The monthly Book recommendation is a short blog post/ newsletter I write to you on what books I read in the previous month and what I’ll be reading next. This month I could read 6 books.
Books I read in August 2021:
- Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon: Easily, the favorite book of the month. By this book, I complete the trilogy of books by Austin Kleon. He is an author admire so much. Love his books. But I love his second book (of the trilogy) – Show Your Work!, maybe because I read that first. Steal like an artist is a great book, but I recommend reading it before reading any of his other books so that you won’t have high expectations.
- Karma by Sadhguru: An amazing spiritual book. Through this book, Sadhguru demystifies the concept of Karma, and busts one of the greatest myths, and clarifies that karma is not about leaving your future to fate, instead, it is about taking control of what’s in your hands. Sadhguru has also given insights into how Karma works? What is an allocated Karma? It’s you who choose your parents, and the concept of Karma as memory, etc. A very helpful book if you are someone who is trying to improve yourself in all aspects, trying to live fulfilled lives, and if you believe in spirituality.
- The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy: I thought I’ll never buy this book because I already knew the concept of the compound effect. But it turns out I needed this book, so very well written. It clarifies the concept and as well gives enough examples and also explains how when you are making good changes, you might not see immediate results but once the momentum picks up, you’ll start seeing massive results/changes due to the compound effect. He also mentions how the influences- your friends, colleagues, people you be with play a major role in your life and how even that when compounded can either make or break your life. Overall, good book.
- Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz: It’s a psychology/neurology book written by a plastic surgeon. A great book! The author, since he is a plastic surgeon, has first-hand experience seeing various patients and how their self-image changes or does not after the plastic surgery. And how some patients do not really require surgery but some help in transforming their self-image. In fact, it is not transforming, it is discovering the true self-image. And not just that, he explains how our brain works, the automatic creative mechanism, how we must sometimes let go and let the automatic creative mechanism do its job. Really a great book by an author who has first-hand experience in the practical world and as well as the wisdom to know that there is something (God) beyond Science.
- The Archer by Paulo Coelho: Omg, I love these kinds of books – short books packed with ultimate wisdom and that too in the form of a story. After The Alchemist, this itself is the second book I’m reading, written by Paulo Coelho. Incredibly satisfying. Packed with wisdom. In the book, the author narrates a story where Tetsuya a great retired archer teaches a boy the art of archery. And through that explains life. In short words, Bow is life, the arrow is your intentions. One of my favorite sentences from the book is this- A bow is useless without an arrow. Ah!. This book has a lot to offer than how it seems. It’s not just merely a short story of an archer, it’s wisdom for life. Recommend reading it twice. Other books in this category would be Jonathan Livingston Seagull and Illusions by Richard Bach.
- The One Thing: I didn’t want to order this book, it turns out I was right! This is a decent book but in parts, is skewed to see only with that narrow perspective in mind. And the author goes to the extent to say there doesn’t exist balance, discipline, just to make his case. Just because the ideal balanced isn’t reachable, that doesn’t mean you’ve to abandon the direction/path itself. The one thing is definitely a good concept. If there’s one thing you can do to improve your life, what would it be? Just do that. Find your one thing in every aspect of life and work towards it.
Enjoyed reading all of them. Now let’s come to my book list for next month.
Books I plan on reading next:
- So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport
- How To Talk To Anyone by Leil Lowndes
- Quiet by Susan Cain
- Mindset by Dr. Carol S. Dweck
- Rework by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson
- High-Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard
My Book Update:
- A lot of work got done this month!
- I can almost say the first draft is complete. Yes, all the core concepts are done! But, of course, I keep adding and removing things as my intuition guides me.
- Things remaining to work on – Story, my quotes, more of my reflections, backing my concepts with external resources.
- I’ve also written an afterword and author’s note mentioning how this book has transformed my own life!
- Very excited to go for a second round!
Let me know what are you reading currently and what are your favorite books of all time!
Thank You,
Yours Loving,
Sanath Kumar Naibhi
