With summer here, and Christmas holidays on their way, we'll hopefully find time to catch up on some of reading. Are you looking for inspiration? Anyone who knows Sam knows he loves to read, research, learn, analyse and implement. So we have collated Sam's top 10 books - each with his own book review.
THINKING IN BETS: ANNIE DUKEAn incredible paradigm shift about how to view the world and individual situations to help you make better decisions. This book is a real game changer in adopting higher level thinking. It also serves as an aide in removing emotion and biases to arrive at decisions that serve you, and those you care, more effectively. It has changed the way I do business and how I make personal decisions.
MAN'S SEARCH FOR MEANING: VIKTOR FRANKYL
I read this book years ago and derived much wisdom from the author's personal account of surviving the Holocaust. It certainly puts things into perspective and teaches that despite being faced with extreme adversities, as human beings we always have the choice to maintain a sound attitude and focus on positives.
ATOMIC HABITS: JAMES CLEAR
The author is an authority in machine learning and cosmology and puts forward a parable that takes a look into the not too distant future - where the last man-made artificial general intelligence steps into the realms of independent reasoning. It’s an interesting and slightly concerning look at where man's quest for advancement could lead us.
LIFE 3.0: MAX TEGMARK
A recent entrant into my Top 10 books of all time, this well researched and well written non-fiction book dispels many myths about human behaviours, and in doing so empowers the reader to develop better serving habits.
SUM: DAVID EAGLEMAN By writing about ‘the afterlife’ in forty short stories, David Eagleman evokes deep thinking about our existence and what it means to live a good life. Regardless of your spiritual or religious beliefs this is a great book to consider some different perspectives. It's also a fabulous business book that clearly articulates what defines enterprises as either mediocre or excellent, and how they transition into a higher level of operation and customer service. Using real examples, it’s an inspiring read for anyone who is in business or is considering starting their own business.
TRIBES: SETH GODENOne of my favourite thinkers, Seth is a master at refining concepts into their simplest, most essential form to share his valuable business and marketing insights. In this book he talks about being super clear on what your identity is in business, and talking to your smallest viable audience as a strategy to win the hearts and minds of your ideal customers.
THE MILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR: THOMAS STANLEY & WILLIAM DANKO Although people who accumulate significant personal monetary wealth all come from varied backgrounds and circumstances, there are universal principals and habits they exercise to retain and grow the money they earn. The authors make observations that made me adopt a totally different attitude towards money. Wealth creation is more about your habits than it is about how much money you earn.
LEONARDO DI VINCI: WALTER ISAACSON Without doubt, Leonardo Di Vinci had one of the greatest minds that ever existed. Before reading this I had a very shallow appreciation of his brilliance. This book left me staggered with how sophisticated and creative his thinking, art and inventions were.
EAT THAT FROG: BRIAN TRACY My foundations as a sales person were greatly influenced by Brian Tracy, and in this great book he sets out what the common barriers to personal productivity are and how to overcome them. This is an excellent book for enhancing systems, organisation and reaching new levels of productivity. I’m not one who naturally liked regimented structure because it seemed like the opposite of freedom, but I learned the hard way that a lack of structure ends up stealing your discretionary time. This book shifted my thinking and has freed up major capacity to focus on the truly important, value adding things in life.
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