Thursday 10 December 2009

Take this time to r-e-a-d!

Don't you agree that the holidays are a perfect time to start reading all those great books you've been meaning to read?

“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.”
- Abigail Van Buren (but commonly misattributed to Mark Twain)

I don’t agree 100% with this quote, sometimes we need to escape from our work-life and relax with a light fluffy book. However, there still is that guilt for not reading the meaningful, educational material.

A very intelligent member of my Vistage Small Business Group inspired me to keep a yearly book list with the goal of reading all the books on that list. He brings a book with him wherever he goes and instead of wasting time waiting in lines, he reads while he waits. Brilliant use of time!

I decided I will switch off between a marketing / business and a leisure book each time. My goal is 2 books a month. Here is my list so far, not necessarily in this order. What do you suggest I add?

1. What Americans Really Want...Really: The Truth About Our Hopes, Dreams, and Fears. (Recommended by John Simonetta with Proforma Simonetta Freelance)
2. Eat, Love, Pray
3. Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga
4. No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt -- The Home Front in World War II: 1994
5. A Thousand Splendid Suns
6. The Accidental Billionaire (recommended by Chris May with CompTia)
7. The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World
8. Tribes by Seth Godin
9 Hot Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman
10. The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
11. Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin (recommended by Scott Levy with W3 Management)
12. Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin (Recommended by Scott Levy with W3 Management)

My top 3 favorites from this year:
  • Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
  • Groundswell
  • The Last Lecture

I highly recommend www.xyzbooks.com. This non-profit book store donates a portion of all book sales to education!

Stay tuned for the main takeaways from these books. Coming soon to a BrightBlue Blog!

1 comment:

Tracey said...

I suggest adding War & Peace! I tackled it last summer, and really enjoyed it. Plus, you can then tell people "HEY, I READ WAR & PEACE" and have instant street cred! lol