20 Books Every Young Person Should Read Before Leaving Home

A good friend of mine posed the following question to me:  "Large piles of books and good intentions are a waste of time.  What are the 10 to 20 books, upon reading and rereading would continue to nourish the reader for a lifetime, assuming the Scriptures make the top of the list?"  Furthermore, being good and Godly parents to our children, what legacy could we give them that would help them honor Christ and take dominion in His name. 

I thought it was a good question.  It is good for a couple of reasons.  First, modern [American] man over-complicates nearly everything because modern man is essentially pagan.  The Christian life is a simple life.  We complicate things immensely when our culture moves away from Biblical underpinnings. This includes education. When we first think "education" we immediately bring to mind institutions, degrees, tests, processes, and memorization (all with a hefty price tag).  However, the Bible says that Fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom - and this puts us at odds with this modern understanding of education.  The moment we begin to answer the question of "why educate" with "to get a job", we move away from the Biblical reason for education.  Second, it gives fathers (the chief principal of the home) fuel, vision and a handy check list on how to raise Godly children.  Although, just reading these books with your children will not automatically create the desired Biblical worldview, it certainly provides the medium for which said worldview can grow.

Without further delay, here is the list of essential reading material for our children:

1. "Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan
2. "Holiness of God" by R.C. Sproul
3. "Pushing the Antithesis" by Greg Bahnsen
4. "Tithing and Dominion" by RJ Rushdoony
5. "Westminster Confession of Faith" and "Three Forms of Unity"
6. "Fox's Book of Martyrs" by John Foxe
7. "The Politics of Guilty and Pity" by RJ Rushdoony
8. "Introduction to Logic" by Irving M. Copi
9. "A Christian view of men and things" by Gordon Clark
10. "Essays," The Works of G. K. Chesterton
11. "A Defense of Virginia and the South" by R. L. Dabney
12. "Structures of Scientific Revolutions" by Thomas Kuhn
13. "The Institute"s by John Calvin
14. "Les Miserable" by Victor Hugu
15. "The Scottish Chiefs" by Jane Porter
16. "The Philosophy of Science and Belief in God" by Gordon Clark
17. "Prevailing Worldviews" by Glenn R. Martin
18. "The One and The Many" by RJ Rushdoony
19. "Idols for Destruction" By Schlossberg
20. Various Poetry by Chesterton, Gerald Manley Hopkin, Ethelwyn Wetherald
21. "Amusing ourselves to Death" by Neil Postman
22. "The Outline of Sanity" by G. K. Chesterton
23. "The Law" by Frederic Bastiat
24. "Economics in one Lesson" by Henry Hazlitt
25. "I Pencil" (essay on line)
26. "Basic Economics" by Thomas Sowell
27. "The Road to Serfdom" by Fredrich Hyek
28. "What Has Government Done to Our Money?" by Murray Rothbard
29. "The Case Against the Fed" by Murray Rothbard
30. "A Humane Economy: The Social Framework of the Free Market" by Wilhelm Ropke
31. "The Creature From Jekyll Island" by Em Griffin
32. "The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression" by Amity Shlaes
33. "New Deal or Raw Deal?: How FDR's Economic Legacy Has Damaged America" W. Folsom Jr.
34. "de Magistro" by Augustine
35. "Mathematics: Is God Silent?" by James Nickel

OK, so that's a little more than 20 books.  This list is certainly not exhaustive.   It is my belief that anyone of my children that complete this list will be well-educated.  Praise be to God for these good gifts.

Thanks to my good friends for helping produce this list: Bret McAtee, Mark Chambers, Misty Richards, Robert Fort and L.E. Sam Koon.

Comments

[Jen]

You need to add something that addresses biblical femininity.
Suggestions:
anything by Nancy Wilson
'An Uncommon Union' or 'Idelette' by Gerstner (bios of Sarah Edwards and Calvin's wife)
'Stepping Heavenward' by Elizabeth Prentiss
'Home Economics' by Wendell Berry
'Your Home, A Place of Grace' Susan Hunt

[dse]

Those are fabulous additions to the list - great ideas. Any book by Wendell goes straight to the top. Unsettling of America and Jaber Crow are also very good additions.

Excellent feedback. Many thanks!!