:43
guy is reading books and studies and pamphlets from from all over the place to make his arguments.
1:03:48
And Thomas soul is literally one of the most underrated modern economists that we have,
1:03:53
but one of the most underrated modern thinkers that we have. And it's because he's on the right.
1:03:58
And so if he was a leftist, if he had a leftist point of view, or if he had stayed being a communist
1:04:02
because he was communist earlier in his life, he would be one of the most fore known, you know,
1:04:07
people on the planet to talk about anything. He'd be on the news all the time. He'd be on
1:04:11
Joe Rogan two or three times a year. Like that would kind of be the thing with this guy.
1:04:15
But since he was on the right and since he has a more conservative worldview, we don't know as
1:04:19
much about Thomas soul, there's way too many great quotes from from this book. But I picked two that
1:04:25
I wanted to actually give to you guys here. So this is my first favorite quote from fairly earlier
1:04:29
in the book. The general orientation of white liberals has been one of what can we do for them.
1:04:34
What blacks can do for themselves has not only been of lesser interest, but much of what blacks
1:04:39
have in fact already done for themselves has been overshadowed by liberal attempts to get them
1:04:44
special dispensations, whether affirmative action, reparations for slavery, or other race based benefits.
1:04:49
Even when the net effect of these dispensations has been much less than the effect of blacks
1:04:53
own self advancement. For example, although the greatest reduction in poverty among blacks
1:04:58
occurred before the civil rights revolution of the 1960s, the liberal vision in which blacks lag
1:05:03
or black lags are explained by white oppression requires black advances to be examined by the
1:05:09
fight against such oppression, symbolized by the civil rights legislation of the 1960s.
1:05:14
This scenario has been repeated so often through so many channels that has become a well known
1:05:18
fact by sheer repetition. Moreover, this protest and government action model has become the liberals
1:05:24
preferred, if not universal model for future black advancement. Okay, so this is, and I don't need
1:05:30
this, I feel like I shouldn't have to say this, but Thomas soul is a black man saying these things.
1:05:34
So he's exactly cutting against the liberal ideology, especially when it comes to race issues.
1:05:38
And this is my second favorite quote here, which goes in this slavery, slavery was an evil of greater
1:05:42
scope and magnitude than most people imagine. And as a result, its place in history is radically
1:05:47
different from the way it is usually portrayed. Mention slavery and immediately the image that
1:05:52
arises is that of Africans and their descendants enslaved by Europeans and their descendants in
1:05:56
the Southern United States, or at most Africans enslaved by Europeans in the Western Hemisphere.
1:06:01
No other historic horror is so narrowly construed. No one thinks of war famine or decimation or
1:06:08
decimating epidemics in such localized terms. These are afflictions that have been suffered
1:06:12
by the entire human race all over the planet. And so was slavery had slavery been limited to one
1:06:18
race in one country during three centuries is tragedies would not have been one tenth the magnitude
1:06:23
that they were in fact. Why this provisional view of the world of a world wide evil? Often,
1:06:30
it is those who are most critical of the Eurocentric view and of the world who are the most Eurocentric
1:06:35
when it comes to the evils and failings of the human race. Why would anyone wish to arbitrarily
1:06:39
understate an evil that plagued mankind for thousands of years, unless it was not this evil
1:06:44
itself that was the real concern, but rather the present day uses of historical evil,
1:06:49
clearly the ability to score ideological points against American society or Western civilization
1:06:54
or to induce guilt or thereby extract benefits from the white population today are greatly enhanced
1:06:59
by making enslavement appear to be peculiarly American or a peculiarly white crime.
