Tuesday, December 06, 2005

What I Am Reading Today

This week's posts are dedicated to the importance of reading. Continuously learning new information is a great way to advance your business career.

What I Am Reading Today

I thought I would take a moment and let you know what book I am reading this week. It is my 23rd book this year, and although I am only on page 47, I am quite enthralled with this one.

Freakonomics, by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner is at twist on how to look at all things in the world. Levitt is a rogue economist who explores the hidden sides of everything. Topics from crime, public schools, sumo wrestling, abortion, real estate agents and bagel sales have all been covered so far, and I have not yet reached page 50.

I can already tell that this book will challenge me to think. That is what I enjoy about reading books, it forces me to look at the world through a different window. For this I am grateful to my friend, Dave Horn. Dave gave me the gift of books. He was always reading something, and we would discuss the books for hours over strong coffee or cheap beer. While his passion was fiction, his encouragement to read novels lead me to a thirst for knowledge that I did not have while I was younger. I owe much of who I am now to my love of reading.

What are you currently reading and why is it something you would (or would not) recommend? Please post a comment with your opinions of the most influential books.

Have A Great Day.

Thom Singer
www.thomsinger.com
thom@thomsinger.com

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Thom,

I reading Customer Service for Dummies.

Just finished How To Get Your Competition Fired.

Mike Sigers

Adam said...

I seem to read in spurts. I have six on the nightstand/desk right now and I've started in on four of them. One is on bootstrapping, another on marketing for free. A third is about retirement (never too early to think about it, I hear), and the other is a slim 100 pager on networking with which I'm sure Thom is familiar...

Anonymous said...

Hey Thom,
I am reading The World is Flat. Thanks for mentioning this book in your blog last month.

Before that I read SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED.

Tim Homan

Steve Harper said...

Hey Thom!

Might I suggest your next read be The Psychology Influece of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini. Great read! Long but valuable.

Also just finished Leadership and Self Deception by The Arbinger Institute -- equally good

Anonymous said...

Hey Thom...

Great ideas this week. I think the gist of this week on reading is that all of us should make a commitment to being lifelong learners. That's a commitment that I made a long time ago and am so grateful for all that I've learned in my constant reading.

Now I know that most of what I read as a pastor may not be of interest to those who read your blog. But I will pass along the names of a few books on leadership that I've found to be good...

"The Leadership Challenge" by Kouzes and Posner

"Now, Discover Your Strengths" by Buckingham and Clifton

"Living Your Strengths" by Winseman, Clifton, and Liesveld

"Good to Great" by Jim Collins

"The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" by Lencioni