Ancient Principles for Lasting Greatness

Author: Michael Holmes

I received a copy of this book from Michael Holmes and he has been wonderful to read from and briefly interact with on twitter.  You can find him @MichaelGHolmes or at his website for the book at http://raisetheeup.com/.  The book is quite a short read and easy to read and it covers the subject of greatness from a Christian perspective very well.  For that, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and it is very accurate both from the research aspect and evidence used to outline each area and I think he covers the subject thoroughly.

Greatness is first explored and a number of stories are used to demonstrate what is meant by greatness (both qualitative and quantitative) as well as obedience.

Principles are then explored and how they differ from practices.  I loved the points in instinctive morals but unfortunately, I have to say there were a number of paragraphs and examples that I just couldn’t make any sense of in this area.  Examples of sin being a principle completely lost me and no matter how many times I read it, these parts just completely confused me.  The wording used and how Holmes includes quotes to complete his thoughts I find is very distracting and unnecessary.  Personally, I felt that quotes were used far to much which made the author’s point difficult to follow.  I’m not sure exactly why I felt this way and I had the same feelings reading Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life a few years ago.  It must be a personal preference as millions of people love Warren’s book and obviously the quotes used didn’t keep others away.  The same is likely true with this book.  I’d like to hear an authors point be made from their own words more strongly and then provide some reference or context to back it up, instead of forming paragraphs, arguments and starting new thoughts with quotes from references.

So one thing I really liked are the 3 criteria to identify a principle over a practice:

1. Immutable – simply meaning that it cannot change, its lasting
2. Consequential – principles will consistently bring about consequences (whether they are rewards or downfall)
3. Universal – simply that apply for all wide range and are not specific to certain person or situation.

Next, Holmes covers isolation, desire and character as three critical areas impacted by greatness.  These sections were great and presented with short examples and references as is done throughout the book.

Finally, Homes explores 5 laws: vision, the extra mile, persistence, stewardship and service.  While I love these topics and attach much value to each especially in the personal development studies and writing I do, I didn’t seem to find the same value in these chapters from the book.  I think there is so much covered in such short sections (many are just one page) these laws all felt to be presented in a very disjointed manor.  Again, I felt some of the quotes to distract me from the message even though many supported the argument well.  It simple left the writing to very difficult to read, as the content doesn’t flow and certainly doesn’t segway nicely between the topics.

So, overall I did enjoy the book and I’m sure any Christian would gain much from it and find pieces that really mean something to them.  I think that people who are not very familiar with the characters and stories from the Bible will not understand many of the references and there is little explanation behind each to support it.  If you are looking to deepen your understanding of greatness and to look at principles and your character as it relates to greatness, then this book will definitely give you a great study guide with good examples and references to deepen your research on.  Each chapter even has ending questions to ask yourself or a study group questions about each topic and they would be very helpful in using this book in a group for discussion and review.

Posted by Mike King under Book Reviews | 6 Comments »

Author: Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Well there is no wonder this book became very popular in a short time. It’s a wonderful book to read with lessons in communication and marketing that put immediate changes into your way of thinking about your influence in what you write and say.

The brothers, Dan and Chip Heath have put a set of studies on communication and human nature to the test and drawn not only useful, but easy to absorb and apply steps to make your ideas that you present to others more "sticky".  That is to say, they will be remembered, have more impact and increase the chance of causing lasting change.  The concepts written about in the book are applied beautifully by example in the title and cover as well as the duct tape patch job has actually been embossed out on the books cover.  A brilliant idea that ensures the title of the book at first glace will even stick in your mind.

While the book might seem from the topic to fit only the presenting, marketing or sales type of roles and personalities, it is certainly not limited to those groups of people.  It is an entertaining book that will enable anyone to share their ideas more effectively and to explore the reasons that an idea will last, whether that is in a story you tell, or an idea you have to share.  It will definitely transform your thinking when it comes to your communication and it will engage your mind on simple principles that will enable you to have more winning ideas applied in a way so your message will stick!

The book is segmented into 6 pieces that the authors say are the principles behind any sticky idea.  They are:

• S implicity – make ideas simple by who it’s presented to and how it is described and delivered, regardless of what complexity it is drawn from
• U nexpectedness – using shock or surprise to draw attention and then taking them deeper through genuine interest that will last
• C oncreteness – putting ideas in a perspective anyone can understand and relate to, while making them obvious and hard hitting
• C redibility – use common or believable evidence (people and things) to make your idea easy to access and something that can quickly be trusted
• E motions – ideas can benefit from having a deep emotional connection to morals, beliefs, values or relational bonds
• S tories – put your ideas into memorable and interesting stories to realize the advantages of story telling with your ideas

Many stories are used as evidence and they include urban legends, low-fare airlines, mission to the moon, soap operas, genetics, Disney, nuclear war, classic tests, famous people, state missions, fast food diets, smoking and many many other topics demonstrating brilliantly the sticky ideas that worked in each. They prove these principles and clearly demonstrate why they are so memorable and effective.

