I made it by the skin of my teeth, but I achieved my goal of finishing 12 books in 2017.
Not bad considering I have a day gig and spend most of my free time chasing a 1-year old around.
Keep reading for some brief thoughts on the best books I read in 2017.
Brief Thoughts on the Books I Read in 2017
“You can’t ever reach perfection, but you can believe in an asymptote toward which you are ceaselessly striving.”
― Paul Kalanithi, When Breath Becomes Air
1.) Paul Kalanithi’s “When Breath Becomes Air
2.) “Shadow Divers” is the best narrative non-fiction book I’ve read to date. (Thanks to Ryan Holiday and Patrick O’Shaughnessy for the recommendation.) Click here to check out some of my favorite excerpts and takeaways.
3.) Cal Newport’s “So Good They Can’t Ignore You” is fantastic. I highly recommend it to college seniors, grad students and newer employees. You can read my favorite takeaways here. That said, I actually preferred his book, “Deep Work.” True game changer. Here’s 90+ insights from the latter.
4.) Speaking of Ryan Holiday, I read two of his books this year. “The Daily Stoic” is a a wonderful daily companion to help you find self-knowledge and resilience. “Ego is the Enemy” will help you take responsibility for your life. My 3-part review here.
5.) Michael Bungay Stanier’s book “The Coaching Habit” is the book I *just* finished so I need a bit of time to process and synthesize, but I’d definitely recommend it to those who lead/manage others.
6.) Steven Pressfield’s “Nobody Wants to Read Your Shit” is a must-read for writers.
7.) “Shoe Dog” was good — absolutely worth the read — but not as ground-breaking as so many people made it out to be.
8.) “Boomerang” was certainly interesting, but not one of Lewis’ best.
9.) Life is too short to read bad books. The remaining three “Empire Falls,” “The Moviegoer” and “Managing Oneself” didn’t particularly do it for me.
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This blog started primarily as a marketing blog, but now I write much more about work/life, social psychology, health and happiness. I will also continue to explore top performers (authors, entrepreneurs, business leaders and more) and dissect what we can take away to be top performers in our own work and personal lives.
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