The most impactful book to me in 2023 was one I wrote with my wife Carol and our youngest son. Stepping Stones: our pathfinding adventures with Asperger’s is our growth journey from accepting “that’s just Philip,” to obtaining a diagnosis on the autism spectrum, to learning how to cope and still succeed. From the distinct advantage of countless wayfinding steps more than 20 years in the making, we offer pragmatic guidance, self-help encouragement, and real reason for hope to all parents and caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder. tinyurl.com/4c6bxw4s
I try to read widely, for both intellectual development and entertainment. Not all my choices pertain directly to my work, or even my personal interests. Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States, recommended to me by my physicist son, wasn’t one I’d have chosen on my own, but it did augment what I learned from the Oppenheimer film this year. Even fiction, when it represents a divergent point of view, can add to my useful stores of knowledge. Ilana’s Love, a book by my friend (which, despite the inference from its title is not a romance novel—a genre I usually do ignore!), furnished a thought-provoking perspective on relationships.
I re-read all 4,100 pages of the 7-volume Harry Potter series, (the first published 26 years ago!) enjoying many details and nuances not found in the films. J.K. Rowling is a master of originality, dialog, character development, and plot complexities.
Is it just me, or are subtitles are getting longer all the time? But then there’s John Grisham, whose obviously successful title formula is: “The __.” Nonetheless, the subtitles do help me better remember the content afterward.
The complete list of those I’ve read last year follows, but here are my personal citations for those I’ve found most captivating, memorable, or practical in the following categories:
Work-related: Herding Tigers: Be the Leader That Creative People Need
Biography: Leonardo da Vinci
History: The Klondike Fever: The Life and Death of the Last Great Gold Rush
Science: An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us
Nonfiction: Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home
Business: Ice Cream Social: The Struggle for the Soul of Ben & Jerry’s
Spiritual: Experiencing God Day by Day
Fiction: What Rose Forgot, and The Man Who Died Twice
- Vanishing Grace: What Ever Happened to the Good News?, Philip Yancy
- Storytizing: What’s Next After Advertising? Bob Pearson
- The Klondike Fever: The Life and Death of the Last Great Gold Rush, Pierre Berton
- The Freedom of Self-Forgiveness: The Path to True Christian Joy, Timothy Keller
- A Wild Idea: How the Environmental Movement Tamed the Adirondacks, Brad Edmundson
- Black Ice, Brad Thor
- The Case For Easter: A Journalist Investigates the Evidence for the Resurrection, Lee Strobel
- The Cabinet of Dr. Leng, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
- Seeing Red, Sandra Brown
- Jerks at Work: How to Deal with People Problems and Problem People, Ken Lloyd
- Born a Yankee, Grace Carstens
- Missing Witness, Gordon Campbell
- Ilana’s Love, Laurel West
- Relic, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
- Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors, Piers Paul Read
- Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home, Nando Parrado with Vince Rause
- The Book of Lies, Brad Meltzner
- The Measure of All Things: The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error That Transformed the World, Ken Alder
- Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel
- Reliquary, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
- What Rose Forgot, Nevada Barr
- Ice Cream Social: The Struggle for the Soul of Ben & Jerry’s, Brad Edmundson
- The Book of Fate, Brad Meltzner
- Once Upon a Wardrobe, Patti Callahan
- Becoming Mrs. Lewis, Patti Callahan
- What’s Wrong With Me? A Journal of Emotional Healing in a Broken World, Royce Alan Alford
- Leonardo da Vinci, Wallter Isaacson
- Stepping Stones: Our pathfinding adventure with Asperger’s, Tim and Carol Herd with Philip Herd
- An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us, Ed Yong
- The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod, Henry Beston
- 13½, Nevada Barr
- Love Me, Garrison Keillor
- Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States, Alex Wellerstein
- Address Unknown, Katherine Kressman Taylor
- Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan
- The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, John Mark Comer
- The Judge’s List, John Grisham
- The Troop, Nick Cutter
- The Whistler, John Grisham
- The Reckoning, John Grisham
- What Was Rescued, Jane Bailey
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling
- Molly’s Pilgrim, Barba Cohen
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling
- The Bullet That Missed, Richard Osman
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
- Getting Through the Tough Stuff: It’s Always Something, Charles Swindoll
- Herding Tigers: Be the Leader That Creative People Need, Todd Henry
- The Man Who Died Twice, Richard Osman
- Experiencing God Day by Day, Henry Blackaby and Richard Blackaby