Choose Your Books As Wisely As You Choose Your Own Beliefs, by Marc LeVine

“The man who does not read good books is no better than the man who can’t.” - Mark Twain

I always like to have a couple of books on reserve to jump into during my allocated reading time. Sometimes they are fiction. Other times they are business non-fiction. Often, I read from both categories at the same time. This is not so unusual, since in high school and college we often read more than one book at a time.  Our teachers and professors usually had no idea what other courses we were taking and what readings were assigned.

Nowadays, I get to decide what to read on my own time.  It is fun strolling around my local Barnes and Nobles store and doing a rack review. I equally enjoy perusing books on Amazon.com - very late at night - when I can’t sleep.

Searching for what to read sounds easy, but with all the wonderful and or subpar books out there, errors of choice may prove costly and an utter waste of time. On the flip side, nothing can substitute for a book that resonates loudly with us.  We all have encountered THAT engrossing novel “we couldn’t put down.”  And we have also read those few seminal business BEST SELLERS that have inspired us to greatness. We have also stumbled upon our fair share of duds not worth the paper they were printed on. Those were books that failed to capture our imagination or were repackaged goods.  Perhaps, they were so far off from our own realities that they were useless as tools for personal betterment.

The $1-million question always should be… which books deserve our attention? How can we be reasonably sure we are not buying future garage sale inventory? There are ways to tell.

For professional relevance purposes, let’s discuss choosing business books and properly valuing them.

Know what you are looking for and WHY?

We all wish our memories were better than they are.   Studies show that people remember: 10% of what they hear — — 20% of what they read — — 80% of what they see. And this is because the human brain processes visual cues better than the written language. So, we need to choose wisely based on what are our current learning needs and how soon we think we will be able to apply newly acquired knowledge.

Why not create a reading calendar much like the ones most blog writers use?  Blog writers want to be sure they have enough worthwhile topics to write about well in advance, so they don’t feel stressed to come up with something new in a pinch. Why not do the same for reading? Having a reading calendar may also help you read faster and keep your reading list manageable and on track. 

Start by outlining the topics you wish or need to learn about at the present time. Then, you can begin researching the best books available on those topics. Bye the way, it is often better to read some good fiction in between business books, until there is something else you want to learn about at the time when a specific learning need arises.

What does the author tell you about his/her book?

An author’s introduction is only second to creditable book reviews in letting you know whether the book is right for you and worthwhile reading with tips you can apply. The intro should reveal the author’s main reason for writing the book and outline his or her arguments. Do the ideas and solutions make sense and are they relevant in your current situation?  A book that advocates spending on a lot of fancy tech or software is of little value to you if your employer is averse to spending on such things or if you are already well positioned in those areas.

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Fat books ae not always good books.

If it takes an author 500 pages to make an argument, how long will it take you to process all that information and convert it into something you can sell to your boss and team? Nothing should be that complex that you need a PhD to comprehend and apply it.

Does the book pass the smell test?

You don’t have to sniff the ink to determine the quality of what is printed on the pages. Just because the words are published, doesn’t make them authoritative and absolved from intense scrutiny. Can you challenge the premise of any book? Of course, you can. There has never been a book written that didn’t have a rival book trying to contradict its premises. If it sounds like “hogwash,” it just might be that. Think critically, always.

Own it or take a pass?

In a bookstore aisle you can easily skim a book to get to the gist of it. Online, you can often read portions of excerpts of most books free of charge. Or you can glimpse tables of contents, chapter summaries, diagrams, and conclusions, when they are provided in advance. What are your immediate impressions about the author’s style, tone, basic premise and conclusions?   Can you stand to read another 200 pages from this author? If not, place the book back on the bookshelf and walk away or move on to other Amazon recommendations.

Study the book. 

Take out your highlighter and pen and mark the book up. Zero in on each personal takeaway and call it out in YELLOW. If you are only going to remember 20% of what you read, your notes will help you add a few more percentage points to your recollections and make the important points stand out and become easier to find when you need them. 

Test the assumptions and conclusions.

As soon as you can do so, try out some of the things that you found stand-out and inspiring in the book. Do they work for you? Can they?

Most importantly if the shoe doesn’t fit you do not have to wear it.

It is OK to reject the contents of any book yet find that your own words between that author’s printed lines may be of greater import.

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The Author

My Recent Interview on “Engineering Success”

Marc LeVine is a graduate of Syracuse (NY) University with a degree in Industrial Psychology, Marc is currently Talent Acquisitions and Learning and Development Lead at Thermo Systems. He is the recipient of the Excellence in Talent Acquisitions Award from HR Awards in 2021.

Marc's prior employment includes senior Human Resources and Staffing Industry management roles with Edgewood Properties in Piscataway, NJ, Brickforce Staffing in Edison, NJ, InfoPro Inc. in Woodbridge NJ and Plainsboro, NJ and Harvard Industries in Farmingdale, NJ, a former Fortune 500 company. He also served as Director of Human Resources for New Jersey Press, the parent company of the Asbury Park Press, Home News and Tribune and WKXW-NJ101.5. Earlier in his career, Marc served as Director of Career Services and Placement at Union Technical Institute in Eatontown and Neptune, NJ. In addition, Marc owned and operated Integrity Consulting Associates, a New Jersey based Human Resources and Social Media Marketing firm for 11 years. Marc also served as Council President in his hometown of Freehold Borough, NJ