Top reads from 2021

Another year of partial lockdowns and staycations compounded by average weather and trying to squeeze as much out of my Amazon Unlimited subscription (a LOT of comic books I have to admit)… means going through a lot of books! Here is a pick of the best of the bunch for 2021.

Fiction

Dominicana

A Dominican Republic woman moves to New York in the 60s, without a word of English. Teenage arranged marriage and economic immigration are the 2 ingredients of this vivid real life story. Dominicana on Amazon .

The Murderbot Diaries

Hilarious, if slightly scary, story of the coming to consciousness of a protection robot. The accuracy is of the software / hardware intricacies will tickle the geek in you. The fast pace of the story will keep anyone glued to the series. The Murderbot Diaries on Amazon .

Weather a novel

This is dark everyday humour in a style that's so direct and succinct it hits you at every word. A funny but not a happy book, a super quick read that leaves you punched out breathing for air. Weather a novel on Amazon .

Gideon Falls

A whirlwind intrigue, an unusual layout, stunning graphics, are some of the components that make this comic book stand out. The story line though is what will hook you in, a theological, demiurgic, multi-dimensional thriller. Gideon Falls on Amazon .

Non fiction:

No Rules Rules

Erin Meyer's The Culture Map was one of my top 2020 reads , this book is the natural follow-up. It covers a lot of Netflix management and company culture, but also highlights how an organisation can use the culture map approach to defining their company culture. With "remote first" becoming the new normal, having an explicit way to describe how a company wants its employees to communicate and interact is going to be essential to performance and cohesion. This book will be your guide. No Rules, Rules on Amazon .

Product Led Onboarding

Customer onboarding is the most important factor in customer success. If you believe this to be the case, this book is for you. It lays out a clear process to make sure you treat customer onboarding as a discipline not an after-thought or a gutfeel. Yes a lot of things in there will feel like truisms but onboarding is so often badly done that a good book on the topic won't do any harm. Product Led Onboarding on Amazon .

No Forms No Spam No Phone Calls

OK this is as much a book as it is a sales brochure (more like a long long whitepaper). But forget the second element, and you get a lot of real great insights on how to set-up a marketing team and your marketing data. It's a great read for marketers who are still coming to terms with the fact that owning, having and driving a vision for your martech stack is just as crucial as a PR, social media or demand gen strategy. No Forms, No Spam, No Phone Calls on Amazon .

The leadership pipeline

2021 was the great resignation: churn at its highest, keeping millennials challenged proving hard for most organisations... Yet, the efforts dedicated to growing their internal management / talent pool appear to be limited. Everyone is after this senior manager / leader who will sort things out for them. This book hasn't aged entirely well but there are a lot interesting titbits to be rediscovered around how to grow an organisation's management depth. The Leadership Pipeline on Amazon .

In the runner up category:

• Learn python in a day , because everyone should be able to write code in Python and if it's just a day away why not spare the time?
• Radical candor , a bit old school particularly compared to No rules, Rules but a great from the angle of cultural comparison.

Sport

This year, I decided to become serious about triathlon and to do an Ironman. So here's the exceptional reading list add-on.

Going long

This book is full of advice about all the little details you need to know to transform what could be a super painful event into a blissful experience (at least until km 20 of the marathon). From training to race day it's a life saving series of advice that will help you go the distance. Going Long on Amazon .

Swim Smooth

One morning at the swimming pool a fellow triathlete had to intervene... Frankly my style sucked (and to a large extent still does). This was his recommendation. While my style resembles more the seahorse than the sailfish, at least I am not a steam iron, and that is thanks to this book. No excuse not to improve, it's all laid out in simple terms, yet explains enough of the technic and hydrodynamics to get you thinking. Swim Smooth on Amazon .

Meditation for Fidgety Sceptics

Sometimes you get great book recommendations, sometimes you are told "books are not the way to learn". At some point I realised that meditation was the only way to calm my nerves pre-race. I couldn't face listening to gurgling water noises and soothing voices meditative tracks on Youtube, Spotify etc. This book came up and it's been a blast! Any hyperactive soul wanting to take on meditation... give it a shot. Meditation for Fidgety Sceptics on Amazon .