Soundbite: My Top 10 Books from Last Year

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“You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.” – Charlie ‘Tremendous’ Jones.

Today, we shall pick up on the books part of these words of wisdom around personal growth and development. Last year I acquired 52 books…but how many did I actually get around to reading? I will run you through my Top 10 books from last year and also share the list of all 52, which might give you some tips for your book wish list. The themes cover mindset & emotional intelligence, personal finance & investment, property and PropTech, habits, routines & processes, biographies and even philosophy & spirituality, in what was an eclectic collection of good reads.

So, something for everyone then! How many of these have you read…listen in or read the transcript to find out?

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Transcription of the show

“You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.” – Charlie ‘Tremendous’ Jones.

So, something for everyone then! How many of these have you read…listen in or read the transcript to find out?

Property Chatter

Transcription of the Show

Hello and welcome to another episode of The Property Voice Podcast. My name is Richard Brown, and as always, it's a pleasure to have you join me again on the show today.

Well, here we are again, and what I thought I'd do is share with you some of the reading that I was doing over the last 12 months or so, towards the end of the year and obviously the crossover into the New Year. It's always good, I think, to take stock of what you've actually consumed, what material you have consumed over the last year. And maybe start thinking about if there's any books you'd like to read again, or if it's any gaps, or particularly, leanings and indirection you need to put right.

So, I thought, I took the time by the two to jot down an exercise of the books that I read, in fact, not just the books that I read, but the books that I acquired or purchased during the course of last year. And I'm making that distinction for a particular reason. And the reason being, that essentially, whilst I read 33 books during the course of the year, some of you may think that's a lot, some of you may think it's not such a lot. I actually had another 19 books in various format which I had bought or had given to me in some way, and just hadn't yet got round to reading.

So, had I have read everything, of course, that would have been 52 books or one a week. I didn't set a specific goal. Well, maybe that's something to take into consideration, I think. The year, I think it was a couple of years ago now, I did set a specific reading goal. I think I read 48 books in a year, so four weeks off for holiday, but 48 books in a year, which for me is pretty good going. So 33 in a year, but it could have been 52 if I read everything. So, that was one distinction really, there was a number of books I did consume versus the ones I actually didn't. Even more surprisingly, perhaps, was the format of the books that I was consuming. So I had a quick look.

A couple of these books I have actually since gone on to buy a paperback if I consumed it as an audio book, but by far, the greatest number of books that I consumed, or actually read during in the year were audio books. So there was 19, or well over half, nearly 60% of the books that I read last year were in a audio book format. And that, for me, it's just an easy format to consume. Next was physical books, which is a bit of a surprise, 10 of those, or 30% were physical books. And then bringing up the rear was Kindle books at a four books, or 12%.

I was a bit surprised, because obvious Kindle doesn't seem to be a format that works particularly well for me, and, in fact, a paperback works better than a Kindle. So that's maybe something to reflect on, especially when I look at the number of books and the type of format of the books I haven't quite read. Yeah, so 19 books, as I mentioned. Four of which are audio book. And I think, to be honest, most of those four were, I bought during a sale period that Audible had on towards the end of the year.

So I was stockpiling, perhaps taking advantage of a sale, because I do tend to consume audio books and then just look for the next one, so I wondered why I had four in stock. And, in fact, I think I read at least two of those already this month, if not into the third one. So, 10 of those books that I haven't read were Kindle. So I think understanding the format that suits you best is something, isn't it? And five are physical books, so yeah, still to read. So, I used to have a rule of having all three different formats on the go at the same time. So an audio book obviously, a Kindle and a paperback. So depending on where I was, what I was doing, I could always be reading things. And, of course, it would mean I was flitting between three different topics, but that actually worked when I read 48 books a year. So there's a bit of a theme going on here, isn't there>.