1:07:05
So that guys, this book is chock full of huge quotes like that that kind of break down a lot
1:07:12
of the normal things that we see when it comes to what people think in terms of slavery in terms of
1:07:17
racism in terms of educational things. And he's got another book called discrimination and disparities
1:07:22
that I hope to take on next year. But man, just an absolutely, absolutely fantastic book. It is
1:07:27
easily the best book I read this year that was not from 2021, black rednecks and white liberals
1:07:31
by Thomas soul. But now we've got our last and perhaps the most important, you know, important
1:07:37
award that we've going to that we're going to be giving. And that is the best book of 2021
1:07:41
from 2021. And that is going to drum roll, please only cry for the living memos from inside the
1:07:47
Isis battlefield by Holly McKay. So here's the description here. Only once in a lifetime does a
1:07:52
war so brutal erupt. A war that becomes an official genocide caused million or causes millions to run
1:07:58
from their homes, compels the slaughtering of thousands in the most horrific ways and inspires
1:08:03
terrorist attacks to transpire across the world. That is the chilling legacy of the Isis onslaught
1:08:08
and only cry for the living takes a profoundly personal unprecedented dive into one of the
1:08:12
most brutal terrorist organizations in the world. Journalist Holly S McKay offers a raw on the ground
1:08:17
journey chronicling the rise of Isis and Iraq, exposing the groups of vast impact and how and why
1:08:22
it sought to wage war on civilians in a desperate attempt to create an antiquated caliphate. So
1:08:28
we had Holly on this podcast on episode 188. And we went into a ton of detail on that podcast about
1:08:34
exactly what was happening in that time, exactly all the things that went into that book. And man,
1:08:39
that book is just it's a heavy book. I mean, just like with Michelle Black's book with sacrifice,
1:08:45
there were several times during this book where I had to separate myself from my computer.
1:08:48
I just could not read another word because of the just the brutality that she describes. And you
1:08:54
know, I actually talked to her a lot about that in the interview. I did on episode 188 of this
1:08:58
podcast. And we talked a lot about how she's able to basically operate as a journalist and seeing
1:09:04
all these horrible things going on around her, you know, how she's able to maintain her professionalism
1:09:09
and do all these different things. And it's tough, you know, it was absolutely tough to hear from her
1:09:14
how she dealt with that. And it was tough to read it throughout. But there's several quotes from
1:09:17
here. And I'm actually, you know, not going to be able to do just a single favorite quote.
1:09:21
So I'll read three quotes. You hear the first two aren't very long. Third one's a little bit
1:09:25
longer. But here are my favorite quotes. And I guess it's hard to say favorite because what I'm
1:09:28
going to say is so brutal. But here we go. Here's the first one. Women were throwing their children
1:09:32
from the mountains and then jumping themselves because it was a faster way to die.
1:09:35
Catoon said, recalling the days after Isis surrounded the foot of the mountain,
1:09:39
those who had nowhere to go, but to the tops of the mountains slowly died from starvation and
1:09:43
heat stroke, deserted by the saviors of the world and all its supposed modern technology.
1:09:48
So here's the second quote here. Isis had abducted Yazidi girls as young as eight,
1:09:53
trading them at the market for a few dollars. I learned of one young mother who was pregnant at
1:09:57
the time of this capture. She had given birth in the back room of her overlord's home but was not
1:10:01
permitted to feed her newborn son. The baby cried and cried. Catoon said flatly. The Muslim militant
1:10:07
beheaded him. I mean, just brutal newborn baby, beheaded, beheaded. But here's here's the
1:10:14
the one that really takes the cake and it's hard to get through. And I've read it before,
1:10:17
but here we go. Here's a third quote. Look, Baba Chad was said to me monotonously as if he
1:10:22
were merely pointing out paintings in a gallery. They cooked the children. The rage you may have
1:10:27
once felt bubbling in his gut was now stillborn. The incense had burned out. Baba Chad was seemed
1:10:33
to understand that there was no point in outwardly showing his anger. It would bring back the burned
1:10:37
babies. Maybe someday he would forgive. But he would never forget. I counted seven shriveled babies
1:10:43
curled in fetal positions in the photographs. Tiny bodies still roasting beyond recognition on
1:10:48
what appeared to have been a slate of time of 10 shed. The silent tears wedding my cheeks had
1:10:53
turned into guttural sobs. I was powerless to control. I stared at the floor and sobbed.
