Tag: reading books

My #1 Must Read Book from 2019

From everything I read last year (all 111 books) if I could have the knowledge of one book instantly downloaded into the minds of other people, I would choose the book I’m about to mention.

But first, a bit of background…

For whatever reason, the recent revelations regarding Jeffrey Epstein have grasped my attention and wouldn’t let go. Because of some news sources I follow, I was aware of these crimes before his recent arrest in July 2019.

So when that happened, I got excited because I thought some shady stuff might just come to light!

Digging into Epstein you find he had powerful connections to politicians, including past and current presidents. To Hollywood celebrities. To scientists. To business and financial moguls. And to intelligence agencies.

Silly me for thinking it would go somewhere! Then Epstein committed “suicide” and for most people it faded into the background of constant other news noise. (#epsteindidnotkillhimself)

All this made Ricky Gervais’ monologue at the Golden Globes all the funnier, not to mention ballsy because of the truth behind it.

And humor is good before we dive further into darkness…

Most people want to bury their head in the sand about this stuff. To deny it even exists…despite the overwhelming proof if you only scratch below the surface. All it takes is the smallest amount of digging.

The book I’m about to mention begins with a quote attributed to Edmund Burke:

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

And that is why I am sharing on this topic. Why I won’t remain silent on the topic.

I find that if you want to understand something, understanding the past can be quite useful because nothing is really new under the sun. Epstein is a modern scandal (even though it goes back decades), but similar scandals have occurred before.

I heard about the following case, which occurred before I was even born, and choose to go deep down the rabbit hole. Enter…

The Franklin Scandal: A Story of Powerbrokers, Child Abuse & Betrayal by Nick Bryant

While I’d heard a tiny bit about this event before, I knew it was time to dive deeper. Sure, you can go to the Wikipedia page and believe that it was a “carefully crafted hoax” if you want, with its extremely sparse information and sources.

Or you can check out this book, which includes 100 pages alone of proof from documents as well as links to the web for much more. You can check out the website right here: http://franklinscandal.com/

The story begins with Lawrence (Larry) King, Jr., a rising star in the Republican party. His embezzlement led to the collapse of the Franklin Credit Union. But that is only the start because it gets far worse from there.

This story involves a pedophilia ring, run by people in powerful positions, and the covering up of such crimes.

The author, Nick Bryant, was a popular journalist, who got into this subject to disprove it. He was a skeptic. But he followed the truth where it led him. This book is the result of a seven year investigation.

The book is close to 500 pages yet reads like a thriller…because in many senses it is.

It does get bogged down in some areas including the court cases (you won’t believe how one sided the judges and prosecution can be!).

The cover up by multiple government agencies, with media in their pocket, seems unbelievable. It’s big in scale. There are a lot of people in on it. But…look…at…the…evidence.

And of course, it is likely to anger and disgust you. It might just send you into depression. Diving into this swamp was responsible for some down periods personally this past year. My world view was rocked by the implication of what this means. And I say to you, those are natural responses.

It might also inspire you. When you see the Job-like-transformation (as in Book of Job) of Alisha Owen, a victim of abuse many, many times over, you just might shed a tear. I did.

I understand that to talk about this, to even mention such a book or subject, is not good for business. I’m doing it anyway because I won’t remain silent.

The desire to turn away is normal too but I urge you to suppress that desire. Turning a blind eye will not make it go away. Instead, I challenge you to read this book.

I Read 111 Books in 2019

As I’ve done in previous years, I’m sharing my reading list from 2019.

