A summer reading list for the thoughtful Mormon reader

I've always remembered a well-intentioned Sunday school teacher telling us about the day she triumphed over intellectualism on her mission.

She had an investigator who was having trouble reconciling some of the gospel teachings she had heard from the missionaries with the ideas and philosophies she had learned in school.

Now, from my experience as a Mormon missionary, I have found that virtually every philosophy presented by the world contains at least some truth and can be related to the gospel. This sister, however, decided it would be her job to completely erase everything the investigator had learned from her professors and then replace it with the missionary lessons.

The climax of her story came when she finally convinced the woman that secular teachings were derived from the adversary, and that all the truth she needed, she could find in the church.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time I had heard members of the church denounce intellectualism as some sort of nasty virus that infects us and then eats away at our faith.

I think one of the reasons so many of us have convinced ourselves that academic pursuits are contrary to gospel living is because we simply don't want to think. We are inundated every day with menial tasks on to-do lists and mindless entertainment, and at the end of a long day, sometimes the last thing we want to do is pick up a book that will challenge our intellect.

The fact is, intellectual laziness is a vice — and it's usually pretty tempting to jump on board when someone is trying to convince us that our vices are actually virtues.
Of course, there could be other reasons for our misguided shunning of the intellectual world.

Perhaps we have seen loved ones drown themselves in the philosophies of the world and lose their faith. Or maybe we worry that if we spend too much of our precious free time on secular learning, we won't have enough time for meaningful scripture study.
But if, as we've been taught, the gospel really does contain all the truth in the universe (not just religious truth), then we should not only tolerate intellectualism but embrace it.

"Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom," the Lord tells us in Doctrine and Covenants.

So, what are the "best books?"

As Hugh Nibley once said, there doesn't seem to be a prescribed reading list. Instead, we are expected to search and share our findings with each other. The result of our studies, both academic and spiritual, should be a stronger testimony of God and his creative powers.

And so, in the spirit of mutual learning and intellectual growth, I present to you my Summer Reading List for the Thoughtful Mormon:

Atlas Shrugged  by Ayn Rand

Rand's personal philosophy of ethical egoism (i.e. whatever most benefits you is the right thing to do) certainly has its flaws, especially when placed against a gospel backdrop. But the story she tells (quite engagingly, in my opinion) is an interesting comment on what can happen to our personal freedom when an overreaching government seeks to control free markets "for the good of the public."

A 1991 survey by the Library of Congress found that this controversial novel ranked second only to the Bible among books that were most influential in American readers' lives.

Love it or hate it (and there are plenty of readers in both camps) it's hard to deny the eerie similarities between Rand's invented dystopia and what's happening in the real world. It has definitely gotten me thinking.

The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen

First published in 1997 by a Harvard Business School professor and recently released area Seventy, "The Innovator's Dilemma" went on to become a worldwide best seller and coined several terms now taught in pretty much any good business school.
I have yet to finish this one, but by pretty much all accounts, it's a masterpiece of business literature. Christensen's basic argument is that good companies fail when they become so focused on satisfying their current customers that they reject "disruptive technologies" that will eventually revolutionize the industry. (Think Internet.)

Anyway, with new technologies transforming the world exponentially, it would probably behoove all of us, especially those of us still in college, to read and internalize the points made in this book.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

I first read this book during Christmas break, and I spent the following three weeks telling everyone how much it had "changed my life."

Indeed, jam packed with little nuggets of eternal wisdom, it seems like the kind of book that's designed to make its readers rave about how it's changed their lives. It's less than 200 pages long, and it's basically just a fable about a shepherd who sets out to discover his "personal legend." I think Latter-day Saints will find the religious undertones especially intriguing.

Some may find it a little hokey, but if you're willing to suspend your cynicism for a while, I can't imagine how you wouldn't find it inspiring.

To Draw Closer to God by President Henry B. Eyring

I picked up this book one morning shortly before my mission and proceeded to spend the next four hours reading it. I was mesmerized by President Eyring's thoughtful, intellectually stimulating approach to such familiar gospel topics as learning to hear the Lord's voice.

There are lots of great books written by general authorities, but if you find yourself paying special attention when President Eyring speaks at general conference, I would highly recommend this book.