Success Books – Successful Reads

I love to blog.  And I love to read.  So why do I find it so hard to peck out a book review on this blog? I’ve been asking myself that for some time.

During the past few years I’ve devoured book after book.  I have a stack here of success oriented sitting here on the shelf books waiting to be reviewed.  But those blog posts are something I so easily put off.

The reason, I believe is this…

I believe to much in “Perfection.”

I’m not sure why, but I tend to look at a book review a little differently that the other blog posts I make on other sites.   I feel that I can’t write a book review unless it is an in-depth,  and well-researched book review.

You know the kind…

The ones like the critics post on places like Amazon.

Well I’ve decided that I am tired of feeling like a book blogger failure.

So here is what I have decided to do…

I’ll share with you a few of the concepts I learned from the book.  Perhaps  something about how the book helped me to solve a specific problem. I’ll share my insights on who the book may help.  I’ll share with you a few of my favorite quotes and passages.  And I’ll leave the long-winded book reviews to others.

So expect more posts.

After all, I’ve got this big stack of books here just waiting for me.

Would you like to learn how to better communicate your ideas? Would you like to learn how to motivate others with your words?

Yes?

Well, you’re sure to find more than a few ideas on how to communicate more effectively in the book Words that Work: It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear by Frank Luntz.

You see, Frank’s books goes to the core of how the words you use persuade. It contains useful information on how to best organize your words to enable your message to get across, how the meaning of words can change, and how carefully replacing just a single word can change many peoples view on a certain subject.

Dr. Frank Luntz recommends these rules to create more effective communication

1. Simplicty: Use small words.
2. Brevity: Use short sentences.
3. Credibility is as important as philosophy.
4. Consistency matters.
5. Novelty: Offer Something New.
6. Sound and texture matter.
7. Speak aspirationally.
8. Visualize.
9. Ask a question.
10. Provide context and explain relevance.

Not only does the book provide you with some rules of communication, but Words that Work is full of examples that demonstrate how simple words can make a huge difference in politics, business, and relationships.

You’ll find that many of those examples are taken from politics. But as you read, carefully looks at the examples and ask yourself what you can learn from it. Using these methods you’re sure to further your communication skills.

Trickery and Deceit?

No doubt, some people will say to avoid the book as these methods are a form of trickery and deceit.   If you are using words to sell snake oil, than the methods could easily become a form of trickery or deceit.  However, if you are using words to help sell noble ideas and values than how could they be?

So, increase your chances of success, focus on how to be understood, and learn skills to further your success. After all, the words you use can mean the difference between success and failure.

I love to learn, but often find it difficult to fit in as much educational time as I would like. David. S. Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheim have come up with an easy way to easily increase your knowledge. Simply read a page a day from their book The Intellectual Devotional.

Each day of the week is devoted to a specific topic:

• Monday – History
• Tuesday – Literature
• Wednesday – Visual Arts
• Thursday – Science
• Friday – Music
• Saturday – Philosophy
• Sunday – Religion

Of course there will be plenty of topics in the  The Intellectual Devotional that you already know about, but chances are that you will learn something new on that subject. For example, during the first week you’ll learn about…

Monday – Day 1 (History) The Alphabet

Did you know that the Egyptians developed the alphabet as an easy way to communicate with their slaves, and when these slaves eventually migrated back to their home country they took the writing system with them?

Tuesday – Day 2 (Literature) Ulysses by James Joyce

Did you know the novel Ulysses by James Joyce was banned from the United States for nearly twelve years due to the sexual imagery.

Wednesday, Day 3 (Visual Arts) – Lascaux Cave Paintings

The creators of the painters made use of perspective, they painted the figures high on the wall, and a manner that would not be distorted to the viewers below.

Thursday – Day 4 (Science)  Cloning

You’ll read about Dolly the Sheep.  However, did you know that Dolly’s
telomeres (a thin strand of protein at the end of the chromosomes) are the same as the mothers.  A newborn sheep would normally have much longer telomeres.  Telomeres seem to help protect our cells and get thinner as we age. So there could be some truth to all those science fiction stories of clones aging quickly.

Friday – Day 5 (Music) The Basics of Music

I played the Viola for many years so I have some musical background. However, I did learn that in India the musical pitches are chosen from a collection of twenty-two possibilities, and the distance between the steps on a scale are sometimes are larger and sometimes smaller than those used in the Western world.  This makes the differences between the pitches in Indian music very subtle.

Saturday – Day 6 (Philosophy) Appearance and Reality

I learned about a group of philosophers called the Presocratics. While I had heard of each of these philosophers before I didn’t know they believed the world was vastly different from what the experienced.  For example, Thales held the belief that all reality was ultimately composed of water, while Heraclitus believed the world was built from fire.

Sunday – Day 7 (Torah)

Torah scrolls are written in Hebrew by hand. They contain 304,805 letters and make take more than a year to produce. If a single mistake is made, the entire scroll becomes invalid.

I recommend this book for several reasons.

1. It’s a great way to expand your knowledge about a wide variety of subjects.
2. Each day’s reading is a quick read – just one page.
3. The things you learn can be a great way to start a conversation.  This is a lesson I learned from my teenage son.
   can always tell when he has been reading the book as he uses the things he learned to start a conversations with me.  He just revealed to me that one of his major motivations to reading it is to find something interesting to talk about, and interesting ways to start a conversation.  Personally I think that is brilliant, but then I think he is brilliant most of the time.  Interestingly the 2nd and 3rd book in the series uses the words “converse confidently” in the title.

One thing that would have improved the experience for me would be additional illustrations, particularly for the art subjects.  For example, when reading about the Lascaux Cave Paintings it would have been wonderful to have an illustration to look at.

Genre:  Daily Lessons/Devotional
Published by Rodale in 2006.
Hardcover;  364 pages.
List price is $24.00
ISBN: 1-59486-513-2

>>Currently available at Amazon.com for $16.32

Also from David. S. Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheim

• The Intellectual Devotional: American History: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Converse Confidently about Our Nation’s Past (Hardcover)
• The Intellectual Devotional Modern Culture: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Converse Confidently with the Culturati (Hardcover)

In a previous post I ranked novels into a list called The Top Novels of All Time. I did this by referring to six different best-seller lists and averaging the score to determine each books placement on the list.

Referring back to that list only, I thought it would be interesting to see what our readers think should be the ranking of the books on that list.

So take the poll below and tell us which books would be in your top ten.

Also…

I know that many of you will have many books in your top 100 that aren’t even on this list.  After all, this list doesn’t have many of the modern books on it so click here to add your book to a readers choice listing.  Eventually your favorites will go head-to-head with the Top 100 Book listing in the Ultimate Book Showdown.

To review: vote for your favorite in the poll below then tell us which books you would like to see on that list by clicking here. Read the rest of this entry »

Image Courtesy of bensonkua's Photo Stream

Many of you have favorite books in your top 100 that aren’t on the The Best Books of All Time listing. After all, that list didn’t include many of the modern books on it.  So here’s your chance!

What book do you think should be on the list?

Share them in the comment section below.  Books that receive a lot of votes (via comments) will be added to a poll that includes the The Top Novels of All Time listing in the Ultimate Book Showdown.