The authors make real these concepts by stories as example, but they also explore data from studies and surveys in many areas as evidence as well.  They do this the whole way through with a touch of humor, easy reading, valuable topics and making what could be made very complex, quite simple.  I love how they show so well in their writing exactly it is that they are in fact, writing about and the book is one you will remember, the concepts live on with techniques to apply them and I’m sure you would enjoy the book if you have any interest in it’s message at all.

Like any book, it is only as useful as you take application of it.  I did however, find there is much more applicable content and guides from Made to Stick than there was in similar books like the Tipping Point or Blink .

You can grab a bunch of free outlines and content by the authors here .  It’s good content and quite useful whether you’ve read the book or not, so do check that out!

Posted by Mike King under Book Reviews | 7 Comments »

I’ve had plenty of comments about my book reviews I write and one of my readers and good friend, Khalid, asked how I go about actually writing one. Its a great question and I never really thought about it much until asked so I’ll let you know what I’ve learned from book reviews and how I go about writing them.

Keep in Mind the Review

This is something I think a lot of people neglect when reading a book and I think it is very important. To me, it helps me look at the book from a high level and watch specifically for overall themes and concepts that the author is getting trying to make a point of. If you don’t look for these, sometimes you can get through a book and while you may pick up on little bits of useful information, you may not be left with an overall single theme or concept that the author was making. This doesn’t always work since it obviously depends on the author, however, I find that more often than not, if you are thinking about this, it will be more obvious as well.

Look through the chapter headers, reread any summaries that may be given and look for commonalities between different concepts and chapters. There is often a single underlying theme and that is important to capture whenever possible. Put what you discover on paper and describe it in your own words. This is important for your own learning from the book since once you’ve thought about it and paraphrased it, you will remember much longer than if you simple copy or re-write something the author said in the first place.

Take Notes, Underline or Highlight Important Content

Marking important points in a book is very valuable. I use a technique of simply drawing a line down the page beside any content I thought was very important or useful. Just a simple mark in the margins and nothing more. That way, I can easily flip through a book and quickly see the pages that have points of interest on them and I can reread those parts and refresh my memory. This is particularly useful if you reread a book a year or more later and have forgotten a lot fo the content. Rereading just those important areas will quickly let you remind yourself of all the important points in the book and it just takes a few minutes to have a great refresher!

Some people (and I’ve done this too) will write notes, underline or even yellow highlight important text right in there book. Not everyone will be willing to do this and I’ve had discussions with some friends that would NEVER write in a book since they want to preserve the authors writing without adding your own thoughts for the next reader. You can always make notes in a notepad while you read or just jot down page numbers to come back to that you felt were particularly useful. Tear that page out and leave it in the book so you can easily come back to it at a later date.

Always Include Your Own Opinion

People are social beings and love the opinion of others. They like to make their own opinions as well, but for something new, they will latch on to yours until they form there own, so your opinion is particularly useful for a book review. Think of these two examples, which are you more likely to read?

1. This book was a superbly written and one of the best books in its genre, but I really didn’t enjoy reading it personally, I couldn’t relate to it.
2. This book got bad ratings and some people said they didn’t like it, but I absolutely loved it! It is now one of my favorite books of all time and I’ll definitely be reading it again sometime!

Did you pick #1, or #2. Most people pick #2, especially if that is from someone they know, since we all value a personal opinion more than ratings or a critic.

A book review should always include your personal opinion of the book and how you felt about it. Did you like it, was it enjoyable, useful or easy to relate to? How did it make you feel? Was it easy to read? Exciting? Boring? Whatever you felt while reading it, capture that in your review. It’s often great to make comparisons to other similar books as the reader may have read that book so will easily connect your references to your new review.

Apply Something From the Book and Your Review

The best part of any book is remembering it and whenever possible using that in your life somehow. A great way for this is to look for at minimum, one thing, you will definitely apply from the book. I usually have a few items that I look to apply and if you always plan to apply something from a book, its much easier to find things that are practical and easy to apply, no matter how subtle they are presented in the book. Mark them down, remind yourself of them after the book and schedule yourself a follow up to check if you’ve done it in a week and then a month later. No matter what it is, applying something from a book will help you remember other content from the book as well, as actions are always more tightly associated in your mind so those actions help strengthen your memory recall with others portions of the book as well.

Tell Someone Else About the Book

One more things that makes your review even more useful and easier to remember is to tell someone else about it. Whether this is written or just spoken with a friend or colleague, its great to share something you’ve learned from a book. Its even better to share with them what you plan to apply and your opinions on the book if they are curious or interested in reading it as well. Even though I put up a review of many of the books I read here on LearnThis.ca , I always make a habit of telling someone in person about my latest book I’ve read as well. Don’t always tell the same person about every book you read unless you know they are interested. If you own it the book, always offer to lend it to them if they are interested in reading it themselves after your recommendation or review.

