“Oh, I must read that again”: 2021 was my Year of the Re-Read
Almost every day, I read about, or think of, at least one book that makes me think “Oh, I must read that again”. I find myself firing books into my Kindle and filling up an Amazon shopping basket of books in the ill-founded hopes that future me will surely have the time to read. He will, won’t he?
One year ago, I committed to spending all of 2021 reading through a list of books that kept coming back to me. I have detailed them below, with one quote from each that stood out to me. I only broke this mission during the summer when I read Seveneves and Shogun. Both highly recommended. Everything below was worth the re-read and I hope this entices you to read them for the first time, or maybe give them another go.
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie
The first of two Dale Carnegie books on my list, his thoughts about living well remain relevant to this day. This book gave me some perspective on nagging thoughts that circle around in my brain.
“What is the difference between concern and worry? Let me illustrate. Every time I cross the traffic-jammed streets of New York, I am concerned about what I am doing, but not worried. Concern means realizing what the problems are and calmly taking steps to meet them. Worrying means going around in maddening, futile circles.”
How to win friends and Influence People
I would seriously consider reading this book every year. There are a lot of personal development and self-help books that can trace their true genesis to this book. It’s surprisingly dense, but with a focused read, yields gold every time.
“Research suggests that there are two fundamental paths to influence: dominance and prestige. When we establish dominance, we gain influence because others see us as strong, powerful, and authoritative. When we earn prestige, we become influential because others respect and admire us.”
How to live on 24 hours per day
You can read this one in less than an hour, and it’s a wonderful reminder that we each get each day afresh, no more, no less and it’s up to us to use it wisely. It’s a little dated, but a great refresher on the power of fresh starts.
“The supply of time is truly a daily miracle, an affair genuinely astonishing when one examines it. You wake up in the morning, and lo! your purse is magically filled with twenty-four hours of the unmanufactured tissue of the universe of your life! It is yours. It is the most precious of possessions. A highly singular commodity, showered upon you in a manner as singular as the commodity itself!”
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
Just like ever-growing book lists, the demands on our time seem to be ever-increasing. This makes it harder to focus on the things we need to do, the things that will likely return the most, if paid attention to.
“The way of the Essentialist is different. Instead of trying to accomplish it all—and all at once—and flaring out, the Essentialist starts small and celebrates progress. Instead of going for the big, flashy wins that don’t really matter, the Essentialist pursues small and simple wins in areas that are essential.”
If only to remind myself of the importance of Rule #6, this book was worth the time. It’s a deep dive into frameworks of possibility that can be applied easily and swiftly. A great handbook for teachers and anyone looking to open their minds up a little more.
“Rule Number 6 is ‘Don’t take yourself so goddamn seriously.’ ‘Ah,’ says his visitor. ‘That is a fine rule.’ After a moment of pondering, he inquires, ‘And what, may I ask, are the other rules?’ ‘There aren’t any.’’”
This book doesnt so much create “lightbulb” moments, as it floods your brain with the light of what it means to leave your ego behind and transcend your everyday inner voice. It’s funny, simple, and unbelievably wise. (For an added treat, get it on audiobook. De Mello has a great voice that really brings the book to life)
“For instance, the illusion, the error of thinking that, by changing the exterior world, you will change. You do not change if you merely change your exterior world. If you get yourself a new job or a new spouse or a new home or a new guru or a new spirituality, that does not change you. It’s like imagining that you change your handwriting by changing your pen. Or that you change your capacity to think by changing your hat.”
7 Habits of Highly Effective People
A classic of the personal development genre, the 7 habits are easy to skim past with a quick read but have deeper, deep roots that can change the way you approach your life off paid attention to. Don’t rush this one.
“One of the most profound learnings of my life is this: if you want to achieve your highest aspirations and overcome your greatest challenges, identify and apply the principle or natural law that governs the results you seek. How we apply a principle will vary greatly and will be determined by our unique strengths, talents, and creativity, but, ultimately, success in any endeavor is always derived from acting in harmony with the principles to which the success is tied.”
How to Fail at Everything and Still Win Big
This book is surprising on every page, not just because of the story of Scott’s life and the lessons has gleaned from his own experience along the way, but in how Scott provides a template for how you might replicate some of his success. BUT…he is quick to point out that this book is not a “How to”, it’s simply a re-telling of one man’s success and his (rational) thoughts on why it might have happened that way. Fascinating.
“‘I wish I could give you a surefire formula for success, but life doesn’t work that way. What I can do is describe a model that you can compare with your current way of doing things. The right answer for you might be some combination of what you’re already doing and what you read here. You’re the best judge of what works for you, as long as you acquire that wisdom through pattern recognition, trial, and observation.”
This book is in turn funny, informative, and inspiring. There are few characters like Zig Ziglar, and his success in sales (and in life) is a masterclass in ethical persuasion and storytelling.
“Selling is essentially a transference of feeling.”
