A Timeline of My Favorite Books
I've always wanted to create a timeline of all the books I've read. I suspect if you plotted out the turning points in my life, you might find a coorliation to what I was reading at the time.
I try hard to be the type of person who is not only willing to consider something different, but also take action on it. A quick glance here will help me remember where I'm coming from in the future.
Here's the highlights.
2019
Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids: How to Stop Yelling and Start Connecting: This book hit me like a ton of bricks. What's the message I'm sending my children given my own lifestyle or actions? Do I want my children to be stressed out messes constantly taking on too much, or being pulled in 1000 different directions. The message is clear to me. We expect our children to be the change we want to see in the world. Not ourselves. This needs to start with us.
No Drama Discipline: The Whole-Brain Way to Calm the Chaos and Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind: Surprise! I'm a father now! With my young one approaching her terrible twos, I found this a useful read. Even more so I might have found this better advice for life and relationships in general. How can we learn to control ourselves before trying to control others. Are we teaching anything by shouting our being coercive?
American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History: After reading exterme ownership, I couldn't help but pick this up as well. An incredible and moving account of the Afgan and Iraq war. Insight into a world so different from our own is always facinating.
Extreme Ownership: How US Navy Seals Lead and Win: When I first heard about this book, my thought was, I don't need to be taking more ownership. I don't have a problem with that. However, heading into leadership roles it clicked in my head this wasn't about my ownership, but fostering it in others. And the best way to do that is to take accountibility for your teams failures. Your example sets the pace for the rest of the team. It aligns well with my value system and I think it's fantastic advice.
Trump: The Art of the Deal: I grew up in a largely democratic area with a farily libral lifestyle. However, I find it important to challenge your own assumptions. Here Trump comes off much the same way you might expect. However it does give some intertesting insight into his priorities and way of doing business. How do I view my own limitations when trying to influence change?
Love Your Life, Not Theirs: This was a happy little read. It does call out absurdity of a culture that wants us to have it all. Great vacations, happy cute kids, fulfilling jobs, beautiful homes. All of these take real work and trade offs. Social media and mondern advertising leaves you feeling as if you're missing out on something. We need to see this for what it is.
2018
Quitter: Closing the Gap Between Your Day Job & Your Dream Job: An interesting take on making your way to the lifestyle we all want for ourselves. The sucess stories of dynamic individuals "betting the farm" and winning suffer from survivors bias. How can we use our current job as a stepping stone to the next phase of our life. When we up and quit we trade our current bosess for new ones. Deadlines, bills, and taking on less than optimal work. Flipped my mind to start thinking "win, win" with my goals and my current employment.
The Millionaire Next Door: Great view into the less sensationalized lives of the wealthy. What habits, values, and patterns do they follow. It re-enfoced many of my own core values. As well as put me on the lookout for new habits I might be missing.
I Invented the Modern Age: The Rise of Henry Ford: I love well written biographies like this. Following a historical figure though a journey that seems impossibliy big, is a great view into building something. Was glad to see the early Henry portrayed as a sort of technical wiz kid.
Mating in Captivity: Reconciling the Erotic & the Domestic: Another great book on marriage in modern times. If anything it helps relieve the pressure that our lives don't always have to be the sex filled whatever that socity presents to us now days. It also prompted me to re-read The Passionate Mariage. These two books have very different viewpoints, but I find them both useful. This particular books is certainly more practical.
2017
30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans: Lessons on life from senior citizens. The author interviews hundereds of senior citizens and has distilled the common themes of this wisdom here.
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing: This helped me cope with the pyscological ties we have to our belongings. How I let go of the past though letting go of my stuff.
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less: As we grow more successful we take on more responsibility and water down the drive that got us to where we are. I paired this with the tidying book for a little mid life overhaul.
The Happiness Equation: Want Nothing + Do Anything = Have Everything: The book is less of an equation and more of a collection of hacks that can help to make people happeir in life. Something I'm working to improve. Much of the advice is generic, but does come alive through well told stories.
Growth Hacker Marketing: A Primer on the Future of PR, Marketing, and Advertising: If you pay attention to the tech world, you notice quite a few trends in regards to marketing. This book summaries those concepts well. The fact that it was concise was a bonus too. I don't think there's anything mind blowing here, but it did inspire me to start blogging my journey more. It's the reason I started writing on this site agian.
2016
Man's Search for Meaning: The stories of this holocost survivor will change your persepctive on how we interpret stuggle.
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't: Companies that set their sites on long term growth make it. Many of the same principles you'll find in other books like Quiet and So Good They Can't Ignore You.
So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love: One of my favorite books. Discover passion through hard work. Find success and freedom through your talents. This book is a major player in the redesign of my life.
1776: The story of the American Revolution told in surprising detail. The lives of people from this era is facinating, the similiarities and the differences. George Washington of course plays a central role in this book, and it helps put him in a very human light. You get a sense that he's the prototype for the traditional American leader. Strong, steadfast, a reluctant hero, and a man of morals.
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us: This book helped me reaffirm many of the ethics and beliefs I've picked up from various books over the years. Intrinsically motivated people are happier and more successful in the long run. The carrot and stick method of motivation does in fact work, but it's slowing being outdone by companies allowing their employees to become intrinically motivated. Think results oriented work environments, or giving employee's complete autonomy on work.
Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness: This book might be another example of a marketing name over content. The first quarter of the book was useful in illustrating that small changes can have big influences on outcomes. The rest of the book pontificates on how we could improve things like 401k signups if we make default choices for individuals. Not very useful to me personally, but the first secion of the book is worth a read
2015
As a Man Thinketh: Change your attitude if you want change in your life. Highly recommended.
