I’m driven to read and I’m drowning in a sea of books.

Thanks to Kindle, nobody can see my book purchases piling up. I am better than ever at buying new books, which makes me worse than ever at getting them all read.

Not everybody can read for fun, for me reading is mostly hard work. I read books because someone promised me that the next secret to my growth and success is hidden in those pages.

I love podcasts that introduce an author and his new book. They all end with “Get the book, it’ll change your life.” And I really want the book because what I just heard from this guy has changed me already. And therein lies the secret to my search! In 30 minutes of podcast I heard the guy’s best stories, the main points of his book, and how to implement it’s teaching. I don’t actually need the book. In fact, many times the book is a let down.

I also like the podcasts where a leader takes his team through a book, makes me want to read the book too. But he just stuffed the best of the book into a 20 minute podcast. I can get the best of Andy Stanley in 30 minutes a month while I’m driving to work. I’ve watched Andy Andrew’s best messages on You Tube, listened to the three most popular sermons, ever, on Sermon Index. Michael Hyatt is better in his book, Platform, than on his podcast. I read all of Phil Cooke’s books because he writes what I need to know about media in ministry. Thom Rainer, Steven Furtick, Dave Ramsey, even TED are telling us their best secrets every day. And don’t forget, Apple Keynote speeches, documentaries, blogs, the list is fresh, free and condensed, I can save time and money by not buying the book!

Right now I am reading ‘Winning The Story Wars’ by Jonah Sachs. Some books you can’t put down, this one I have to lower to my lap every few minutes, revelling in it’s truths and charting my own course as a person with a story to tell. Now you want to read it too, right?

But check the impulse to add another book to your reading waiting list, maybe there’s a short cut to the same end. Maybe the best of Sach’s book will be summerized in my next 400 word blog post.

One more thing about finding the right books, you can trust God that He will bring the ones with the right knowledge into your life, unless you’re just too lazy to read.

Here’s my book-buying core rules:

1. Only a select few books are for me, let the myriad of other books be important to someone else.

2. There may be easier ways to get the same information.

3. The Holy Spirit promises to guide me into all truth necessary for my success.

This is the information age and information is fast and free. Implementation is more rare and costly.

Read smarter.