Week 6 Round Up of Books Read in 2019

Week 6:  Feb 4 - Feb 10, 2019

Books Read : 2

1. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - An incredible book, setup in a dystopian future where reading and books is considered illegal and firemen are entrusted with the task of not only burning the books found and the houses they are kept in but also arrest the owners of the books, as keeping books and reading them is considered illegal. The book is set in a period where society exists against the backdrop of a culture of hedonism, totalitarian, censorship, easy access to entertainment, and like. The futuristic setup of the book is really commendable, considering that the book was written in 1953. The book captures beautifully the transformation of a fireman, from being a book burner to a book keeper/ preserver. The hard hitting message of the book is to understand the value and importance of books and reading and not get too carried away by the consumerism or the hedonism attitude and do away with our ability to think and live well.  
2. The Leadership Pill by Kenneth Blanchard and Mark Muchnick - An interesting parable about different styles of Leadership which lays bare the tenets of an effective leader and brings home the point that true leadership is holistic in nature. The principles that come out through the parable clearly illustrate that true leadership is never about results or about self(of a leader) but is about partnership and teams; true leadership is not a short-term approach but a long-term strategy to build a self-sustaining team that can deliver results on its own. A nice, light read about the obvious and simple rules of leadership that very often we forget and in the process make leadership a complicated affair.  

Book Review - The Magical Book of Affirmations

The Magical Book of Affirmations by Jack Canfield and Ram Ganglani

Core Idea discussed - Affirmations (for Success)

The book is all about Affirmations and that too plenty of them, about 405 of them (not sure why this number!). The affirmations are based on the 64 principles of Success by Jack Canfield, who is also a co-author. There are multiple number of Affirmations for each of the 64 Success principles mentioned in the book. Some of the success principles stand out as mandated ones to lead a good life and the affirmations pertaining to them are quite powerful and relevant.

While reading the affirmations in the book, these affirmations may themselves appear like basic principles of living a successful life. At times, it many become an overdose of Affirmations but keep going as it will definitely provide you with set of affirmation suited to your context.

The best way to derive the maximum benefit from the book is to handpick your set of affirmations and start applying them in life to bring about the desired change.

The book may be previewed and bought from http://amzn.to/2pHTcNJ (Amazon India) or http://amzn.to/2l6iyjr (Amazon Global)

Book Review - The Noticer

The Noticer by Andy Andrews

Core Idea discussed - Perspective

The book deals with the idea of Perspective and how it could bring about a desired positive change in our life. In life, when we get stuck and are unable to move forward, the key culprit is our perception of the situation. With a slight shift in perception, we could move beyond the roadblock and gain momentum in life. The title of the book, "The Noticer" is derived from what the chief protagonist, "Jones" does best i.e. "Notice" or "Observe". He notices and observes and gets in a new, different perspective to things and situations that hold us back in life; things that pull us down and at times blind us to reality and facts. The book presents multiple stories of different characters where the key protagonist plays the role of a guide/ mentor who helps build up a different perspective for the protagonist of each story. Each story is quite relatable which brings our practical dilemmas that we face in our lives. Jones, the  the key protagonist plays a coach and helps the characters build perspective that's obvious and common sensical but which we sometimes tend to oversee. There's no connection between the different stories and the only connecting factor among these stories is "Jones", who assumes the hat of a sage too, at times, and renders advice to the protagonists of the different stories. At times, the book becomes drab with Jones playing the same card again and again and overdoes of "perspective" but it's still worth the time and effort to read the book for gems of wisdom that it delivers.

Key Learnings/ Interesting bits from the Book

The following are some of the wonderful learnings that i derived from the book

• The description of 4 dialects of love is unique where characteristics of four popular animals/ birds relate to our behaviour patterns in love relationships. The four animals/ birds mentioned are Dog, Cat, Goldfish and Canary

• Describing about Worry, the book again reiterates how just 8% worries are legitimate concerns which we actually need to deal with in life.

• The first 10 minutes after we wake up should be spent on thinking the following
• What i have to do today?
• Who i have to call/ meet/ connect?       
• Things i need to deal with
• mixed with other thoughts like "Things i am grateful for"

• A person could lose everything chasing nothing

• Focus on what can be controlled

• Many of life's treasures remain hidden from us simply because we never search for them

• If your purpose has not yet been fulfilled, then the most important part of your life has not yet been lived

• When you need most to accomplish something great in your life, you are only lacking an idea.

Even if the key protagonist remains an enigma till the end, the book is worth a read for all its simple, practical doses of wisdom !

You may buy/ review the book at http://amzn.to/2BvgzLF

Book Review - How to Develop Your Personal Mission Statement

How to Develop Your Personal Mission Statement - Stephen R. Covey

Core Idea discussed in the book - Personal Mission Statement

A highly relevant book on a very powerful idea, an idea that holds great importance in our lives. The

book discusses in great depth about "Personal Mission Statement" which is like the nucleus of our life; the core of our life around which our entire live revolves. It deals with the following key components of the topic i.e. Personal Mission Statement

• What is a Personal Mission Statement?
• Why is it important to have a Personal Mission Statement? 
• What impact does a Personal Mission Statement creates in our lives?
• How to develop a strong Personal Mission Statement?
• How to evaluate whether the existing Personal Mission Statement is giving the desired results?

