Books

I love books. I display them proudly on my bookshelf. When I grew up I used to display my hockey, baseball, and soccer trophies on my mantle. Sometimes, my polished rock collection made the cut, too. But now it’s books. They’ve shaped the way I think, act, and live (plus it’s just cool to say you read books. Girls who read books instantly become more attractive). So what better way to recognize the effect books have had on me than to dedicate a page to them.

Although I love books, one thing I possibly love more is mountains. Therefore, books will be rated on my 1 – 5 mountains scale:

• 5 mountains: remarkable; changed my life; would recommend it to anyone
• 4 mountains: good book; concepts improved my life; will proudly display this on my bookshelf
• 3 mountains: it was hokay (that’s the fun way to say “Ok”), not great; I could part with this book without missing it
• 2 mountains: would rather be climbing mountains; I recommend spending your time doing something else
• 1 mountain: seriously, how does this get published?

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5 mountains

• 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Stephen Covey: My favourite book by far. It was the catalyst that made me who I am today. Truly life changing. It’s one of those books that has so many important concepts that I had to get a new highlighter half way through. The book is split into two halfs: the first dealing with inner effectiveness (self-mastery) and the second dealing with outer effectiveness (interdependence). If I were religious this book would be my bible. A must read and very deserving of 5 mountains.
• A Whole New Mind Daniel Pink: Right brain vs. left brain. The conceptual age. Abundance, Asia, and automation. This book is crammed full of insightful, never-before-thought (at least for me) concepts and ideas. The world is changing, fast, and this book not only predicts it but gives you the tools you need to survive. Daniel’s writing is well researched, controversial, and entertaining. An easy to read book that will change the way you think about work and life. This book easily gets 5 mountains.
• How to Win Friends and Influence People Dale Carnegie: A classic. I got weird looks from people who thought I was trying to win them as my friend and others who thought I was trying to influence them to do what I wanted. But if you can get past the strange name (this book was first published in 1937) then this will be your personal relationship guide. From keeping friends to becoming a leader, this book is full of stories and well tested ideas to help you succeed as a social person. Get it, read it at least twice, and seriously practice what he preaches.
• Weapons of Mass Instruction John Taylor Gatto: This is the most controversial, eye-opening, well researched book I have ever read. And I’m fully convinced: compulsory schools are bad places. My kids will not enter their jail-like walls. John first gives a detailed and well supported account of how our educational system was modeled after the old Prussian system to make the vast majority of the population “manageable”. In just over a century, the schooling system has effectively “dumbed us down” to be followers, to obey all orders, and to be a consuming nation. He uses countless success stories of those who didn’t go to school or were otherwise dropouts (Richard Branson, Benjamin Franklin, Steve Jobs… the list goes on). He also differentiates between education and schooling, the former being necessary, the latter dangerous. John, a retired school teacher of 30 years, has a dying wish: to crush the schooling system at it’s core by removing it’s cornerstone measure: standardized tests. This book is excellent and easily deserves 5 mountains. This book is important (as is the rest of Gatto’s work) and I urge you to read it.
• Losing My Virginity Richard Branson: My trailblazing idol = Richard Branson. This story is so remarkable it will have you questioning how it’s possibly one mans life. He had accomplished more at the age of 25 than most do in their lives. And surprisingly he hasn’t slowed down a bit. Motivational, shocking, and entertaining, this book is sure to impact you for a long time.

4mountains

• The One-Week Job Project Sean Aiken:
• Making Ideas Happen Scott Belsky:
• Linchpin Seth Godin: The biggest thing I got out of this book was the concept of being a “linchpin”: someone who is indispensable (everyone can become a Linchpin – that’s what this blog is all about. Helping us get from good to remarkable; being linchpins; trailblazing) – and the idea of the lizard brain. The lizard brain, also known as the resistance, is the part of our brain that tries to protect us from getting hurt. But in the process, it actually ends up hurting us. It prevents us from growing, from creating, and from trailblazing. To be successful in this journey we must ignore the lizard and push through our fear to accomplish our goals. Read this book as motivation to be better and to silence the doubting lizard within you – it’s important for your success.
• Drive Daniel Pink: Almost as good as A Whole New Mind, Drive investigates the gap between what science knows and how we actually do when it comes to human motivation. Dan explores the three elements of real motivation: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Through his interesting and relevant topics, his thorough research, and his unique writing, Dan has proven himself and easily has become my favourite author. Read this book. And the rest of his book. They’re cool. And will change your life. As a trailblazer, you need this book.
• Play Stuart Brown: This book itself is only hokay. However, it’s argument is important: we need to play more. Kids do it. Animals do it. Why, as adults, do we forget to play? Because it’s trained out of us. The teachers tell us to stop fooling around (you kids better stop horsing around or else…), parents tell us to grow up (act your age), and we start feeling guilty for having fun (err maybe I should be working…). We don’t need to get out the stuffed animals or build a castle in the neighbors sandbox to enjoy the benefits  of playing (although it wouldn’t hurt). We do need to start incorporating the 7 types of play into our lives.
• The Adventures of Johnny Bunko Daniel Pink: This is one of the most creative, against-the-norm books I’ve read. And it took me less than 2 hours to read. It follows Johnny Bunko, a disgruntled office worker, through his journey of finding his passion and enjoying life. He finds out along the way that everything his parents, career counselors, and teachers told him was wrong. Part cartoon part serious life lesson, this book will help you focus on your trailblazing path.
• Catching Fire Richard Wrangham: I’m all about evolution instead of creationism and so is this book. We got along well. It was also so out there (the emergence of fire and the soon-to-follow skill of cooking allowed us to evolve into the humans we are today) yet so well supported by science that I was and am still fully convinced at the profound effect fire has had on evolutionary transformation from pre-historic hairy beasts. Want to challenge your idea of our species history? This book is perfect for that. Pick it up and let me know what you think – I’m game for a discussion on this one.
• In Defense of Food Michael Pollan: I can’t stop questioning why I’m putting this book in the 4 mountain category. Every time I picked it up to read I would be snoring within 18 minutes. His writing style, which incorporated way too many commas even for me, was just hard to follow. But I can’t ignore the powerful effect it had on me. I changed my eating habits, lost body fat, and overall had a much better relationship with food (that effect has worn off now. Maybe I should re-read this book…). Because I changed my habits and felt better, this book deserves 4 mountains.