Anyway, so that's just some of the headlines. What I thought I'd do in this particular exercise, so I've listed all of the books so you can go to the show notes and you can see all 52 books are listed. So the ones I actually bought, ones I actually read versus the ones I'd still to read. Be interesting to see if I do actually read all of those 19 during the course of this year. But what I thought I'd do is just maybe focus in a little bit on the top 10 books that I actually read. Obviously, can't comment about the ones who haven't yet read, although there's one or two in there I'm really looking forward to read, I have to say.

But in the top 10, of course, out of the 33 I actually read, I'm just going to run through them very, very quickly. I tried to rank them. It's a loose ranking, it's not a strict ranking, so don't get too hung up in this. So, some of the ones at the bottom could be interchangeable, some of the ones at the top, possibly could be too. What I noticed, actually, in trying to compile the list of the top 10 and even the top five or three, was I tended to choose the books that had the greatest impression upon me.

So, I was reading somewhere recently that people who don't read books, because they feel that 90% of the books are worth not worth reading, I can see where that line of thought comes from. Maybe if even you just pick the 10% and you don't have to waste your time with the remaining 90%, but how do you know which? And how do you know which in particular is going to work for you? So yeah, obviously trying to refine your choices and be sensible in the books that you're reading is a good idea, don't just read anything. But, it's interesting that my top 10 all had some kind of impact on me in some way, whether it's professional or personal. So, just getting into the top 10 then.

So, at number 10, we've got Option B, which I listened to in audio book format, and that was written by a Sheryl Sandberg with the help of Adam Grant. I think it's mainly Sheryl, and Adam certainly contributed quite significantly on the psychology, but it's kind of her story. So, Sheryl suddenly lost her husband, and this is a topic, grief if you like, and dealing with grief, it's not really spoken about. I lost my father a couple of years ago, and people deal with grief in different ways, and Sheryl decided to write about it. It's a beautiful book actually, and so, I've recommended it to a few other people recently, who are perhaps facing grief in some way, and they found it to be very, very helpful.

So yes, it's not a topic that's really spoken about, and that's one of the problems actually, but Sheryl does a really good job of talking about some of the issues there, perhaps how to talk to people who are suffering with grief, how to deal with it yourself. So yes, unfortunately I had that. I didn't have the pleasure of reading the book, or the benefit rather, of reading the book at the time of my father's passing. But it was very useful to be able to read it and make some sense of it later on. I mean, it certainly helped me to be able to talk to other people who are perhaps in a similar situation, so there we go. Option B, Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant, number 10.

Number nine, actually number eight and nine, you could interchange to be honest, because I read these specifically for professional purposes. So number nine, I've got to Commercial to Residential Conversions which was written by Mark Stokes. Again, in an audio book format. And Mark Stokes has a very professional approach to his business model. So when you read this particular book, there's lots of good stuff about how to undertake commercial to residential conversions. But I would say it's leaning towards being a larger sort of scale or medium sized a developer. So you can still take a lot away if you're an individual solo developer. But, I think, a lot of the philosophy that he has seems to be on sort of corporate governance, and having a team, and having procedures in an office, and those sorts of things. So I think it's more at the larger scale of things.

But similarly, I also read Commercial Property Conversions in paperback format, which was written by Mark Homer and Glenn Delve, and that seems to be more aimed at the smaller scale developer, if you like. So once you're moving up that property food chain from buy-to-let into flips, into development types of projects. It's, I think, more useful there. So that's why it gets a little bit of a higher ranking. Both of the books have got lots of real nuggets, deal calculators, sample costings, those sorts of things, they're in both books. There's a lot you can take away and you can apply. Rules of thumb, if you like, and some experience.

I think the Mark and Glenn book, it does read almost like a book or two halves that they've put together, because Glenn tells his story, Mark tells his story. It's great to get that perspective, but it does make the flow a little bit to-and-fro I suppose. But if you take that to one side, and if you're reading for professional purposes, and you want to learn about the topic, actually, I'd get both of these books. It would be well worth your while, I would suggest.

