Book Lists: Episode VI

Basically, I have been slacking over the past two months.  You’d think that more travel means more reading.  But since it was mostly fundraising related, I think it just meant more stress and less reading.  Planning on changing that this month since no reading doesn’t help anybody.

Finished Books:

1. Founders at Work
2. You’ll Never Blue Ball in This Town Again
3. Steal Like an Artist
4. Fifty Fashion Looks That Changed the 1950’s
5. Brave New World

Founders at Work was pretty decent, but it wasn’t as revolutionary as other people told me it was.  Would I still recommend it?  Maybe, mostly because I haven’t read anything like it. It’s sort of cool being able to relate to what they are going through (but mostly like, oh wow I guess I’m a real startup now…)  Steal Like an Artist is incredible, you can read it in 1 hour, and it may change your life.  I think it changed mine, as evidenced by all the references in my last blog post.  It probably won’t change your life, but I think it was exactly what I needed to hear at exactly the right time, so it made it all the more spectacular.  You’ll Never Blue Ball in This Town Again was entertaining, but her other book about motherhood, My Inappropriate Life, which I am reading now, is infinitely better so I wouldn’t bother reading the first one.  It was actually somewhat painful getting through the first book because for every one funny part there were 28 other parts about how cute/hot the author was, how unattractive other people were, outfit choice, and Greek life at USC. But the last chapter was good.  Fifty Fashion Looks That Changed the 1950’s was awesome, mostly because I have a weird interest in the 1950’s.  It was a quick read and I have a whole new list of questions I want answers to, so that’s always great. And of course, Brave New World is a Sci-Fi classic, I’m just behind the times.  I enjoyed it immensely, and am really glad I waited until now to read it as I could relate to a lot of themes that were discussed.

Others I’m still reading:

• Personal Development:

1. A Year of Living Consciously
2. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity (52%)
3. HBR’s 10 Must Reads: On Managing Yourself (6%)
4. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (11%)
5. The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, And Living The Good Life (10%)
6. The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide To Rapid Fat Loss, Incredible Sex, And Becoming Superhuman (21%)
7. Mastery (8%)
8. Are you Really Listening: Keys to Successful Communication (23%)
9. Startup Life: Surviving and Thriving in a Relationship With an Entrepreneur (12%)

• General Non Fiction:

1. Googled: The End of the World as we Know It (18%)
2. The First 20 Minutes: The Surprising Science of How We Can Exercise Better, Train Smarter, And Live Longer (10%)
3. Thinking, Fast and Slow (14%)
4. Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong: Why We Love France But Not The French (19%)
5. Foreign Babes in Beijing: Behind The Scenes of a New China (32%)
6. Warren Buffett’s 3 Favorite Books: A Guide to the Intelligent Investor, Security Analysis, And Wealth of Nations (80%)
7. Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior (8%)
8. The Jordan Rules: The Inside Story of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls (15%)
9. The Art of War (38%)
10. Toughness: Developing True Strength on and Off the Court (8%)
11. Sum It Up: A Thousand and Ninety Eight Victories, a Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective (1%)
12. Wild (8%)
13. In the Garden of Beasts (4%)
14. Growing Up Bin Laden (8%)
15. Catherine the Great (7%)
16. Steve Jobs (5%)
17. The Power of Your Subconscious Mind (33%)
18. My Spiritual Journey (Haven’t Started)
19. Drinking: A Love Story (24%)
20. The Intelligent Investor (10%)
21. Beating the Street (27%)
22. Istanbul: Memories and the City (15%)
23. Tales from the Expat Harem: Foreign Women in Modern Turkey (17%)
24. Classy (50%)
25. My Inappropriate Life (49%)

• Business:

1. HBR’s 10 Must Reads: Strategy (9%)
2. For the Win: How Game Thinking Can Revolutionize Your Business (10%)
3. Extraordinary Groups: How Ordinary Teams Can Achieve Extraordinary Results (34%)
4. Mastering Communication At Work: How To Lead, Manage, and Influence (8%)
5. HBR: On Managing Yourself (6%)
6. Stop Workplace Drama (39%)
7. Lead, Sell, or Get Out of the Way (36%)
8. The Brand Gap (18%)
9. Founders at Work (79%)
10. The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success (16%)
11. The Essential Drucker (Haven’t Started)
12. HR Transformation (10%)
13. Richard Branson: Losing My Virginity (3%)
14. Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit: The Secrets of Building a 5 Star Customer Service Organization (18%)

• Fiction:

1. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (12%)
2. Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Trilogy (haven’t started)
3. Istanbul Passage (3%)
4. Immortals of Meluha (60%)