Book Reviews from my bookshelf

I write short book reviews whenever I finish a book and post them on my website. Thanks to a couple of other colleagues who are voracious readers, I am now also posting in Good Reads occasionally. Each December I like to reflect back on the books I’ve read in 2019 and seek recommendations from you.

For me, writing down my book reviews makes it (a) easier to remember as a visual & kinesthetic learner and (b) easier to share recommendations with others when the time is right.

Below I have three categories of book reviews.

1. Marketing / Business
2. Career
3. Personal …just for fun

I have also found a few quotes regarding books that I like.

Note: I’ve given 1 or 2 short sentences for each book but you can read the entire book reviews by clicking on the hyperlinks.

I Never Met a Book I Didn’t Like. Jim Peacock (this is almost true…I have had maybe 2 or 3 books I actually did not finish in my lifetime…one was Moby Dick 🙂

MARKETING / BUSINESS BOOK REVIEWS

I like to learn from others in the PR and marketing and business world. Being a Solopreneur can be difficult but having experts around me makes my job easier. I always pick up tidbits from each of them.

PR Works! How to Create, Implement and Leverage a Public Relations Program for your Small Business. By Nancy Marshall, the PR Maven. If you are a small business person and want to get yourself onto the right direction for growing your business, then you need to read this book.

It’s Your Ship  By Captain D. Michael Abrashoff. Read this in December 2019 so it missed that newsletter. I have been doing some research into “stay interviews” which are done while employees are still working at your company versus “exit interviews” when you ask them “What went wrong? What could we do better?” This book is what was recommended by someone in a Facebook recruiter group I am in as one of the first books that talked about putting employees first and asking them what they think.

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.” – George R.R. Martin

CAREER BOOK REVIEWS

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism. By Robin Diangelo. I included this book here because it has really challenged me. Most of our American culture is run by whites which means that polices, laws, and interpretation of them is white focused. So challenge yourself and read this book.

Find Your Why  By Simon Sinek. A Practical Guide For Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team. With David Mead and Peter Docker This book had been recommended to me by a number of people and is all about how you figure out your WHY

 

The ONE Thing By Gary Keller with Jay Papasan. The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results. This book was recommended to me by my business coach (Thanks Mandy). Yep, it is a great book at focusing your efforts and energy to ONE thing that is the most important thing to you now.

 

Brain-Based Career Development Theory by Imants Jaunarajs, Jodi Pavol, and Erin Morgenstern.  Technically I read this book in December 2019 but it missed the Book Reviews newsletter so I’m sharing it here.  Here is the 1st of 6 big takeaways from the workshop and their monograph.

The brain can only handle 4 pieces of information in the prefontal cortex, two is best. This means we need to work hard to focus on 1 major task at a time. Most of us have many more thoughts going on at once.

“Think before you speak. Read before you think.” – Fran Lebowitz

PERSONAL..Just For Fun BOOK REVIEWS

Grandma Gatewood’s Walk by Ben Montgomery. I just finished reading Grandma Gatewood’s Walk about a  67 year old grandmother who was the first woman to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. I love the outdoors and have walked 1800+ miles of the Pacific Crest Trail and pieces of the AT but was blown away and inspired at the same time with this woman who walked the AT at 67 years old, then again as a thru-hike, AND again in sections

A Widow for One Year. By John Irving. This is my second John Irving book in 2019…there was a sale at a bookstore. The author is an edgy guy and not afraid to write about sex 🙂  Not dirty sex or porn, just the struggles of sex and the complications of it at times. I enjoyed both books.

Becoming By Michelle Obama. From the South Side of Chicago to the Whitehouse. What an amazing journey.  What I loved about this book was the insight into how Michelle Obama thinks and her passions.

Zen on The Trail: Hiking as Pilgrimage  By Christopher Ives. Thanks to Howard, my backpacking buddy, who sent me this book. This is often how I feel when backpacking…on a zen hike.  He captures so many moments when I am walking and seeming lost in thought – mindful – clear – simple – slowed down

 “Books are a uniquely portable magic.” – Stephen King

Oh yeah, I almost forgot…I published my book this spring too. A Field Guide for Career Practitioners: Helping Your Clients Create Their Next Move

You can can check out what others think of my book on the above link. I’m quite proud of it, but I could be biased.

There are more books that I read in 2019 and you can see them all by going to my website. And if you’d like to make a recommendation for me in any of my categories…please do, I’m always looking for the next great read.

Check out my interview with four other book reading friends.

Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a weekly email for career practitioners. Peak-Careers offers discussion-based online seminars for career practitioners focused on meeting continuing education needs for CCSP, GCDF and BCC certified professionals as well as workshops for career practitioners and individual career coaching.

He is the author of A Field Guide for Career Practitioners: Helping Your Clients Create Their Next Move and the recipient of the 2020 Kenneth C. Hoyt Award from the National Career Development Association.

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