Each year I set a goal to read a certain number of books. My highest year so far was 2015 at 100 books. It takes a bit of work to make sure you stay on task reading that many books without disrupting other endeavors, but it is worth it. My love for reading was inspired by my grandparents. When I was in 5th grade, my sister and I were sent to live with my grandparents for a period of time. They introduced a level of structure my Sister and I weren’t quite used to, and reading every single day was a part of that structure. My Grandfather in particular made me read some very complicated books as well as memorize words and definitions from the dictionary to help expand my level of thinking. I have appreciated that ever since.
In this post I will add the books I have read throughout the year so if you feel inclined you can check them out. This is not meant to be a book review, although I may say a few things about each book in general. Welcome to my reading journey!
The first book I finished for 2018 is Clutter Busting by Brooks Palmer. An inspiring book about why we collect things and why we should take a deeper look at reducing and cleaning out our lives. Loved it. It’s easy to collect stuff and attach some level of importance to it when in reality it can hold us back from living in the now instead of living in the past.
The second book I finished was Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. I have to admit, this is my second time reading this one. Taleb introduces the book as follows: “Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors and love adventure, risk, and uncertainty.” I have embraced the lessons of this book for much of my life, which has in turn helped me embrace change and not be shaken by risk, uncertainty and randomness in business and investing. I suspect I’ll be reading it again sometime soon.
The third book I have finished is: Panic in Level 4: Cannibals, Killer Viruses, and Other Journeys to the Edge of Science. Sounds like a pretty intense book, and it is. I have always had an interest in learning about Biosafety Level 4 viruses. This may be the fourth book I’ve read on the subject. This book goes into detail about a handful of subjects as it’s title suggests. If you like learning about science, math and intense viruses, you may be into this one.
Fourth book finished is The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk. I have been meaning to read this one for years as I have been following his work for quite some time. I once had the opportunity to talk with Gary about business and his books on a live radio station in New York City. Crazy experience to say the least.
Fifth book: Bitcoin: The Future of Money. Written in 2014. I have been a student of the Blockchain for 3-4 years now and love to read everything I can get my hands on in this space. This is a great book for anyone new to Cryptocurrency, Crypto asset, and Blockchain technologies.
6th Book: The Startup Way by Eric Ries. Great book about creating an entrepreneurial spirit within your organization. How the old way of heavy, top down management is outdated and ultimately detrimental compared to the new, more agile business mentalities.
7th Book: The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss. This is my second time reading this book and it doesn’t get old. Tips and tricks on scaling your business, traveling on a shoestring budget and breaking free of the shackles of working in your job or business. Straight forward and provides tons of great resources. I will most likely read a third time.
