“Ten Books for Summer” has become an annual tradition. I read a lot and love to recommend books to others. So, why not share? Here are my favorite books for summer 2017. They are not always religious, but they are interesting. With each book, there is information provided by Amazon.com followed by “Why I like this book.”

• “Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy,” by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant. After the sudden death of her husband, Sandberg felt certain that she and her children would never feel pure joy again. “I was in ‘the void,’” she writes, “a vast emptiness that fills your heart and lungs and restricts your ability to think or even breathe.”

Her friend Adam Grant, a psychologist at Wharton, told her there are concrete steps people can take to recover and rebound from life-shattering experiences. Option B combines Sheryl’s personal insights with Adam’s eye-opening research on finding strength in the face of adversity. Option B goes beyond Sheryl’s loss to explore how a broad range of people have overcome hardships including illness, job loss, sexual assault, natural disasters and the violence of war. Their stories reveal the capacity of the human spirit to persevere … and to rediscover joy.

• “Flood Gates: Holy Momentum for a Fearless Church” by Sue Nilson Kibbey. “Flood Gates” is Kibbey’s latest experience-based research about how your congregation can make the shift from plateau or even decline — to opening the flood gates of spiritual upsurge.

This resource is a practical “how-to” guide for pastors and church leaders who dream about releasing holy momentum in their current setting. Whatever your church’s history, setting or mission field, you can set the stage to unleash the floodgates of a Breakthrough Prayer Initiative, learn the skills of making an urgent case for change, shift your church’s culture to “ubiquitous discipleship,” identify and deploy new leaders and other key crucial catalysts. All of these have the potential to transform your congregation into a fearless, Spirit-driven church that will make new spiritual history for Christ in your own mission field and beyond.

“So here’s the real question. Is your church simply snacking on prayer, or feasting on prayer?” Kibbey writes in the book.

This challenge alone, if taken seriously, could be the stimulus your church needs. More than just another leadership book, “Flood Gates” seeks to provide one idea, one God moment after another, opening flood gate after flood gate until Holy Momentum takes over and your church becomes God’s church, boldly making disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

• “Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race” by Margot Lee Shetterly. Before John Glenn orbited the earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human computers” used pencils, slide rules and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space.

Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African-American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. Originally relegated to teaching math in the South’s segregated public schools, they were called into service during the labor shortages of World War II, when America’s aeronautics industry was in dire need of anyone who had the right stuff. Suddenly, these overlooked math whizzes had a shot at jobs worthy of their skills, and they answered Uncle Sam’s call, moving to Hampton and the fascinating, high-energy world of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory.

“Everything rested upon the brain busters’ mastery of the laws of physics and mathematics. The mission was colossal in its scope, but it required both extreme precision and the utmost accuracy. A number transposed in calculating the launch azimuth, a significant digit too few in measuring the fully-loaded weight of the capsule, a mistake in accounting for the rocket’s speed and acceleration or the rotation of the Earth could cascade through the chain of dependencies, causing serious, perhaps catastrophic consequences,” Kibbey writes. “So many ways to screw the pooch and just one staggeringly complex, scrupulously modeled, endlessly rehearsed, indefatigably tested way to succeed.”

• “No One Cares About Crazy People: The Chaos and Heartbreak of Mental Health in America” by Ron Powers, who offers a searching, richly researched narrative of the social history of mental illness in America paired with the deeply personal story of his two sons’ battles with schizophrenia. From the centuries of torture of “lunatics” at Bedlam Asylum to the infamous eugenics era to the follies of the anti-psychiatry movement to the current landscape in which too many families struggle alone to manage afflicted loved ones, Powers illuminates our fears and myths about mental illness and the fractured public policies that have resulted. Braided with that history is the moving story of Powers’ beloved son Kevin — spirited, endearing and gifted — who triumphed even while suffering from schizophrenia until finally he did not, and the story of his courageous surviving son Dean, who is also schizophrenic.

• “Restored: Finding Redemption in Our Mess” by Tom Berlin. Often we make a mess of our lives and wonder if there is any redemption. In this six-week study, pastor and author Berlin helps us see our mess through the eyes of Christ.

Rev. Larry E. Davies can be reached at larrydavies@sowingseedsoffaith.com.