My favorite sister asked me to list the books I've read during the last 203 days. There have been a few and while I don't know if I'll miss anything, here goes:
The Bible: This one was written by God. I have the King James and New Living translations. I read them both, though not as often as I should.
Atlas Shrugged: It's the size of a phone book, and it's life changing. I wish I had read this as a teenager. It is by far one of the most important books I've read. It's the kind of book that makes you wonder if the events it describes are happening right now.
Good to Great: I am currently reading this book by Jim Collins. It's about corporations that make the leap to greatness - and ones that don't.
Thinking Big: Donald Trump is brilliant and arrogant and wow, what hair!
The Game of Life: This book was written in the 1920's. A lot of practical advice on positive thinking and such.
Breakthrough Thinking: Denis Waitley on how to innovate.
The Compound Effect: Darren Hardy on how to take little steps that make a big difference.
The Four Agreements: A very simple guide to inner peace and happiness
I have listened to several books on tape, mostly summaries from Success Magazine.
I read Success magazine cover to cover each month and listen to the interviews it brings.
I have revisited some of my old favorites like:
The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
I have taken, "The Course in Mastery."
I watch motivational or instructional videos on YouTube.
I read articles in Fortune (not news, more like analysis), Entrepreneur, Inc. Magazine, Wine Spectator, and a few others.
This is not a comprehensive list. My wife commented to me a couple of days ago that I'm the only person she knows who is not into anything. I don't golf or play tennis, I'm not into cars or model airplanes. I just read. You should too, so you can be just like me! (Barnes & Noble will probably sue me for what I just did to their sales with that remark.)
Make it your best day yet. God bless you.
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
Day # 102 - Books
A City in South Florida recently built a library. Beautiful structure. Only one thing. No one remembered to order books. Part of me thinks it's okay. Most people go to the library to go on the Internet anyway. When I was preparing to take my Series 7 exam, I would ride my bike to the library, carrying all my study materials in my backpack (green JanSport backpack - lasted me ten years and someone who shall remain nameless borrowed it, never to be seen again - I miss that bag!) I chose to go to the library because there were to many pitfalls at home (TV, refrigerator, bed, etc.) Last week, I wrote about how being in a room full of strangers motivated me to keep going during spin class. Being in public while studying kept me from slacking. No one needed to know what I was doing, but I would never allow anyone to see me slacking.
Sometimes, when I need to get away, I'll get out of my office for a while and wander through a bookstore. Sometimes I'll buy something, but often, it's just a comfort to be surrounded by so much wisdom and discipline. (I've written five novels and six screenplays - it takes massive amounts of discipline even to write a lousy book! And don't even get me started on editing!)
I have two nightstands next to my bed. There are about thirty books on them, plus another dozen inside the drawers. I also have pens, high-lighters, and notebooks. There is a bookshelf in my room that holds about two hundred books, and close to 1,000 magazines. Did I mention the stack of magazines on the floor? (I've got to do something with those, I know.) I have two bookshelves in the living room holding at least a thousand more books. And then there are a couple of dozen on my desk and a few hundred in the cabinets in the garage. My kids have at least 500 books in their room, plus more at their grandparents' house. A couple of months ago, I gave a few boxes of books (mostly novels & literature) to Goodwill.
Why? Because I find comfort in this. I like having Ernest Hemingway, William Shakespeare, and Emily Dickinson in my house. I even like having Stephen King around if you can believe that! Since I never went to college, I have had to teach myself anything I wanted to know. Tom Hopkins taught me to sell (or how not to in some cases), Herb Cohen taught me to negotiate, Napoleon Hill taught me how to Think and Grow Rich, Joel Osteen taught me how to stretch my faith, and Tom Clancy taught me how to build a submarine. You never know when the need will arise.
I can't live without books. I wouldn't want to. When was the last time you read a book? Was it good? What did you get from it? Let me know. I'm always looking for my next bedtime story.
God bless you. Make today your best day yet.
- Adolfo
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Sometimes, when I need to get away, I'll get out of my office for a while and wander through a bookstore. Sometimes I'll buy something, but often, it's just a comfort to be surrounded by so much wisdom and discipline. (I've written five novels and six screenplays - it takes massive amounts of discipline even to write a lousy book! And don't even get me started on editing!)
I have two nightstands next to my bed. There are about thirty books on them, plus another dozen inside the drawers. I also have pens, high-lighters, and notebooks. There is a bookshelf in my room that holds about two hundred books, and close to 1,000 magazines. Did I mention the stack of magazines on the floor? (I've got to do something with those, I know.) I have two bookshelves in the living room holding at least a thousand more books. And then there are a couple of dozen on my desk and a few hundred in the cabinets in the garage. My kids have at least 500 books in their room, plus more at their grandparents' house. A couple of months ago, I gave a few boxes of books (mostly novels & literature) to Goodwill.
Why? Because I find comfort in this. I like having Ernest Hemingway, William Shakespeare, and Emily Dickinson in my house. I even like having Stephen King around if you can believe that! Since I never went to college, I have had to teach myself anything I wanted to know. Tom Hopkins taught me to sell (or how not to in some cases), Herb Cohen taught me to negotiate, Napoleon Hill taught me how to Think and Grow Rich, Joel Osteen taught me how to stretch my faith, and Tom Clancy taught me how to build a submarine. You never know when the need will arise.
I can't live without books. I wouldn't want to. When was the last time you read a book? Was it good? What did you get from it? Let me know. I'm always looking for my next bedtime story.
God bless you. Make today your best day yet.
- Adolfo
Follow me on Twitter
Friend me on Facebook
Follow A Year Without News
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Day # 35 - Back to school
I love books. Truly, I can't live without them. I own thousands of them and have given thousands more away over the years. At the present time, I have 43 books by my bed (I have a nightstand and a second small table.) There is a bookshelf built into the wall which is holding over 100 books and there are probably 300 magazines there, most of which belong to Abby.
I have two bookshelves in the living room packed with more books and there are a few hundred more in the garage. While I have given away thousands of books over the years, there are some I can't part with - at least not yet. Although I've read them, there are some books I have to have near me. I go back to them now and again and read a favorite passage or randomly open to whatever page and read a few lines.
Having them brings me comfort. I have some of the greatest minds in history in my house: Hemingway, Dickinson, Shakespeare, Dumas, Frost, Poe. Such brilliance, mine for the taking. I love books!
I don't own a Kindle or any kind of digital book reader. I don't know if I ever will. There's just something about the feel, the weight of a book. The smell of the paper. Falling asleep with it in my hands, waking up and trying to figure out where I was. I really love books. I even love them on CD, which have become my favored form of entertainment when driving.
I told you that to tell you this:
Never stop learning. School is where you get your training, but life is where you get your education. Education is ongoing, education is gained from experience, from your parents, from your teachers when they stray from the lesson plan, from listening to an elderly person, from standing in line between people who are impatient. Education comes from watching the birth of your child, the death of a loved one. Education comes from being lost in suburbia, falling in love, divorce, reconciliation, arguments, laughter, thoughts, listening to birds, walking along a busy street. Education comes from books you choose to read.
I feel a bit concerned for people who don't want to learn. People content with what they already know kind of annoy me. It's wrong on my part because it's none of my business, but if you're not growing you're dying. I hate to sound melodramatic, but another way television is destroying humanity is that it's created a lack of real intellectual curiosity.
Obesity continues to spread and its not just our butts that have gotten soft and mushy. The same is happening to people's brains. We are a society suffering from mental obesity. We don't exercise our minds or expand our knowledge. We don't exercise our curiosity and it is starting to atrophy.
It's no wonder America isn't what it used to be. It's no surprise that we elect the "leaders" we do. We allow politicians and the media to tell us how unfair life is; how the rich get richer and the poor get screwed. Never mind that about 80% of the millionaires in this country are self-made. You're being fed propaganda meant to make you believe that the difference between you and your boss is that your boss is a cheater. Don't listen to Obama, Pelosi, McCain, or any of the rest of these losers who have never spent a moment in the real world. Read the biographies of people like Carnegie, Edison, Tony Robbins, Oprah, Suze Orman, and countless others, who made something out of their lives by sheer force of will.
The government and media will never teach you this. Only books will. No one ever got rich or even independent from welfare. Any welfare success stories begin when someone got off the government dole.
