the best books to read this month
hello
Hi
I'm annoyed with myself. Because according to my iPhone, yesterday I spent 1 hour and 27 minutes on Instagram.
I tell myself that some of it was a bit useful; planning content, reviewing insights and chatting to people. But at least an hour of that could have been spent doing something more useful, like reading (or even cleaning the kitchen).
It's frustrating isn't it. With all our infinite wisdom of what we could/should be spending our time on (and with all the Atomic Habits and Tiny Habits and Deep Work knowledge), we still fritter away our precious minutes on activities with the lowest impact.
But, annoyance achieves nothing (other than a rapidly diminished stack of dark chocolate), so instead I will be putting limits back on my screen time, leaving my phone in different rooms and reminding myself to do one thing at a time.
So it's good timing that after a few weeks off, [readtreat] is back, helping you (and clearly me) find the space to read.
[readtreat] are virtual sessions where a group of bookworms get together to quietly read. There's a few minutes of chat at the beginning and end to hear what everyone's reading, but the rest is an indulgent 50 minutes of uninterrupted reading time.
They're running weekly on Tuesday evenings and fortnightly on Friday mornings (for the early bookworm). Sign up and find out more here.
Here's what else you'll find in this email:
- what to read in October
- what I'm currently reading
- ear food (aka podcast recommendations)
- ICYMI: over on the bookshelf
Let's get started.
Yours in books (and mindless scrolling),
Steph
what to read in October
Productivity - after months of working remotely, you might fallen into a bit of rut when it comes to thinking and problem solving. If that's you, Amantha Imber's book, The Creativity Formula, is a perfect antidote. Split into 52 short methods for more creative thinking, you can pick one of them to try each week.
Behaviour / psychology - Richard Koch was a guest on Tim Ferriss' podcast recently and I liked the concept of his new book 'Unreasonable Success and How to Achieve It'. Particularly as it includes the "success" of some unlikely people we don't often hear about in business books (eg Vladimir Lenin). It's downloaded on my Kindle to read this month.
Leadership - I've just received a copy of Michelle Gibbings new book Bad Boss. Looking forward to reading it (it's next on my TBR) and I love its subtitle of 'what to do if you work for one, manage one or are one'.
Auto/biography - OzHarvest founder Ronni Kahn's biography 'A Repurposed Life' was released last week and I'm very excited to get my hands on and read the story of this incredible woman.
what I'm currently reading
I had a Kindle book buying binge last week so am trying to just read one book at a time this month(!). Here's what I'm reading right now...
Book 1
I'm half way through Chip Wilson's Black Stretchy Pants (or the lululemon story).
Verdict so far: Chip's vision and ability to spot emerging trends is amazing, along with his dedication to making high quality technical apparel. It's also a fascinating look at how to create culture from the very start of a company and what happens when the wrong people come on board. I'm half way through the book and I'm getting the sense that there might be a bit of drama and associated bitterness/resentment coming up in the second half...
PS. don't forget, if you'd like a 15% discount on your copy of the Archley's Book of Books book journal to make your own book notes and lessons in, click here^.
ear food
Tim Ferriss with Maria Popova - amongst the wide range of topics covered, Maria talking about how she takes and organises her notes on the multitude of books she reads. She uses the plain back pages of the book to categorise themes, language and ideas she picks out before summarising these themes for her essays. Given the depth and volume of reading that Maria does for Brain Pickings, she's a good person to learn from. (Spotify / Apple)
Don't Stop Us Now - I'm a big fan of Claire and Greta's podcast, and loved this recent episode with Debbie Millman talking about overcoming challenges and becoming a force of nature in the brand and design field. I especially enjoyed her honesty around the traits that keep her going and how they are a double-edged sword. (Spotify / Apple)
This Working Life - I recently popped onto ABC's This Working Life podcast to record two bonus episodes with Lisa Leong where we talked about two classic books, Life in the Woods and Man's Search for Meaning.
meanwhile, on the bookshelf
Recent Steph's Business Bookshelf podcast episodes, in case you missed them...
Further Faster by Warren James
(Spotify / Apple / web)
Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss
(Spotify / Apple / web)