My Favorite Books of 2017

Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant – I loved Grant’s book Give and Take, which was one of my favorite books in 2013. This is another thought provoking piece of work. Grant breaks many myths about success along the way.

Some key findings are innovators who are risk averse have better success than those who put all their eggs in one basket. They don’t quit their jobs until they know what they’re doing is working. He also talks about making sure your company culture doesn’t prohibit speaking out and questioning long held beliefs. In this case, it’s often valuable to have people with various backgrounds participate in projects from the beginning when the chance to make changes is least costly.

Another interesting fact is that innovators who are open to more experiences end up with more novel ideas. Those who moved frequently, mostly in foreign countries, had more experience to draw upon when creating. Their creations end up being ground breaking because they are pulling experiences from multiple cultures. Also, those who have an artistic hobby were more likely to win Nobel Prizes. Having an outside artistic pursuit allows the person to see things differently. This artistic pursuit also allows the person to take time away from a project with the ideas percolating in their head, giving them the distance from their endeavor and giving them time to think about it. This is similar to what was written about in The Pause Principle, which was on my list from last year.

Innovators succeed because of the sheer volume of ideas generated. They crank out enough work that they are constantly tweaking things and finding better solutions. It stands to reason that they have more failures and that they are able to pinpoint what didn’t work or what could work with slight changes. A non-traditional look at innovators and well worth reading.

Revolver: How The Beatles Reimagined Rock’ N’ Roll by Robert Rodriguez – The Beatles have been one of the biggest influences in my life. I’ve read dozens of books about them over the years. This book is different than anything I’ve read. It’s about their album Revolver. Rodriguez brilliantly lays out the book in three parts. He sets up what was going on on, not only in the Beatles’ lives, but in popular music and the world at the time, the origin and process of writing and recording the songs, and the aftermath of the album, including its reception and its place in music history.

You get a feel for where the Beatles were coming from and what the mindset was heading into this album. Rodriguez describes Revolver as the last true Beatles album in that they never collaborated at this level again. With the Beatles focusing on their work in the studio they gave of themselves completely. No matter who had the best idea, that idea won. Who ever had an idea for a part, they would play it. For example, the guitar solo on George Harrison’s song Taxman is played by Paul McCartney, though Harrison generally played the lead guitar parts.

With each new album the Beatles became more experimental and it’s clearly evident on Revolver. Also new in the studio was engineer Geoff Emerick. He helped the Beatles get the sounds they wanted and wasn’t afraid to go against EMI’s (Abbey Road studios) imposed limitations on how to use the recording equipment. With producer, George Martin, they created one of the most revolutionary albums in rock and roll. It’s interesting to point out that when the Beatles went on their last tour in the summer of 1966 as the album was released, they didn’t play any songs from the album. The author makes a case that if it wasn’t for John Lennon’s remarks about being bigger than Jesus, which took coverage away from the album, Revolver and not Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band would be regarded as the most important album in rock and roll history. And he may be right. This is important reading for any Beatles or music fan.

The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery by Sarah Lewis – I’ve read many books on creativity but nothing quite as fresh and unique as what Lewis offers up. It’s a beautiful piece of work; a work of art in a way. When we think of creativity and innovation we think of writers, poets, painters, dancers, and musicians. Lewis expands that view to include practically everyone. She shares stories from who we consider typical artists, but also talks about, and with, inventors, athletes, explorers, educators and more.

Lewis writes about approaches to creativity from a different perspective. She talks about Ben Saunders, an Arctic explorer, who has hiked to both the north and south poles by himself. A feat that has killed many who have attempted it. Artists don’t endure the physical demands that Saunders does in Arctic conditions, but he shares a similar mindset. When faced with the wind, temperature (a constant -30 degrees Celsius), and the pain of the journey he gives in to a feeling of surrender. Surrender, not as giving up, but as giving in. This allows you to “convert your energy and operate at full force.” This is more along the lines of Neitzsche’s amor fati, to love your fate or in the martial art, aikido, the use of nonresistance. When we stop resisting something, we stop giving it power.

Another section is about being a deliberate amateur. This can be thought of not as a not knowing or lacking experience, but demonstrating a willingness to strive, to seek, to find, almost in a play-like state. One example, she discusses the story of Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, physicists who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010. They began holding “Friday Night Experiments” in their lab which were ideas that were so crazy, that they probably wouldn’t work, but if they did it would be surprising. The safe space of their lab allowed them to run experiments they wouldn’t otherwise attempt.One of these experiments lead to their Nobel Prize win.

