Thinklings Goodness Scale
So the history of the Thinklings Goodness Scale is tied to our opening segment of the podcast, “Books & Business.” Truly, some of the best parts of the creative venture just happen on their own. At the beginning of our podcasting, we had no plans for Books & Business or the scale. Once they started happening, we sort of just let them happen!
Going way back to the first meeting the three of us had, a strong element of our time was spent on “reviewing” what we had been reading. We each would share thoughts and critiques, you know, standard fare in a group of theological nerds. As we began recording episodes, we started trying to rank these books compared with each other. This, naturally, led to designing some paradigm to place books into (like a …scale…). Through many edits and discussions, we have landed at this current iteration of the scale. Yes, we readily admit it is an arbitrary scale with some subjective elements to it. However, we do hope that our attempts at identifying good books will help you in your own endeavors to “Read good books and talk about them with your friends!”
Rating 1 : "Not Bad"
"I'm glad I read it, but its not really necessary"
Remember, any book placed on the Goodness Scale is deemed “good.” In that sense, every book is recommended. However, these are probably books you only read once and do not need to purchase.
Rating 2-4 : "Enjoyable Read"
"I got through it, and it was kind of good"
What is the difference between a “1” and a “2”? Well…one. There is a slight difference here. Call it helpful, entertaining, or whatever, but a 2 is more enjoyable than a 1. We don’t really have a lot of these though!
"That book has some good stuff in it"
As you can see, the bulb size and brightness are getting larger. Makes sense, right? At this level of “brightness,” it is not hard to discern the content within that deserved the rating. Most books that fall into the 3-4 area are niche sort of reads, related to a specific field of study, etc. You will benefit from them more when you’re concerned with that specific area, but otherwise they land fairly low on the spectrum of good books.
"Strong Like"
This is where the scale starts to heat up a bit. What’s the difference between a 4 and a 10? (6!) Well, both are good and worth the read. A 4 is a book you will probably enjoy and find value in, even if it is a bit out of your field of interest or expertise. As we move from 4 to 5, we are getting into territory of “read this regardless.”
Rating 5-7 : "Recommended"
"Clearly Helpful"
A 5 is halfway up the scale (duh, right!). These books have a clear value that will be hard to miss in your reading. A 5 is an incredibly worthy number. Think about the “Fellowship of the Ring.” Not everyone can be Aragorn or Gandalf. A five is like a Gimli.
"Pretty decent all around, consider reading this..."
A six is a well-balanced and thoroughly decent read. We are beginning to get into the category of matching goodness in style and content. These are books you ask people to buy for you or look to borrow from friends – you may not need or want to make the personal investment in the purchase, yet, but you want to partake.
"You don't Need to buy it...but..."
Well, any Bible scholar will know that a 7 is a very heavenly number. Books with this rating are solid. As the heading above suggests…you maybe don’t need to buy it…but man…you probably should. This is the dividing line though…after this point there’s no going back. Starting with 7’s and going higher…these are all books you will likely want to invest in owning. A 7 book can go either way, probably buy it, maybe don’t need to buy, etc. A lot of goodness here either way.
Rating 8-10 : "Strong Recommendation"
"Worth reading more than once"
The beginning of the highest portion of the scale kicks off with the designation “you will read this more than once.” Any book you can think of that has the sort of appeal and value to re-read, it is found here. Starting with the 8, these are books you should seek out to own.
"Deserves a place on anyone's bookshelf"
This is a book you will reference multiple times after reading; you will find yourself thinking back to what you found here often. A common theme with these higher ratings…but you should own this book.
"Simple: A must have, own, read, and reRead"
This is the strongest of Thinklings recommendations. If you do not already have titles with this rating, not only should you add them to the list…but they should probably usurp the position of a few other books in your queue.