What I'm "Reading"

It's time to clean off the bedside table again. The stack of books is getting to the point that there's no room for the alarm clock. I can't say I'm really seriously "reading" all of these; however, all of them are, at least, on the radar for the summer. Here's what's been on my mind:

1. No Debt, No Sweat, by Steve Diggs. Essentially a lesser-known Dave Ramsey. He's related to our minister, and did a seminar on Christian finances at church last year. I knocked this one out poolside over a couple of days.
2. Financial Peace Revisited, by Dave Ramsey. The Diggs book led me back to Dave. Summer is a time when it's easy to get lazy (not having to go to work tends to have that effect on me). So I have to work hard to stay motivated in lots of areas, finance included. There's nothing in Dave's book I haven't heard (or said) a hundred times before, but it's motivating. (On a similar note, Dave will be speaking in Charleston on August 23rd--I'm pretty likely to be there).
3. The One Year Bible, by the Holy Spirit. After 6 complete read-throughs in various versions (7 if you exclude the major prophets, which kicked my butt last year), I'm starting to run out of steam on this daily discipline. I'm thinking of setting the One-Year version aside for the rest of the year and doing something new. What's on my mind right now is to use the "daily office" of readings prescribed in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, but to do the reading in either my trusty Thompson Chain-Reference Study Bible or perhaps the Leadership Study Bible edited by John Maxwell.
4. John Adams, by David McCullough. This has been my standard poolside read this summer. Usually I stick to more 20th-century biographies, but I'm enjoying it. Like most McCulloughs, though, it's going slowly. I doubt I'll knock the whole thing out before summer ends.
5. Walt Disney, An American Original, by Bob Thomas. My friend Ken lent this to me during our vacation. I'm just a sucker for biographies of great leaders. I keep hoping something will rub off one day.
6. The Carolina Way, by Dean Smith. It's funny--when Ken recommended the Disney book to me, I suggested this book to him. As he's just beginning a new job as rector of a church, building a team and setting the proper culture will be key for him. Like me, he's a coach (tennis, in his case). This book is actually a "business" book that seeks to apply Dean Smith's leadership lessons to non-coaching situations. Since my situation IS coaching, it's an even better fit for me. Anyway, when I return the Disney book to Ken in a couple of weeks, I'll be passing this one on. So I decided to skim through it again before it was out of sight and mind.

So, that's what this nerd is up to. Looks like the Adams, the Disney, and the Dean Smith are staying (at least until the Disney and Smith go to visit Ken). The two finance books and the One Year Bible are going back on the shelf, and (for now) the Leadership Bible and the Book of Common Prayer are being added. This really doesn't help the size of the stack at all, but at least I'm making a little change.