Ten Most Important Book List

Bob Jordan

The following ten books have had the most influence on my life in philosophy, career, and ministry. To have an influence my behavior has to have changed - over a long period of time - as a result of the influence of these books. For the reasons given my outlooks have clearly changed.

Holy Bible (Worldview) This book is the fountainhead for my worldview, behavior, beliefs. First began reading it when I was 19 years old after attending a Christian meeting at Western Washington State College (now University); the year was 1977. Have found it's teaching to be bullet-proof, pertinent, accurate, and intellectually stimulating and sound. The absolute best written literature on the planet. My preference is the King James Version, followed by the New King James Version.

The Home (Family) Authored by Dr. John R. Rice, a fundamentalist evangelist and author, this book influenced me to have a large family (we have eight children). This book was given to us by the Open Door Baptist Church in Lynwood, Washington, after the birth of our first child. Dr. Rice made a very persuasive and biblical case for a large family. Seeing the scriptures explained this way was compelling. As a Christian I want to do what I know to do when I receive light and understanding in any area - and in the area of The Home Dr. Rice's book changed my thinking fundamentally in this area. I read this book in 1985.

Time Power (Goals) Written by Dr. Charles Hobbs, this book had the quintessential method of time management and personal congruency I've ever read. Used in the days of DayTimers and Franklin Planners, Dr. Hobbs described a way to organize one's entire life, reach goals, manage events, and get the most out of life. I attended one of his seminars and kept in touch with him, even inviting him to teach at my employer (my friends benefited too). I use his system to this day, and I started in 1989.

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (Leadership) by Dr. John C. Maxwell is the number one book on leadership in existence. I have taught its principles for years and have found it to be the best reference for leadership styles as well as identifying my strengths and weaknesses in the areas of leadership. I use this material when training my jail and prison ministry team, my staff at work, and those at church or other arenas where I have leadership influence. This book formed an integral part of my leadership makeup.

Uncle Eric Series (Law, Economics, Politics) is a collection of books by Libertarian author and investing guru Richard C. Maybury. Titles include "Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?," "Whatever Happened to Justice?," and about 10 other highly interesting, highly educational, and highly liberty-focused books on subjects dealing with law, economics, politics, war, and money. Written in an easy-reading format, these books pack a punch and contributed greatly to my education and position on politics, government, freedom, and law.

Halley's Handbook of the Bible (Ministry) is a concise reference book for almost all things biblical, including the importance of the Bible and how best to conduct a church service. I've used this as a model for my work in jails and prisons as well as my personal life. It affected my choice of churches as well.

Engineer-In-Training Reference Manual (Engineering) by Michael R. Lindeburg was the book I used while teaching the EIT review series at the college level. This book covers the majority of engineering fundamentals and allowed me to not only develop as a teacher, but to gain a solid understanding of the fundamentals of engineering in a way I didn't while actually attending college. Since then I've taught these fundamentals to hundreds of engineers and helped them on their way to professional licensing.

How to Enjoy Calculus (Math) by Eli S. Pine is the best book on Calculus ever. It takes a subject that college's make hard and suddenly makes it easy - and useful. This has expanded my ability to use this important tool and provided a bridge for me to be more effective as an engineer and scientist. I've taught this to others and can tackle any problem with more confidence.

Elementary Statistical Quality Control (Quality) by Irving W. Burr was a book I used in college, and to this day is the only college text book I have read cover to cover. The explanation and applications of Statistical Process Control was awesome, and from this book I influenced (what is now called) Honeywell in Redmond, WA to adopt this world class technique - which they use to this day. This is the quality book for process control.

Engineering Economics (Finances) by James L. Riggs and Thomas M. West is the book where I learned the time value of money, and how to compare apples and oranges when considering the engineering project cost for two or more alternatives. These techniques allowed me to - virtually every time - have my capital equipment requests approved year after year when other engineers could not. When I taught them this technique, then they too started getting  approval. I teach this to all of my engineers on staff.