Good Books

My older sister taught me to read when I was four, so when I got to kindergarten I was reading storybooks to the other children. Our elementary school had no library, so every week one student from each grade was permitted to ride in a schoolbus to the town library and check out books. I was the only one in my first grade class who enjoyed this weekly privilege. By the time the bus had dropped me off back at school, I'd already finished reading most of the books I'd checked out.

I continued going to local libraries wherever our family lived. When I was a teenager, I was impressed by an ad campaign in national magazines such as Time and Newsweek. The ads were sponsored by International Paper Company, and their purpose was to encourage people to read more. The leading line was  "Send me a man who reads." It became a trait I desired very much.

For years I've been a fan of many authors. I once read John Grisham's The Rainmaker from cover to cover on a flight from Orlando to Phoenix. Recently I introduced my son to the Jack Reacher novels written by Lee Child. Now he and his wife are addicted, and I find myself feeling guilty for turning them onto something that, while entertaining, really has no lasting value. I guess we all turn to escapist lore at times, but as a father I wonder if perhaps I should be doing more to encourage books that can draw us closer to a Christ-like life or at the very least, those that qualify as great literature. Instead I feel that by making some of these recent book recommendations I'm like a tour guide whose customers paid me to take them to the mountain heights but who've been talked into a video arcade instead.

John A. Widtsoe said, “It should be the pride of every man holding the priesthood to have a good personal collection of books dealing with the Church and secular subjects. An acquaintanceship with the literature of the world may be won by any person . . . the man who has learned to love good reading is never alone. His friends are the great ones of human history” (Priesthood and Church Government, p. 157).

In all the reading that they do, I hope my children will make time to develop an interest in reading books that broaden their knowledge of the gospel and help them become familiar with the lives and teachings of Church leaders. It is surprising how few members can even name the latter-day prophets let alone relate something about their lives.

I encourage the following:

- Read something from the standard works every day. Reflect on what you've read during the rest of day; think of ways to  use what you've read to develop a short talk or lesson. Here I will also mention one of my pet concerns: Too many members of the Church make statements in talks and lessons that have no doctrinal foundation.

President Harold B. Lee put it this way: "We need to teach our people to find their answers in the scriptures . . . but the unfortunate thing is that so many of us are not reading the scriptures. We do not know what is in them, and therefore we speculate about the things that we ought to have found in the scriptures themselves. I think that therein is one of our biggest dangers today" (Ensign, Dec. 1972, p. 3).

A worthy goal is to be like the Savior. Often, when asked about doctrinal matters, His response was, "It is written . . ." not, "Well, I've always done it this way." He knew where the answers were written.

- Read biographies of latter-day prophets, coming away with the ability to recount from memory something unique about each one.

- Ask yourself, "If I had six months to live, how would my reading habits and book preferences change?" Consider upgrading your choice of reading materials.

- These days when you browse the shelves in a Church bookstore it seems like everyone has written a book! How do you choose? Well, for doctrinal writings and interpretations I like to stay close to the writings of our latter-day prophets and apostles. This statement by Marion G. Romney explains why:

“When I drink from a spring I like to get the water where it comes out of the ground, not down the stream after the cattle have waded in it . . . I appreciate other people’s interpretation, but when it comes to the gospel we ought to be acquainted with what the Lord says and we ought to read it . . . Just read them and plead with the Lord to let you understand what he had in mind when he wrote them” (From an address at a coordinators’ convention, seminaries and institutes of religion, 13 Apr. 1973, p. 4.)

On the subject of Church reading materials, rest assured that there's a lot of interesting stuff out there. To prove it's not all "dry" doctrine, do some research and read about the following (I could tell you where to locate this stuff, but you need the experience!):

1. A most unusual event that Brigham Young witnessed the night Joseph Smith brought the gold plates back from Cumorah. (Note: At that time Brigham hadn't even heard of Joseph Smith.)

2. The experience Lorenzo Snow had a few weeks after being baptized that was similar to Joseph Smith's First Vision.

3. Why did the earth shake in the vicinity of the town where the Council of the Twelve was holding its first meeting after the death of Joseph Smith?

4. Lorenzo Snow's telling his grand-daughter about seeing the Savior in the Salt Lake Temple.

5. The separate and distinct dreams of the Savior experienced by Orson Whitney and Melvin J. Ballard.

6. The vision Elder David B. Haight had while unconscious following a heart attack. (He's the Apostle who called me to serve in a stake presidency.)

7. Wilford Woodruff's dream of being in a roomful of serpents -- and the aftermath that followed.

8. The incredible event that occurred when Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith took the plates back to Cumorah.

9. The account of three strangers who were seen fertilizing the fields of Peter Whitmer and who almost instantly disappeared once the task was completed; and the account of Peter Whitmer's wife, Mary, being shown the golden plates by an interesting visitor.

10. A dream experienced by Joseph Smith's father, nine years prior to the First Vision.

When it comes to reading gospel-centered books I borrow an idea from the teachings of Elder Bruce R. McConkie. He compared the pursuit of gospel knowledge to a bullseye. In the center are the things we absolutely must know. Next come the things we ought know. And in the outer rings are the Jack Reacher novels -- no, he didn't really put it that way; he said this is where we find the things that are simply nice to know -- the lighter stuff. These are not necessarily evil in and of themselves, but if we spend the bulk of our time focused on what's in the outer rings, we'll have short-changed ourselves, not having done all that we came here to do.