So without further ado, the list from this year…

  1. The Millionaire Master Plan by Roger James Hamilton
  2. Meaningful Work by Shawn Askinosie
  3. The Bed of Procrustes by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
  4. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
  5. The First Year IBS by Heather Van Vorous
  6. King Warrior Magician Lover by Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette
  7. Becoming the Parent You Want To Be by Laura Davis & Janis Keyser
  8. Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
  9. The Magician and the Analyst by Robert Moore
  10. He by Robert A. Johnson
  11. The Symbols by The Heavenly Hosts, the Servents of Creator
  12. Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
  13. Viriconium by M. John Harrison
  14. Deep Work by Cal Newport
  15. Magic Power Language Symbol by Patrick Dunn
  16. The Mask of Masculinity by Lewis Howes
  17. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
  18. The Chaos Protocols by Gordon White
  19. The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
  20. Sovereignty by Ryan Michler
  21. The Future of Man by Teilhard de Chardin
  22. Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
  23. The Awesome Science of Luck by Peter Ragnar
  24. Life After Google by George Gilder
  25. Living the 80/20 Way by Richard Koch
  26. Condensed Chaos by Phil Hine
  27. One to Many by Jason Fladlien
  28. Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
  29. Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
  30. The Music of Life by Denis Noble
  31. Profit First for Ecommerce Sellers by Cyndi Thomason
  32. The Master Works of Chaos Magick by Adam Blackthorne
  33. Holistic Dental Care by Nadine Artemis
  34. Deafness of the Mind by Kevin Fitzgerald
  35. Dance to the Tune of Life: Biological Relativity by Denis Noble
  36. Pandora’s Star by Peter F. Hamilton
  37. Thinking in Systems by Donella H. Meadows
  38. The King Within by Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette
  39. Liber Null & Psychonaut by Peter J. Carroll
  40. The Direct Mail Revolution by Robert W. Bly
  41. Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke
  42. How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger
  43. Shaman, Healer, Sage by Alberto Villoldo
  44. The Way of the Superior Man by David Deida
  45. The Alter Ego Effect by Todd Herman
  46. Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming by Stephen LaBerge and Howard Rheingold
  47. Sacred Economics by Charles Eisenstein
  48. The Archetype of Initiation by Robert L. Moore
  49. Brutal Wisdom by Master “Dutch” Hinkle
  50. Overdeliver by Brian Kurtz
  51. Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller
  52. Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damndest Thing by Jed McKenna
  53. The Fifth Discipline by Peter M. Senge
  54. 45 Master Characters by Victoria Lynn Schmidt
  55. The Sayings of Vikings by Havamal
  56. A Brief History of Everything by Ken Wilbur
  57. Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton
  58. How to End the Autism Epidemic by J.B. Handley
  59. Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
  60. Conspiracy Theory in America by Lance deHaven-Smith
  61. American Cosmic by D.W. Pasulka
  62. The Integral Vision by Ken Wilbur
  63. Ordinary Men by Christopher R. Browning
  64. The Dark Path by Isaac Weishaupt
  65. Conspiracies Declassified by Brian Dunning
  66. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
  67. Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
  68. Evolutionary Herbalism by Sajah Popham
  69. Atomic Habits by James Clear
  70. Triz for Dummies by Lily Haines-Gadd
  71. Supernormal Stimuli by Deirdre Barrett
  72. The Watchman’s Rattle by Rebecca D. Costa
  73. Population Control by Jim Marrs
  74. Limitless by Laura Gassner Otting
  75. Conscious Men by John Gray and Arjuna Ardagh
  76. Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got by Jay Abraham
  77. Murder by Injection by Eustace Mullins
  78. High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard
  79. Medical Medium by Anthony William
  80. The Franklin Scandal by Nick Bryant
  81. Native Son by Richard Wright
  82. The Master Keys to Strength and Fitness 2nd Edition by Logan Christopher
  83. The Creature from Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin
  84. Everybody is Sick, and I Know Why by Peter J Glidden, MD
  85. Radical Brilliance by Arjuna Ardagh
  86. The Cancer Industry by Mark Sloan
  87. None Dare Call It Conspiracy by Gary Allen with Larry Abraham
  88. Medical Intuition by C. Norman Shealy, MD, PhD
  89. Perfectibilists by Terry Melanson
  90. Programmed to Kill by David McGowan
  91. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
  92. Discovering Joy in Parenting: The First Seven Years by Cindy Brooks and Joya Birns
  93. The Candida Cure by Ann Boroch, CNC
  94. The Habit Forming Guide to Becoming a Systems Thinker by Tracy Benson & Sheri Marlin
  95. The Republic by Plato
  96. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
  97. The Bezos Letters by Steve Anderson with Karen Anderson
  98. Becoming Us by Beth McCord and Jeff McCord
  99. Virtual Summit Launch Formula by Eric Z. Yang
  100. Rewire by Richard O’Conner, PhD
  101. Evolution 2.0 by Perry Marshall
  102. The Spiritual Journey of Joseph L. Greenstein by Ed Spielman
  103. The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier
  104. Daemon by Daniel Suarez
  105. The Devil’s Chessboard by David Talbot
  106. Freedom TM by Daniel Suarez
  107. Cancer: The Metabolic Disease Unraveled by Mark Sloan
  108. Discovering Your Soul Signature by Panache Desai
  109. Thinking in Systems by Donella H. Meadows
  110. Develop Your Medical Intuition by Sherrie Dillard
  111. The Healing Organization by Raj Sisodia and Michael J. Gelb
Just a handful of the books read this year…

What allowed me to read over 50% more than last year?

My intention this year was to engage in more speed reading depending on the book. Many of these I read every single word. Other ones I read through faster, with more skimming. It depends on a variety of factors. But my goal was to rule the book, more so than letting it rule me which has occurred in previous years. I would say mission accomplished!

In addition, I worked to moderate my habit of watching less TV and movies too. I enjoy these immensely, so don’t want to get rid of the TV entirely, not like I have in the past, just make sure it wasn’t on every day. I measured 173 days when it was not on, almost half the year. (Keeping in mind I’m not the only one wanting to turn it on in my household, I thought that was pretty good.)

These were the two biggest changes. Otherwise I am still following all the steps I outlined last year in this article, as for how I read.

I also want to mention that not only did I increase the number of books read, but also that the length of many of these books was overall larger than last year. Some large 500+ page tomes were counted here! Right now I’m reading two books that are over a thousand pages each.

Reading Plans for 2020

I am going to continue to expand on many of the threads started here. More diversity of reading I feel is paying off in greater fulfillment and depth of vision.

I will continue to speed read, possibly turning it up another notch of two.

My fiction percentage was a little under 10%. I think I want to get that up to at least 15% this coming year. (Those are the books in italics listed above.)

In my next post I’ll dive a bit deeper into the subjects I covered and my favorite and most impactful books from the year.

How to Read a Lot to Learn a Lot

“Readers are leaders.” – Jim Kwik

My Library

I read a lot because I love to learn. As a writer, reading is essential. It’s one of the places I get tons of ideas from, as well as one way to hone the craft. And I only started writing because I already read a lot.

For me, since adulthood at least, reading has been one of the best ways to learn.

The year after graduating from high school I took a semester at Community College but left after that. Why? Because I knew I could learn better myself, with a learning program tailored specifically to what I was going to do in the world. This has always been supplemented by live events such as seminars and conferences, audio and video programs too, but reading has been the mainstay.

It takes time to write a book. A lot of time. It’s a crystallization of thoughts that have been thought over many times, and hopefully put into practice (as oppose to just being theory). Thus, to learn from a book is to take a shortcut in that learning process.

But learning is only a part of it. I enjoy reading too. It’s not just about learning but is a pleasurable activity itself.

I wrote a bit about how too read a lot of books in a year in this earlier post, but figured it was worth diving into more detail into.

I thought about writing a book on the subject! But I’ll settle for this long article for now. Part of my reason for doing this, besides sharing, is that it had me reflecting more on what works well and what could be done even better.

Invest Time in Learning to Speed Read

If you want to read a lot you can’t be a slow reader. It is worth spending some time to learn how to read faster. There are countless books on the subject of speed reading, so make that one of the first you read. If I remember correctly, Breakthrough Rapid Reading was what I went through in high school.

And realize that it’s not just about reading a book on speed reading. Speed reading is a skill. As such it needs to be practiced.

This is done by using a book and forcing yourself to read faster than you are comfortable doing. Practice this and your time goes up. Simple as that.

Also, the main thing that stops people from reading faster is sub-vocalization. This is where you think the words to yourself as if speaking them. But you can see and understand the words on a page faster than you’ll ever be able to speak. Thus, this habit most people have needs to be broken. And pretty much any speed reading book or course will cover doing that.

Skimming

Speed reading can still involve you looking over every word. Even if you’re fast, this will still take some time with most books. The fact is that not all words, sections, chapters of books are worth devoting time too. (The fact is that many books aren’t worth it either so proper selection in the first place is essential.)

Rule the Book, Don’t Let the Book Rule You

I include skimming here as this is also something I need to get better at. Especially in doing these lists for the past two years I was trapping myself into finishing books, and reading all of them, that I might not otherwise have done.

It is important to realize that the book is there to serve you. While the author may have high hopes that you’ll read every line, including the acknowledgements and appendixes, and re-read the book ten times, very few books deserve this level of attention. Especially when it comes to learning, you are here to get something out of the book. For great books this may involve slowing down and taking your time, even re-reading them several times. For many other books, skimming though it quickly to get one nugget in a half hour time span may be all it’s worth. 

Another way you can think of this is that if you get stuck an stop reading because you’re reading a “bad” book, that stops you from reading period, you’re stuck in not reading other things that would serve you much better. Having fallen into this completionist trap, as in “I started the book, I have to finish it,” before I feel it is important to recognize these other ways of looking at things.

One of my reading aims in 2019 is to do far more skimming. So far, so good.

Set a Goal

If you want to read more, than set a goal to do exactly that. Maybe it’s a certain number of books over the year. Maybe it’s a book a week. Maybe it is something else.

Goal setting works if you do it right, so make the intention, make the plan and then get after it.

Understand Why?

Beyond just the goal, why do you want to read more. Is it simply to be more-well read? Or do you have specific outcomes you’d like?

I primarily read to learn. It’s how I get better at life. If there’s an area I want insight or help in from sex to thinking, nutrition to team building, money to foraging there are books on it. There are people that have spent decades or lifetimes in a field and distilled that down into a few hundred pages and made it available for $20.

In this way I see it as insane NOT to read a lot of books. It has worked out quite well for me so I plan to continue to do it.

Prioritize Reading

If you want to read more than you have been, then reading needs to move up in your list of values or priorities. I’m not saying that reading should become more important than working out or spending time with your family. But chances are it can be made more important than watching TV, spending time on social media or the internet.

A lot of people do read each day. But it’s a choice if that reading is just tweets and Facebook posts for the latest brain fart of the day, or something that has been put into book form.

Again just because it’s a book doesn’t make it worth reading, but chances are better that it’s higher quality than most things on social media or the internet.

The hurdles of writing and book and getting it published are smaller these days than in years past but there are still some hurdles. To put it another way what are you spending your time on?

  • Tweets vs. Books
  • Brain Farts vs. Knowledge and Wisdom

Make Reading a Habit

A goal is good. Prioritizing is good to. And ultimately, these need to be transformed into a habit. If you want to read a lot then it needs to become a daily habit.

Here is how I read. I find reading to be a relaxing and unwinding activity for me. It’s more passive than the work I’ve done that day. As an introvert, reading is recharging me-time. For these reasons, I read when I can in the afternoons and evenings after my work is done.

This is interspersed with other activities like spending time with my wife, daughter, doing social things, eating food, even some watching TV.

Very often if I have nothing else to do, I will go straight to a book. And specifically, some other points to come up next fit into more on how I structure my reading.

7 Books at a Time +/- 2

I don’t read one book at a time. Sometimes, if I get completely engrossed in a book (especially great fiction), I will read that all the way, then return to my normal routine, but that doesn’t happen to often.

Instead, I have somewhere between seven to nine books open at a time. Mostly six to eight. Why? First of all I am interested in a bunch of topics. If I only read one thing at a time I wouldn’t be learning new things in all these different areas.

Also if some of these books are more boring than others I get stick to the more exciting ones that I want to dive into each day. Often then I’ll get to the less boring ones once I have the momentum going as related to the next point.

I have to give credit to Dr. John La Tourrette, one of my mentors that I picked up this tip from. Once I started reading this many books actively at one time, it really did transform my reading.

