Time to Dive in: Self-Help and Business Book Reading List

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I’ve been tip-toeing around an important part of my research because it is less appealing to me. I’m trying very hard not to be a snob, but my continuing resistance to really diving into the self-help and business book segment of my research is beginning to make me feel that I probably am one.

In addition to the books listed at the bottom of this post, I’ve read Daring Greatly, which I knew would be good because I had read The Gift of Imperfection, another book by the same author. Earlier in the year I had also read Austin Kleon’s great books on creativity, Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work. And that’s the sort of tip-toeing I’ve been doing; piecemeal forays into the genre from authors (or reviewers) that I already trust.

It all came to a head a week ago when I tried to defend self-help books in general to my dad, who called bullshit. “Go to a best seller list and read those books,” he said. He assumed that what I would find would be garbage, and probably exploitative garbage at that.

So I did what he said, and assembled a list of both self-help and business books, based on current best seller lists as well as some lists of all-time best sellers.

This is what I’m committing to read by the end of the year, at which point I plan to begin drafting the book:

Self-Help

I’m not looking forward to it. But I imagine it will be quick reading.

The business book part I’m less concerned with, though there are certainly some that look less than appealing:

Business Books

I’m going to read more than just what’s on these lists, though probably not more self-help and business books. I’m going to read Lecky, for instance. And the last book in Deirdre McCloskey’s Bourgeois trilogy is set to come out sometime this year; I will definitely read that. The above is basically market research for me: I want to see what sells in the category I intend to write in. It doesn’t mean I’m going to mimic what I find there, but you don’t have to mimic something in order to learn from it.

There are a few books that I read last year that I also intend to re-read. The Morality of Happiness, Happiness for Humans, and of course, The Bourgeois Virtues come to mind. That may be a bit ambitious for my timeline; and I won’t let them stall that. I may end up opting for more selective rereads of specific parts of various books—in fact that’s quite likely either way.

Anyway, that’s after the…market research.

See you on the other side.

book bleg

Comments

10 responses to “Time to Dive in: Self-Help and Business Book Reading List”

March 3, 2015

jdkolassa

I know it’s a bit late, but you should also add the book “Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength.” Fantastic read on how to build up your self-control and how it will benefit you in the long run, plus a whole lot of academic psychology and how our minds react to things (it even explains why we get music and stuff stuck in our head!)

http://www.amazon.com/Willpower-Rediscovering-Greatest-Human-Strength-ebook/dp/B0052REQCY/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=

Reply
1. March 3, 2015
  
  AdamGurri
  
  Hah, I actually read this last year 😀 so I agree with your recommendation, but I’m already on top of it. Excellent book.
  
  Reply
March 14, 2015

Betty Foster

That is quite the list. I’ve picked up a few new reads myself from this. Thank you for putting this up.
You might want to add Way of the Junglepreneur by David Fasanya. That was my absolute favorite business book read of the last year.
The author writes really well in a narrative style that makes this book almost like a business novel. I was hugely impressed and inspired by some of the unique and fresh concepts shared in this book. Really can’t recommend it highly enough.

http://junglepreneur.com/

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March 19, 2015

Saliency

Nice site(s). I’ll start following but I need rss links.

Reply
1. March 19, 2015
  
  AdamGurri
  
  For this and Sweet Talk you mean? This is https://adamgurri.com/?feed=rss2 and Sweet Talk is https://sweettalkconversation.wordpress.com/feed/
  
  Reply
  1. March 19, 2015
    
    Saliency
    
    Hmm my rss reader does not like sweettalk. Any idea why two wordpress sites would behave differently?
    I referenced http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Feeds
    
    Reply
    1. March 19, 2015
      
      AdamGurri
      
      Odd. This is wordpress.org and ST is wordpress.com, not sure if that makes a difference https://en.support.wordpress.com/feeds/
      
      Reply
April 13, 2015

The Basic Structure of the Book | Adam Gurri

[…] Time to Dive in: Self-Help and Business Book Reading List […]

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June 16, 2015

Wesley McCraw

I’ve read and loved Daring Greatly, The Gift of Imperfection, Steal Like an Artist, and Show Your Work. I would highly recommend The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking.

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December 30, 2015

2015 Projects in Review – Adam Gurri

[…] year was going to be straightforward, going in—I would read as many business and self-help books as I had philosophy books last year, maybe more. Then I would write the first draft of the book. […]

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