What I've read this month, and a giveaway! 🎁
Hi ,
We're (very almost) half way through another strange year. On this week's podcast I'm sharing part 2 of my 'best books of 2021 (so far)' with my four favourites from the last three months. This is the first year I've done these quarterly summaries and I'm finding it quite helpful to spend a few moments building my list of favourites closer to the time of reading them, as opposed to just doing it at the end of the year.
This week I've also discovered a new service called BookClub. It's being pitched like Masterclass for books. I managed to get an early access code and it's pretty interesting - authors read from their books, go deeper into the ideas and answer FAQs about the concepts. It's in pre-launch so there's not a huge amount on there but I'm looking forward to see how it expands.
A giveaway
Two weeks ago, I promised something to mark the half way point in the year. In the spirit of a previous newsletter, it's based around fun mail / surprise gifts. For this giveaway, I have four surprise books to give away. But! As a little twist, you have to nominate someone else to receive them.
Here's how
1) Reply to this email with who you would like to nominate, and a short few words on why, by 11.59pm (AEST) on Thursday 1 July
2) On Friday 2 July I will pick the four winners and if your friend is chosen, I'll contact you for their address
3) Books will be sent, friends will be happy, you will have the warm fuzzies
NB. Due to unreliable post services at the moment, I'll only be sending the books within Australia or to NZ, so no overseas entries this time I'm afraid. Nothing spoils a nice surprise like a three month postal delay.
I'm excited to send some books out to your friends, so have a think about who would like a nice new read, and let's put a smile on their face.
In gifting co-conspirators,
Steph
PS. To borrow from Austin Kleon (and everyone else who borrows this from Austin Kleon), this newsletter and the podcast are 'free but not cheap'. You can support their creation by purchasing your next book through my affiliate stores with Book Depository (global) or Bookshop (US), buying me a coffee or leaving a podcast review on the website. Thanks!
Reading round up: what I've read in June
1) (In progress) Everyday Creative by Mykel Dixon
Verdict (so far): A fun ride through adding a bit of creativity into even the most mundane of everyday activities and building your identity as a creative person. I'm really enjoying the style of the book which is practical, action-inspiring, and entertaining, unlike a lot of books on creativity which are strangely theoretical. Almost finished this one.
2) (In progress) Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach
Verdict (so far): Not a light read, but there's a lot of thought-provoking ideas about how we can better look after ourselves by not considering ourselves so broken / as the problem, and rethinking our relationship to discomfort. It's an interesting read, but it's one of those books where the nuance makes it hard to work out how to put some of the ideas into practice. I'm about half way through so hoping that will all become radically clear as I finish the book?
3) Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo (Fiction)
Verdict: I really enjoyed the interesting style of this book, which gives a first person perspective on the lives of twelve women of colour in Britain, and their unique experiences of race, gender, class, and sexuality. It's a powerful read, and very absorbing. The author uses no punctuation throughout the book (which takes a few pages to get used to), so the narrative feels like a flowing stream of consciousness.
PS. if you'd like to take better book notes this year, you can enjoy a 15% discount on your very own copy of the Archley's Book of Books book journal, here^.
Ear food
🎙Podcast: Unmistakable Creative - the cult of personal development mini-series - my new favourite podcast has just run a four-part series on the cult-like qualities of personal development institutions. Examining everything from Landmark to Tony Robbins, it's a fascinating and slightly frightening series with interesting conversation around how a lot of sales techniques have touches of the techniques used in cult indoctrination. (Listen)
🎙Podcast: Song Exploder - An algorithmic discovery that I'm really enjoying - these short episodes go behind the scenes on how songs came into being. From the nugget of an idea to the recording and release process. I've worked through quite a few episodes just by scrolling, picking a song I know of or band I like, and listening. (Listen)
🎙Podcast: A Change of Brand - I'm thoroughly enjoying this podcast which dives deep into recent rebrands, including Airbnb, Loom, and this year's Burger King rebrand. The podcast talks to the designers behind the brands who go into a lot of detail about the 'why' of the rebrand, the timing, what was working/not working with the existing brand, working with the client, the various decisions and why they made them, the creative process, and how it was rolled out. Yes, as a designer I love the nerdy design details, but I particularly appreciate all the business reasons and commercial realities included in the conversation. (Listen)
Meanwhile, on the bookshelf
Recent Steph's Business Bookshelf podcast episodes, in case you missed them...
Turning Right by Kay Bretz
(Listen)
Best books of 2021 (so far) part 2
(Listen)