Gauntlet Thrown And Accepted

So I’ve signed up for a 6 month book challenge to read 50 books. The goal is to reach a new way of thinking by massively immersing one’s brain with the thought bases from a lot of other people. It’s like a mental retreat for your mind.

Now, I’m not an avid book reader. I’ve probably read 50 books in my life up until this point. It’s actually much less if you take out the ones that were required reading for school work. I do read though. Principally articles on specific things I’m interested at at the moment. I find that a more efficient way to gain practical knowledge.

Book Challenge Received

And thus the book challenge. For me to do what I have not done before. First, to see how far I go in time. Then to see how many books I actually read in that time span. Finally at the end, I’ll determine what insights if any, I have gained from this challenge.

Most authors put a lot of time an effort into their books. First comes the life skill and experience to absorb the information. Next, to mind dump and organize and prioritize things. Then, to condense and write it down. With all that time an resources, you’d think I’d be much more excited to read and gain access to this knowledge.

The issue I have is the communication line. Reading, to me is such a slow way of getting information. For many things, a video, photo, or graphic can relay much more in a shorter period of time. Perhaps, I’ll try an educational video challenge next.

Book Challenge Accepted

I don’t have a list of the books I want to read. I have a few in mind, but I’m going to start with those books that are both interesting and convenient to get a hold of. In other words, those I can bum off friends for free are at the top of the list.

Well, I’m ready to get going on this. Let’s go hunt something down, get comfortable with a cup of hot black tea, crack that thing open, and get this show on the road.

August Update: Book Challenge Ended!

Six months sure blew by fast! The good news is that I also blew through the challenge and ended up reading 90 books instead of 50. The bad news? It’s going to take a long time to write book reviews about everything I read. But if you see a title that interests you, let me know and I can expedite that one.

How I chose what book to read

Firstly, I prefer non-fiction because I feel there’s a better chance that I’ll learn something practical. About 95% were non-fiction books. I started with books that were readily available from others, then went from there. I bought many of them from Amazon.com, principally business, technology, social media, and mixed martial arts.

Book Challenge Experience

Once I got into the swing of things, it was pretty easy to get into cranking out the reading. I took notes along the way so I could reflect back on any insights I got at the time. There were a handful of books that were really good. They break down a subject into relatable and digestible chunks (like, Timothy Ferriss). Some were interesting and entertaining (Andy Weir).

The other 95% of books were less useful, but there was only one book that I couldn’t stomach to finish (Sorry Bob G.). It’s not on the list. Some were way too wordy, going on and on, saying the same things in different ways, spoon-feeding the story line, I’m sure you know someone who talks like that in real life.. Yet at the same time there is enough of a message in there to keep going.. (Yea, Michael Pollan, Malcom Gladwell).

While I did gain an appreciation for reading, I find it is too slow of a medium for information transfer. It’s okay for entertainment purposes, but for practical lessions, it’s hard to beat a good TED talk with your own Google follow-up.

That said, i do have a very interesting story to tell and have been flirting with the idea of writing my own book. More so now that I have some experience about the many different ways people write books.

Book List in Chronological Order:

1. Multipliers – Liz Wiseman
2. 10% Happier – Dan Harris
3. $100 Startup – Chris Bullebean
4. The Wealthy Barber Returns – David Childon
5. Insight Out – Tina Seelig
6. Relentless Strike – Sean Naylor
7. My Fight Your Fight – Ronda Rousey
8. Just Scrap – BJ Penn
9. It’s Time – Bruce Buffer
10. Solar Electricity Handbook – Michael Boxwell
11. Critical Thinking – Bruce Waller
12. The Everything Store (Amazon) – Jeff Bezos
13. Elon Musk – Ashlee Vance
14. Born Standing Up – Steve Martin
15. Delivering Happiness (Zappos) – Tony Hsieh
16. Outliers – Malcom Gladwell
17. Made in America – Sam Walton
18. Launch – Jeff Walker
19. Sh-t My Dad Says – Justin Halpern
20. Modern Romance – Aziz Ansari
21. The Design of Everyday Things – Dan Norman
22. Steve Jobs – Walter Isaacson
23. The Facebook Effect – David Kirkpatrick
24. The Art of Game Design – Jesse Schell
25. You’re Never Weird on the Internet – Felicia Day
26. Becoming the Natural – Randy Couture
27. Clean Code – Robert Martin
28. Idea Man – Paul Allen
29. What Got You There Won’t Get You There – Marshall Goldsmith
30. Made To Stick – Chip Heath
31. Mojo – Marshal Goldsmith
32. The Female Brain – Louann Brizendine
33. This Machine Kills Secrets – Andy Greenberg
34. David and Goliath – Malcom Gladwell
35. Belly Off Diet – Jeff Csatari
36. Pimp – Iceberg Slim
37. Fast Girl – Suzy Hamilton
38. Big Magic – Elizabeth Gilbert
39. Seduce Your Customers – Kerry Szymanski
40. Italy – DK Eyewitness
41. The Sixth Extinction – Elizabeth Kolbert
42. After Life – John Edward
43. In Defense of Food – Michael Pollan
44. Orange is the New Black – Piper Kerman
45. The Social Conquest of Earth – Edward Wilson
46. Think Like a Freak – Steven Levitt
47. A Dog Walks into a Bar – Joanne Sullivan
48. Thinking, Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman
49. #GIRLBOSS – Sophia Armuroso
50. When to Rob a Bank – Steven Levitt
51. Know It All – New Scientist
52. Touching a Nerve – Patricia Churchland
53. Nothing – New Scientist
54. Tipping Point – Malcom Gladwell
55. Grain Brain – David Perlmutter
56. Magical Thinking – Augusten Burroughs
57. The Omnivore’s Dilemma – Michael Pollan
58. HTML and CSS for Beginners – Mark Lassoff
59. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat – Oliver Sacks
60. Leadership  BS – Jeffery Pfeffer
61. Social Media Explained – Mark Schaefer
62. The Art of Social Media – Guy Kawasaki
63. The Food Babe Way – Vani Hari
64. The 4 Hour Work Week – Timothy Ferriss
65. 3.2 Seconds – Barry Minkow
66. The Brain That Changes Itself – Norman Doidge
67. The Martian – Andy Weir
68. Social Media – Michael Richards
69. Learning Web App Development – Semmy Purewal
70. The 4 Hour Body – Timothy Ferriss
71. Cooked – Michael Pollan
72. The New Rules of Marketing & PR – David Scott
73. Lincoln’s Last Day – Bill O’Reilly
74. Stiff – Mary Roach
75. The Entrepreneurial Imperative – Carl Schramm
76. The Power of Habit – Charles Duhigg
77. Creating and Selling WordPress Plug-ins – Jamie Osborne
78. The Tao of Twitter – Mark Schaefer
79. Killing Reagan – Bill O’Reilly
80. Superfreakonomics – Steven Levitt
81. Socialnomics – Erik Qualman
82. The 5 Love Languages – Gary Chapman
83. Sin in the Second City – Karen Abbott
84. Launch a Kick-Ass T-Shirt Brand – AJ Camara
85. Practical Business Wisdom and Magic – Pat O’Bryan
86. Everybody Writes – Ann Handley
87. Professional WordPress Design and Development – Brad Williams
88. Ready to Run – Kelly Starrett
89. No BS Guide to Direct Response Social Media Marketing – Dan Kennedy
90. Cruise Guide to Europe – DK Eyewitness