Number seven I've got, in fact this is really interesting because from a pure property point of view, those two books I've just mentioned are the only ones to make the list, outright property. And that was interesting. I just noted, if you like, the type of book that I certainly favored and got the most out of, in the most part were not specifically property books. And when I thought about that, I've read a lot of property books. I've been reading now consistently for quite some time, so I've covered a lot of ground, and I really wanted to broaden my horizon. So, I think it's kind of reflected in my reading list. If you are an early stage in this industry, perhaps you do want to focus in a lot more on property books specifically, but it's good to broaden your horizons, and I'll come back to that point, actually, because it's made quite well with one or two of the other books I'm going to talk about later.

But as I mentioned, number seven, we've got Principles: Life and Work, which I had in audio book format, and that's by Ray Dalio. Now, this was a book that was recommended to me by a member of my TPV community, who came through the apprentice program. And he said, "I think you'll like this book." And indeed I did. It's very long, and initially I was wondering where it was all going to. But essentially Ray, Ray Dalio is a billionaire, first of all. It's a quasi-biography in so many respects, and talks about his history and his company if you like. But he also talks about how he learnt to master his thoughts and to live his life by adhering to some principles, that, hence the title of the book.

And so, it's a really good book, and in fact, I've since gone on to buy, there's a principles short form version or illustrated version, which I've given as a gift to my nephews, because I think they would really benefit from that. So that tells you about the impact perhaps it's made on me, or maybe what it could make on other people around me. I say it's quite long, he talked about life principles and work principles, and my big takeaway there was something that I was doing in the past, was having a lot of investment criteria, you could translate as principles, to make judgements by. And then, just adapting those for the particular market I'm in. I'm obviously more into conversions and development these days than I was into investments, and refurbishments, and flips and HMOs in the past.

So, it's to adapt those principles to suit the purpose, but to still have principles. And the idea being, if you have principles which you can stick to, it will avoid you falling into the trap of making emotional decisions. Again, a point I will come back to a bit later on perhaps. So that's number seven. Number six is a Give and Take, which I read in paperback format, which actually is the second time I've read this particular book, and that's by Adam Grant.

So I listened to it as an audio book first of all. I think I listened to it the year before, but I got the paperback this year as a reference point, and that's something I wanted to do more of. I haven't quite done that too much, but a couple of books. Unscripted was another one. I didn't read it last year, but I decided I was... In fact, I did, I did listen to the book, sorry. I listened to Unscripted and I decided I wanted to get the paperback version. So I've ordered that. It didn't make my top 10 list even though I actually found it a really interesting book because it was very stimulating. A bit contrarian is another theme, but there we go.

So yeah, in terms of the Give and Take book, that had a radical effect really, on my giving activities personally. The book describes three types of people, fundamentally, givers, takers and matchers. But I guess Give and Take is a better title than givers, matchers and takers. So, I very much identify with the giver, but givers, interestingly, can over-give too. So I really welcome this book cause it helped me to set some clear boundaries. And that, actually, was quite radical and changed the way I do a number of things. So it's worthwhile to get into my top 10.

Which, brings me into the top five. So, at number five we've got Mindsets which I listened to, again, in audio book format, and that's been written by Dr. Carol Dweck. And you can see a TED talk from Dr. Carol Dweck, and she talks about growth mindset. She coined the phrase actually, growth mindset. She talks about the difference in a growth mindset and a fixed mindset, and how we can actually change. And, in fact, we have different mindsets at different points in time. The idea being, with a growth mindset, you can teach yourself to be smarter. You can put more effort in to be smarter. So, you're not fixed with an IQ, you're not set for life.

And, indeed, those who are perhaps naturally smart can come a cropper by falling into the fixed mindset trap. It was really interesting and fascinating, and, in fact, it got a reference in my most recent article for YPN Magazine, by the way. If you want a copy of that, just write in and ask for it, happy to share that with you. I've obviously been thinking a lot about challenge and personal development, and holistic goals, and things like that. So the idea of a growth mindset really came into it.

