100 books like Transforming Lives Through God's Word

By Carol Rhoden,

Here are 100 books that Transforming Lives Through God's Word fans have personally recommended if you like Transforming Lives Through God's Word. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Found My People: How Connecting To My Ancestral Roots Enriched My Life and Can Do The Same For You

Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell Author Of Live Life on Fire: The Guide to the Ultimate Successful Life Full of Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment

From my list on answering the question "What am I living for?".

Why am I passionate about this?

I have had the pleasure of exploring many career paths and businesses as an attorney, CPA, minister, life coach, media company CEO, publisher, international motivational speaker, and author. Yet it was not until illness from stage 4 endometriosis almost took me out that I realized that life happiness and success were not synonymous. I took the time to 1) figure out the difference and 2) create a pathway to joy. Joy is the step beyond happiness, and it ensures life satisfaction and longevity. And this is the answer to my question – and the topic – what am I living for? I am living for joy, peace, and fulfillment.

Lynita's book list on answering the question "What am I living for?"

Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell Why did Lynita love this book?

Walking with the author on his journey from successful African American businessman in Montgomery, Alabama to empowered and enriched Nigerian and Ghana American now living in Accra, Ghana brings the echoes of Dr. King's "dream" to life in the halls of our hearts: we realize that to walk equally with others first requires that we know ourselves, proclaiming proudly who we are and whose we are. Found My People gives us the tools, encouragement, and benefits to do so.

This book will challenge your concept of heritage, delight you with the serendipities of destiny, and inspire you to find your people! I was inspired to extend my DNA search and dig deeper into my heritage because of it.

Book cover of Management Mantras

Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell Author Of Live Life on Fire: The Guide to the Ultimate Successful Life Full of Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment

From my list on answering the question "What am I living for?".

Why am I passionate about this?

I have had the pleasure of exploring many career paths and businesses as an attorney, CPA, minister, life coach, media company CEO, publisher, international motivational speaker, and author. Yet it was not until illness from stage 4 endometriosis almost took me out that I realized that life happiness and success were not synonymous. I took the time to 1) figure out the difference and 2) create a pathway to joy. Joy is the step beyond happiness, and it ensures life satisfaction and longevity. And this is the answer to my question – and the topic – what am I living for? I am living for joy, peace, and fulfillment.

Lynita's book list on answering the question "What am I living for?"

Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell Why did Lynita love this book?

I read this book on my way home from India about 9 years ago, after a women’s leadership conference in Bangalore at the Art of Living Foundation International Headquarters. 

It was the perfect supplement to the theme of the conference – supporting leaders. Management Mantras had a list of strategies and tips that I still use today, and greatly credit to my success. One of the best pieces of advice was the vacation schedule: 3-day weekend every month; 1 week every quarter; 2 weeks every 6 months. 

These breaks allow us to be rejuvenated and refreshed so we catch burnout before we burn up!  It is an easy read, very well written, and a great resource no matter where you are in your professional journey or industry.

By Sri Sri Ravi Shankar,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Management Mantras as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Organisations the world over today are paying more and more attention to how to prevent their workforce from getting burnt out due to an unrelenting pace of work. Views are radically changing on practices to ensure the employees perform consistently well over many years. In this book, Sri Sri offers valuable tips for managers and leaders to become more effective in their roles and also on how to delevop a conducive work environment so that both the employees and the organisation add value to each other.

H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, spiritual leader and humanitarian, was born in 1956…


Book cover of Purpose in Your Pain

Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell Author Of Live Life on Fire: The Guide to the Ultimate Successful Life Full of Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment

From my list on answering the question "What am I living for?".

Why am I passionate about this?

I have had the pleasure of exploring many career paths and businesses as an attorney, CPA, minister, life coach, media company CEO, publisher, international motivational speaker, and author. Yet it was not until illness from stage 4 endometriosis almost took me out that I realized that life happiness and success were not synonymous. I took the time to 1) figure out the difference and 2) create a pathway to joy. Joy is the step beyond happiness, and it ensures life satisfaction and longevity. And this is the answer to my question – and the topic – what am I living for? I am living for joy, peace, and fulfillment.

Lynita's book list on answering the question "What am I living for?"

Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell Why did Lynita love this book?

I have purchased and gifted this book through the years when I met someone in need of a reminder of how good life is and that pain is both part of the process of growing and a tool in becoming the strong person we were meant to be. 

It has wonderful illustrations of life pain that includes losing loved ones, jobs, status and position, and relationships; and how that pain may be turned into fuel to become stronger, wiser, and more compassionate in our life journey. 

By Stephanie Davenport, Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Purpose in Your Pain as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Purpose in Your Pain is an inspirational breakthrough for those who seek meaning in their lives. Evangelist Stephanie Davenport holds nothing back as she takes the reader through the reason God uses pain to strengthen us, gives tips and tools to face trouble head on, and shares her own struggles and resolution to motivate us to push on through crisis. This second book by Evangelist Davenport challenges traditional thoughts on how to face pain in our families, work lives, churches, and within ourselves - and provides scripture references and prayers for most situations. Purpose in Your Pain is a spiritual,…


Book cover of The Happiness Track: How to Apply the Science of Happiness to Accelerate Your Success

Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell Author Of Live Life on Fire: The Guide to the Ultimate Successful Life Full of Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment

From my list on answering the question "What am I living for?".

Why am I passionate about this?

I have had the pleasure of exploring many career paths and businesses as an attorney, CPA, minister, life coach, media company CEO, publisher, international motivational speaker, and author. Yet it was not until illness from stage 4 endometriosis almost took me out that I realized that life happiness and success were not synonymous. I took the time to 1) figure out the difference and 2) create a pathway to joy. Joy is the step beyond happiness, and it ensures life satisfaction and longevity. And this is the answer to my question – and the topic – what am I living for? I am living for joy, peace, and fulfillment.

Lynita's book list on answering the question "What am I living for?"

Lynita Mitchell-Blackwell Why did Lynita love this book?

This book had me hooked in the introduction when the author discussed her personal experience realizing that the pursuit of happiness hamster wheel (my words) never ends unless we end it. 

I took it everywhere, and everywhere people saw me reading it, they stopped so we could talk about it – even in Wendy’s over hamburgers during lunch one day! My dog-eared copy was happily gifted to my college-freshman niece, who saw it in my car, and I am delighted that she is implementing some of the advice in the book to get off the hamster wheel and enjoy her life. 

While success is important, living a satisfying life trumps all, and this book does a great job illustrating how to do that. 

By Emma Seppala,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Happiness Track as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'This book is brilliant - read it and be prepared to reset your mood to happy. Your life won't be the same again' Daily Express Everyone wants to be happy and successful and yet the pursuit of both has never been more elusive. We are urged to craft careers that matter, to achieve more and waste no time on the small stuff, to be actively engaged in our communities and, while we are at it, to relish every second. Rather than thriving, all this pressure leads to declining wellbeing, relationships and, paradoxically, productivity. In The Happiness Track Emma Seppala explains…


Book cover of Free Play: A Decade of Writings on Youth Sports

James Marshall Author Of Coaches' Corner: Essays on athletic development, coaching and teaching.

From my list on youth sports coaches.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am the head coach of Excelsior Athletic Development Club. I set this up after working with professional sports teams and young international athletes for a decade. I saw how poorly prepared they were and how many dropped out of the sport. I wanted to do something better for my children and the local people that had the focus on development and support rather than the prevailing ‘win on Saturday’ at all costs mentality. Many good practitioners do this under the radar but are lost in the race to win medals and secure funding. I hope this list shows coaches there is a better way.

James' book list on youth sports coaches

James Marshall Why did James love this book?

Brian is a basketball coach with experience coaching in the USA and Europe. This is a collection of essays and articles about coaching, teaching, athletic development, and session planning. While Brian draws heavily on basketball examples, the lessons, and warnings are easily transferred to other sports.

I dipped into this book, finding it easy to read. The 63 essays are just the right length to give me time to think and reflect. 