A Personal Mission Statement is very crucial for defining our success in life as it lays down the principles with which we live our lives.Right from establishing the need for Personal Mission Statement to developing a proper Personal Mission Statement, the book delivers it all extremely well.The book draws not only from the rich experience, knowledge and thought process of the author but from other renowned personalities also such as Viktor Frankl, Norman Cousins and Goethe to reiterate how having a Personal Mission Statement in our lives changes it all and guide us towards more success.

The book provides a useful linkage between "Personal Mission Statement" and our Purpose, Vision and Goal and how to establish among them. 

If you still fail to develop your "Personal Mission Statement", you need not lose hope as the trigger questions towards the end will ensure that you have your "Personal Mission Statement" in place before keeping the book down.

There couldn't be a better time to pick the book and start reading it !

You may preview/ buy the book from the following link - http://amzn.to/2zkx8vn

Book Review - Tiny Buddha

Tiny Buddha by Lori Deschene

What started as an individual's struggle to survive, let alone find meaning in  life resulted in this wonderful book called "Tiny Buddha". Right from the front cover to the last page/ back cover, everything is worth reading again and again.The struggle of the person (Lori Deschene, the author) who almost lost everything in life and then bounced back to create meaning in her life and so many million more is what makes this book extraordinary. 

Starting with daily tweets through @tinybuddha, then moving on to creating website www.tinybuddha.com and finally resulting in this wonderful book by the same name. As the author says that the book is a collaborative effort of all the readers (of her tweets, blogs and questions) who contributed with their insights on queries pertaining to wisdom in daily life. The responses to the questions she posted resulted in this wonderful book.

The book is very neatly segregated into 9 sections/ categories some of which are Pain, Meaning and Change. Each section is very well carved out with lots of researched content(on the theme of the section), personal insights by the author, key messages(highlighted), tips, practical exercises and relevant tweets. All these elements put together gets the reader moving to apply and take action. Each section starts with posing a relevant question and this really sets the tone for more to follow.

It's a simple and honest book with no frills and that's what sets it apart from the rest of the pack. This is a book which you would want to finish in one go, no matter how much time it takes.The layout of the book is nice too!

Preview the Book here http://amzn.to/2w0e5Sq

A real book written with a realistic approach to deliver real, practical message

Book Review - Finding Your Strength in Difficult Times

Finding Your Strength in Difficult Times by David Viscott

A wonderful companion book that one can pick up anytime, open any page and start deriving strength from the content. Everything about the book is perfect - right from it's size, the layout, the content and if i may add price too :) .

The title of the book itself is self-revealing about what is contained inside it. The chapter names are

very well thought (that's how there are plenty of them but that's well justified!) and relate to common crossroad situations that each of us find our self in many times. The chapter are succint with practical yet powerful advice rendered to the reader. Each chapter is indeed a meditation; an opportunity for self-reflection and brooding to understand and accept life and its vagaries. Each chapter has a message and a learning.

Another wonderful feature of the book is the affirmation(s) at the end of each chapter. These powerful affirmations are also well thought about, relate to the context of the chapter and are indeed easy to apply by the reader.

The book is available for purchase at http://amzn.to/2vInEGe

Al in all, the book is extraordinary and a great companion during tough times when we need some support!   

Book Review - RAIN: What a Paperboy Learned About Business

RAIN: What a Paperboy Learned About Business by Jeffrey J. Fox

An important parameter of a good parable based book is that it instantly strikes a chord with the readers and establishes a deep connect with them. This book definitely scores very well on this parameter and is written exceptionally well. The readers will easily be able to relate to the parable and its underlying message(s) that this book aims to deliver.

The book is about a teenage paperboy and his struggle to become a "man" in terms of learning lessons of business. It's like a journey of a boy and his travails to learn the fundamental lessons of life. What starts as a vocation to earn some pocket money leads to Rain (the protagonist) learning a good deal about business, entrepreneurship, customer service and personal growth. The book captures the story of this paperboy in the form of various adventures that he gets into and the learning that he derives from each of those adventures.    

The business lessons are wonderfully captured in the form of "Rainmaking principles" and these principles apply very well to various situations and circumstances in our life. The book does draw parallel of these principles in real-life through various examples. The characters and the metaphors mentioned in the book are very well crafted and definitely leave an indelible impression on the readers. The way the author, Jeffrey J. Fox, renders an understanding and explanation of key business concepts like Money, Customers, Referrals, Entrepreneurship, Competition, Marketing, Negotiation, Innovation and Valuation is incredible. My favourite is Chapter 24 on Valuation.

Another impressive component of the book are the "rainmaking principles" and the exercises at the end of the parable. A parable or a story is only as good as its application. This book definitely boasts of well thought of activities that would help the reader become a rainmaker in life.   

It's the simplicity of the book in explaining the complex subjects/ topics so subtly that makes this book a must read. In a nutshell, this book is about the evolution of an ordinary teenager into a rainmaker. 

Rain comes out as a real superhero in this book !

N.B : Rainmaker is any person in an organisation who is a key differentiator by virtue of the business, money and clients the person generates. A rainmaker is like a superstar.