Thanks to the pandemic and a personal desire to write more this year, I started by doing a lot of reading. Here is the run down of my booklist this year. Making it to the end will leave me very satisfied.
Update: It's November now and I made good progress, so look out for short summaries coming soon.
'Read'*
*(a) = audiobook
- Atomic Habits
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AI Super Powers(a) - Kai Fu Lee
Even though I initially read the audio book it was so good I bought a physical copy for reference. Kai Fu Lee does a great job of laying out the AI landscape. I finally understood where the work I did with GIS fits into the trends. Seriously thinking possiblities for AI flavored products now.
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Simplicity
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Water Logic
Another great find by Ed de Bono. I haven't put it into practical application yet, but I learned how to use flowscapes to map out natural flow of thoughts and isolate bottlenecks in thinking. Will most likely be helpful for brainstorming sessions. If you're interested in the theory behind flowscapes, read this explainer by
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Self Help - Samuel Smiles (1859)
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Shoe Dog(a)
Of course the book about the founder of Nike made a good running companion. Shoe Dog is a real enterpreneur's classic about how the journey could go. I especially enjoyed the fact that Phil Knight worked his day job for a while before completely launching off, and he slept on tatami's at some point. Oh, and Nikes were actually just an imported Japanese brand called Tigers at the beginning.
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What you Do is Who you Are(a)
- ALI BABA: House that Ma Built(a)
- Fooled by randomness(a)
- The Ride of a Lifetime(a)
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The Pyramid Principle
Started this in April when I realized I needed to write some very persuasive business letters. I mindmapped the whole book and found myself referencing it even in December when I needed to write.
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The E Myth Revisited(a)
Great guide for how to stop working only in your business as an entrepreneur, but also on it: by building systems and processes to keep it running according to plan without your daily involvement. It introduces the franchise mindset to show that any business should be run like a franchise, and also clearly differentiates between the 3 personas in a business: the Technician, the Entrepreneur and the Manager. I definitely default to the manager role, sometimes technician. Good read, practical tips were straight-forward to implement.
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The Courage to be Disliked(a)
Kinda wishy-washy. Only takeaway was about how life's tasks could be divided into 3 basic tasks: work, friendship, love. Complications occur when we try to perform other's tasks or vice versa.
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Richard Hittleman's Yoga
- 9 Lies about work(a)
- The Two Kinds of Life - E.W Kenyon
- Selling is Simple - Fred Herman (1970)
- Meditation - Jim Downing
- Autobiography of Malcom X (a)
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Inspired: How to create technology products customers love.
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How to Get Rich - Felix Dennis