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What I Read in 2024: Towards Structured Self-Learning

Intro: focusing on re-reading and *trying* to slow down to avoid book gluttony, but I still exceeded my 2023 count by a lot. It was very helpful to have 4-6 books going at once (a Mother Culture idea), so I always had one available that would fit my mood and energy.



Here's what I finished reading in 2024, organized by month but highlighted by topic. (Key: 👂 Audible, 🔖 Re-Reads, ✟ Christian Faith, 🧪 Science/Autism and Evolution, 💤 Lighter Fare, 📚 Education)

January

Books finished: 

  • J. R. R. Tolkien. Two Towers. 👂🔖
  • P. Magness. Church Music for the Care of Souls. ✟
  • M. Bird. Religious Freedom in a Secular Age. ✟
  • J. R. R. Tolkien. Return of the King. 👂🔖
  • S. Cain. Bittersweet. 💤
  • J. Polkinghorne. Belief in God in an Age of Science. ✟ 🧪
  • D. Venema & S. McKnight. Adam and the Genome. ✟ 🧪
  • D. O. Lamoreux, J. H. Walton, C. J. Collins, & W. D. Barrick. Four Views on the Historical Adam. ✟ 🧪

February

Books finished: 

  • J. Walton & N. T. Wright. The Lost World of Genesis One. 👂✟ 🧪
  • J. Walton & T. Longman III. The Lost World of the Flood. 👂✟ 🧪
  • S. J. Swamidass. The Genealogical Adam and Eve. ✟ 🧪
  • C. Keener. Miracles Today. 👂✟
  • J. Wilkin. Women of the Word. 🔖✟ 💤
  • P. Sprinkle. Embodied. 👂✟
  • S. McKnight. The King Jesus Gospel. 👂✟

March

Books finished: 

  • M. Adler. How to Read a Book. 👂
  • R. Bauckham. Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, 2nd ed. ✟
  • M. Grabor. Debunking Howard Zinn. 💤
  • T. Muehlhoff & R. Langer. Winsome Persuasion. ✟
  • A. Wilson. Spirit and Sacrament: An Invitation to Eucharismatic Worship. ✟
  • D. Bonhoeffer. Cost of Discipleship. 👂 🔖 ✟
  • J. Vuolo. Becoming Free Indeed. 💤
  • M. Kaplan et al. (Eds.) Using Reflection and Metacognition to Improve Student Learning. 📚

April

Books finished: 

  • A. Podany. The Ancient Near East: A Very Short Introduction. 👂
  • A. Northedge. The Good Study Guide. 💤 📚
  • D. Foster. Celebration of Discipline. 🔖✟

May

Books finished: 

  • M. Noll. The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. 🔖✟
  • M. Licona. The Resurrection of Jesus. 👂✟
  • Bishop et al. Understanding Scientific Theories of Origins. ✟ 🧪 📚
  • N. T. Wright. The New Testament and the People of God. ✟

June

Books finished: 

  • C. R. Browning. Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland. 💤
  • A. Curzan. How Conversation Works: 6 Lessons for Better Communication. 👂(Great Course)
  • R. Bucknam & G. Ezzo. On Becoming Babywise. 🔖
  • D. Groothius. Walking Through Twilight: a wife's illness--a philosopher's lament. 💤
  • K. Glass. Consider This: Charlotte Mason and the Classical Tradition. 📚

July

Books finished: 

  • G. Hunt. Honey for a Child's Heart. 📚
  • N. T. Wright. Galatians commentary. ✟
  • D. Memering & W. Palmer. Discovering Arguments. 📚
  • W. Webb. Slaves, Women, and Homosexuals. ✟

August

Books finished: 

  • R. Fitzpatrick. Write Useful Books. 🔖
  • J. R. R. Tolkien. Smith of Wooton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham. 💤
  • K. Vanhoozer. Is There a Meaning in this Text? ✟
  • S. Engelmann. Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. 💤 📚
  • C. S. Lewis. The Magician's Nephew. 👂🔖
  • A. Halberstadt. M is for Mama. 🔖 ✟

September

Books finished: 

  • J. Trelease. The Read-Aloud Handbook. 💤 📚
  • C. S. Lewis. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. 👂 🔖
  • S. Shafer. This Anguishing Blessed Journey. 💤
  • S. Schaeffer Macaulay. For the Children's Sake. 📚
  • A. Plantinga & N. Wolterstorff (eds). Faith and Rationality. ✟
  • C. S. Lewis. The Horse and his Boy. 👂🔖

October

Books finished: 

  • M. Ramsey. The Gospel and the Catholic Church. ✟
  • G. Lukianoff & R. Schlott. The Canceling of the American Mind. 💤 📚
  • R. Dreher. The Benedict Option. ✟ 📚
  • F. Cline & J. Fay. Parenting with Love and Logic. 💤 📚
  • C. S. Lewis. Prince Caspian. 👂🔖
  • S. Silberman. Neurotribes. 🧪 💤

November

Books finished: 

  • A. Schmemman. For the Life of the World. ✟
  • T. Ware. The Orthodox Church. ✟
  • C. S. Lewis. Voyage of the Dawn Treader. 👂🔖
  • A. Louth. Introducing Eastern Orthodox Theology. ✟
  • M. Licona. Why are there Differences in the Gospels? ✟
  • J. Meyendorff. Marriage: An Orthodox Perspective. ✟
  • F. Mathewes-Greene. Welcome to the Orthodox Church. ✟
  • J. Nerenberg. Divergent Mind. 🧪
  • C. S. Lewis. The Silver Chair. 👂🔖
I did not finish V. Lossky's The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church. The style and sentence structure were too reminiscent of the semester I spent trying to learn French, and that does not work with my brain.

December

Books finished:

  • D. Hummel. The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism. ✟
  • J. Glowacki. Oh Crap! Potty Training. 💤
  • C. S. Lewis. The Last Battle. 👂🔖
  • C. Mason. A Philosophy of Education (vol. 6 in the Home Education series). 📚
  • Athanasius. On the Incarnation. ✟
  • C. Paolini. Inheritance (#4 in the series). 💤
  • M. Adler. The Paideia Proposal. 📚
  • C. Allert. Early Christian Readings of Genesis One. ✟
  • D. Levitin. The Organized Mind. 🔖 📚
Overall, this year was my best in terms of volume (74 books completed). Toward the end, as the Bibliovore and I were lookinag at 2025, we both found ourselves wanting to be more structured in our reading. For me, my planned minimal reading falls into several categories: (1) Charlotte Mason education, focusing on her remaining volumes plus some curricular and historical resources; (2) Intelligent Design/Evolution and theological implications; and (3) early church history including some broader and narrower writings.

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