A few years ago I had a large collection of ebooks using Google and I upgraded my personal account to a paid business account… and Google deleted my entire collection. I was upset enough to really just stop reading for a long-ass time. This year, I decided to put books back on the menu. Since I still prefer a digital reader, I decided to try Kindle Unlimited on my new iPad… let’s see how it goes. I put together a reading list and also decided to list out my favorite books.
Most influential books
Atlas Shrugged (Ayan Rand) was one of those life-changing books as it offered an explanation for nasty behavior for talentless people in reaction to talent. It made an impact, within a year I struck out on my own business and literally changed my entire life. Although I did have a neighbor give me the most accurate criticism of Ayan Rand’s (long-winded) work… “she needed an editor.”
Crossing the Chasm and Inside the Tornado (Geoffrey Moore) are exceptionally good books covering the implementation of new technologies and the extremely valuable “windows of opportunity” and what to do to maximize them. These books helped me understand and guide my business through several tech cycles.
Who is Holding Your Ladder (Samuel Chand) is a book I normally wouldn’t read as it is about building churches with a healthy dose of religious purpose… aka “not my thang”… but it had a chapter about “Manager Brain” and “Visionary Brain” that ended up extremely valuable for me. Because he treated each personality in a matter-of-fact way, not as one was good or bad… it became a tool for me to detangle my own work and see things in a new light. I’m happy I approached the book as a challenge, I got some real value out of it.
Other favorite books
I really enjoy most anything Peter Hamilton writes, but I am listing the first book I read (Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained – although 2 books… is really just one 2,000 page book) as a great way to give him a try. The story showcases his talent at telling a broad story with many, many interconnected people/aliens. The chapters that detailed a new form of life from its conception to the current day were truly outstanding.
I enjoyed most of Stephen King’s early work, in particular, his short stories and Skeleton Crew was one of the very best. Watership Down by Richard Adams I found endearing as a young man and it still holds up for me now.
My reading list
My current reading list I put together after poking around for books that looked interesting from varied types of authors who I had not read before. But, it doesn’t bode well for Kindle Unlimited as it scored only a 2 of the 9 I picked (so far). I’ll start with those and see how it goes.
| [KU] The Three-Body Problem (Liu Cixin) [KU] The Sixth Extinction (Elizabeth Kolbert) LifeLines (Melissa Bernstein) | Oryx and Crake (Margaret Atwood) Children of Time (Adrian Tchaikovsky) Exhalation (Ted Chiang) | The Silent Patient (Alex Michaelides) A Stranger in the House (Shari Lapena) The Psychology of Time Travel (Kate Mascarenthas) |