Favorite books of 2019

Reflecting back on 2019, here are five of my favorite books:

1. Make It Stick by Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel

   This is probably the single most helpful book I've read as an educator. The authors point out the common mistakes and bad practices that limit effective learning. Then they share best practices, backed by the latest research, for making information stick. I've shared many of these practices with my students this past year and re-organized my classroom activities to support these best practices.

2. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck

   Mindset was a gift to me and several other university instructors from zyBooks co-founder Smita Bakshi. Smita loved the book for the same reasons that I now do: replacing a fixed mindset with a growth mindset can lead to more personal and professional success. As a university professor, I also have the opportunity to encourage a growth mindset in my students.

3. You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit by James K. A. Smith

   My Wednesday night class at church read through Smith's book together last spring. Smith shares how our loves are shaped by the rituals and practices we adopt from our culture. He compels us to re-shape our thinking and rituals so we love God instead.

4. Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life by William Deresiewicz

   Deresiewicz calls out elite universities and the whole system that supports them for their inability to develop students that have purpose in life. It opened my eyes to the crazy train that many students ride when going the elite university route. The book made me very thankful to be at a school like Harding.

5. Sleeping Giants: Authentic Stories and Insights for Building a Life That Matters by Nathan Mellor

   Nathan and I were classmates at Harding in the mid 1990s. I purchased his book after hearing him speak this past August at Harding's Faculty Pre-Session Conference. Nathan's talks and his book are chock full of personal stories growing up and the many life lessons they teach. I particularly enjoyed his stories about around Chic-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy. "It's my pleasure."