Rebekah Merkle

Grades aren't the point, so drill to win. Rebekah Merkle knows which high school classes you like and which you roll your eyes at, which books you enjoy and which you kinda skim. That's because she went through this whole thing called classical education, too. Classical Me, Classical Thee is light-hearted and -- most importantly for you busy students -- very short. It has a simple goal: to explain why you students are doing what you do in class. (Spoiler: it's not because you'll use your knowledge of the Iliad Book 5 yearly until you die.) What you do in class is a drill -- and nobody drills for the sake of the drill. You do drills so you can win the game. The real tragedy, though, would be if you didn't know you were doing drills...or didn't know there was a game at all.

Plod, don't sprint. Be fruitful like a tree, not efficient like a machine. In this punchy and wise book, Douglas Wilson considers the theology behind technology, work, wealth, and mission and gives unforgettable advice on how to be productive--and to think about productivity--in the digital age. We should not rush to buy each and every new iPhone or fancy new gadget, but neither neither should we reject the new technology out of nostalgia for the good ol' days when people worked with their hands or starved. Instead, we are called to see modern technology as wealth and tools that we can use, whether for good or for ill. The key is wisdom and the ability to create the right habits and the regular discipline to use what we have been given. Ploductivity: n, 1) the practice of plodding away at a pile of work, instead of frantically trying to sprint through it all 2) being stable and graceful, like a buffalo upon the plains, not frantic, like a prairie dog or roadrunner