Perhaps is a bit of a sidebar to that point, I've been deliberately trying to set myself big challenges, or, for me, what I think are big challenges in my life over the last five, six years or so. So I've done things like skydive. I had a fear of Heights, so I decided to skydive, which seems counterintuitive, but I decided you want to crack it in a big way. Not my head, the fear, and so, threw myself out of an airplane. I built a house with my bare hands, along with some of the people. I've done other things, basically to challenge. I did stand-up comedy.

I'm just thinking about what I'm going to do this year. I'm about to change it. And this year I said 10 K after having an operation, run a 10 K after having an operation. But I think I might actually do something a little bit more creative, I'm thinking of writing a song. There you go. I'll put it out there. Let me know if you think that's crazy. It probably is, but never mind. It's a challenge, and that's the whole point of growth mindset. So I'll leave it there.

Number four, a book I read right at the beginning of the year, it was given to me, it's called Charlie Monger: The Complete Investor, which was, it was actually a hard back, but it was a hard copy, and that's by Tren Griffin. Now, I did allude earlier to having this broad outlook and perspective, and Charlie Monger, actually, has this about him. Charlie Monger, he's an investor, he's Warren Buffett's business partner or investment partner, but he's very well read. He's interested in lots of disciplines. And there's a school of thought at the moment, Michael Simmons for example, has been talking about people like Elon Musk and people like Charlie Monger, as what you calls expert generalists.

And so, they're expert in different fields, but they're expert in a particular field, but they're generalists, and they're well, well read. And indeed, they're able to apply the thoughts and the learnings they have from different disciplines into their businesses. So, this is essentially what Charlie Monger does. And he, himself, by the way, has principles that he uses in his life and his investments, so link back to Ray Dalio and principles there of course. So I thought that was fascinating. Really good read. If you're interested in investing, and successful investors I suggest you get a copy of that book. That comes in number four.

And number three, this is another recommendation from somebody in the TPV Apprentice community who just said, "Read this book," and it's called, Can't Hurt Me, this audio book by David Goggins. I have to admit, I probably wouldn't have chosen to have read this book without this recommendation, so it just shows about the power of recommendation and referral. So Can't Hurt Me, David Goggins, amazing man. He's military trained, famously ran for miles with two broken legs. He's defied physical limits on multiple occasions. He's now an endurance runner, or he has been an endurance runner. And he overcame great adversity to get to that place, from a very disadvantaged background with prejudice, and he just defeat defeated the odds. And I have to tell you, I was amazed to read the book and the story, and get from it what I got from it. It deserves a place in my top three books from last year.

He's very colorful in his language so prepare yourself for that. And the start of the audio book, as well, is really good because they make the point that it's a cross between an audio book and a podcast, an interview if you like, maybe between the narrator of the book and David himself. It's a very interesting format. So if you're into your audiobooks and you want something a little bit different, I'd go for that one. I might steal the idea myself at some point. So number number three, Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins.

Number two is The Black Swan, an audiobook, Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Skin in the Game was the first book I read by the same author during the year, in fact, I want to read more by this author. I love his style. He's so confrontational of the status quo, let's just put it that way. He's an independent thinker, he's a contrarian. He's a deep thinker and he really does make you think. The concept of The Black Swan is that a black swan event is something that's rare and hardly ever happens. But as he points out, the black swans happen much more regularly than people make out. It's just not necessarily, entirely predictable as to what will be the trigger for the black swan event.

So, if you think about crashes in markets and things like that, basically it's all predictable. And the author, Nassim Nicholas Taleb goes a long way to explaining how that's the case. And so, the real takeaway for me with this particular book is, expect the unexpected, in short. So, a fantastic read. I'd recommend anything probably from the same author, and I plan to read more of the same for myself, I guess, ends at number two.

But number one, I have to say, if you only read one book during this year, read this one. And this is what I've also said to my community, and it's What I learned Losing a Million Dollars. Listen to it as an audio book, as it's a Jim Paul's story, it was written by Brendan Moynihan, they both get name checks as authors. And it's a couple of decades old now, don't let that put you off, there's some references to the eighties and the nineties. Don't let that put you off. What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars, here's the pretext.

