What Makes a Book Influential?

I’ve decided over the first half of this year to write about five of the books I have found influential on my Christian journey. Like many of you may have done, I’ve read hundreds of Christian books, so as I make my choices I’ve been contemplating what, for me, moves a book from very good to influential. 

Firstly, I decided I couldn’t call a book influential if I couldn’t pinpoint how it had influenced me. I felt the best measure of this influence was change. The book needed to have initiated or hastened an identifiable change in my life. What that change looks like will be less important to me than identifying that there had been one. I think that all influential books become in some way autobiographical. You’re talking about the book but you also end up talking about your own life. Therefore, my posts on these five books will most likely not be reviews but anecdotes about my life before and after reading each one.

Secondly, if I need help in narrowing down my list to five, I decided I could identify an influential book by how often I found myself referencing the book when talking, or writing, or teaching. My natural go to is to share ideas, so I talk about good books to anyone who will listen, but more often than not I quickly move on to another book and more ideas. However, if I kept referring to them over time, that would be a good indicator of their influence in my life, whether I realised their impact at the time or not.

I considered adding a third category based around how often I’d read each book, but in the end chose not to. I felt that repeat reading didn’t mean a book was influential, just that it was really enjoyable. Oftentimes for me, the books or movies or tv shows I repeatedly watch are those where I can switch off and just enjoy without too much thinking. That seemed to be the opposite of the kind of influence I am looking for.

As I come up with my list, why don’t you work on yours? What would make your list of five most influential Christian books?