This year I embarked on a mission to read at least 52 books by the end of the year. Since I’ve had dozens of people ask me to compile a list of all the books I’ve read so far, I thought it would be nice to list out the 28 books that I completed in the first half of the year–and then do another post with the second half after the year is complete.
I could have listed the books in the order that I read them, but that felt unimaginative. So, I’ve decided that I would rank them based on the impact they had on me.
Why Impact?
I don’t refer to books as good or bad. First of all, there is no standard definition for what constitutes a good or bad book. Additionally, I’d add that no book is ever inherently good or bad. Rather, when a person refers to a book as either good or bad, that ascription is entirely based on the person’s state of mind at the time that they read it. Secondly, I have to consider the fact that the author put a lot of work into writing the book. So, even if it doesn’t resonate with me, I have a healthy appreciation for the fact that the book even exists in the first place.
How I’m defining Impact
This is pretty simple. Here is the list that helped me determine how impactful a book was to me. I may refine this at some point in the future, but for now, this is what it shall be:
- The book challenged my worldview and caused me to think of things differently.
- The book inspired me to try new things or alter the way I was currently doing something.
- The book confirmed ideas or perspectives that I had, but, for some reason or another doubted the validity of them prior to reading the book.
- The words in the book left an imprint on my mind and penetrated my heart in such a way that I think about them and process them regularly.
- I took copious notes while reading the book and continue to refer back to them during the course of conversations, while preparing for my day or for meetings at work, or for other situations that arise during the course of living.
So, without further ado, here’s the list of books I read between January 1 and June 30, 2018–sorted by impact. (Note – Links to my reviews of the first five are added here, however all reviews are available on this site).
- Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World-and Why Things Are Better Than You Think– Hans Rosling
- The Secret Teachings of Plants – Stephen Harrod Buhner
- The Road Ahead – Bill Gates
- Joy, Inc – Richard Sheridan
- A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Building a Great Business – Ari Weinzweig
- Made to Stick – Chip Heath & Dan Heath
- The Effective Executive – Peter Drucker
- Only the Paranoid Survive – Andrew S Grove
- The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits – C.K. Prahalad
- Think Like a Freak – Steven D Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
- Ready Player One: A Novel – Eric Cline
- The Undercover Economist – Tim Harford
- Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers – Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur
- Crossing the Chasm – Geoffrey Moore
- Walden: Life in the Woods – Henry David Thoreau
- The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our World – Pedro Domingos
- Fifty Inventions that Changed The Modern World – Tim Harford
- The Wealth of Nations – Adam Smith
- Finance and Accounting for Nonfinancial Managers – William G. Droms
- The Pie Life: A Guilt-Free Recipe for Success and Satisfaction – Samantha Ettus
- Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School, and the Global Race to Achieve – Lenora Chu
- Sing, Unburied Sing – Jesmyn Ward
- Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House – Michael Wolff
- The Bee: A Natural History – Noah Wilson-Rich
- Candide – Voltaire
- Lilac Girls – Martha Hall Kelly
- How to Stop Wildfire – Sarah Sunday
- Mergers & Acquisitions – Dana Vachon