I hope this was useful to see not only how to write a review about a book, but how to take something from reading any book. I started reading reviews on books as a tool to remember them and that eventually spun off into a desire to write other topics which is why I started this blog in the first place. I’ve certainly refined my reviews in the last couple of years and I’d love to hear from others any way I could improve them further and if you have any suggestions on writing great book reviews. If you are just interested in reading and learning them well, here is a great article at The Practice of Leadership called, How to read a Business Book . Enjoy!

Posted by Mike King under Learning | 3 Comments »

Well, it feels like I’m constantly playing catch up with the books on my list that I want to read and that list just got a whole lot longer. I’m a regular listener of the podcast, “The Cranky Middle Manager” and the latest episode #125 is a great discussion with Jack Covert about the best business books list of 2007 by 800 CEO Read.com. I’ve only read a couple from this year’s list but many are already on my list to read for next year after hearing about them on this podcast or from other’s recommendations. Most of the books I’ve read are recommended books and books from previous years “best of” lists so you can view more of them here with a book review search.

There are a lot of great books in this list as well this year, each with a short description and obviously very high rankings so no need to hunt for reviews for individual titles at the bookstore or online. I absolutely love these types of recommended lists since there are books for just about everyone, which gives me a lot of knowledge as a manager to make an easy recommendation for any particular topic even if I haven’t read it myself, yet still trusting it will be a great book.

Just for quick reference, here were the top four books listed:

The Dream Manager Matthew Kelly

The Last Tycoons William D. Cohan

Made to Stick Chip and Dan Heath

Strengths Finder 2.0 Tom Rath

I hope others will get as much value out of this list as I know I will next year!

Posted by Mike King under Business | 2 Comments »

I have quite a few great books I’ve reviewed here and its not because I simply get lucky and mostly find 4 or 5 star books. I do some research before I get a book. There is always other people who have already read any book so you might as well use their ratings and comments to determine if you really want to take the time to read it. There is no reason to read a book at random and have no idea if it will be worthwhile or not.

So, I recommend that you never start at the library or bookstore to find a book. Look up the books you want and keep a list before you ever go to the library or bookstore. Its far easier to lookup books online to review ratings and other reader’s comments beforehand that in the store. Unless you read hundreds of books a year and have time to read books you DON’T like in order to find the ones you love, you need a good method to find the books to read. There are thousands of books available and unfortunately a lot of bad books to avoid. If you strictly limit your books to ones that have maximum ratings or are recommended to you personally then you will likely enjoy reading more. I believe this is why a lot of people simply don’t read and instead get frustrated that the books they do read are not worth the time.

There are so many great book resource sites out there including the big stores like Amazon, Chapters and B&N, as well as book clubs and review sites like Google Books and Library Thing. These sites offer excellent search tools to find what you are looking for, related books and of course, ratings and reviews about nearly any book written. If you simply only read books with great ratings and reviews, you will find you get a lot more knowledge and enjoyment out of your time spent. I know that personally all the top rated books on my list were also highly recommended and only a few are ones that are highly recommended but I didn’t really enjoy. So, I’ll continue to review books I read as I hope they are useful to some of my readers, as I know most of the books on my list are there only because I’ve read other’s reviews of them as well and its a pleasure to give that similar knowledge back!

Posted by Mike King under Learning | 2 Comments »

I’m writing this article since I feel that it wasn’t until fairly recently in my life that I really felt I have learned some important things.

I had always been a quick learner in school growing up and especially with computers and technology! I got pretty use to doing well in my jobs and often thought I knew quite a bit to succeed. Unfortunately, I was completely ignorant of a lot of knowledge I was blatantly missing out on. Once I learned about them, they changed my life. These two things I hold great value in now, were learning to control my sleep to maximize my life, and learning to read. That’s right, learning to read. I’m got a post lined up about the sleep topic I’ll get online in the next few days. This post however, is about learning to read.

Its not that I literally didn’t know how to read, I just couldn’t read well. I never enjoyed books because I couldn’t keep my focus on them so my mind would wander and I would find myself daydreaming and thinking of other things. So, I would either simply get frustrated by the book and stop or wouldn’t get anything out of the book since I couldn’t stay focused on it. So, this led me to not reading a single book after high school until I was about 28. Sure, I read lots of short articles and magazines and things online, I just would never sit down and read. Then it all changed. I started listening to a few motivational speakers (Steven Covey and Brian Tracy come to mind) and they each recommended LOTS of reading. So, I went online and did some research about the average reader and found out that not only was I reading less than any averages I could find, I also found out about the huge variation in reading speeds. I took a simple speed reading online test online and was at an appauling reading speed of only 175 words per minute. This shocked me so I kept doing research. I found out my slow reading speed was preventing my reading from keeping my mind active and stimulated by the content so it would wander and focus on other thoughts and things in my surrounding, even while reading. I learned that by reading faster Continue Reading »

Posted by Mike King under Learning | 1 Comment »