Read more books

It’s been a couple months… here’s my list update.

1. Think & Grow Rich and Grow Rich with Piece of Mind
2. The E-Mythand The Power of Full Engagement
3. Bringing Out the Best in People and Switch
4. Crush It and The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs
5. The Go Giver
6. Good to Great
7. Anything by Dan Kennedy: Unfinished Business, Ruthless Management of People and Profits, No BS Time Management, No BS Wealth Attraction, Direct Marketing, and The Ultimate Sales Letter Formula
8. Anything by Michael Masterson: 7 Years to 7 Figures, Ready, Fire, Aim, and Automatic Wealth Series for Graduates
9. Man’s Search for Meaning
10. The Rockefeller Habits

I just finished Grow Rich with Peace of Mind, by Napoleon Hill. It’s pretty good, and certainly has a great list of things to keep in mind. Good reminders / refreshers on the power of your mind.

I do have some disagreements with the author’s religious (or non-religious) perspectives. But they didn’t really affect the value I was able to take away.

The overall theme of the book was exceptional. The title of the book makes it sound like making lots of money is the first priority, but I think that was more for marketing purposes than anything else. The book focuses more on achieving a happy state of mind than it does on getting more money. That really resonates well with me. Happiness > money. Money is a great tool to do things that can lead to happiness, but certainly is not a substitute.

I’ll cross this one off, and proceed with The Power of Full Engagement. Here’s the updated list…

1. Think & Grow Rich and Grow Rich with Piece of Mind
2. The E-Myth and The Power of Full Engagement
3. Bringing Out the Best in People and Switch
4. Crush It and The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs
5. The Go Giver
6. Good to Great
7. Anything by Dan Kennedy: Unfinished Business, Ruthless Management of People and Profits, No BS Time Management, No BS Wealth Attraction, Direct Marketing, and The Ultimate Sales Letter Formula
8. Anything by Michael Masterson: 7 Years to 7 Figures, Ready, Fire, Aim, and Automatic Wealth Series for Graduates
9. Man’s Search for Meaning
10. The Rockefeller Habits

I had four books left to complete my list, and decided I have little / no reason to pursue any more financial education. I’m leaving my job as a VP Finance Manager for Bank of America in three days to start my “career” as an entrepreneur.

• Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl
• How to Write & Sell Simple Information for Fun and Profit by Bob Bly
• Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink
• Behind the Cloud by Mark Benioff

Each of those was excellent – if any of those titles sound the least bit compelling, then you must read it. Behind the Cloud probably doesn’t sound compelling – it’s about the growth of SalesForce.com from an idea to a large company. Read that one if you have any interest in startups or cloud computing.

Right now, I’m on Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. It’s a very interesting read, but it’s slow for me. Big words make me read slow, and it has some big words. :-) Still a worthwhile one so far.

Yesterday’s Early to Rise eZine contained a list of Craig Ballantyne’s Top “10” Book list. I put the 10 in quotes because for several of his numbers, he included two books. Cheater!! :-)

At any rate, the list looked really good to me. I have read some of the books (and loved them), been thinking about some others, and the last few just sounded really good and relevant.

So I’m switching this goal to be to complete Craig’s Top 10 Books list. Here’s the list…

1. Think & Grow Rich and Grow Rich with Piece of Mind
2. The E-Myth and The Power of Full Engagement
3. Bringing Out the Best in People and Switch
4. Crush It and The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs
5. The Go Giver
6. Good to Great
7. Anything by Dan Kennedy: Unfinished Business, Ruthless Management of People and Profits, No BS Time Management, No BS Wealth Attraction, Direct Marketing, and The Ultimate Sales Letter Formula
8. Anything by Michael Masterson: 7 Years to 7 Figures, Ready, Fire, Aim, and Automatic Wealth Series for Graduates
9. Man’s Search for Meaning
10. The Rockefeller Habits

Looks like the list actually has 21 books, of which I’ve read 4. I read a few chapters of Good to Great, so call it 4.25.

My nightstand will soon have a new pile of books on it. I’m very excited for these new titles!

I have now read two of the three Wall Street Journal books. I just finished Guide to Understanding Your Taxes.