One Book Per Subject Matter

In my mix of five to nine books I tend to have one business book in the rotation at each time. Right now, as I’m diving deep on masculinity I’m re-reading previous books on the subject as well as some new. One masculinity book is in the mix at any time. One pre-Gutenberg (see below) is in the mix at any time. One (or more) fiction books too.

The subject matters do change over time, but I find this tends to be helpful in keeping a mix of different materials.

One Chapter Per Book Per Day

This goes back to my habit. My ideal habit anyway, because I feel like I seldom hit this, but I tend to hit some part of it each day. For each of my open books I try to read one chapter per day. (If the chapters are too long, I may break it up into sections. If chapters are too short I may read multiple. But for the most part one chapter seems to work.) Read that chapter, whether skimming or full-on detailed reading, then close up the book and move onto the next one.

Why do this? We tend to remember the first and last things better than the middle. I’m creating lots of these first and lasts, by switching books and topics, rather than just reading through one book alone. It helps with recall.

It also can help with boredom. Again, if a book isn’t worth reading please don’t read it. But some books are boring and still worth reading. I can get through a chapter or a section at a time easily. Trying to plow through chapter after chapter, not as much.

Fiction vs. Non-Fiction

Right now about 85-90% of the books I read are non-fiction. I did title this book about reading a lot to learn a lot, after all. But I am reading more fiction and over time, more and more of it. I do learn from fiction too. I learn how to tell a story better. I learn how to put words together in more magical ways.

That’s why I always have at least one fiction book in rotation, and lately its been two. (I am about halfway through the huge Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov right now, finally got to the murder promised in the first pages…400 pages in!)

Also there are times when I need to shut my learning mind off. It’s not often but it happens. So fiction is great when I need more of that relaxation and recharge that reading brings.

Parenting Books, Why Wouldn’t I?

As I was getting ready for my daughter being born I posted on Facebook, asking people what their favorite parenting books were. There was a great response and I’ve only begun to scratch the surface of the list that was created. (Thanks to those that responded, those books have been great so far!)

And, not to knock them, but a few people said I don’t need to read books about being a parent, it’ll come naturally.

I get the sentiment, but why wouldn’t I study this subject? I read books on strength training to become strong. I read books on health and nutrition to become healthy. I read books on business to build my businesses. I read books on NLP to master the subject matter. And on and on I could go. So why the hell wouldn’t I read books about something that is arguably more important than all those things, i.e. raising a human being?

I don’t always have one of these books in my mix but do most of the time. Just finished the 400 page Becoming the Parent You Want to Be which was quite illuminating as it describes things from the baby/child’s point of view as they’re developing.

Pre-Gutenberg Books

This is a tip I picked up from Perry Marshall. As I mentioned earlier there aren’t many hurdles to creating a book these days. So the quality of books overall has gone down because of that. But there use to be far more hurdles.

Specifically, before the printing press was invented by Gutenberg, which allowed for the mass printing of books, they had to be copied by hand. Think about that for a second and how much time it would take.

Therefore, because of the efforts involved, the books that come to us from before the printing press was invented tend to be of higher quality. There tends to be more wisdom present, instead of mere knowledge. That’s why I’m always reading something ancient.

And I am reading older stuff that isn’t quite that old. Books from a hundred years ago tend to be quite good as well.

Aim for One Book Per Week

If you read a book per week you would read 52 books in a year, which is not bad at all. That would put you in the top 1% compared to others, and very likely a much smaller fraction of a percent. (Sadly, most people don’t even read a single book per year.)

So it’s a good process goal to aim for. I often try to finish at least one book per week, though on average the past couple years I’ve done more than that. This brings me to the next point.

Extra Reading Time on Weekends

Because I see reading as a leisure activity, I will often do more of it on my weekends. Very often I’ll try to finish a book on a Sunday, among other things I might do that day.

I do like to finish things so this will often be several chapters in a book, whatever I am close to finishing, that I’ll do a final push on over the weekend.

Underline and Take Notes

I used to feel that I couldn’t damage the perfection of the book. That I needed to keep it in pristine order. But I realized my desire to learn was greater than this feeling.

I would say I at least double what I get out of a book by underlining the important points as I go along. I’ll also take notes in the margins, ideas triggered by the reading.

Plus this makes it easier to skim and refer to later, which I’ve found especially useful for writing when I want to use lots of other great books as references, such as in my new book Powered By Nature.

Recognize Your Primary Representation Channel – VADK

Are you a visual person? An auditory person? Or a kinesthetic person? While we are all all of these, one channel tends to be better as relates to learning. A visual person will learn best with a video or a demonstration. An auditory person may prefer audiobooks. A kinesthetic person will learn best hands-on.

There is also the digital representation system, which is basically words and symbols. If you’re strongly digital, like I am, then reading will suit you just fine.

The reason I read a lot is because I love to learn AND it suits my learning style. Plus I find it to be a relaxing and recharging activity. While I think pretty much everyone would benefit from reading more, I recognize that I am particularly suited to it and others will not necessarily be.

The question to ask is how much of this is innate vs. trained? My guess is that it’s some of both, which means that if you want to read a lot, you can train yourself to do it better and get more out of it.

Irlen Syndrome

Do you often get to the bottom of a page and feel like you don’t know what you just read? Or get to the end of a chapter and not be able to recite anything? Does reading make you tired, hurt your eyes, or give you brain fog?

Here is a possible stumbling block for some. I bring it up because it impacts my wife greatly. I first heard about Irlen Syndrome on Dave Asprey’s podcast. I though, “Hey that sounds like my wife.” So we consulted with a coach and sure enough, she has it. What this means is that normal words on a page negatively impact her. But by using a special colored filter she can read just fine. Find out more at Irlen.com.

I’m fortunate to not have this problem, but I mention it because it is not well known but should be more so.

Travel

The routine and habit I listed above is great for when I’m at home. But what about when I travel which I do from time to time? I tend to travel with one to two books on me (depending on length of travel and how much I will have time to read). If my flight is in the morning I tend to write on the plane. If my flight is in the afternoon, evening or overnight (besides sleeping) I will read. (I only tend to write well in the mornings.)

Because I’m not going to bring 7 +/- 2 books with me, I don’t stick to my normal routine. Instead I pick a book I feel like I’m fine with going straight through on. I tend to travel with fiction too, because many of my travels like for business tend to drain me, and I want some very passive reading.

E-Readers

I resisted using these for a long time as I like real books. Then after years I finally gave a Kindle a try. I used it a bit…but now it’s been in my draw for years without use.

If you like them all the power to you. But I choose real books.

Conclusion

I threw a whole lot at you here, with a minimum of organization. Take what works for you and put it into practice.

Have any questions? Use the comments below and I’ll be happy to answer them.

Any tips or methods that work well for you in reading? Please share them below.

I Read 73 Books in 2018

Last year I read 73 books in full.

The previous year I read 72 and did numerous posts detailing that, spread over five parts. You can find them here:

This year, I don’t plan to go into as much detail, but I figured it was worth visiting the same concept in one large post.

To start with, here is the complete list of books I read in 2018.

The List of 73 Books

  1. The Star Principle by Richard Koch
  2. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol
  3. The Vaccine Guide by Randall Neustaedter
  4. The Ra Principle (The Law of One Book One) by Ra
  5. Birth Chemistry Workbook
  6. 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson
  7. The Essential Gnostic Gospels
  8. Anything is Possible! by Joe Vitale
  9. Wild at Heart by John Eldredge
  10. Creative Imagination by Christopher Hills
  11. Excelsior! The Amazing Life of Stan Lee by Stan Lee and George Mair
  12. The Healing Wisdom of Africa by Malidoma Patrice Some
  13. Secrets of the Lost Mode of Prayer by Gregg Braden
  14. Bottleneck Breakthrough by Joshua Long
  15. Cuffed, Tied and Satisfied by Jaiya
  16. How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams
  17. The 80/20 Manager by Richard Koch
  18. Alice Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carrol
  19. Warburton’s Winning System by Greg Warburton
  20. 16X by Richard Koch
  21. Real Magic by Dean Radin
  22. Raising An Emotionally Intelligent Child by John Gottmann
  23. Persuader by Lee Child
  24. Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz
  25. The Natural Laws of Business by Richard Koch
  26. Renegade Beauty by Nadine Artemis
  27. The Terror by Dan Simmons
  28. Killing Floor by Lee Child
  29. 60 Minute CFO by David A. Duryee
  30. The Gulag Archipelago [Abridged] by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
  31. Remote Viewing Secrets by Joseph McMoneagle
  32. Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons
  33. Never Lose a Customer Again by Joey Coleman
  34. Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
  35. Taoist Sexual Meditation by Bruce Francis
  36. Selected Works of Cicero
  37. Measure What Works by John Doerr
  38. The Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland
  39. Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters by Meg Meeker
  40. The Everything Store by Brad Stone
  41. Creative Conflict by Christopher Hills
  42. A Brief Tour of Higher Consciousness by Itzhak Bentov
  43. Servant of the Bones by Anne Rice
  44. The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
  45. Superconnect by Richard Koch and Greg Lockwood
  46. The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
  47. Leonardo’s Notebooks edited by H. Anna Suh
  48. The Outsider by Stephen King
  49. Synchronicity by Allan Combs and Mark Holland
  50. Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth by R. Buckminster Fuller
  51. Your First CFO by Pam Prior
  52. Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse
  53. On Writing by Stephen King
  54. Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu
  55. Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche
  56. The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
  57. Clock Work by Mike Michalowicz
  58. How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan
  59. Reinventing Medicine by Larry Dossey
  60. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
  61. Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot by Chic Cicero & Sandra Tabatha Cicero
  62. Superhuman You by Iron Tamer Dave Whitley
  63. The San Lorenzo Valley by Lisa Robinson
  64. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout
  65. Iron John by Robert Bly
  66. Modern Magick by Donald Michael Kraig
  67. Neuromancer by William Gibson
  68. Five Wishes by Gay Hendricks
  69. Giftology by John Ruhlin
  70. Synchronicity: The Art of Coincidence, Choice and Unlocking You Mind by Dr. Kirby Surprise
  71. Foundation by Isaac Asimov
  72. When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel Pink
  73. The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

Plans from Start of 2018

It’s interesting to reflect on my predictions and plans around reading I made at the start of 2018.

  1. More fiction. Check! While I only did 5 out of 72 in 2017, this year I read 11 out of 73. (And that’s not counting the Norse myths either.) More than doubled my fiction ratio. And I’m definitely enjoying it. Of all I read I always have at least one fiction book in progress, and lately more than one.
  2. More diverse reading covering a wider-range of topics. Check! I wouldn’t even hope to categorize these books like I did last year. There’s still many of the familiar categories but some completely new areas of exploration. And that includes some very eclectic titles in there.
  3. More biographies. Not really. There’s a few in there but about as much as previously. It did not turn out to be a major theme this year.
  4. More re-reading. Not really, there was only a few in there.
  5. More on strength and fitness. Check! Not included in the list because I didn’t finish it was The Super Athletes by David Willoughby. I read 400 pages or so of this monstrous tome but didn’t finish it. Still, this book gave me some big ideas and affected my training for the better. More on that in a bit.
  6. Books on parenting. Check! I love to learn so why wouldn’t I spend some time doing so in this extremely important area?

On the note of having a baby, my time was impacted but I was able to read more than last year. In fact, I kind of made that my goal to beat out what I did previously. You can see I’m very goal oriented by hitting 73 with last year was 72. Helps to have a plan and a goal!

Not bad, hit four of the six things very well, without really thinking about them since writing them down last year.

Next, I’ll highlight a few books that top the bunch in a variety of ways.

Most Impactful Books in 2018

I Ching by Hilary Barrett

This isn’t mentioned on the list as it’s not a book you “read.” Instead I’ve been using it almost daily by consulting the oracle. (I started with the older version, the translation by Wilheim and Baynes, with Jung’s interesting foreword, but found this version more user friendly.) I’m finding this is a very useful practice that helps me answer big questions. And in that way it’s related to the next book.

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

Another habit that has been added to my morning routine is the ‘Morning Pages’ as described in this book. Can’t say I’ve done most of the work from this book, but this one thing has been huge for me. I start off my morning pages with some of the results from the I Ching reading and then go from there.

Super Athletes by David Willoughby

Again, not a book I finished but one that has impacted my training. While it was a dream that got me started doing bent presses and getups again, I think it was reading this that caused the dream! I’ve also been practicing the chin hang which I had never even seen previously as a result of this book. Several other ideas for future training too.

Never Lose a Customer Again by Joey Coleman

Joey is a fellow Maverick1000 member, but that’s not why it’s on this list. This was my favorite, most impactful business book of the year. After reading this I was revamping our entire prospect and customer campaigns this year as well as several other recent changes in Lost Empire Herbs. More changes to come that have still been in the planning and development stages.

Raising An Emotionally Intelligent Child by John Gottmann

Although most of this book would come into play beyond the age of one, so wasn’t immediately applicable in that regard, I realized I needed to start practicing. This way I would be able to act in an emotionally intelligent way when the time comes. I have largely been practicing with my wife, but also kids besides my daughter when I’m around them.

Most Eye Opening Books

The Gulag Archipelago [Abridged] by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Turned onto this by listening to Jordan Peterson, having never heard of it before. I picked up the Abridged version as I felt that was plenty long enough. Wow! The descriptions of what went on in the Soviet gulags were incredible. It further left me reflecting on why we don’t think of Stalin as badly as we do of Hitler…when after all he was responsible for far more death. And also left me a bit worried that I don’t think society has learned it’s history lessons.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan

I don’t think he would think of it as a health book, but I do. This is the best thing I’ve seen that clearly shows where food comes from. That will give you a feel for industrial food, organic food, beyond organic food, foraged and hunted food. I feel like the reason we have 10,000 different diets is our fractured relationship to food. We moderns don’t know where it comes from. This book shows you clearly the different types of food out there.

Real Magic by Dean Radin

Parapsychology researcher Dean Radin comes to the conclusion the psi research, paranormal research, and all the other names it’s been called in the past hundred years or so, is simply different terminology for what people before called magic. I like this frame of reference and you can see that this sparked some new interest in the direction of some of the books I read.

Iron John: A Book About Men by Robert Bly

The subject of masculinity is a subject I plan to explore much more in depth in 2019 (already have started). This includes writing about it. While I’ve read some other great books on the topic, this one is really, really good. It takes the myth of Iron John (one I had not even come across before) and shows how it maps to the masculine psyche.

Best Fiction

The Terror by Dan Simmons

Hard to pick but I have to go with The Terror. Dan Simmons is an amazing writer. I started with his sci-fi, the Hyperion series which is also amazing. What I am amazed with is Dan is able to write across many different fields. Here, historical fiction with a twist. While I thought the AMC series on TV was decent, it just couldn’t do justice to the coldness that the book made me feel, the wussiness I felt compared to these sailors and so much more.

Most Over My Head

Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche

Not something that can be read quickly, which is how I read most of it. Nietzsche tends to use long sentences, like 30 to 50 words long, so grasping what he is actually saying is tough to do. I’m guessing I may revisit this in a couple decades and get more out of it.

Reading Plans for 2019

I realized with doing this list, keeping track of books in this way, it was “forcing” me to finish books I wouldn’t otherwise have finished. Not so great. To read a book cover to cover is great…if the book is worth reading cover to cover. Not all of them are.

I will be “speed reading” a number of books were I skim and dip in as things look interesting. This may end up being most of a book, or even just sections. And I will be keeping this as a list of books speed read as such separate from the list of books fully read to see what happens.

This plan is already underway as we’re a month into 2019. Doing so I figure my list will be even bigger next year.

Questions about any of these books? How I read so much? Use the comments section below.

Reading Plan Final Analysis

At last, the final part of the 72 books in 2017 analysis. Spent more time on this than I initially planned, but I learned some things along the way…and I hope you did too.

