Where to start reading?
Or: when you can read obscene amounts of free content online why read books?
I find myself more frequently being asked one of two questions:
- I don’t read fiction but I want to get into it, can you help?
- I want to get into reading business books, where do I start?
Some people will direct those who ask these questions to bookshops, libraries or amazon.com. I would advise against this.
When people are asking either of these questions (or a variation thereof) the best thing to do is ask questions and recommend books — if you’re a reader then you’re likely to enjoy browsing, but if you have no idea what you’re looking for it might not be all that helpful to wander aimlessly into a bookshop or library.
Where to start with business books
I have come to the conclusion that recommending business books is a far easier exercise than recommending fiction. In business, most people are looking to become better at selling. Everything boils down to that.
(Oh, and investing — books by Robert Kiyosaki and Tony Robbins.)
Even books like “Think and Grow Rich” and “How to Win Friends and Influence People” are about selling. Perhaps in a more round-about way, but they still are quite useful tools in the sales process.
That’s why I always recommend “Life’s a Pitch” and then tailor recommendations after that depending on the person, their experience and their temperament (insomuch as if they’re the kind of person who needs a “3 steps to successfully market your stuff” book or a “Richest Man in Babylon” style book).
Why “Life’s a Pitch” is my go-to recommendation book
I was fortunate that a friend gave me this book early on in my copywriting/content marketing career. This book is split in two parts, each part written by a different author and each author has their own style of writing.
This book discusses how and why life’s a pitch and what that means for you both personally and professionally.
It’s easy-to-read, the examples make sense and it’s one of those rare business books which is fun to read. Neither author messes around with hyperbole, they just get on with explaining things to the reader.
So far, no one I’ve recommended this book to has disliked it. However, how they react to the book and what they want to know next determines what I recommend to them.
Because, even though they’ve liked the book, there are certain elements they like more than others and this allows me to recommend books more relevant to their taste.
In other words, after “Life’s a Pitch” the next best book depends entirely on the reader.
Where to start with fiction?
A friend said to me “Recommend five novels that you reckon I’d like.” Here are the five I recommended him (keep in mind he’d read next to no fiction when I made these recommendations):
- “Carrie” by Stephen King
- “The Greatest Zoo in China” by Matthew Reilly
- “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” by Hunter S Thompson
- “The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway
- “Survivor” by Chuck Palahniuk
If you read fiction you’ll know I’ve jumped genres, styles and decades. What all these novels have in common is that they are easy-to-read. They are fun, and go from disturbing and weird all the way through to action-packed page-turners.
The only genre I left out was fantasy, not for any particular reason (everyone should read Terry Pratchett) except this friend of mine wouldn’t be interested.
I think Terry Pratchett is awesome, but if you aren’t a fan of fantasy you might disagree, and we probably can’t be friends….
Fiction is harder to recommend because it all depends on the genre, on how much time you’re willing to spend reading, and the sort of read you’re after.
It’s also why recommending novels is more fun — it’s more of a challenge. And, in a way, you can learn a lot more about a person by the novels they’re entertained by.
Free content online vs. books
People’ll roll their eyes at this. But that’s okay.
Free content, done properly, will make you want to buy the book. Blogs (and vlogs) — especially for business — are a good introduction to the work of an author. Through twitter, I discovered Mark Schaefer and after reading a few of his blogs decided to buy “The Tao of Twitter” (if you want to understand Twitter, this is the only book you’ll ever need to read about using Twitter).
A former boss recommended I watch Gary Vaynerchuk on YouTube, then I read his blogs and then I bought “The Thank You Economy” and it explains social media marketing really well — go and check Gary out if you haven’t: his content is both entertaining and educational.
These writers and others create free content online but leave valuable content in their books.
Perhaps a more accurate way of putting it is: they go more in-depth in their books.
Seth Godin writes those tiny blogs regularly, but I don’t think they quite provide the same value as “All Marketers are Liars,” the same could be said of Jay Baer’s blog next to his quite useful and interesting book “Youtility” and again same thing for Schaefer’s blog up against his brilliant book “Tao of Twitter.”
Where to start reading?
Those who read are a good source of information, they have generally read a lot so they can tell what books you should read and what to avoid.
Then — once you have an idea of what interests you — browsing is your friend. Picking up books and reading the synopsis to see if it’s your kind of book is still the best way to go. As I said in my last blog, ignore the awards, the accolades, and the hype around a book and see if it resonates with you.
And if books are daunting — many good books are at least a few hundred pages (or feel like it) — start reading blogs, articles, and essays. These shorter form pieces are interesting and a good place to start, but I recommend reading books. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the depth of a good book and the value it can provide you.
Thank you for reading.
