Sharing Your Reading Wealth

Sharing Your Reading Wealth

Of all the New Year’s posts that grace our social media feeds I am fondest of those related to reading lists. Whether it be a list of last year’s best sellers, coming attractions in the new year or the “I read X amount of books in 2018” variety, I can’t help but dive in and see what literary flavors people are consuming. However, if we were honest with ourselves, most of these are a bit vane in nature. You benefited from the knowledge obtained in those reads long before you decided to tell the world about them; these posts are really a “Hey, look how smart I am!” plea.

Fortunately, they can be much more than that. I challenge all my connections here to not only fulfill their New Year’s resolutions to read more (and hopefully better) books this year, but to help the rest of us hold you accountable by listing them before you read them and at the beginning of the year. No one wants to find themselves staring at a pile of dusty, unread books as they approach December, thinking about how they told their thousands of connections that they were going to read X-number of books this year. 

So here is the plan:

-Tell us now what books you’re going to read. It doesn’t have to be a conclusive list; if you’re anything like me, you have a pile of unread books sitting around at home or on your Amazon wish list. Start with those and feel free to go beyond your initial list.

-When you finish reading them, post a concise list – maybe 5-12 ideas long – of key takeaways from the book followed by to whom/why/why not you would recommend the book.

Accountability, a deeper understanding of what you read and shared knowledge should be the end result. Happy reading and thank you in advance for the bits of genius you’re going to share!

My 2019 List

·         The Behavioral Investor by Daniel Crosby

·         Empire of Liberty by Gordon Wood

·         The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle

·         Beautiful Boy by David Sheff

·         Foreign Policy Begins at Home by Richard Haass

Michael McCloud

Financial Advisor, Managing Director

5y

Thanks for sharing. Titles sound interesting. A book a month is my capacity. The current titles that I am going to read are best captured by a photo.

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Ted Baggson, CTM

Intelligence and Behavioral Threat Assessment Professional

5y

I'll bite, although this isn't so much a list of my recommended or even intended reading for the entirety of 2019 as it is what is up for my reading palate at this outset of the year.  Finished first book of the year, Bartholowmew-Feis' "The OSS and Ho Chi Minh:  Unexpected Allies in the War Against Japan" (a very good read) - and just started Meir Zamir's "The Secret Anglo-French War in the Middle East:  Intelligence and Decolonization, 1940-1948."  Waiting on a corner of the desk, to be read in no particular order are: - Helen Fry's "The London Cage:  The Secret History of Britain's World War II Interrogation Center" - Stephen M. Harris' "British Military Intelligence in the Crimean War, 1854-1856" - Rupert Hay's "Two Years in Kurdistan:  Experiences of a Political Officer, 1918-1920" (published in 1921, but I'm just getting around to it) - Dina Rezk's "The Arab World and Western Intelligence:  Analyzing the Middle East, 1956-1981" This is the current read pile.  Yes, there are others still unread on the shelves, and I have a rather lengthy wishlist, but this is my actual start to the year.  Of course, like everyone else, I am challenged with consuming and parsing massive amounts of information as part of my normal day, so it can have a substantial impact on the rate at which I'm able to read for my own personal edification.  Interested to see what else comes up in this thread. 

Really great practice! Btw — Richard Haas’ other Book ‘World In Disarray’ is another solid one!

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