By Brian McCormick,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Free Play as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Free Play: A Decade of Writings on Youth Sports is a collection of 70 columns and 6 blogs written around themes of play, learning, and the complexity of athlete, child, skill, and talent development for the parents of young athletes between 2007 and 2016. These columns were published originally in Los Angeles Sports & Fitness and subsequently on various blogs, and now are collected into one book organized around 11 themes: Nature vs. nurture, talent identification, play and physical activity, motivation, early specialization, injuries, long term athlete development, the coach’s role, the parent’s role, learning, and athletic genius.The book is…


Book cover of The Black Fives: The Epic Story of Basketball's Forgotten Era

Thomas Aiello Author Of Hoops: A Cultural History of Basketball in America

From my list on understanding the meaning pro basketball.

Why am I passionate about this?

Basketball has always been important to me. I was never very good at playing, but watching always moved me. I grew up worshipping Michael Jordan. I still remember seeing him play at the old Chicago Stadium, a monumental moment for a kid from the South. Basketball was always something that brought my friends and family together. Later, when I grew up, the camaraderie that came with experiencing the game dissipated, but my passion for it remained. It is an urban game associated with the working class and race in a way that none of our other major sports are. 

Thomas' book list on understanding the meaning pro basketball

Thomas Aiello Why did Thomas love this book?

As someone who spends most of his professional life studying Black history, the story of the Negro Leagues of professional basketball has been so important to me. Unlike the Negro Leagues of professional baseball, people don’t pay as much attention to basketball teams.

I love learning more about them. They often played games in nightclubs, bringing the stories into the heart of the Harlem Renaissance and tying them to the interwar culture of jazz and prohibition.

By Claude Johnson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Black Fives as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A groundbreaking, timely history of the largely unknown early days of Black basketball, bringing to life the trailblazing players, teams, and impresarios who made the game From the introduction of the game of basketball to Black communities on a wide scale in 1904 to the racial integration of the NBA in 1950, dozens of African American teams were founded and flourished. This period, known as the Black Fives Era (teams at the time were often called "fives"), was a time of pioneering players and managers. They battled discrimination and marginalization and created culturally rich, socially meaningful events. But despite headline-making…


Book cover of In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle

Michael D'Orso Author Of Eagle Blue: A Team, a Tribe, and a High School Basketball Season in Arctic Alaska

From my list on capturing the cultural aspects of basketball.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a narrative nonfiction writer whose subjects range from politics to professional football, from racial conflict to environmental destruction, from inner-city public education to social justice to spinal cord injury. The settings for my books range from the Galapagos Islands to the swamps of rural Florida, to Arctic Alaska. I typically live with and among my subjects for months at a time, portraying their lives in an intimately personal way.

Michael's book list on capturing the cultural aspects of basketball

Michael D'Orso Why did Michael love this book?

While this book mirrors the template of Darcy Frey’s book and my own, following a high school basketball team through an entire season, the setting—an upper-class, genteel community of white suburbanites in Amherst, Massachusetts—is a world away from that of those stories, and, most importantly, the athletes are female. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author, through her elegant writing, brings a piercing understanding of the obstacles these girls face in the wake of Title IX as they prove their toughness, perseverance, and abilities in a sport traditionally dominated by men. 

By Madeleine Blais,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Originally published in 1995 to huge critical acclaim and a finalist for the NBCC Award for Nonfiction, Madeleine Blais's In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle is a modern sports writing classic. Now expanded and updated with a new epilogue, Blais's book tells the story of a season in the life of the Amherst Lady Hurricanes, a powerhouse girls' high school basketball team from a small western Massachusetts college town. The Hurricanes were a talented team with a near-perfect record, but for five straight years, when it came to the crunch of the playoffs, they somehow lacked the scrappy, hard-driving…


Book cover of The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy

Adam J. Criblez Author Of Kings of the Garden: The New York Knicks and Their City

From my list on basketball fans.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a lifelong basketball nut. I played through high school and college and have been a fan for as long as I can remember. After earning a PhD in History from Purdue University (Boiler Up!), I began to do research and write books about basketball. The books on this list are my favorite of the hundreds I’ve read on the topic and will give you a great start on learning about hoop's history!

Adam's book list on basketball fans

Adam J. Criblez Why did Adam love this book?

I disagree with a lot of what Bill Simmons writes about in this book—and that is part of what makes it so wonderful! Simmons is a great storyteller, and this book feels like a bunch of basketball fans arguing about the best player or greatest team of all time.