In the previous articles – Part 1Part 2Part 3 – Part 4 – I mentioned each category of books. And there are different ways I can categorize besides topic. This article looks at this list in a few different ways.

Re-Reading Books

Another category I can look at is which books did I read, that this wasn’t the first time reading.

If a book is really good, you can’t possibly get everything out of it, in one read.

The Secrets Teachings of Plants by Stephen Harrod Buhner

It was necessary for me to read this book for the second time, in help with writing the chapter on heart intelligence and perception for my book, Powered By Nature. This book is not an easy read, but is very dense in both some of the science, and the meaning behind it.

I believe this book would change most people’s view of nature if they read it, as it’ll open you to a new way of seeing the world that is downplayed, or said not to exist, in the standard Western viewpoint.

Essentialism by Greg McKeown

I think this was my third read of Essentialism. It’s a pretty quick read with an important topic, especially in this day and age. It’s all about getting down to what is essential in business, in life, in everything you do. There is a good chance I’ll be reading it again in 2018, as each time I do I feel like it helps me to strip away another layer of un-essential things.

Scaling Up by Verne Harnish

This book is a roadmap to running a successful business. It is dense with specific things to do, recommended resources and examples. This was my second time reading through it and I’ll definitely be reading it again this year.

Basically, we’re using it as our bible for growing Lost Empire Herbs and have been since I started using it. It was also great to hear a fellow business owner I know that had just sold his business for 9 figures that he also used this as his main roadmap.

If you’re aiming to build beyond a small business this can be a great help. (But it is not good for lifestyle type businesses…just too much that wouldn’t be relevant.)

Automatic Wealth by Michael Masterson

This was my second read through. I was looking for just a refresher around money and liked this book the first time through. I figured I had grown since several years ago when I read it, so it would reveal something new to me.

The Tao of Power by Lao Tzu and R.L. Wing

I hadn’t actually read this translation before, but I had read a different version of the Tao Te Ching. I was beginning my day with a passage every day, which is not a bad when to start the day.

The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi

A quick read, but full of wisdom. Although it is mostly about fighting, of which Musashi was one of the greatest ever, the principles apply to many other areas of life. But you’ll have to do some work in translating it to those areas.

Reading Multiple Books by an Author

Comparing how many authors I’ve read multiple books versus a single book I come up with the following for authors I’ve read two or more books from:

  • Dan Simmons
  • Richard Louv
  • Stephen Harrod Buhner
  • Rupert Sheldrake
  • Yuval Noah Harari
  • Perry Marshall
  • Douglas Adams
  • Steven Kotler
  • Tim Ferriss
  • Michael A. Singer
  • Russell Brunson
  • Les McKeown
  • Nora Gedgaudas
  • Dave Asprey
  • Dr. Joseph Mercola
  • Napoleon Hill
  • Michael Masterson

That’s 17 authors out of 63 or about 25%. (I counted two or more authors for one book as one author.)

Some of them were first time and multiple books this year (Louv, Harari, McKeown). Others I had read before and read new or different books this year.

Late in 2016 I remember going back to Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. That’s when I thought, why haven’t I read everything this guy put out. So I did. If you like and author, and gain from their material, why just read one book?

Authors I Have Met

It was interesting to look at how many of these authors I have met.

  • Dave Asprey and Logan
    Meeting Dave Asprey at a Conference

    Kevin Feinstein

  • John Perkins
  • Tim Ferriss
  • Rick Smith
  • Dave Asprey
  • Bryan Franklin
  • Michael Ellsberg
  • Richard Branson
  • Charlie Engle
  • Russell Brunson
  • Dr. Mercola

Looking over the list all of them were at various events, from small foraging classes with Kevin Feinstein, to traveling to the Amazon and Guatemala with John Perkins. Most of the others were at various conferences and were mostly brief meetings, like a hello and a handshake.

On that note I have also seen Greg McKeown and Verne Harnish speak at events but didn’t have a chance to meet them.

And while I’ve never met with Elliot Hulse in person, I have spoken with him for an interview.

Reading Plans for 2018

I hope you enjoyed this five-part breakdown. It was interesting for me to do as spending this much time analyzing what I read revealed a few ideas to me that I otherwise would not have had.

Here are some of my plans for what I’ll be reading throughout 2018.

  • More fiction. I’ve got no plans to stop or slow non-fiction, but aiming for a stronger fiction:non-fiction ratio than 5/72 this year.
  • More diverse reading covering a wider-range of topics.
  • More biographies.
  • More re-reading. I like new books as I get the joy of learning something new, but with all that I have read I have a really good idea of which books are worth re-reading. So, probably more than 6 re-reads in the next year.
  • Since in previous years I had read sooooo much on the topic, recently I’ve got away from reading much about strength and fitness. In 2018 I’ll bring it back in.
  • And since I’m having a baby, while I’ll shoot for 72 books or more, I fully recognize that I may not have as much reading time as I did in 2017. So I will be gentle with myself if my list next year is only half as big.
  • On that note I plan to be reading a few books about parenting too.

Jim Kwik, the memory expert, has said that “Readers are Leaders.” I fully embrace that statement. I feel like the reason I have been successful in many areas of life is because of my constant learning. Not only that, but I enjoy reading. When joy and learning go together big things can happen.

What about you? What are your reading plans for 2018?

I Read 72 Books in 2017

I’ve always been a reader (at least since I learned how).

