What Books Are You Starting the New Year With?

I seem to have some kind of reading-related ADD; somehow I always end up reading multiple books simultaneously instead of one at a time. Now that I've pretty much given up physical books (except for when I can't find an e-book version) it has gotten worse! At this present time, I am reading four books... Actually that's not too bad considering I've tried juggling around ten books. These are the books that I'm currently into.

1. Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity by Kerry Cohen
I'm always enthralled by people who are bold enough to tell their personal stories, partially because I'm sometimes terrified to tell my own. In this book Kerry Cohen talks about how she used the attention from men to fill the emptiness of not feeling loved or worthwhile. I just started this book two days ago, but so far her story is an interesting one.

2. You, Inc.: The Art of Selling Yourself by Harry Beckwith and Christine K. Clifford
Recently it occurred to me that while I am trying to get my businesses to really take off this year, the primary thing that I am marketing is myself. I need to let potential clients and customers know why they should do business with me first. Once they are sold on me, I can sell them on the services and products. So I started looking for books on how to promote yourself, and this is the first of several books on the topic that I plan to read. The book packs a ton of great lessons in brief, easy-to-read chapters. Some of it I've heard, some of it I haven't. So far, it hasn't disappointed.

3. Monday Morning Leadership by David Cottrell
This is one of those books I have to read for work. As short as it is I really should be done by now, but... *sigh* I'm not. My goal is to finish it over the weekend so I can be done with it once and for all! It would probably be more interesting to me if I were in a management position, or if it gave some radical new perspective on managing, but I'm not and it doesn't. Meh.

4. Business Plan in a Day by Rhonda Abrams
Okay, I'm not so much reading it as I am working through it. And yes, it's taking me much longer than a day to do it (although if I actually set aside a whole day I think I could complete it). Considering that I am trying to craft business plans for two very different businesses, I don't know if this book will completely address everything that I will need for both of them. However, it does a good job of covering the basics and refreshing my memory as to what needs to be included in this all-important document.

Considering that I still have over 100 books on my to-read list, I'd say I already have my work cut out for me this year. My goal is only 20, though, and I have a pretty good idea which books will make it. Tina Fey's Bossypants, 12 Bad Habits that Hold Good People Back, Hello Kitty Must Die and Longing To Tell will make up the next round of books I tackle.

Do you have a reading list ready for the year, or do you just pick up whatever happens to strike your fancy?

Current Read: A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink

Over the past couple of years (since I started grad school) I haven't read much simply for leisure. In fact, I have only read one novel since the beginning of 2009, and that was just a few months ago. Instead, I've been engrossed in books about business and self-improvement. This book is no different.

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel Pink takes a look at the changes occurring in today's society and the need to shift from a primarily left-brain way of thinking to a dual-thinking. The synopsis from Goodreads.com:

Lawyers. Accountants. Software engineers. That's what Mom and Dad encouraged us to become. They were wrong. Gone is the age of "left-brain" dominance. The future belongs to a different kind of person with a different kind of mind: designers, inventors, teachers, storytellers-creative and empathic "right-brain" thinkers whose abilities mark the fault line between who gets ahead and who doesn't. Drawing on research from around the advanced world, Daniel Pink outlines the six fundamentally human abilities that are essential for professional success and personal fulfillment-and reveals how to master them. From a laughter club in Bombay, to an inner-city high school devoted to design, to a lesson on how to detect an insincere smile, A Whole New Mind takes listeners to a daring new place, and offers a provocative and urgent new way of thinking about a future that has already arrived.

 

 

So far I am about a third of the way through this book. Pink's three forces driving us towards the right-brain revolution, "Abundance, Asia, and Automation, are interesting ideas. The concept of abundance was sort of an eye-opener for me; I never considered that having so much would play a role in our desire for meaning. However, thinking about it now, it does follow the pattern of Maslow's hierarchy of needs... While I'm not completely sold on the "Asia" aspect of it (Pink makes it seem as if we are in economic warfare with Asia, specifically India, and disregards globalization completely), the automation part was right on point to me. With machines and computers being able to do many things that humans can do (and more efficiently) we have to look at what uniquely human features we can bring to the table.

Pink also has "six senses" which he feels are important in developing the right-brain thinking: design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning. I've just gotten to this potion of the book, so I'll be covering those and my overall thoughts on the book once I do a full review.

What business books have you found helpful? Have you read this book or any others by Daniel Pink? If so, what were your thoughts? And if you're not into business, what type of books do you read most often?