There's probably a hundred ways, if not more, of making money, achieving wealth, being successful, and everyone has got their formula, everyone has got their ingredients, but there's no consistency. Not only is there no consistency, there's outright contradiction. What one person says was successful for them won't work for the other person, and that can be outright contradictory. So it's very confusing in other words. But if you read this book, and certainly as an investor or a trader, essentially, failure or losses boils down to three things. It's a lot easier to remember and focus in on three things than it is trying to absorb all this information from different people's secret recipes for success, and formulas, and blueprints, and what I did, and all the survivor bias that that skews results. You can just focus in on three things.

And I'm just going to try and remember them off the top of my head now, and maybe not embarrass myself, but first thing is to not take failure or losses personally. Not deal with decisions emotionally, and not to follow the crowd. They're the big three really. There's a lot more takeaways. I found myself taking detailed notes, which I hardly ever do with any kind of book. It made a real impression on me, as you can probably tell, it gets a deserved mention at number one of all the books I read last year. So if you had to read one, I suggest you read that one, but you know the other books definitely are worth reading.

Hopefully, you read more than one, so some of the other ones if you haven't read already are worth checking out. Maybe there's one or two in there you might not have heard about, certainly on the extended list, I've even got Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. My own book, yes, I read my own book. Again, because I wanted to stay up-to-date. Grain Brain, because I'm interested in health and wellbeing. Books on SSAS pensions. The Inner Game of Tennis, which is another mindset book. Emotional Agility. You can see where I'm going there. So I won't name check them all. I really wanted to do that today.

So I've kind of mentioned my challenge. Maybe you can give me some ideas there. I was thinking of racing a tall ship. I am going to run a 10 K but I don't really see that as a challenge anymore, having already run 5 K in January. And I'm thinking of writing a song. My wife and I were talking, we were just driving the other day, and apparently this three routes to immortality, which is a Buddhist perspective. One is to father a child, or let's say parent a child, to be more politically correct, and parent a child is one of them.

Write a book is another one, and plant a tree is the third one. And believe it or not, I've done two out of three but not the third one, and yet the third one is one of the easier ones really, it's plant a tree. So I'm definitely going to do that. I'm going to plant a tree, if not, more than one tree during the course of this year. So definitely going to do that, but I don't really consider that a challenge.

So I'm just looking to see, what are my challenge is going to be? It's probably going to be sailing a tall ships race or it's going to be write a song. I think both will be challenging in different ways. What are your views? What do you think I should do? Have you got any other alternatives that you think I should do instead? And don't say go on a podcast, a training course to improve my podcasting skills. I know I probably need to do that anyway.

But there we go. I just wanted to give you that share. Hopefully it's insightful, beneficial at least, gives you some resources. Quite a lot of them, in fact, 52 in the show notes. You're going to find references to all the books that I bought last year, many of which I read and obviously focusing on the highlights. So, if you want to know anything about any of those books, you can always drop me a line, as indeed, anything to do with this episode or property investing more generally.

Of course, I'm not talking exclusively about property investing in this particular episode, but you can find me, podcast@thepropertyvoice.net. I'd be more than happy to hear from you. The show notes are going to be over the website, propertyvoice.net, but I guess, aside from that, all that's left to be said is, thank you very much once again for listening this week on The Property Voice Podcast. And until next time, it's ciao ciao.

Total	33
Audiobook	19 / 58%
Kindle	4 / 12%
Physical Book	10 / 30%

Total	19
Audiobook	4 / 21%
Kindle	10 / 53%
Physical Book	5 / 26%

Soundbite: My Top 10 Books from Last Year

Resources mentioned

Today’s must do’s

Get talking!

Transcription of the show

Property Chatter

Book List 2019

Archives

Categories

Search

Resources mentioned

Today’s must do’s

Get talking!

Transcription of the show

Property Chatter

Book List 2019

Related posts:

Archives

Categories

Search