Reflecting on the three dozen or so books I've managed to squeeze in over the past year I've decided that those listed below were perhaps my favorites. Some of them were books I'd read previously but wanted to reread, others were books that I picked up after reading a review or which were recommended to me by friends.
Even though I often read books that are recommended to me, I'm reluctant to recommend books (even my own!) to others, and this list isn't intended to be such. I learned long ago that recommending books to others who have different tastes and different background knowledge is a risky business.
It's been my experience that people rarely finish books that they purchased on a suggestion from me, so I've concluded that it's best not to encourage them to spend their time and money.
At any rate, for what it's worth and not in any particular order of significance, here are most of my favorite reads from 2021:
Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self - Carl Trueman: A lucid and arresting explanation of how our contemporary culture has been shaped by the development of the idea of personal autonomy.
The Dying Citizen - Victor Davis Hanson: An informative recounting of recent American political and social history and how the significance of American citizenship has been eroded by progressive policies.
Return of the God Hypothesis - Stephen Meyer: Meyer makes the case for a creator God based on the origin of the universe, the fine-tuning of the universe, and the enormous difficulties with any purely natural explanation of the origin of life.
Animal Algorithms - Eric Cassell: A fascinating look at the phenomena of animal, particularly insect and arachnid, behavior and the neural mechanisms which control it. The book leaves one with the conviction that belief that such mechanisms evolved solely via natural mechanisms requires a supreme act of blind faith.
Gunning for God - John Lennox (reread): Lennox performs a superb evisceration of the "new atheists," particularly Richard Dawkins.
I'm Not a Racist, But ... - Lawrence Blum: A very interesting analysis of race and racism.
Fault Lines - Voddie Baucham (reread): A strong critique of Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality written by an African American pastor dismayed by, among other things, the sheer divisiveness of these contemporary movements.
God and Churchill - Sandys and Henley: The authors argue that Churchill's greatness was due largely to the influence of Christian principles instilled in him in his youth. Sandys is Churchill's great grandson.
Revolution - Peter Ackroyd: An account of English history from the Glorious Revolution of 1688 to the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Ackroyd's histories read almost like novels.
The Pioneers - David McCullough: The story of the struggles of the people who settled the Ohio River valley.
Sword and Scimitar - Raymond Ibrahim: A very important recounting of the history of the warfare between Muslims and Christians from the 7th century to the siege of Vienna in 1683 with implications for our contemporary understanding of Muslim attitudes toward Christianity and the West.
Killing Crazy Horse - O'Reilley and Dogard: Interesting stories about the clash between whites and Native Americans in the 19th century west.
What Can We Know? - Louis Pojman (reread): A readable text on epistemology - the study of what and how we can know and its relationship to belief.
The Hidden Spring - Mark Solm: Solm is a South African neuroscientist who explores the sources of human consciousness. Preview: Consciousness, Solm argues, does not arise out of the cortex of the brain.
Lone Survivor - Marcus Luttrell: Luttrell's account of his training as a navy SEAL and the tragic Afghanistan mission that cost the lives of over a dozen Americans and which only he survived.
The Stranger - Albert Camus (reread): Camus' famous account of modern existential man, alienated and unmoored.
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad (reread): Conrad's novella illustrates the depravity, cruelty and greed of "civilized" Europeans in the 19th century. It also can be read as a metaphor for the state of man without God.
I also read some Dickens (Barnaby Rudge and Dombey and Son) this year, but most of my reading in 2021 - excepting the two short novels listed above - was non-fiction which is even more hazardous to recommend to people than fiction.
You can, if interested, read last year's list here.
Whatever your taste in books, I encourage you to try to read at least one book more in 2022 than you did in 2021. Books, like friends and family, enrich our lives.