This one is a straight-up motivational handbook. It’s got everything from ways to reduce tension, to communicating better and improving your relationships, to using your subconscious to get more of what you want. Pre Tony Robbins, this is old-school, real-deal motivation.
“As you continue your journey to the top, you must remember that each rung of the ladder was placed there for the purpose of holding your foot just long enough to step higher.”
It’s all in the title but this book is still worth the read. We all know the feeling of being distracted, and the value of getting in the “flow” to do the work that matters to us the most. Cal Newport does a fantastic job of laying the groundwork for getting the most meaningful work out of the time you have.
“The Deep Work Hypothesis: The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive.”
Happy: Why More or Less Everything Is Absolutely Fine
When I first read Happy years ago, I was stunned that this body of work came from TV personality/magician/hypnotist, Derren Brown. At its core, Happy is a deep dive into Stoic thinking. Derren does a great job of taking the basic lessons of Stoicism and bringing them to bear on everyday life.
“Two thousand years ago, a Roman slave called Epictetus, a prominent figure in the ancient school of Stoic philosophy, which remained the most prevalent school of thought for five hundred years before Christianity exploded into the world, gave voice to the notion: ‘What upsets people is not things themselves but their judgements about these things.’1 In other words, it is not events out there that cause our problems but rather our reactions to them: the stories we tell ourselves. This mite of ancient wisdom is the source of many modern-day self-help and therapeutic methods of varying substance, including neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and the sixties’ mantra of ‘Change your head, don’t change the world.’”
My favorite of Ryan Holiday’s books so far, Stillness (like Deep Work) shows us how the ability to be focussed and calm in a constantly busy world is a superpower.
“Anyone who has concentrated so deeply that a flash of insight or inspiration suddenly visited them knows stillness. Anyone who has given their best to something, felt pride of completion, of knowing they left absolutely nothing in reserve—that’s stillness. Anyone who has stepped forward with the eyes of the crowd upon them and then poured all their training into a single moment of performance—that’s stillness, even if it involves active movement. Anyone who has spent time with that special, wise person, and witnessed them solve in two seconds the problem that had vexed us for months—stillness. Anyone who has walked out alone on a quiet street at night as the snow fell, and watched as the light fell softly on that snow and is warmed by the contentment of being alive—that too is stillness.”
A brilliantly simple idea, Jeff Olson takes the idea of compounding and shows how we can bring it to every aspect of our lives. It’s full of stories and analogies that do a great job of conveying the power of this simple principle.
“The slight edge is relentless, and it cuts both ways. Used productively, it carries you up toward success. Used carelessly, it pulls you down toward failure. Simple productive actions, repeated consistently over time. Simple errors in judgement repeated consistently over time. The choice is that simple. You can start with a million dollars, but if you don’t understand the slight edge, you’ll lose it all. You can start with nothing but a penny, yet if you understand the slight edge, you can go anywhere in the world you want to go.”
I know, who hasn’t read this book?! I flew through it first time around but a second read has revealed some of it’s more subtle and powerful tactics. This book couldn’t make it any simpler to start the process of building better habits, and getting rid of old ones.
“Success is the product of daily habits—not once-in-a-lifetime transformations.”
I am exposed to a lot of material about principles and values in my work. This book breaks down Ray Dalio’s interpretation of what it means to have principles, how to use them, and why they are important. The second half of the book is a deep dive into how he applies them in his job (it’s pretty hardcore), while the first half is where you want to bring a pen and paper and do some real thinking for yourself.
“What are your principles? Your values are what you consider important, literally what you “value.” Principles are what allow you to live a life consistent with those values. Principles connect your values to your actions; they are beacons that guide your actions, and help you successfully deal with the laws of reality. It is to your principles that you turn when you face hard choices.”
Bonus: How To Live
Not a re-read, but I had to include this because it was one of the most surprising books I read all year.
In 2020, 2 of Dereks most recent releases (https://www.conormccarthy.me/blog/in-202-these-were-the-books-i) made my “best of” list and this book rounds out the trio. I don't think I have ever read a book so slowly, or held so many contradictory thoughts at once (Spoiler: Each chapter disagrees with the rest…but it’s what makes it fascinating). Each chapter is pretty short but written in Derek's classic style: simple ideas written in simple language, using short sentences. This simplicity belies profound questions and ideas and really makes you think about each of the different ways that he suggests that you should “live your life”. As Derek says “it’s just 112 succinct pages with no unnecessary words.”
Also, Derek has truly taken the idea of self-publishing into his own hands. You can only buy his books from his website and extra copies only cost as much as it costs to print them up!
“Ignore all marketing and advertising. Nobody is pushing what really matters. Friendships, nature, family, learning, community. The best things in life aren’t things.“
That’s my round-up for this year. It was really worth revisiting these books and I encourage you to do the same. “You cannot step in the same river twice” and while the books were there same, the lessons I took from each this time around were different.