Readings from 2024: January to June

I made a new friend this year - Eddie Jaku.

Eddie was a Holocaust survivor who passed away in 2021. I had the privilege of reading his book, The Happiest Man of Earth, in March this year. While I will never have the privilege of meeting Eddie, I am sure that is how he would have liked me to introduce him: as my new friend. If you have not read his book, please do. If you can’t get the book, watch his TEDx Talk recorded in 2019.

As some of you have noticed, I missed posting my readings from the first six months of the year (this late post). Given the number of you who asked me about the mysterious case of my missing post, here I am sitting at a café in North Sydney at 8 AM, surrounded by the morning work crowd, sharing my readings from January to June this year.?

My most important privilege over the last fourteen years at IBM has been serving our clients. When an organisation has been serving humanity for over a hundred years, there are stories that are shared in our corridors and bind us. Stories of value, valour, learnings, dramatic turnarounds, highs and lows - stories over a century in the making. That is why I seek out books that have been written about IBM. I absolutely loved reading Louis Gerstner Jr.’s “Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?”. Whether you are an IBMer or not, you will enjoy reading this inspiring business transformation story told by a giant in the industry.

I would also like to mention another book I particularly enjoyed - Yvon Chouinard’s “Let My People Go Surfing.” He is the “Reluctant Businessman” who built the Patagonia brand and organisation. There is so much to love and learn from their passion for the outdoors and how that translated to the sustainable business the team built.?

With that, here is the list of my readings from January to June this year – in the order that I read them:

1. The Russian, by Patterson, James
2. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead, by Brown, Brené
3. A Movable Feast, by Hemingway, Ernest
4. Continuous Discovery Habits: Discover Products that Create Customer Value and Business Value, by Torres, Teresa?
5. The Happiest Man on Earth, by Jaku, Eddie
6. StressLess: Proven Methods to Reduce Stress, Manage Anxiety and Lift Your Mood, by? Johnstone, Matthew
7. Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection, by Duhigg, Charles
8. Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? Inside IBM's Historic Turnaround, by Gerstner Jr., Louis V.
9. Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters, by? Ranganath, Charan
10. The Catcher in the Rye, by Salinger, J.D.
11. Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman, by Chouinard, Yvon
12. Zen in the Art of Archery, by Herrigel, Eugen

As always, to help with your selections, the top five books that I enjoyed the most - in no particular order are:

1. The Happiest Man on Earth, by Jaku, Eddie
2. Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection, by Duhigg, Charles
3. Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? Inside IBM's Historic Turnaround, by Gerstner Jr., Louis V.
4. Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters, by? Ranganath, Charan
5. Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman by Chouinard, Yvon

We live in a world where most don't read past the headline, and for the few who do, most do not scroll to the end of the post. And yet, here you are at the very end of my article. You are the select few for whom I have written this post - and continue to spend time doing so.

I truly hope you read some of the books shared here. Have you already read some of them? If so, please comment on them. I would love to hear your thoughts.

My previous book lists: 2018, 2019, Jan-Jun 2020, Jul-Dec 2020, Jan-Jun 2021, Jul-Dec 2021, Jan-Jun 2022, Jul-Dec 2022, Jan-Jul 2023, Jul-Dec 2023