A few weeks ago, a reader suggested I check out Hoopla.
Here is what J.L. suggested:
Dear Mr. Thomas, I don’t know if you have sent a weekly email about this yet, but I highly recommend the app Hoopla. You just install it and give it your library card number and you can borrow 6 books a month. It is actually surprising how many books are available. I can find at least 90 percent of the books I want to read there, and I read a lot of books in a fairly large genre. Anyway, I love what you’re doing and your emails are really helpful.
So, I checked it out. It does look great. For some reason, it would not accept my library card. So, I am here to recommend Hoopla, and if it doesn’t work for you, Libby.
Libby does the same thing. (Well, I think it does. I never got to use Hoopla.) About Libby, I would say the same thing J.L. said: It is actually surprising how many books are available. I can find at least 90 percent of the books I want to read there.
J.L. also sent this question:
Aside from language books, the Bible, and C. S. Lewis, what are the top 5 or so books you’d recommend?
Here is my reply:
As for books I’d recommend, I break my lists into three main life categories (based on the old Benjamin Franklin quote: Early to bed, early to Rise, makes a man Healthy, Wealthy and Wise).
Healthy:
- Superfoods by David Wolfe
- Not a book, but Forks over Knives
- Another documentary: Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead by Joe Cross
Wealthy:
- Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kyosaki
- The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley
- The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino.
- The 12 Life Secrets: Your Ultimate Answers to Getting Everything You Want by Robert Stuberg (I listen to this one for a half-hour every morning. Usually while shaving.)
Wise:
- Mere Christianity (as you know)
- Pretty much any book by Zig Ziglar
- On Writing Well by William Zinsser
- The Book that Changed Your World by Vishal Mangalwadi
- The Pledge by Michael Masterson (Careful with this one. 95% awesome. There are just a few adult themed sentences in the book.)
By the way, I also divide my goals into these three categories. I have healthy goals, wealthy goals, and wise goals.
For years, I have thought about teaching a course on goals. My life changed when I got serious about setting clear goals.
Still pondering it. For the foreseeable future, I am bogged down in test-making. So, no promises. But, if you are interested, let me know.
