What’s On Your To Read List?
I’m always on the lookout for new books to read (or listen to - I love listening to audiobooks on my iPod). So now that I seem to have gathered a few regular readers, I would love to know what is on your “to read” list? Or, what have you read that you think I would enjoy?
Here are a few that are on my list already (and a short explanation of why).
One Person / Multiple Careers - Marci Alboher: I first heard of this book whilst watching an interview with Tim Ferris and Marci Alboher as part of the Authors @ Google series. Both are fascinating people, and it is a great interview (you can watch it here). What really put this on my to read list, though, was finding out my friend Todd from We The Change (he wrote the guest post 4 Effective Practices For Gaining Perspective) is featured in the book as someone who runs two thriving, yet seemingly unrelated businesses.
The 4-Hour Work Week - Tim Ferriss: anyone who hasn’t heard of Tim Ferris must have been living under a rock for the past 3 months (or at least have not had access to the Internet). Perhaps it is because there has been so much talk about this book that I haven’t purchased it yet - I almost feel as if I have read it already! All the same, I can’t wait to get my hands on this one.
Leaving Microsoft to Change the World - John Wood: I came across this one the other day whilst browsing the shelves of the local bookstore. I could only afford one book at the time, and Happier was the one I choose. Those readers who are aware of my Personal Stories of Change Blog Carnival will know that I love to read inspiring personal stories of change and this one seems to fit the bill perfectly. I mean, how can I resist a this story that involves thousands of books being carried on the back of a yak:
While visiting a remote Nepalese school, Wood learned that the students had few books in their library. When he offered to run a book drive to provide the school with books, his idea was met with polite skepticism. After all, no matter how well-intentioned, why would a successful software executive take valuable time out of his life and gather books for an impoverished school?
But John Wood did return to that school and with thousands of books bundled on the back of a yak. And at that moment, Wood made the decision to walk away from Microsoft and create Room to Read-an organization that has donated more than 1.2 million books, established more than 2,600 libraries and 200 schools, and sent 1,700 girls to school on scholarship-ultimately touching the lives of 875,000 children with the lifelong gift of education.
There are quite a few books on my to read list, but these are probably the top 3. Anyway, I would love to hear from you as to whether there are any must-read books I should keep my eyes open for on my next trip to the bookstore.
11 Comments
September 27th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
I picked up “Quiet Strength” a couple weekends ago. I’ve only had time to read a few chapters so far but I think you might enjoy that.
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September 27th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Thanks Bryan. I haven’t heard of that one - and that’s just the sort of suggestions I am looking for
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September 27th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
Anything by Robert Kiyosaki. There are probably more than twenty books out by his “brand”. Rich Dad, Poor Dad is the first and it’s where I began my personal development journey. He has books on building a buisness, raising capital, real estate, investing, etc. Tim Ferriss’ book is actually one of the more recent books that I’ve read. You really should get it soon. I was really thrilled when I got done with it. Um, there is a book called The World Is Flat that I bought, but I can’t remember the author. I haven’t read it yet, but I bought it on the recommendation of Tim. It has to do with outsourcing, I believe. Currently, I am reading The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D. and William D. Danko, Ph.D. I’m only a third of the way through. There are so many. I’ll probably go home tonight and look at my bookshelf and give you some more tomorrow. There are so many!
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September 27th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
I love Zig Ziglar stuff for motivation. I am currently reading a book from my boss called Go Put Your Strengths to Work by Marcus Buckingham. The premise is that if you can find ways to direct your career toward your strengths instead of spending time working on your weaknesses you will have greater success. I’m not sure I completely buy into the idea, but its an interesting perspective shift.
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September 27th, 2007 at 11:52 pm
Jules: thanks for the tips. I will be forever grateful to Rich Dad, Poor Dad as it truly changed the way I viewed money. I read the Cashflow Quadrant a few years later and enjoyed it, partly because it refreshed the material in Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I have a question though: does Robert Kiyosaki have anything else to say that can’t be found in these 2 books???? I get the feeling a lot of the subsequent books don’t have a whole lot more to say than can already be found in the 2 books I mentioned.
Will: thanks. Motivation is a constant battle for me so I will look into those.
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September 28th, 2007 at 1:16 am
Nice to hear I’m on your list, and any friend of Todd’s is worth knowing…I’ll be reading you. Hope you enjoy the book.
Ciao,
Marci
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September 28th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
Well, I tend to agree with you that a lot of his information is redundant. However, months later I know that I wouldn’t have retained half of it if it weren’t for that. The message is simple, but he uses various stories to make it more real to the reader. That’s an invaluable teaching tool. Somebody told me one time, “Facts tell, but STORIES sell.” And I did actually take away a lot of different information from each of his books. After those two books I read, Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing and Rich Kid, Smart Kid. I really liked that last one because I have two small children and I want to give them a strong financial education. A lot of the other books that I read by his “brand” weren’t written by him, but by his advisers. So, I read The ABC’s of Getting Out of Debt and The ABC’s of Real Estate Investing. I can’t remember if Garrett Sutton is the author of both, but he is a Rich Dad adviser.
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September 28th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
Whoops. Looks like I didn’t double check my italics code… I swear I did.
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October 3rd, 2007 at 8:54 pm
As a medical doctor I found this guy’s book revolutionary, and best of all he’s a good read around the bits that are more like a first-aid manual
Pain-Free - Pete Egoscue.
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October 4th, 2007 at 12:22 am
Jules: thanks for getting back to me on my query. In regards to your comment on “facts tell, stories sell”, you may be interested in a great book called Made to Stick. In short, the authors find that it is always stories that stick best in peoples’ heads.
Martin: thanks for the suggestion - I just had a quick look at that book on Amazon and the reviews are very impressive.
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October 7th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Tim Ferriss is a good book.
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