I could take the time to read a fiction book, but I don’t. I would rather read websites, newspapers, magazines, looking for ideas and concepts that I can use. I spend time in bookstores because one idea from a book or magazine can make me money. Mark Cuban How to Win at the Sport of Business: If I Can Do It, You Can Do It
Personally speaking, the best investment I have ever made has been in improving my own education. Consistently I’ve found this to be one of the best ways of making more money. The more I invest in myself, the more money I make.
Over the years the best way I’ve found in educating myself, both in terms of money and time, is through reading books. Literally a single idea from reading a $/£10-£20 book can make £/$ ‘000’s of difference to my income.
So I’ve issued myself a challenge and I urge you to do the same. Over the course of the next year, I’m going to read 52 books. Yes, 1 book every week, for the next 12 months. That’s at least 52 new ideas to implement in my business or my clients businesses.
As well as reading them I aim to review them too. Some of the reviews I’ll share here on the blog and some I’ll share with the readers on my mailing list. So, if you’re not on my business growth book club mailing list get on it now…
52 Business Books to Read
Many of the books on the list have be suggested to me by the good folks this is the order I’ll be reading them in.
1. Peak – Chip Conley
2. Steve Jobs – Walt Issacson
3. Great by Choice – Jim Collins
4. Lean Start Up – Eric Ries
5. How Companies Win – Rick Kash and David Calhoun
6. Blue Ocean Strategy – W. Chan Kim
7. Brain Rules – John Medina
8. Brains on Fire – Geno Church
9. Brandwashed – Sarah O’Leary
10. Little Bets – Peter Sims
11. Made to Stick – Chip and Dan Heath
12. Start with why – Simon Sinek
13. Linchpin – Seth Godin
14. Making Ideas Happen – Scott Belsky
15. Mindset – Carol Dweck
16. Moneyball – Michael Lewis
17. Moonwalking with Einstein – Joshua Foer
18. Multimedia Learning – Richard Mayer
19. Neuromarketing – Christopher Morin and Patrick Renvoise
20. Outliers – Malcolm Gladwell
21. Positioning – Al Ries and Jack Trout
22. Power Friending – Amber Mac
23. Practically Radical – Bill Taylor
24. Results Rule – Randy Pennington
25. Rework – Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
26. Six Pixels of Separation – Mitch Joel
27. Switch – Chip and Dan Heath
28. The 8th Habit – Steven Covey
29. The Art of Choosing – Sheena Iynengar
30. The Design of Business – Roger Martin
31. The Dip – Seth Godin
32. The Element – Sir Ken Robinson
33. The Leadership Challenge – Kouzes and Posner
34. The Long Tail – Chris Anderson
35. The New Community Rules – Tamer Weinberg
36. The New How – Nifoler Merchant
37. The Shift – Scott Davis
38. The Thank You Economy – Gary Vaynerchuk
39. The way we’re working isn’t working – Tony Schwartz
40. The Whuffie Factor – Tara Hunt
41. Think Better – Tim Hurson
42. Three laws of performance – Steve Zaffron and Dave Logan
43. Tribal Leadership – Dave Logan, John King, Halee Fischer-Wright
44. Unmarketing – Scott Stratten
45. Trust Agents – Chris Brogan and Julien Smith
46. We – Kevin Kruss
47. Business Stripped Bare – Sir Richard Branson
48. Change By Design – Tim Brown
49. Content Rules – C.C. Chapman
50. Delivering Happiness – Tony Hsieh
51. Different – Youngme Moon
52. Do the work – Steven Pressfield
So there you go: 52 books in 52 weeks. Why not join me in the challenge and read 52 books yourself? If you want to get updates sign up for the email list and about once a month I’ll send you my reviews.
If you’re planning on reading any books this year (or read some last year) share your experiences in the comments below. Let this be our year of growth!
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Ps. I want to thank my good friend Matthew Kimberley for the inspiration (and laying down the challenge) in writing this post.