This is the perfect book for someone who loves basketball and wants to learn more about the history of the game. 

By Bill Simmons,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Book of Basketball as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The wildly opinionated, thoroughly entertaining, and arguably definitive book on the past, present, and future of the NBA—from the founder of The Ringer and host of The Bill Simmons Podcast

“Enough provocative arguments to fuel barstool arguments far into the future.”—The Wall Street Journal
 
In The Book of Basketball, Bill Simmons opens—and then closes, once and for all—every major NBA debate, from the age-old question of who actually won the rivalry between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain to the one about which team was truly the best of all time. Then he takes it…


Book cover of Basketball (and Other Things): A Collection of Questions Asked, Answered, Illustrated

Adam J. Criblez Author Of Kings of the Garden: The New York Knicks and Their City

From my list on basketball fans.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a lifelong basketball nut. I played through high school and college and have been a fan for as long as I can remember. After earning a PhD in History from Purdue University (Boiler Up!), I began to do research and write books about basketball. The books on this list are my favorite of the hundreds I’ve read on the topic and will give you a great start on learning about hoop's history!

Adam's book list on basketball fans

Adam J. Criblez Why did Adam love this book?

Come for the artwork, stay for the quirky pop culture vibe. A sampling: there’s a cartoon drawing of Kurt Rambis having a tea party with Kevin McHale, a list arguing for inductees into a fictitious “Basketball Villain Hall of Fame,” and recommendations for pickup basketball game etiquette.

About every six months, I flip this open and read a couple of pages. It will always be on my desk!

By Shea Serrano, Arturo Torres (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Basketball (and Other Things) as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A hardcover edition featuring new content for fans of the #1 New York Times bestseller

Any fan of Shea Serrano's unconventional, hilarious, and insightful writing will want to add this hardcover edition of his wildly popular Basketball (and Other Things) to their collection. The book will feature a new cover and two new chapters as well as removable art that showcases Serrano's trademark creativity and Arturo Torres's inimitable illustration style. First released as a paperback in 2017, the book went on to become a #1 New York Times bestseller. This edition will be a keepsake for Serrano fans and basketball…


Book cover of Moonfixer: The Basketball Journey of Earl Lloyd

Syl Sobel Author Of Boxed Out of the NBA: Remembering the Eastern Professional Basketball League

From my list on the history of African Americans and pro basketball.

Why am I passionate about this?

When Jay Rosenstein and I started writing Boxed Out of the NBA, we thought we were writing a light collection of mostly humorous anecdotes from old ballplayers about playing in the minor league. But as we interviewed the old Eastern Leaguers and understood how the league gave a home to players who couldn’t make the NBA in large part because of race, we realized we had a much more important and socially significant story. It’s been our privilege to get to know these gentlemen, and feel like they have entrusted us to tell their story. We want to help them get the respect and recognition they deserve while they are still here to appreciate it. 

Syl's book list on the history of African Americans and pro basketball

Syl Sobel Why did Syl love this book?

I was on lunch break one day in 2010 walking through Union Station in DC when I saw a very tall, elderly Black man seated at a table in the B. Dalton bookstore with a stack of books in front of him.

I smiled at him and he back and me, and then the man with him said, “Do you know who this is?” I said no. The man said “It’s Earl Lloyd, the first African American to play in the NBA.” It occurred to me then, as it has many times since, that most Americans know about Jackie Robinson breaking the color line in professional baseball, but until that moment I didn’t know who did the same in basketball.

And it wasn’t until 10 years later, when I finally read the book that Mr. Lloyd graciously signed for me, that I wished I’d talked with him about his remarkable…

By Earl Lloyd, Sean Kirst,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Moonfixer as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In 1950, future Hall of Famer Earl Lloyd became the first African American to play in a National Basketball Association game. Nicknamed ""Moonfixer"" in college, Lloyd led West Virginia State to two CIAA Conference and Tournament Championships and was named All-American twice. One of three African Americans to enter the NBA at that time, Lloyd played for the Washington Capitals, Syracuse Nationals, and Detroit Pistons before he retired in 1961.

Throughout his career, he quietly endured the overwhelming slights and exclusions that went with being black in America. Yet he has also lived to see basketball - a demonstration of…


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