The Reading List for People who like to break a Mental sweat as well!
Make sure your worst enemy doesn’t live between your own two ears.
Laird Hamilton
People tell me all of the time that they don’t have time to read. I would argue you haven’t prioritized making time to read. Here are three reasons why you need to prioritize reading more. Simultaneously, I hate getting 100 pages into an absolutely miserable book. We’ve all fallen victim to it if we read enough. You see a catchy title or sexy cover art and you impulse buy an awful book. Then we waste hours of our already short life reading garbage. My mission is to prevent that from happening to any of my supporters ever again.
Below are books that have truly wowed me, changed the way I think, and that I give out the most. I’m including them here because I read 2-3 books a month and friends constantly ask me for my thoughts on books. This list is a living document. It is not ranked in order as of now. I will add to it and include a blurb about why you should choose the book from the list for each choice. If you’ve decided to use this list include your e-mail here to get notifications about when the list is updated.
Call Sign Chaos by Jim Mattis and Bing West
Are you interested in the man who invaded Iraq and toppled their dictatorship in weeks instead of months? Perhaps you would be more interested in the man who was willing to serve as Secretary of Defense under a President he vehemently disagreed with because his nation needed him. Look no further than James Mad Dog Mattis. This is the man who never purchased a T.V. so he did not have to fight off distraction from studying history. Talk about Willpower. Get inside the mind of a Warrior-Scholar, Leadership Guru, and one of the most influential men of this century. No better friend, no worse enemy.
Willpower by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney
Can we boil down the difference between people who achieve the goals they set and those who don’t to a single factor? Psychologists Roy F. Baumeisterr and John Tierney say it is willpower. If you have a loved one who believes hardwork is the key to success than this book is the perfect compliment to that mindset. Whether they are demonstrating the factors that result in a successful diet or financial success; Bauermeister and Tierney explain why at times it’s harder to fight cravings than others. They also point out why some of us have the discipline to save our money when others do not.
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford
I hope all of these books alter your way of thinking. I know this book will. If there was an order to this list this book would surely be number one. Genghis Khan at the height of his accomplishments had conquered the Asian land-mass from Beijing to Ukraine and from Moscow to South Korea. Modern history would lead you to believe he did this purely by raping and pillaging. While that may be true he also managed to beat some of the most revered armies in the world with scouting parties by executing superior tactics and strategy. Sun Tzu may have written the Art of War, Genghis Khan lived it. Just buy this book right now and take my word for it.
Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
Does the story of a man born into hillbilly royalty in Appalachia without a father, and an addict for a mother sound like disaster. Well it wasn’t for J.D. Vance who managed to graduate from Yale Law after doing a stint in none other than the United States Marine Corps. The netflix special about this book doesn’t do it any justice when you can hear it straight from Mr. Vance himself. They also failed to touch on the fact that the Marines did a lot for him, but that’s a story for another post. Every family has drama, so every person who has had a family can relate to J.D. Vance, you’ll learn excuses are most definitely bullshit once you put this one down.
Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles
I absolutely loved my time in Okinawa for a multitude of reasons. My best friend put it best when we watched an Okinawan man directing traffic with the ferocity and extreme attention to detail. He said, “The Okinawans do everything with 110% of their energy.” I would later learn that the Okinawans are also some of the longest living people on earth. Ikigai boils down what these “centenarians” are doing to live long and purposeful lives. The authors take it further by developing a system to identify how you too can find your Ikigai. This is also a great book for the person who hates to read.
Why We Sleep by Dr. Matthew Walker
I always thought I could operate on 4-5 hours of sleep regularly. “I’ll sleep when I am dead.” Well Dr. Walker actually showed me that the odds of me dying increased greatly due to a lack of sleep. Many people argue the invention of fire, and cooking our meat was responsible for the great leap forward of Homo-sapiens. Dr. Walker puts for the argument that it was actually our transition from sleeping in trees to sleeping on the ground resulting in more REM sleep and the ability transfer short-term memory to long-term lessons. This along with about a million other facts and studies about sleep will have you turning off netflix and hitting the sack for some much needed recovery.
The Last Green Valley, by Mark T. Sullivan
My Mother is the one who fostered a love of reading for me as a young man. To date, she showers me with books she wants me to read. The Last Green Vallley was a gift from Mom, last Christmas. I don’t generally enjoy historical fiction but this book was a real page turner and I loved every minute of it. It chronicles the story of the Martel’s a family of ethnic german’s living in Ukraine. The story catalogues the trials and tribulations the Martel’s face in their attempt to escape the Russians under the protection of the Nazi’s. Their return to the Riech is not what they thought it would be and the book takes you on a twisting and turning Journey until they reach freedom from communism and fascism.
I’m on a mission. I hate getting 100 pages into an absolutely miserable book. We’ve all fallen victim to it if we read enough. You see a catchy title or sexy cover art and you impulse buy an awful book. Then we waste hours of our already short life reading garbage. My mission is to prevent that from happening to any of my book-club members ever again.
Sign up for the PMP Book club by clicking the button below and filling out the required form and I will immediately provide you with the three books I give away most. After that I will include you in my PMP Book Club newsletter where I send out a recommended book each month for you to purchase and read. I provide an in depth overview of what the book includes so you can decide if it is right for you. I also give you one of the best reviews I could find after scouring the amazon review page.
In the Mean Time Check out our latest blog posts
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