The 5 Best Things I’ve Read So Far in 2016

In December 2015, I shared a list of the 15 best things I read during the year, I thought it’d be nice to do it again. This time around, I will make it a quarterly thing.

2016 has been a bipolar year for me. I’ve had many great moments and many abysmal ones too. I’ve read some really good books and articles, and I’ve read some shitty ones too. But this article is not where I will complain about the latter set; this is where I tell you about the five best books and articles I have read this year.

Le’ go.

1. Jesus Among Other gods by Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias is one of the prominent Christian apologists. He has spent the better portion of his years on earth traveling around the world and engaging in debates and discussions with atheists and other religious people, defending and providing solid arguments for Christianity.

In Jesus Among Other gods, Ravi takes on the popular notion that “all religions are the same” when in actuality, they are not. Furthermore, he proceeds to prove, through the Bible, other religious texts and some atheistic arguments, that Jesus is different from other recognized deities.

I never thought I’d read a book I’ll come to love as much as I love A.W. Tozer’s The Pursuit of God; but I can say I have now. With this book, Ravi helped me understand that my Faith as a Christian can be backed up with sound logic and that it is possible to intelligently defend what I believe. (Note that I was reading this book the same time I was studying the books of Acts and Romans). What I also learned from reading Jesus Among Other gods is that people will believe whatever they want to believe as long as they have made up their minds to believe it — no amount of evidence to the contrary will be strong enough to dissuade them.

2. The Pursuit of God, Chapter 4: Apprehending God by A.W. Tozer

The Pursuit of God is one book I can never do away with. I refer back to it from time to time. I came across the book, first, at a time in my life when I was reevaluating my Faith. It helped set me on the path of True Christianity.

Apprehending God (Chapter 4) is where Tozer discusses the reality of God and the reality of the supernatural world. Tozer explains that “the antithesis doesn’t lie between the spiritual and the real, but between the real and the imaginary, the spiritual and the material… The spiritual is real.”

3. The Only Technique to Learn New Things by James Altucher

Normally, I’m not a fan of James Altucher’s answers on Quora because I think they can be unnecessarily too long. But with this Quora answer, he impresses me with his detailed and systematic explanation of his opinion on how to learn new things.

I learned more from his approach to presenting his idea than the idea itself, because it was something I already knew. But that doesn’t take anything away from the article. It was well written with many solid points.

4. Branding in the Age of Social Media by Douglas Holt

In the age of social media — and content creation for social media — not many brands have been able to have earth moving results. The most influential accounts on social media belong to celebrities and ‘normal people’ (i.e. people who aren’t traditional celebrities).

In this article for the Harvard Business Review, Douglas Holt suggests that brands need to take a new approach to building their online brands. Instead of following the traditional means, Holt uses data and examples to tell brands that it is more expedient to make use of ‘Cultural Branding’, built on Crowdculture.

5. The Life of the Mind: Hannah Arendt on Thinking vs. Knowing and the Crucial Difference Between Truth and Meaning by Maria Popova

Whew! What a long title! But it’s worth holding your breath for, considering the depth in the article.

I don’t even know where to start explaining from, but let me try:

In this article, Maria Popova curates the thoughts of Hannah Arendt on “the [never-ending] process of progress.” She touches on science, philosophy, metaphysics, and the origin and future of life. The article is a long-read, but it’s worth it.

So, there you have it. The five best books and articles I have read so far this year. What are some of the best things you’ve read this year? Please share with us.