Not only was 2008 was a year of reading more books in general, but a period of methodically alternating between business or professional 'help' books and more cerebral novels. In 2009, it remains a process that still needs to prove optimal.
At any given time, I am reading three to four books concurrently, typically reading the same book two to three days in a row and then switching arbitrarily to the next-- depending on the current mood. I have found this method to work for me and provide the same level of intellectual diversity and discovery that I experience day to day in my work at frog design.
For the past six months I have been on an epic run in the business book category. I viewed this more as a period of 'catchup' in the genre, rather than the more ideal scenario of getting ahead of the curve. Nevertheless, I felt that timing was right to dig back in to hone some skills that needed honing.
For me anyway, I get more out of professional subject matter reading when I cluster similar topics and themes together and look to extract and master the key tools that can improve my day to day performance at work. In fact, I see little reason in reading this type of material if they yield no true nuggets to quickly put into play.
To that end, the following is the list of books I have chosen to read since the Summer of 2008 (in no particular order):
-Teach Yourself the Clinton Factor: Communicating with Charisma, by Dave Gillespie and Mark Warren
-The Monk and the Riddle, by Randy Komisar
-The 80/20 Principle, by Richard Koch
-Alexander The Great's Art of Strategy, by Partha Bose
-Made to Stick, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
-The Magic of Thinking Big, by David J. Schwartz, Ph.D
-Presentation Zen, by Garr Reynolds
-Korean Business Etiquette, by Boye Lafayette De Mente
-Less is More, An Anthology of Ancient & Modern Voices Raised in Praise of Simplicity, selected and edited by Goldian VandenBroeck
-The 48 Laws of Power, by Robert Greene
Some of these books like 'Made to Stick" I read for the first time, but many of the others were repeat reads that simply deliver the goods each time summoned. All of these choices were incredibly insightful, easy to read, and chocked full of practical tools and learnings to put into practice immediately.
Read these books and prepare to be intoxicated by not only the impressive knowledge you will add to your daily arsenal, but also the fulfillment in knowing that you can always continue to improve your day to day job performance and ability to communicate with the human race.
In addition to these books, that more or less, are blueprints to success in my line of work, I sprinkled in some other essential reading to prepare me for another major life challenge: parenting. The following books were my choices:
-The Expectant Father, by Armin A. Brott and Jennifer Ash
-The Happiest Baby on the Block, by Harvey Karp, M.D.
The unique aspect of these books is that it's truly the first time in my life I have read anything about raising a human being from birth. After going through the process firsthand myself and watching my family members and friends raise their children, I thought I knew something about parenting. Well, I didn't know nearly enough and through the guidance of these great books, and the on-the-job training I am about to commence in two months, there is now hope for me.
There was even some time for outliers in my otherwise far too rational and practical reading list. These books served to quench my thirst for either untapped, festering passions or existing interest areas and otherwise, nostalgic connections:
-The Elfish Gene, by Mark Barrowcliffe
-Happy Cat Happy You, by Arden Moore
-Free Flight, Inventing the Future of Travel, by James Fallows
-If You Want To Write, by Brenda Ueland
(I wish I had made more time to grow this list...perhaps this year?)
So that's the outgoing roster of books that have kept me gainfully engaged, entertained, enlightened and for the most part, safe. I hope to revisit many of them again, some of them very soon.
Onward to the next great book.
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