My library card gets a workout, and I’m pretty sure Amazon loves me. Except that I got Prime, so that free shipping thing might make them mad…

I’ve been reading like a fiend lately. Here’s some thoughts on the latest round of books, mostly around lifehacking and productivity, but with some other color added in for Renaissance Men:

 

Traction

by Gabriel Weinberg

I’ve already recommended Traction, essentially a startup marketing manual, to a few people. There are twenty-something marketing channels for your business, and although they won’t all work on opening day, they’re all worth testing over time. From publicity stunts to strategic business partnerships (what they call Business Development) to PPC, there’s room to try many marketing tactics, measure results and adapt. For any startup, this is a must-read, and for many established businesses looking for new ideas, this one works too.

 

Let It Be

by Colin Meloy

I’m a long-time fan of The Replacements, and a music friend sent me Let It Be as a gift. Colin Meloy, founding member of The Decemberists, recounts his introduction to this iconic album “Let It Be”. Like the documentary “Color Me Obessed” by Gorman Bechard, finding and learning to love the sounds of The Replacements seems like it followed the same pattern for about everyone: what’s that? Hey, that’s different? Wait, that’s cool. Wait, that’s REALLY cool.

 

The One Thing

by Gary Keller

My life may just have changed. I read The One Thing in One Day – hopefully these productivity hacks will help get me moving forward faster than ever. Nothing earth-shattering here, but a reminder of the importance of focus, but more importantly a formula for figuring out what to focus on…

 

The Most Important Thing

by Howard Marks

As a new learning project (PHP/Laravel), I’m writing my own stock trading system, based on Michael Covel’s Trend Following philosophy. In a recent interview on Micahel’s podcast, one of the iconic turtle traders mentioned The Most Important Thing as a must read. The funny thing is that the most important thing is actually 22 most important things. Stock trading is hard, so these are critical rules to consider when you invest. Cool stuff.

 

The Sketchnote Handbook

by Mike Rohde

Next on the reading pile is The Sketchnote Handbook, which came from another podcast by Todd Henry (Accidental Creative). For those of you who read Rework, this is the guy who drew all those cool images. Wouldn’t it be great to show up for your next meeting and be able to draw THAT stuff on the whiteboard. Fingers crossed that my note-taking and whiteboarding get better in a few weeks!

 

Back to the library!!!

PS: I don’t get any affiliate fees for the links provided. I’m simply sharing reading material, reviews and commentary. If I read a lame book, I’ll tell you so, but if I say it’s good, try getting it at the public library first and save yourself the cost. I have a full bookshelf and boxes in the garage full of things I may never read again, if you know what I mean.