๐ The bookmark turns one!
Hi ,
Well bake a cake and blow up some balloons*, it's the bookmark's first birthday ๐๐
I started this newsletter 52 whole weeks (or 26-ish fortnights) ago to share some of the reviews, recommendations, articles, and other good things that I can't fit into the podcast, and generally to connect for a different bookish conversation than social media algorithms allow.
So this is a (really) big THANK YOU for reading, replying, sharing your thoughts, clicking things, recommending books, sending me links, and generally being part of this ongoing conversation. You,ย are the actual best.
Last week's season change means it's time for Adam Grant's latest book list. I'm especially looking forward to reading Four Thousand Weeks, No Cure for Being Human, and My Life in Full. Which ones are you adding to your end-of-year reading list?
In other exciting Spring/Autumn book releases, the new Ottolenghi recipe book, Shelf Love, comes out in a couple of weeks. I've got it on pre-order, and I can't wait to dive into it.
Finally, as I'm wistfully dreaming of travel, I loved this story by a couple who took to the road to visit independent bookstores and breweries between Chicago and Maine as their 2021 adventure.
In making micro-celebrations,
Steph
*not plastic balloons, obviously.
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 ongoing creation by buying me a coffee (now with a credit card payment option), purchasing a card from the Good Press card store or leaving a podcast review on the website. Thanks!
A book review update
Last newsletter I gave this in-progress review of How I Built This by Guy Raz...
If you love the podcast by the same name, you'll love this book. Unlike the podcast, which focuses on one particular startup story, the book combines multiple stories into the lessons of building a successful brand. Complete with the highs, the lows, the scandals, the billion dollar funding rounds, the complete failures, the lawsuits, the aha moments, and the break ups.
It's also real joy to read. Guy's style we've grown to love on the podcast comes through really nicely in his writing. It's also another very good example of 'great book written by a journalist' (journalists tend to be my favourite type of non-fiction writers).
That is all still true, and I really enjoyed the book (I gave it four whole stars).
However.
I felt that it could have gone deeper, especially given the fact that Guy has SUCH in-depth interviews with the people he profiles on the podcast (towards the end of the book he says that the ~1 hour episodes are often taken from 2-3 hours of interview material!). Knowing the richness of insight available, I thought the topics and stories in the book felt a little bit surface-level. Not a bad thing, and as more of an 'entrepreneurship 101' book, that's absolutely appropriate. I personally would have just liked more of the juice, or deeper/more nuanced trends and themes from the interviews.
Side note: I try not to read other reviews of a book until I've read it and come up with my own thoughts. When I did look at the reviews for How I Built This, someone had given it a low rating because it wasn't specifically written to the type of business they were running. Give. Me. Strength. ๐คฆ๐ปโโ๏ธ
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,ย here^.
Ear food
I've been enjoying two brand new podcasts in the last couple of weeks...
๐Podcast: You're Dead to Me - Despite its positioning as 'the history podcast for people who don't like history', I reckon this is a pretty great listen even if you do like history. Funny and fact-filled, the host (Greg Jenner), along with an expert, and a comedian take you through the ages to fill in the gaps of the stories we know, and the ones we don't. (Spotify | Apple)
๐Podcast: Principle of Charity - Most topics have become increasingly polarising and heated over the last few years, so this podcast aims to change the dynamic by re-adding curiosity and generosity into prickly topics. In each episode, two experts with opposing views on social issues will take the podium to put forward not just their own view, but also the best and most generous version of the other's argument. Ultimately it's not about being right, it's about understanding. Facilitator friends: this would be a great format for a workshop. (Spotify | Apple)
๐ตMusic: music for a sunny day - there's something about a slither of warm(ish) sunshine that immediately changes 1) my mood and 2) what I want to listen to. This playlist got dusted off last week when we saw some stunning early Spring weather here in Naarm. Best served with a cold kombucha and some vitamin D.
ย
Meanwhile, on the bookshelf
Recent Steph's Business Bookshelf podcast episodes, in case you missed them...
Tell Your Story by Holly Cardamone
(Listen)
Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon
(Listen)