It’s a very, very dry book. They did a good job, with graphics and colors, to make the subject about as exciting as possible. But let’s face it. It’s still taxes. I don’t recommend it to anyone who isn’t interested in taxes beyond their annual return.

Four more finance books to go…

8. Life After Debt by Benjamin F. Dover
9. Using Your Money Wisely by Larry Burkett
10. Guide to Planning Your Financial Future by The Wall Street Journal, Lightbulb Press
12. Guide to Understanding Your Taxes by The Wall Street Journal, Lightbulb Press
13. The Word on Finances by Larry Burkett

I had been simply updating my original entry and crossing books off as I went, but I figured a new entry was in order.

I just finished Back Off, so it’s now crossed off. I’m beginning to feel like I know most of what there is to know about getting out of debt, debt collectors, laws, habits, and financial planning.

I’m about halfway through Wall Street Journal’s Guide to Understanding Your Taxes. I should be done with that by the end of next week.

1. The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard & Spencer Johnson
2. The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
3. How to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt, and Live Prosperously by Jerrold Mundis
4. Back Off by Budd Hibbs (Edited by Ben Dover)
5. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
6. Fresh Start! by John Ventura
7. The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
8. Life After Debt by Benjamin F. Dover
9. Using Your Money Wisely by Larry Burkett
10. Guide to Planning Your Financial Future by The Wall Street Journal, Lightbulb Press
11. Guide to Understanding Money & Investing by The Wall Street Journal, Lightbulb Press
12. Guide to Understanding Your Taxes by The Wall Street Journal, Lightbulb Press
13. The Word on Finances by Larry Burkett
14. Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson
15. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

So I finished the first step of completing my goal of reading more books, and that was the easiest step. Making a list.

Step two would be to buy / borrow the books on my list, and step three is to… get this… read.

Simple enough, right?

Even though the seconed step in this goal is extremely obvious, I procrastinated for two days instead of taking immediate, profound action toward the goal’s achievement.

That procrastination ended this afternoon. Like a sign from God, I was e-mailed a code for a $100 gift certificate to use at Amazon.com. $100!!

It came from a friend who I helped by doing some Excel work for her and her t-shirt company. She and her husband run a Christian youth ministry, so I had the extreme pleasure of turning around and donating $100 to their ministry. Win-win if you ask me.

Anyway – I figured that would get me started in purchasing some of the books on my list. I kind of underestimated the power of Amazon.

I was able to buy every book on my list for just over $55!! Yes, 10 books for $55… which means I have $45 left for my next list. Maybe I’ll put it toward a Kindle.

Great deal, right? Here’s how you do it.

1. Once you choose your book, it will show you New, Used, and Collectible books. Make sure you choose the “All” tab.
2. Next, only show books that are eligible for “FREE Super Saver Shipping”. Once you have an order of at least $25, all of your books will ship free. It will take a few extra days to get there, so don’t wait until the last minute to take advantage of this.
3. That’s really it. Oh, and I only buy used books. They are typically in great shape, so getting 75% or more off the list price is well worth it to me.

So there’s my story. I made my list and bought the books. Now the reading begins…

I read a good amount already. I don’t necessarily think I need to read more often, but I did recently find a list of very popular books that I would like to complete.

The types of books on the list are very typical for me. Business, finance, personal growth, etc. I’ve read some of the books on the list already. The bolded books are those that I have yet to complete.

Here they are:

1. The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard & Spencer Johnson
2. The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
3. How to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt, and Live Prosperously by Jerrold Mundis
4. Back Off by Budd Hibbs (Edited by Ben Dover)
5. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
6. Fresh Start! by John Ventura
7. The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
8. Life After Debt by Benjamin F. Dover
9. Using Your Money Wisely by Larry Burkett
10. Guide to Planning Your Financial Future by The Wall Street Journal, Lightbulb Press
11. Guide to Understanding Money & Investing by The Wall Street Journal, Lightbulb Press
12. Guide to Understanding Your Taxes by The Wall Street Journal, Lightbulb Press
13. The Word on Finances by Larry Burkett
14. Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson
15. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki