I like short books because I can read them fast. I can read them in between projects or in my free time, and since I don’t have a lot of free time nowadays, these books are perfect to fill in.
Without further ado, here is a list of short books that have reached the top of my shelf, in order of the number of pages:
List of short books
As a Man Thinketh, James Allen (26 pages)
Sometimes the most composed thoughts are the shortest ones. This book is really short, but its content is rather large, large enough to still be reaching an audience after so many years. As a Man Thinketh is a book about thoughts, what they are, how they affect, and how you can maneuver your life around them. This is a must-have book for anyone that is interested in wanting to know more about themselves, as humans that think, and others.
The Prisoner in The Third Cell, Gene Edwards (94 pages)
By far one of my favorite books of all time. This specific blog post was massively inspired by this book. It’s the story of John the Baptist, specifically being in prison expecting Jesus to come and save him, but Jesus never saves him. What do you do when God doesn’t meet your expectations? Cannot recommend this one enough.
A Tale of Three Kings, Gene Edwards (105 pages)
From this list, this is my absolute favorite book. No other book in this list has ministered to me personally than this one. In fact, I would consider it one of my top 5 most influential books for me as a whole, not just short books. This is a book that talks about brokenness using the story of three kings, Saul, David, and Absalom. David being in the middle, he suffers persecution from both kings (Saul and Absalom). The golden nuggets in this book are timeless. If you are experiencing brokenness in your life, especially brokenness in the context of church leadership “breaking” you, then this is a must!
In The Name of Jesus, Henri Nouwen (107 pages)
Henri Nouwen is one of my favorite authors. This book is a book for pastors, and really for anyone interested in ministry. However, Henri Nouwen really goes after pastors to tell us that we need to move from relevance to prayer, from popularity to ministry, and from leading to being led. His humility is seen all throughout this book and serves as a secondary conduit to get to the heart of the pastor that is trying to be more than Jesus is.
What is The Gospel, Greg Gilbert (128 pages)
One day, I was reading a book on planting churches, and how churches can be healthy, the number one thing that it said was that every church needs to preach the gospel correctly. I then asked myself, what is the gospel? And this led me to this little yet useful and informational book. I wanted to say that I already knew what the gospel was, but part of me doubted if I really knew the gospel. Seriously, ask yourself, do I really know the gospel? And if this is the most important thing in the building up of a healthy church, then I really didn’t have an excuse as to why I shouldn’t read this and possibly learn something that I really thought I knew before. So I bought this book and when I read it, it confirmed a lot of things I knew, and in other areas, it shed new light. The minister should never stop learning.
The Knowledge of The Holy, A.W. Tozer (160 pages)
A classic! Each chapter is basically a description of an attribute of God. And the main purpose is to show us that a right understanding of God leads to a right understanding of ourselves and others. This devotional has been around for quite a long time, but it’s still one of those classic books that never go old for the content of the message itself is not expirable things, but rather axioms and descriptions of the God who always is.
On to you…
What are some of the best short books you have read that did not make this list? I am always on the lookout for good books, and especially the shorter ones that I can plugin in a quick break or day off. Also, someone reading this post may benefit from this. Comment below! 👇