Senica: On the Shortness of Life: Probably the most important thing I've read in my life. It was the book that eventually lead me to redeisng my life around enjoying it.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking: This one in particular was an eye opener. I've always been happiest at home in my "labratory" working on projects or music. I like being around people (psst.. do you party?), but found myself exhausted after work. This book helped illustrate that there are work environments better suited to my temperment. Another example of a book that put me on a new path for how I work.
The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph: We will face difficulty at many times in our life. Our reaction to it is what separates mediocrity from success. This book helped me to slow down in life and appreciate everything that sucks about it in the moment. How to look at a setback as the next opportunity to grow.
Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel: Admittedly I'm not much of a traveler. I've spent holiday breaks plowing through an idea or new hobby. This book however is more than just a travel guide. It's provdies inspiring stories on ways to live your life that puts the actual life part first.
The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke: The wife has an unhealthy obsession with Suze Orman.. I'm not sure how much of her advice she takes, but it certainly helped us both to get on the same page about our finances.
The Nomadic Developer: Surviving and Thriving in the World of Technology Consulting: The title of this one might be a little misleading. The book focuses how the world of consulting works, and how to break into it. I don't think I'd be calling myself "Nomadic" by the end of it, but it did provide some much needed guideance on how I could fit this workstyle into my life. A good read if you would like to understand how consulting works, not necessarily how to be successful at it.
We Learn Nothing: Essays: I'm not sure how much I got out of it, but I loved this book. The author eloquently takes us through some of the turning points of his life and what they meant to him. A great read for anybody in their 20s and 30s.
The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle: I like to think of myself as a creative person, I love making music and programming. Programming just happens to be the one that pays the bills. I think this book will help anybody who struggles with following their passions. Not just creative types, but people who need a kick in the butt to put their life in their own hands again.
2014
Off Balance: Getting Beyond the Work-Life Balance Myth to Personal and Professional Satisfaction: I love this book. As a programmer I frequently suffer from burnout. It's an exhausting profession. This book played a major part in helping me restructure my life.
Rediscover Catholicism: Growing up in a strongly Catholic family, you might say I have my fair share of Christian guilt. Reading this book help me gain clarity on values that I didn't even know stemmed from my familys religion. It woke me up and helped give me some perspective on how I want to live my life, and why that makes me happy.
The Snowball: Warren Buffet and the Business of Life: I've read stories of people paying a million dollars for lunch with Mr. Buffet. Not sure why though, it's all right here. Long story short, keep putting money into good investments, check back 30 years later. Most people ignore these two obvious principles.
MONEY Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom: During this spell of time I was reading about Buffet and plowing through anything finance related. I think Robbins does a good job framing the game and giving sound advice (if you can stand the length of the book). He's selling himself here a bit, but most of this is sound and reasonable advice. The interviews in the back of the book alone are worth the price tag.
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.: A fun read on the rise of one of the richest men of all time. Like watching somebody play Monopoly and finally win. What is that mindset like, and how did he do it.
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future: The founder of PayPal shares his views on what makes a good business. Big ideas come where there are zero of them in the past. Zero to one. The rest of the world is often fighting in the one to many space.
2013
This Explains Everything: Deep, Beautiful, and Elegant Theories of How the World Works: Fascinating explainations of how the world works by really smart people:. There is real beauty to Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Although totally unrelated, it helped shape my thought process on failure. Anything I do is an iteration in an attempt to arrive at the perfect formula.
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference: Great examples, but the book is a littel front loaded in my opinion. Helped me to appreciate the parts we all play in making something great.
2012
Steve Jobs: Long but worth it IMO. Say what you will this guy, he hit the entrepreneur jackpot several times. Mac, NeXT, Pixar, iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad. We can all learn something from this book.
2011
Everyone Loves You When You're Dead: Journeys into Fame and Madness: Just an awesome and fun read into the minds of the ultra successful. My takeaway; some people say, these peopled do. How do I get myself to do like this?
Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand: This put me on a new career path. People place more value on the speicalist than the jack of all trades. Helped me focus my career path. I realized I need to focus if I wanted to make more money and build the career I needed at the time.
The Passionate Marrage: Keeping Love and Intimacy Alive in Committed Relationships: When I got married I made a commitment to educating myself on the subject. This book helped wrap my young mind around what marrage is and how to be succuessful with it. It shaped my view of life for years to come. Why do we base the emotion in our heads around the emtions in the heads of others?
Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus: There's a reason it's so successful. Even if you aren't in a relationship, it can help give you perspective on why you think certain ways based on your gender. It helped me understand my own needs, and much of my own negative behavior.
2010
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: This book had a huge impact on my life. I was a fairly angry and spiteful person before reading it. Help me realized my agressive nature was mostly hurting myself. Life is just so much easier when you treat everybody like a friend, rather than an obstacle.
I don't read much non fiction, but here's a space for it anyway.
2017
11/22/63: Steven Kings novel about the Kennedy assasination. A good nightstand book. Tends to drag in some areas, and in others I get the feeling King said, "oh shit, I need to finish this thing". Better than the Hulu adaption
The Bizzare of Bad Dreams: A collection of stories from SK. Another good nightstand book.
2016
Salem's Lot: Ok, I get Steven King now. This might be my favorite book of all time. I loved disappering into this sleepy little town.
The Girl on the Train: This book was rad. People complain about the characters. I thought it was exciting and well delivered.
The Glass Castle: An exciting read that my wife connected with. It helped me to appreciate the excentricites her upbringing.
2015
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: A man traces his steps after a mental breakdown. The story of his actual journey is inspiring and well written. His thoughts on Zen and philosophy tend to get a little long winded. Matter of fact, this book was written by a man with mental health issues, and some of his stories didn't sound much different than something you might hear from somebody with mental health issues out on the street. That beening said, it still wasn't enough to deter me from finishing the book and appreciating it for what it is.
2014