18 more business & ‘life’ books I’ve read recently (some I’d recommend, others I wouldn’t)

Over the past 6 months, I’ve continued to do most of my ‘reading’ via Audible and also podcasts. Personally it’s increased my ability to learn and it’s given me back some time, by using the commute and also my morning walk, to plough through all sorts of books.

There are a few themes that you’ll see in many of these recent books, particularly around habits, business planning, thinking time, having a balanced life and also ensuring that you’re maintaining your passion for what it is that you ultimate love to do or might aspire to do or be.

I hope that you find a few of interest. Of course my thoughts are merely my personal opinion and hence very subjective. However, I’m keen to read/listen to all sorts, so please let me know if you have others that you enjoyed also.

Trillion Dollar Coach– Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg & Alan Eagle

This book is about a guy named Bill Campbell, who over many years, decades even, appears to have been instrumental in listening and assisting many global companies and their founders, to grow.

People such as Larry Page & Eric Schmidt from Google, Steve Jobs from Apple and Andy Groves from Intuit, were guided by Bill Campbell, to go on and do extraordinary things, with the help of having a plan.

Effectively this book provides insight and a bit of a blueprint for other owners and managers who are seeking to impact their own companies and the world. I found it pretty interesting overall.

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a distracted world– Cal Newport

This book is all about how to focus and not get distracted. To be honest, I got a little distracted and didn’t love this book, so I’m not sure it’d be at the top of my list.

Regardless, it was interesting and had some good tips. If you are a person that might tend to procrastinate and would like a helping hand to get back on track, then I think there still might be the odd nugget that could help.

The Path Made Clear– Oprah Winfrey

If you have a short attention span, then this might be a book for you! In under 3 hours, less if you play it on a faster speed, then you’ll whip through this.

Oprah looks to assist in giving some pointers via a series of interviews and anecdotes, some suggestions as to how you might look to find what it is you’re seeking and also how to have impact on the world in your space. I enjoyed this one and got enough from it, in a short time.

The Obstacle is the Way– Ryan Holiday

As the title suggests, this one aims to provide clarity and confidence for the reader/listener by turning what might be seen as obstacles, into opportunities.

It follows some successful entrepreneurs through history, but the origins of the theme, go back thousands of years to Roman times. I wasn’t aware of this history and so this added to the meaning of the book for me.

The Fifth Risk– Michael Lewis

From the author of good books such as Flash Boys and The Big Short, this one takes a different turn and is around US politics and the transition to the current Administration.

A friend who is quite political and to be fair, I often have different views yet good discussion with (!) suggested this one and although who really knows what might be real and what might be assumed, I found it an interesting book.

I think that no matter what your politics, then this is quite a fascinating read to gain an insight into a different political system.

Can’t Hurt Me– David Goggins

I have to confess that I didn’t make it through this book and found it quite hard going as well as long.

The author’s story is emotive and essentially he has used that harsh introduction to life, to motivate him to become the fittest man in America.

However that’s on a small portion of what David Goggins has achieved.

Meditations– Marcus Aurelius, George Long

Born in 121AD, Marcus Aurelius was Roman Emperor and a philosopher. In fact he was a very deep man by the sounds.

For me, listening to his writings and views of the world were fascinating and surprisingly to me could have been written by anyone today also. It was first published 500 years ago.

In essence the theme is around how to approach life as well as death. Worth a listen.

How to raise successful people– Esther Wojcicki

This one is for parents and also parents who enjoy business. Esther Wojcicki has raised three highly successful daughters in Silicon Valley. Known as Woj, she looks to provide her advice on parenting.

To be honest, this was another book that I didn’t bother finishing. I found some of the business-related anecdotes just too far removed from business life here in NZ. It’s not that I’m not inspired by business success wherever it might be, however, for whatever reason this just turned me off from it.

Wabi Sabi: Japanese Wisdom for a perfectly imperfect life– Beth Kempton

I thought this was quite a cool book. Really different from anything else I’d read, possibly because it has its origins in Japanese culture, which I’m not so familiar with.

We often hear about gratitude as well as the need to stop and smell the roses. For me, this book spanned those two themes or well-communicated recommendations for life, but with a new twist, whilst having being derived many centuries ago.

Many Lives, Many Masters– Brian L Weiss

This might not be for everyone and I’m not even sure that it was for me (!) but in looking to read all sorts of books, be exposed to opinions and in order to continue to learn, I found this book fascinating if indeed it’s true.

I’ll leave it to you to decide.

The 4-hour work week– Tim Ferriss

Almost now an oldy but still a goody. This book is best for those who already have their own business or who are serious about going down that path. I read it about 10 years ago and it’s as relevant as it ever was, even if some of the examples are now getting a little dated (around technology).

12 years ago Tim Ferriss wrote this book that proved to be very popular. If your goal is to maximise your productivity in order to create a lifestyle that will make you and your family happy, then I think this is worth a read/listen as you will pick up some good themes that you can apply whether you’re an entrepreneur or work the corporate life (but have other dreams).

100 Side Hustles– Chris Guillebeau

Start-up success stories galore! Many of which I’d personally never heard of…mostly American examples but still, most are global in nature so there are opportunities everywhere.

What is particularly interesting, is that these are everyday people who started something on the side and it blossomed. You just never know…

The E-Myth revisited– Michael E Gerber

Another very oldy but still a real goody. I first read this one about 10 years ago. If you are looking to start a business or you need a refresher as to some steps to take to build it, then I’d recommend this one.

The key theme being ensuring that you have a plan and work on as well as in your business.

Built to Sell– John Warrillow

if you wish to sell your business and maximise the outcome, then you need to make yourself scarce and quite simply, not required in the day to day running.

It’s never too late to start thinking about this one when you own a business. In fact my belief is that you need to think about this before you even start.

Feel the fear and do it anyway– Susan Jeffers

The title gives it all away!

Better than Before– Gretchen Rubin

This book is all about habits. Gretchen Rubin is the author of The Happiness Project and Happier at Home, so in this book she provides her pointers on behaviour and forming good patterns.

Some of the book can be repetitive and you might want to listen to it on 1.75x to get through it, but there are some good suggestions.

Just F*cking Do it– Noor Hibbert

I really enjoyed this book. The author is also the narrator and for me, this added to it as Noor was very honest, enthusiastic and actually pretty motivating. I found myself nodding to plenty of it!

Also it’s a quick book to get through. It’s about how we think, act and interact, offering thoughts on how to push through and just do it.

Atomic Habits– James Clear

This book is all about incremental improvement towards where it is you’re keen to get to. James Clear is a good narrator and again, this adds to the credibility of the book I found.

Usually you might go, ‘yeah, yeah, another person trying to tell me what to do’ but for me, James’ back story is interesting and useful, going pretty deep into what makes us tick and enables us to get to the podium.

If you’d like any other suggestions, please check out my previous reads/listens here. Happy reading/listening!