Top 5 Books from 2019

Just as I did 2017 and 2018, I made it one of my goals in 2019 to read one book a month. It was the first year I exceeded my goal by reading 13 books (partly spurred on by the voracious reading of my wife who read 30 books). Here’s the top 5 books I read from 2019:

Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know by Malcolm Gladwell

Gladwell wrote this book as a response to the rise of policy brutality against African Americans in the United States. He was unsatisfied with the discussion following the multiple incidents in adequately explaining what was happening. Through research, interviews, and the telling of some captivating stories, Gladwell uncovers the reasons we are so bad at talking to strangers and truly understanding them. Gladwell says we use these three tools to help us make sense of strangers, and explores how these tools fail us:

  • Truth Default Theory – we assume people are telling the truth and that is our baseline operating assumption
  • Transparency – we assume that people’s behaviour and demeanor (what we see on the outside) provides a window into what they feel on the inside
  • Coupling – we incorrectly assume the person’s actions are not linked to their environment

I listened to the audio book version, which was more like a podcast. Gladwell not only read the book himself, but he used audio clips of his actual interviews, clips of the people in the book speaking, and voice actors to play out part of the stories. This made for an extremely engaging “read” that felt more like a podcast than a book.

The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier

I usually don’t like re-reading books, but I made an exception for this book. In learning to better serve people in conversations, I’ve tried to give less advice and ask better questions and this book has helped me understand how to do this. Michael Stanier is the founder of Box of Crayons, which specializes in helping busy managers coach in 10 minutes or less. His book is a practical guide on what coaching is and teaches readers how and when to use these 7 simple coaching questions:

  • What’s on your mind?
  • And what else?
  • What’s the real challenge here for you?
  • What do you want?
  • How can I help?
  • If you’re saying Yes to this, what are you saying No to?
  • What was most useful for you?

In conclusion, Michael says, “The real secret sauce here is building a habit of curiosity.”

Becoming by Michelle Obama

I listened to the audiobook of Michelle Obama’s memoir and enjoyed listening to her stories and reflections of growing up in the South Side of Chicago, her journey to studying at Princeton, then Harvard, and becoming a lawyer, her career shift to community work, how she dated and married Barack Obama, Barack’s presidential run and her involvement in it, and her life as first lady. Having read both of Barack Obama’s books several years ago, it was fun to read Michelle’s story and her perspective. What struck me the most was the sacrifice that she made to give up her fulfilling and meaningful career to help Barack campaign and to make sure her daughters had as normal a life as possible. Also intriguing was how she took advantage of the spotlight she was in to start Let’s Move to help Americans raise a healthier generation of children.

Pivot: The Only Move that Matters is Your Next One by Jenny Blake

Jenny Blake is a former career development program manager at Google and writes about how to methodically make your next career move by focusing on what is already working. She lays out a four-step plan:

  • Plant – define your values and reflect on your strengths
  • Scan – scan for opportunities by relying on your network of mentors and advisors, generate opportunities instead of waiting for them
  • Pilot – before making your career pivot, pilot your ideas with small, low-risk experiments
  • Launch – overcome the fear of launching by identifying specific criteria to determine when to launch out into your new career

Having gone through several career changes, I can see how practical her book is for anyone looking for a new job or starting a new business.

Farsighted: How We Make the Decisions that Matter the Most by Steven Johnson

Decision-making is likely the most critical skill in life and determines our path in life. However, the tool that most people use to make major decisions is a pros and cons list, which was made famous by Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century. Steven argues that there are better decision-making tools we can use. Through telling historical stories like Darwin’s consideration to get married, George Washington’s pivotal loss of New York in the civil war, and Obama’s plan to successfully take down Osama bin Laden, Steven shares powerful tools for complex decision-making like mapping and predicting. He also makes an interesting case for how reading fiction can improve your decision-making skills.

The Other Books I Read:

PS – Here’s my wife Olive’s Top 5 List from 2019