If you like learning things, I think there is hardly a better way then to get someone’s distilled wisdom in a book. Being an author, I’m biased. But I think it was my love for reading that turned me onto writing in the first place.

My books. Pain in the ass to move, but great for learning.

Based on hearing some people talk about how many books they read in a year, I decided to actually keep track over 2017.

In the end I read 72 books!

This is cover to cover and this is actual reading. (For audio I tend to do podcasts, rather than audio books. Just a personal preference.)

I did not count any books that I only read part of.

I also did not count my own book, Powered By Nature, that I read countless times as I was writing and editing it either.

If you look through the list, you’ll see a fairly wide variety of topics, but certain focal points as well. In this and the following posts, I’m going to dive into my own analysis of this list.

The 72 Books I Read in 2017

This list is in chronological order of when I finished the books.

01 The Nature Principle by Richard Louv
02 The Lost Language of Plants by Stephen Harrod Buhner
03 Psychonavigation by John Perkins
04 The Great Work of Your Life by Stephen Cope
05 The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons
06 Succeed and Grow Rich through Persuasion by Napoleon Hill
07 Ensouling Language by Stephen Harrod Buhner
08 Primal Fat Burner by Nora Gedgaudas
09 The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho
10 The Great Disruption by Rick Smith with Mitch Free
11 The Book of Joy by Douglas Adams, Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu
12 King by Elliot Hulse with Chris Barnard
13 The Fourth Phase of Water by Gerald Pollock
14 Illumination by Alberto Villoldo
15 Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits! by Greg Crabtree
16 The Man in High Castle by Philip K. Dick
17 Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time by Jeff and J.J. Sutherland
18 How to Live a Good Life by Jonathan Fields
19 Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard
20 Hacking Marketing by Scott Brinker
21 The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
22 The Tao of Power by Lao Tzu and R.L. Wing
23 Scaling Up by Verne Harnish
24 Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson
25 Ilium by Dan Simmons
26 The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi
27 The Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Keith
28 Eating on the Wild Side by Jo Robinson
29 What a Plant Knows by Daniel Chamovitz
30 Stealing Fire by Steven Kotler & Jamie Wheal
31 Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss
32 Vitamin N by Richard Louv
33 The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
34 Expert Secrets by Russell Brunson
35 Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
36 Head Strong by Dave Asprey
37 Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari
38 Maxims and Reflections by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
39 Daily Rituals by Mason Currey
40 Essentialism by Greg McKeown
41 The Secrets Teachings of Plants by Stephen Harrod Buhner
42 The Bay Area Forager by Kevin Feinstein and Mia Andler
43 Rigor Mortis by Richard Harris
44 Slow Death By Rubber Duck by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie
45 Who by Geoff Smart and Randy Street
46 Move Your DNA by Katy Bowman
47 The Vaccine Friendly Plan by Paul Thomas, MD and Jennifer Margulis, PhD.
48 Evolution 2.0 by Perry Marshall
49 In the Dark by Jason Bawden-Smith
50 Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
51 The Rebirth of Nature by Rupert Sheldrake
52 Trust Us, We’re Experts by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber
53 Fat for Fuel by Dr. Joseph Mercola
54 The Sale of a Lifetime by Harry S. Dent Jr.
55 The New One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
56 Olympos by Dan Simmons
57 Predictable Success by Les McKeown
58 No by Jim Camp
59 The Surrender Experiment by Michael A. Singer
60 The Last Safe Investment by Bryan Franklin and Michael Ellsberg
61 The Art of Living by Bob Proctor
62 Automatic Wealth by Michael Masterson
63 Running Man by Charlie Engle
64 The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri
65 The Synergist by Les McKeown
66 The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer
67 Key Performance Metrics by Bernard Marr
68 Survival Handbook by Peter Darman
69 Buffettology by Mary Buffett and David Clark
70 Magicians of the Gods by Graham Hancock
71 Why Science is Wrong…About Almost Everything by Alex Tsakiris
72 Science and Spirituality by Rupert Sheldrake

Fiction vs. Non-Fiction

In breaking down these into categories I come up first with the following:

  • Fiction (5 books)
  • Non-Fiction (67 books)

The five fiction books are:

  1. The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons
  2. The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho
  3. The Man in High Castle by Philip K. Dick
  4. Ilium by Dan Simmons
  5. Olympos by Dan Simmons

You’ll notice Dan Simmons features prominently on this list. These are 3 of his science fiction books (The Rise of Endymion being the final book of 4 in the Hyperion series). The Ilium and Olympos being a two part series. Amazing writer! I was recommended his work last year and glad I read it. Will probably read more from him in 2018.

I kept hearing about The Alchemist so I finally got it and read it. It’s a good parable. Didn’t do a whole lot for me.

The Man in High Castle was probably the only book I read on Kindle this year. I liked the movies based on Dick’s work, but this was my first time reading him.

Overall, I feel this is too little on the fiction side. In the coming year I’ll aim to increase the ratio somewhat.

In the next post, I’ll be going over the non-fiction breakdowns.

  • Nature (9 books)
  • Shamanism (2 books)
  • Science/History (10 books)
  • Self-Help (8 books)
  • Business (13 books)
  • Health (9 books)
  • Biography (4 books)
  • Ancient Wisdom (3 books)
  • Writing (4 books)
  • Finances (5 books)

How many books did you read this year? Answer in the comments below…