3 mountains

• Play Stuart Brown: This book itself is only hokay. However, it’s argument is important: we need to play more. Kids do it. Animals do it. Why, as adults, do we forget to play? Because it’s trained out of us. The teachers tell us to stop fooling around (you kids better stop horsing around or else…), parents tell us to grow up (act your age), and we start feeling guilty for having fun (err maybe I should be working…). We don’t need to get out the stuffed animals or build a castle in the neighbors sandbox to enjoy the benefits  of playing (although it wouldn’t hurt).We do need to start incorporating the 7 types of play into our lives. Don’t buy this book but do start playing more. Climb a tree, explore a neighbour hood you’ve never been, yell as loud as you can – whatever you do just start adding more play to your life.
• Me 2.0 Dan Schawbel: Personal branding: Cool concept. Me 2.0: crappy book. It was repetitious, only had surface-level practicability, and was straight up boring to read (those who know me know that I hate boring…). The reason this book gets a generous 3 mountains is because everyone needs to think about themselves as a brand. You’re on Facebook? Sending emails? Texting? Talking to people? Ya, they all effect peoples perception of your brand. Don’t read this book but do pay attention to your own personal brand and how you want to be perceived – your trailblazing journey depends on it.
• Connected Nicholas Christakis: Like Me 2.0, the concept was cool but the book was boring. It introduces the idea of “3 degrees of influence” which basically says that, whether you know it or not, you are influenced by and are influencing people up to 3 degrees away from you. That means that my thoughts and ideas expressed through this here blog effect you (1 degree), your friend (2 degrees), and your friend’s friend (3 degrees) even though neither your friend or friend’s friend know who I am. That’s a cool concept. However, this book spent 352 pages backing that up in different contexts – boring. The important take away? Pay attention to your thoughts, behaviours, and actions because they don’t only affect yourself but also people who don’t even know you exist.
• The Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell: I had a hard time deciding whether this was worth 3 or 4 mountains. I couldn’t decide so it got 3. Malcolm is an entertaining writer and challenges conventional wisdom while piecing things together you didn’t know could be pieced together. This book explores the “science” or epidemics. It taught me who mavens and connectors were, how to make an idea sticky, and why some people smoke and others don’t. It was thought provoking, interesting, and well written (hmm. maybe this book does deserve 4 mountains…).
• Crush It Gary Vaynerchuk: It’s hard not to fall in love with Gary’s raw passion which is easily picked up in this book and through his blog. I immediately bought into all of his ideas, beliefs, and suggestions. However, the effect was only transient and I no longer feel “pumped up” by Gary. Some lasting impressions he’s had on me was the need to work your ass off to achieve your dreams. Pick it up to learn how to enter the entrepreneurial market, for advice on how to use social media networks, and for some motivation.
• Stumbling on Happiness Daniel Gilbert: Contrary to the title, there will be no stumbling on happiness by reading this book. Quite the opposite, actually. It’s a sobering read that puts into perspective our mis-judged perceptions of our world. Dan argues that we are terrible at predicting what future events will make us happy and have poor memories for past events. For example, the summer of ’09 I was a miserable mess, emotionally, mentally, and physically. I was over concerned with working out, neglectful of my friends and family, and a terrible employee who hated his job. Yet when I look back on that summer, I think of it as one of my best summers of my life (let’s just say I learned a lot and became a better person through it). This book helps explain this phenomenon. An entertaining read that looks into the window of our weird and undefinable behaviours, this book easily deserves 3 mountains.

2 mountains

• Rework Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson: I had high hopes for this book. It didn’t meet them. I love reading new and edgy business books – just what this was. But it reads as a bunch of blog posts rather than a book. Ya, that’s what they were going for but it’s not my style. It’s the same reason I hated Powerpoint presentations in school: I don’t like learning through short, bullet-point thoughts. Stories, on the other hand, teach me a great deal. They have meaning, context, and are filled with emotions. This book has none of that. Consequently, 2 mountains. Sorry, Rework, I really wanted to give you more but you just don’t make the cut.
• Blink Malcolm Gladwell: When I first read this book I really liked it. But like many things in life, it’s all relative. I’ve read many books since this one and in the process it has simply got bumped down. The big idea? Split second decisions, the kind that pull and tug at your gut, can be surprisingly accurate. Like a traditional 2 mountain book, if you don’t have anything better to do than read this for it’s entertainment purposes. But I’m sure you can be doing something better (like playing!).

1 mountain

• The End of Overeating David Kessler: If I wasn’t such a terrible night time binge eater than I would never have problems with my physique goals. This book was supposed to be my cure. Maybe it would’ve if I could’ve finished it all but it was much too boring to do that. David, your idea for the book was brilliant. Your book itself… not so much. 1 mountain.