Five Books You Need to Read Even Though I Haven’t

So often I get pinged on my social channels about what books to read. Especially now when I’m promoting my own book, it’s an obvious gateway to that question. And I always try to dodge it. I always have something clever or witty to say, because the truth is that one of my sad weaknesses is that I don’t really read. So I’ve been giving this a lot of thought because it’s been coming up so much, and I had a funny revelation this morning. The five books that I’m buying (in bulk to give away, by the way. Subscribe for my Gary VIP email for more on that.) are books that I’ve never read. Not a page. Not a word. However, they come from five individuals who I consider friends. These are people who I’ve met and interacted with on social channels. People who I’ve debated fantasy sports with, shared conference stages with, interacted with at tech events, and people I’ll be going to see Jets and Dolphins games with in the future.

See, the funny thing is that a lot of people talk about the content of a book. That you should recommend a book after you read it and give your $0.02 then. The thing that I’m completely infatuated with these days is that value is completely subjective. Some people think the Kardashians’ TV show is a piece of crap, while some people find enormous value in that hour of escapism. Some people think watching football on Sundays is a waste of three hours and that you should be spending that time with your family, while others find that those three hours are when they can get away from all their pressures and hit the reset button that allows them to balance their family and their work. At the end of the day, I believe that content is massively subjective, but one thing that we can all agree on is that you buy things from people you like. So I’m going to allow the people who have read the books to give you the merit of these five titles, but I’m going to tell you that the reason I’m buying them is that these people impacted me, and that there is real value in our relationships. The $17 or so that I spend on these books is well worth the interactions, and even sometimes debates.

Amazing Things Will Happen: A Real-World Guide on Achieving Success and Happiness by C.C. Chapman (Great guy, but a Dolphins fan.)

Fantasy Life: The Outrageous, Uplifting, and Heartbreaking World of Fantasy Sports from the Guy Who's Lived It by Matthew Berry (He loves sports. I love sports. Enough said. Also our few face to face meetings have always left me excited.)

Ctrl Alt Delete: Reboot Your Business. Reboot Your Life. Your Future Depends on It By Mitch Joel (A wonderful guy I run into often at conferences, especially in Canada.)

Youtility: Why Smart Marketing Is about Help Not Hype by Jay Baer (Him driving me around in Arizona for a day was still one of my favorite days on the road.)

Think Like Zuck: The Five Business Secrets of Facebook's Improbably Brilliant CEO Mark Zuckerberg by Ekaterina Walter (Meeting with her a few weeks ago at VM was a blast. She has fire. I like fire.)

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Gary Vaynerchuk is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal Best-Selling author, self-taught wine expert, and innovative entrepreneur. You can find out more atgaryvaynerchuk.com and follow him on Twitter: @garyvee.