I challenge you to read today. It doesn't matter what it is. Even if it's a novel. Just read. Start the habit. Turn off the TV with it's poisonous propaganda and do something constructive. Educate yourself. And let me know how it goes.
Lessons:
- Education never ends
- Books broaden your horizons by challenging you to think. TV does the thinking for you.
- The propagandists are not your friends.
Today's Declarations:
- Day by day in every way I am getting better and better
- I will dedicate time to educating myself
- I will never be complete, I will always evolve
- I will resist propaganda and think for myself
There are so many worthy biographies. Benjamin Franklin's autobiography. Abraham Lincoln's story is amazing. Yogi Berra. Sylvester Stallone. There are literally thousands, if not millions of inspiring biographies out there. Read them and share your thoughts with me.
Make it your best day ever. God bless you.
-Adolfo
Start building your Success Library!
Follow me on Twitter
Friend me on Facebook
I have two bookshelves in the living room packed with more books and there are a few hundred more in the garage. While I have given away thousands of books over the years, there are some I can't part with - at least not yet. Although I've read them, there are some books I have to have near me. I go back to them now and again and read a favorite passage or randomly open to whatever page and read a few lines.
Having them brings me comfort. I have some of the greatest minds in history in my house: Hemingway, Dickinson, Shakespeare, Dumas, Frost, Poe. Such brilliance, mine for the taking. I love books!
I don't own a Kindle or any kind of digital book reader. I don't know if I ever will. There's just something about the feel, the weight of a book. The smell of the paper. Falling asleep with it in my hands, waking up and trying to figure out where I was. I really love books. I even love them on CD, which have become my favored form of entertainment when driving.
I told you that to tell you this:
Never stop learning. School is where you get your training, but life is where you get your education. Education is ongoing, education is gained from experience, from your parents, from your teachers when they stray from the lesson plan, from listening to an elderly person, from standing in line between people who are impatient. Education comes from watching the birth of your child, the death of a loved one. Education comes from being lost in suburbia, falling in love, divorce, reconciliation, arguments, laughter, thoughts, listening to birds, walking along a busy street. Education comes from books you choose to read.
I feel a bit concerned for people who don't want to learn. People content with what they already know kind of annoy me. It's wrong on my part because it's none of my business, but if you're not growing you're dying. I hate to sound melodramatic, but another way television is destroying humanity is that it's created a lack of real intellectual curiosity.
Obesity continues to spread and its not just our butts that have gotten soft and mushy. The same is happening to people's brains. We are a society suffering from mental obesity. We don't exercise our minds or expand our knowledge. We don't exercise our curiosity and it is starting to atrophy.
It's no wonder America isn't what it used to be. It's no surprise that we elect the "leaders" we do. We allow politicians and the media to tell us how unfair life is; how the rich get richer and the poor get screwed. Never mind that about 80% of the millionaires in this country are self-made. You're being fed propaganda meant to make you believe that the difference between you and your boss is that your boss is a cheater. Don't listen to Obama, Pelosi, McCain, or any of the rest of these losers who have never spent a moment in the real world. Read the biographies of people like Carnegie, Edison, Tony Robbins, Oprah, Suze Orman, and countless others, who made something out of their lives by sheer force of will.
The government and media will never teach you this. Only books will. No one ever got rich or even independent from welfare. Any welfare success stories begin when someone got off the government dole.
I challenge you to read today. It doesn't matter what it is. Even if it's a novel. Just read. Start the habit. Turn off the TV with it's poisonous propaganda and do something constructive. Educate yourself. And let me know how it goes.
Lessons:
- Education never ends
- Books broaden your horizons by challenging you to think. TV does the thinking for you.
- The propagandists are not your friends.
Today's Declarations:
- Day by day in every way I am getting better and better
- I will dedicate time to educating myself
- I will never be complete, I will always evolve
- I will resist propaganda and think for myself
There are so many worthy biographies. Benjamin Franklin's autobiography. Abraham Lincoln's story is amazing. Yogi Berra. Sylvester Stallone. There are literally thousands, if not millions of inspiring biographies out there. Read them and share your thoughts with me.
Make it your best day ever. God bless you.
-Adolfo
Start building your Success Library!
Follow me on Twitter
Friend me on Facebook
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