One of my personal projects is to list what I am grateful for on a regular basis. This is a partial list regarding my journey out of Mormonism. One of my goals is to reduce personal suffering in my life which I do by eliminating negative thinking as much as possible and focusing on the positive, inspiring, helpful, supportive. I am an advocate of the power of changing my world by changing my thinking.

I am immeasurably grateful for those that went before me, spending thousands of hours and posted on the Internet with hundreds of LDS historical investigations, original history, personal observations, conclusions, forums etc.

I have always said that we make the best decision we can with the information we have at the time. When we find/receive new and better information, we are able to make a new and better decision.

I found many reliable sources of information that has given me the factual evidence I needed to answer my questions, red flags, gut feelings, intuition, to change my mind about my religious choice as a convert and be confident enough to leave the LDS Church.

I'm also grateful for the authors who wrote many, many books on Mormonism, it's history, it's leaders, etc. that opened up a whole new world of information. I have a very comprehensive library of books on the LDS Church's history, and commentaries.

I am also grateful for the LDS Church libraries, Institute Libraries in particular for their collections of original church history in their Reference Section.

In addition, I'm grateful for the local and university libraries that made many, many books on church history, available to be checked out and read.

And, of course, I am grateful for this forum.

I'm happy to share my reading list and my own library:
These are found in LDS libraries:
Reading list LDS Church history from their own authors.

All found in the REFERENCE Section of the LDS Church libraries: Ward/Stake houses, Institute of Religion:
[own some of these in our private library]
This is documented, reliable original material. Can't beat their own words.

"History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints"
7 Vol's by Joseph Smith Jr

"A Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints"
6 Vol's by B H Roberts (We own this one when it was published in paperback in the 70's)

"Readings in L.D.S. Church History from Original Manuscripts" 3 Vol's by William E. Berrett & Alma P Burton
(This series was the text for Church History at BYU in the 50's- from my believing husbands collection)

"Journal of Discourses" 26 vol's
(These are on line, and in my view, best read in sections)

Others from my library:
Each one sheds light on some area of Mormonism and it's beginnings, and how it was lived initially.
These are LDS authors. Most are not known to the average Mormon.

"An American Prophets Record: The Diaries And Journals Of Joseph Smith" Editor: Faulring, Scott H.; Author: Smith, Joseph

"In Sacred Loneliness The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith" by Todd Compton

"The First Mormon" by Donna Hill

"Early Mormonism and the Magic World View" by D Michael Quinn

"Joseph Smith Begins His Work" Vol 1, 2 by Wilford C Wood
Contains the original: The Book of Mormon,The Book of Commandments, The Doctrine and Covenants, The Lectures on Faith , the Fourteen Articles of Faith

This is the original 1830 BOM and other original books used when the church started. It's very different from the latest publications!


Others -- very informative.
"No Man Knows My History" by Fawn Brady

"Mormon Enigma Emma Hale Smith" by Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery

"Inside the Mind of Joseph Smith Psychobiography and The Book of Mormon" by Robert D Anderson

"Insider's View of Mormon Origins" By Grant H Palmer
. ...by his own hand upon papyrus Charles M Larson

This is one of several on the Hofmann Affair
"The Mormon Murders" by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith
One of several on the Mt. Meadows Massacre
"American Massacre The tragedy at Mountain Meadows Sept 1857" by Sally Denton

"What the Mormon Missionaries Don't Tell You The Rest of the Story": by Gerald Paul


Misc - I started with some of these and found them very helpful
Some are books on "the big picture" that are helpful putting Mormonism in perspective.

"The Power of Myth" by Joseph Campbell

"Demon Haunted World" by Carl Sagan

"Why People Believe Weird Things" by Michael Shermer

"The Age of Reason" by Thomas Paine

"The True Believer" by Eric Hoffer

"The Four Agreements" By Don Miguel Ruiz
(This is the one with the simple principles that have been the best reminder when dealing with difficult people.)

What is on your grateful list? And do you have a list of books that have helped shape your new World View?

Thanks so much for sharing your list. I've been out of the church for decades but have only recently begun to read up on the history and am interested in further titles to explore.

What I've read so far has been very interesting / shocking / disturbing / and validating of my decision to leave.

Not sure how many of those you listed I'll have access to here, but I bet over time more and more of it will be accessible online.

History is almost always everything you said, no matter what the event or time frame! I was very surprised to find out that the history had been recorded and then sanitized for the "delicate testimonies"!

After looking over your list, I tried to find an online version of the journals of Jos Smith Jr. and DID find a nice-looking site.

It appeared that they had gone to some trouble to reproduce his writings accurately, but since it was an LDS site, I was worried that, while what they shared might be accurate, they might not share everything they had. I feel I can not wholly trust LDS sources to be complete.

This was at
josephsmithpapers.org

seekyr

My experience with the LDS sites sharing their historical info has been quite accurate. I have not looked into the josephsmithpapers though.
All historical accounts are naturally going to have more then one perspective. That is one reason that a newer historical account never made it to press back in the sesquicentennial year. There was no consensus on how to write the historical accounts, what to use and what not to use.

What books do any of you, as a former Mormon, recommend ?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/15/2014 02:19PM by SusieQ#1.