Some say reading books is a thing of the past. We disagree.
The in-depth journey that a book takes us on can be invaluable, revealing whole new worlds of thought and opinion. Like Lucy opening the wardrobe door in C.S. Lewis’ “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe”, we emerge into new landscapes that enable us to step out onto completely new paths of adventure that we may never have considered before.
As we head into Spring, a time when cleaning up clutter and refreshing our environments is often top-of-mind, let’s consider uncluttering our minds and hearts as well. A good book can do that!
Here are a few suggestions for books that can help “Spring clean” your life:
Steve Jobs. (Walter Isaacson, Oct. 2011)
- “Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing. Driven by demons, Jobs could drive those around him to fury and despair. But his personality and products were interrelated, just as Apple’s hardware and software tend to be, as if part of an integrated system. His tale is instructive and cautionary, filled with lessons about innovation, character, leadership, and values.” – (Amazon review)
The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon. (Brad Stone, Aug. 2014)
- “Amazon.com’s visionary founder, Jeff Bezos, wasn’t content with being a bookseller. He wanted Amazon to become the everything store, offering limitless selection and seductive convenience at disruptively low prices. To do so, he developed a corporate culture of relentless ambition and secrecy that’s never been cracked, until now. Author Brad Stone enjoyed unprecedented access to current and former Amazon employees and Bezos family members, and his book is the first in-depth, fly-on-the-wall account of life at Amazon. The Everything Store is the book that the business world can’t stop talking about, the revealing, definitive biography of the company that placed one of the first and largest bets on the Internet and forever changed the way we shop and read.” -(Amazon review)
The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F**k: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life. (Mark Manson, Sept. 2016)
- “In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be “positive” all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people. For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. “F**k positivity,” Mark Manson says. “Let’s be honest, s**t is f**ked and we have to live with it.” In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected modern society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up. Human beings are flawed and limited—”not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault.” Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek. Author Manson makes it clear that there are only so many things we can give a f**k about so we need to figure out which ones really matter. While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A much-needed grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real-talk, filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humor, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is a refreshing slap for a generation to help them lead contented, grounded lives.” – (Amazon review)
Happy reading, and happy Spring Cleaning!
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