1:10:58
No one knew what to say. Those hushed seconds seemed to last forever. Perhaps it was unprofessional
1:11:03
to cry so voraciously, but it was a flow I could not stop. I often scold myself for not having
1:11:08
thicker skin. Of course, this is naive to think that the world and all children can be kept
1:11:13
harbored from evil. But these babies, their broken bodies captured in full gorge of the sun
1:11:18
could have been saved. I am certain of that. And I was almost certain these graceful people who
1:11:23
never even seen a little justice or would have done to them. They knew it too. Finally,
1:11:28
someone passed a tissue to wipe my eyes. I glanced up through the glaze and saw the faces around
1:11:33
me bereft of emotion. This is nothing. We don't react anymore. Umar said nonchalantly by way of
1:11:38
explanation. There are far worse things that have happened. I realized then that the Yazidis were
1:11:43
beyond the point of pain. Their grief had entered a place few in this world could ever comprehend.
1:11:48
Their torment and desperation had dried up and dissolved. They had no emotion left to give.
1:11:53
For them, there was no fog of war. Everything was reconstructed with precise attention to detail.
1:11:59
The numbers of the missing and enslaved and where they were exactly when their world stopped turning.
1:12:04
Every abuse could be recited like a nebulous monologue, but without the theatrical cues and vocals.
1:12:09
There was no need to dramatize what had happened to them. So guys, that book, you know, it's 400
1:12:15
some odd pages. I mean, it's an absolutely, absolutely amazing book. I have my, my copy right here.
1:12:19
Hopefully you can see that boom right there in the camera. There you go. But it's a brutal book.
1:12:25
It's not a fun read by any stretch of the imagination. It's just kind of one of those books that that
1:12:29
you have to take in at some point, right? Because a lot of guys like to kind of bury their heads in
1:12:34
the sand and pretend that bad things aren't happening in the world. But it's books like this that
1:12:39
kind of help you understand that these horrible things are happening. And that's one of the reasons
1:12:42
why I'm done to life is here is to equipment to be able to push back darkness. Now that is a unique
1:12:47
kind of darkness, but it's darkness nonetheless. And so we're so thankful to people like Holly McKay
1:12:51
that are experiencing these things and writing about it so that we can understand it as well.
1:12:55
So guys, that is the best book that I read this year. And it is, you know, again,
1:13:00
it's a book that's going to stick with you. It's a book that we added to our book list 100 books
1:13:04
every modern Christian man should read list. You should definitely check that out on our website.
1:13:07
But man, only cry for the living memos from the Isis battlefield. It is just from inside the
1:13:13
Isis battlefield is just man, it's a tough book. I mean, even I'm getting tongue tied here at the
1:13:16
end. It's just such, such a rough book to read. But guys, it is so, so important that you take that
1:13:21
down. So you should definitely check that out. All right, guys, we made it all the way to the end.
1:13:25
I did a bunch of reading out loud. You heard all my mistakes. So if you ever think I'm really,
1:13:28
really good at this, I want you to remember this podcast. But before we let you go,
1:13:32
we are going to do a quick resilience boost out on daunted life or mission is equipping it into
1:13:35
pushback darkness with content that for just spiritual mental and physical resilience. So I've
1:13:39
got the links to every single one of the books that I gave you this year. So, or gave you from
1:13:43
this year from previous year. So guys, if you missed anything or if you're like, Oh, what was
1:13:46
the most timely book or what was the most challenging book, just go back to the show notes,
1:13:49
you will be able to see all of that there. So you can check that out. And I provide you the
1:13:52
Amazon links, but wherever you get your books, that is where you should definitely take that
1:13:55
stuff in. All right, guys, saying so much for listening to this podcast. We do appreciate it.
1:13:59
Wherever you're listening to this, please subscribe, rate, and leave us a five star review. If you're
1:14:03
going to come speak live at your event or on your podcast, you shoot me an email to info@undontin.life.
1:14:08
That's I NFO@undontin.life. Follow us on Instagram and tick tock and like us on Facebook. And
1:14:13
you can also check out our website for everything else, including how to donate to keep more content
1:14:16
like this coming your way, just go to www.addontin.life. And we want to also thank
1:14:21
demand August Prince Red for allowing us to use their music for our content. The music on this
1:14:25
podcast is our song, cutting the ties, which is off their 10th anniversary re-recording of their
1:14:29
album leveler. The links are in the description. I'm your host Kyle Thompson. Remember, keep pushing
1:14:35
back darkness, keep forging spiritual, mental, and physical resilience. Keep seeking the lion
1:14:42
of Judah. I love the land and the heart and the heart and the heart and the heart and the heart.
1:15:12
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