I need a word so I can say what I’m feeling today
Dave Matthews “I Need a Word”
I need a word so I can say how I feel
I need a word that’ll say what I’m meaning to say
and tell you the way that I’m feeling
I love books. I suppose it should come as no surprise as someone who named their blog “Words Matter.” I mentioned in my last blog that I met Florida State Representative Chris Sprowls recently. It’s funny that by the time we finished talking I gave him a book suggestion and he gave me a book suggestion.
Last year I read over 50 books. I purposely set my sights lower this year so I could read longer books if I wanted to. My goal is 24 books this year and as of July 11th, I had read 11 and almost completed number 12. Here is the list so far with a few comments.
- Joyful. Ingrid Fetell Lee
- I doubt I would have stumbled upon this book on my own. I decided to change book clubs this year to The Next Big Idea Club. This is curated by Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Adam Grant, and Daniel Pink and they send 2 books a quarter. This book was a fascinating look at what brings people joy and the science behind it. You will never look at confetti quite the same.
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. J.K. Rowling
- I read this book to my 5 year old earlier this year. We got the illustrated version and it was so fun to read it again with all of the illustrations. We started the second book but he said there were too many characters to keep up with so we have it in reserve for when he wants to return to it.
- This is Marketing. Seth Godin
- I decided to read this after becoming fascinated with Seth Godin’s Akimbo podcast.
- The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming. David Wallace-Wells
- Fascinating book about the science behind climate change.
- Farsighted: How We Make the Decisions that Matter Most. Steven Johnson.
- This is another Big Idea Club book that takes a look at how we make decisions.
- Zero Harm: How to Achieve Patient and Workforce Safety in Healthcare. Craig Clapper, James Merlino, Carole Stockmeier
- Dr. Merlino came to speak to us and so I wanted to read the source material. I was about halfway through it when he came to speak. I recognized a lot of the book as a lot of the work took place at Sentara Healthcare where I worked prior to moving to BayCare in Florida.
- Free to Focus. Michael Hyatt
- Practical book on how to make the most efficient use of time.
- No Hard Feelings: The Secret Power of Embracing Emotions at Work. Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy.
- This is a hilarious book about how we interact with each other at work. It is very well written and because it is so funny it is very engaging.
- Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas that Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries. Safi Bahcall
- The last of the Next Big Idea Club book for this list. This book looks at how often unconventional methods can lead to some of the best ideas.
- Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win. Jocko Willink and Leif Babin.
- I got this book during the American College of Surgeons Leadership and Advocacy Summit. One of the other Navy Seals who now works with them signed my book during the meeting. It’s an interesting concept and each chapter talks about the military application but then shows what the business application is as well.
- Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination. Brian Jay Jones
- This was such an interesting look at Dr. Seuss. If you don’t know we used a lot of Dr. Seuss to decorate our first son’s room. We certainly have heard of some of the controversy over some of his illustrations over time and this book was helpful for me to understand the story.
As far as what book suggestions Representative Sprowls and I shared…you will have to wait until my next book update when I have had the chance to read them both.