I Read 50 Books in 2018 | The list & my favorites

At the beginning of 2018 I created a short list of goals that I wanted to achieve. One of them, and the one I took most seriously, was to read 50 books in 52 weeks. I knew from the outset that I wanted to reread a few books throughout, so I did not care if it was 50 different books or if some were rereads. I ended up reading 43 different books, and reread 7 of them. Many of these books, especially in the “Other Non-Fiction” and “Business” category I will read again and again.

Was it worth it? Absolutely. I learned three very important things from the goal itself, and countless helpful information from the books themselves. First, if you don’t set a goal which is measurable and specific, you probably won’t complete many goals. And if you aren’t hitting goals, you might be stuck in the same place for a long time. Second, there are so many questions in life that we all have, and we wish someone would just tell us the answers…well there are billions of people that have lived before us, and many of the smartest among them have written down what they know for us to use in our own lives. Many of us can feel lost in navigating our lives, and a little bit of wisdom from this guy and a little bit of knowledge from that guy, can make life seem all too easy. Lastly, I learned how to prioritize my time and how worthless many of our daily activities can be (cough TV cough). Don’t get me wrong, I need a lazy afternoon of TV every once in awhile, but for the most part the TV in my house stays off most days of the week. For all the complaining I’ve done in the past about how there is “not enough time”, while simultaneously being relatively confused and lost through life, I have found plenty of time to start making sense of the world we live in, by continued learning and thinking to myself. I have a very very long way to go, but I couldn’t be more excited for the future and the things I’ll learn.

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”- Henry Ford

* book was read twice

Business
How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling- Frank Bettger*
Getting to Plan B- Mullins & Komisar
Zero to One- Peter Thiel
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing- Ries & Trout*
Little Red Book of Selling- Jeffrey Gitomer

Fiction
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance- Robert M. Pirsig
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy- Douglas Adams
Anthem- Ayn Rand
The Doors of Perception- Aldous Huxley*
Heaven and Hell- Aldous Huxley*
Brave New World- Aldous Huxley
Fahrenheit 451- Ray Bradbury
Jonathan Livingston Seagull- Richard Bach

Other Non-Fiction
The Selfish Gene- Richard Dawkins
Stealing Fire- Kotler & Wheal
The Cannabis Manifesto- Steve DeAngelo
Sapiens- Yuval Noah Harari
The Pot Book- Julie Holland, M.D.
Nonviolent Communication- Rosenberg*
Mindless Eating- Brian Wansink, Ph.D.
The Lessons of History- Will & Ariel Durant*
Introducing Relativity- Bassett & Edney
The Tipping Point- Malcom Gladwell
Thinking, Fast and Slow- Daniel Kahneman
The Art of the Handwritten Note- Margaret Sheperd
The Werewolf Handbook- Barron’s
How to Get your Point Across in 30 Seconds or Less- Milo O. Frank
How to Win Friends & Influence People- Dale Carnegie
Debunking Utopia- Nima Sanandaji

Philosophy
Meditations- Marcus Aurelius (Translation by Gregory Hayes)
Waking Up- Sam Harris
The Diamond Sword- Kongi Roshi
Free Will- Sam Harris*
The Four Agreements- Don Miguel Ruiz
Tao Te Ching- Lau-tzu (Translation by Stephen Mitchell

Self-Improvement
The 4 Hour Workweek- Tim Ferriss (read first in 2016)
The Art of War- Sun Tzu
Tribe of Mentors- Tim Ferriss
Life & Work Principles- Ray Dalio
Who Moved My Cheese- Spencer Johnson, M.D.
Out of the Maze- Spencer Johnson, M.D.
Make Your Bed- Admiral William H. McRaven
Think & Grow Rich- Napoleon Hill
It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be- Paul Arden
How to be Mindful- Anna Barnes

Favorites & Standouts

Favorite Fiction Book: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance- Robert M. Pirsig

This book had a firm grip on me from the first chapter. It’s an incredible (based on a true) story about a family’s cross country motorcycle trip, entirely written from the authors point of view. He dives into deep philosophical conversations with himself and relates it back to his love for maintaining a motorcycle. Good for anyone interested in philosophy, but especially helpful for those with an automotive, motorcycle, or maintenance background.

“The test of the machine is the satisfaction it gives you”

Favorite Philosophy Book: Meditations- Marcus Aurelius (Translation by Gregory Hayes)

This is absolutely a classic dealing mainly with stoic philosophy. It is basically a collection of journals that was kept by the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. Not only do I find the stoic philosophy immensely helpful to navigating my own life, but it was amazing to recognize that even the emperor of Rome, over 2000 years ago, had very similar troubles to the modern day person; death, family problems, and government oversight vs protection.

“How much more damage anger and grief do than the things that cause them.”

Standout Philosophy Book: Freewill- Sam Harris

I really like Sam Harris’s perspective on philosophy, meditation, and modern events. Freewill dives into examining exactly what a person having “freewill” actually means, and in my opinion, does a good job debunking that humans have “freewill”. I think it’s a good read for everyone, very short, and gives a very interesting perspective to modern day social problems. What’s the difference to a murderer’s “free will” if they are found to have a physical brain tumor vs a seriously abusive youth that damaged them psychologically?

“Am I free to do that which does not occur to me to do? Of course not.”

Favorite Business Book: How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling- Frank Bettger

Frank Bettger tells an incredible story of his learning to be a successful insurance salesman back in the 30's and 40's (written in 1947). He’s a great story teller, and while his focus is on selling, 90% of this book includes simple plans and ways to live that can be applicable to anyone looking to excel at work, entrepreneurship, or sales.

“All of us would profit by uttering this prayer every morning: ‘Oh Lord, help me to keep my big mouth shut, until I know what I am talking about…Amen’”

Favorite Other Non-Fiction: The Selfish Gene- Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins is well known for his anti-religion philosophy, which he comes at from a biological perspective. This is one of his classics that examines the hypothesis that all living life forms are simply a vessel for the propagation of genes. The organism itself does not evolve to carry on itself, nor do organisms non-selfishly assist each other for “group selection” means. Individual genes are making the long term decisions and the only thing that drives evolution are what the genes want. He really is a brilliant writer, and this was one of the few long books (357 DENSE pages) that had me captivated from beginning to end.

“Genetically speaking, an adult should devote just as much care and attention to its orphaned baby brother as it does to one of its own children. Its relatedness to both infants is exactly the same, ½”

Standout Other Non-Fiction: The Lessons of History- Will & Ariel Durant

I absolutely love this book. It is a short and easy read. Will & Ariel attempt to examine all of human history by finding repetitions and themes among all of civilization. It’s funny, and at the same time does a wonderful job on giving the reader a perspective on humans that will calm down any nervous modern day news addict.

“The first condition of freedom is its limitation; make it absolute and it dies in chaos”

Favorite Self-Improvement Book: The 4 Hour Workweek- Tim Ferriss

This year I read this book for the second time. I’m confident I will read it no less than one time a year for a long time to come. This book is so versatile, it can decrease your perceived workload and stress at any job, it can increase your overall productivity in any job, or it can help one to supplement their income using their strengths and interests. A major theme Tim examines is “work for work sake”, or the feeling that we all have that somehow our “work” takes exactly 40 hours a week, and we feel obligated to fill that time clock, even if it is with worthless activities. Once that is recognized, he explains in very easy terms how to become ultra efficient, effective, and ultimately happy no matter what line of work you are in. Read the first 7 chapters no matter what, read the rest of the book if you are specifically interested in “entrepreneurship”.

“The end product of the shorter deadline is almost inevitably of equal or higher quality due to greater focus”

Standout Self-Improvement Book: Who Moved My Cheese- Spencer Johnson, M.D.

I am a huge fan of short and easy reads, and adult books don’t get much easier than this. This is a fiction story about a few mice trapped in a maze, that sets to demonstrate how people can be completely ambushed by change, and then refuse to adapt and thus, struggle. It’s applicable to pretty much everyone, and shines a light on how we can all navigate a life which we are desperate to control, but inevitably changes and evolves.

“The Quicker You Let Go Of Old Cheese, The Sooner You Can Enjoy New Cheese”