This was an eye-opening book that’s made me look at my work differently. There are many more ideas presented other than the two I’ve covered. If you’re interested in creating and innovating pick up a copy of The Rise. You’ll be glad you did. I’ve incorporated many ideas from this book into my own life since reading it. I’ve adopted surrender as my new goal and it’s changed me. If you only read one book from this list, this would be my recommendation.

Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer – I knew this book was going to be different based on the name of the first chapter – “Bob Dylan’s Brain.” This book did not disappoint. I’ve read many books on creativity and they follow a similar line. This one veered off the path and made a new trail! In that first chapter Lehrer shows the breakthrough Dylan had once he gave up music, went to Woodstock and started to write songs, but only in a style that he never did before. Once convention was out of the picture, music poured out of him. He wrote and went with the flow of where the songs were going. What he come up with was completely different – “Like a Rolling Stone” which was the debut single from Highway 61 Revisited.

The chapter entitled “Letting Go” was one of my favorites. In it, the author talks to Yo-Yo Ma about his approach to music. Ma said he looks forward to making the first mistake so he can enjoy the rest of the piece and perform. He also looks over a score to find out the story that’s being told by the composer and then imparts himself and his heart where needed and forgets the technical aspects and just plays. In a part about improv, looking at Second City, Lehrer talks about getting to a level where comedy seems easy and natural. It isn’t. Joshua Funk, the artistic director says, “it takes years of work before you can get good at improv. It’s like music that way. You can’t just pick up a sax and expect to be Coltrane. You have to work at not giving a fuck.”

Another fascinating topic was about the power of Q. Q measures the density of connections of people working in groups. It’s a degree of social intimacy. The ideal Q reading was a group not too big and not too small with most people comfortable working with each other who had previous history with a small number of newbies to keep things fresh. This measure was developed after looking at Broadway musicals and looking at the financial and critical successes versus those that flopped. The same structure is in place at Pixar and it helps to understand the unique culture and success.

Interestingly, the larger and more populated cities become, the more productive its citizens become. This may stem from people having a large number of weak ties. Though the internet brings people together. It’s people connecting with people face-to-face that leads to more cross-polanization and innovation. It’s a fresh look at creativity and worth reading. My second favorite book of the year.

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success – How We can Learn to Fulfill Our Potential by Carol  S. Dweck, PhD. –  I’ve been reading so many other books that referenced Dweck’s work that I had to go back to the original source. She talks about what success is and how it’s really achieved. It’s not what we were taught growing up. It’s not about being smart, it’s about learning. It also reexamines what it means to fail and what lessons are learned from it.

This book covers success from all angles. There are sections on business success and how parents, coaches and teachers need to look at it to help children understand what it is.

Fixed-mindset people are those who think they are smart or talented to a certain level and nothing can change it. Having a growth mindset means you see the potential to improve. You find the areas of weakness and work on them and get better. Telling a child that they are smart and/or talented sends the wrong message and doesn’t lead them on a path to success. If they are told they will need to work hard to achieve their goals they will achieve more than those with raw talent.

This is a must have on any book shelf. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of this. It can reshape how you think about success and how you approach life.

George Lucas: A Life by Brian Jay Jones – I had been an admirer of George Lucas’ work with American Graffiti, but mostly of the three original Star Wars movies, since I was a kid. When he re-worked the original movies my thoughts of him soured. I could understand cleaning up the special effects, but not changing content. To me, he altered, and damaged, the stories by doing so. Still, I was interested to read more about him.

Like so many of the people whose work we treasure, it was fascinating to see the person behind the films. He was making movies at an early age and flourished as a film maker while studying film at USC. I hadn’t realized that he was a nationally known film maker as a student – that’s how good he was.

From a business perspective, it’s invaluable to see how he dealt with the studios in making his movies. He’s an idealist and didn’t tolerate the studios dictating to him how to edit or change his movies. Because the studios didn’t believe in Star Wars he was able to keep the merchandising rights. He used funds from the merchandise to finance the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, so he didn’t have to change the movies at the discretion of the studios. He loathed the studios and this comes across clearly in the book. After Star Wars, movie guys were overtaken by business guys trying to get there hands on Hollywood hits. People who knew and loved movies were replaced by money counters, which is the system we have in place today.

Lucas also had his hand in changing the way we experience movies. His company, Lucasfilm, spun off Industrial Light and Magic, which is the premier special effects company in Hollywood. Also created was THX, which is the high fidelity sound most movies are shown in today. Movie theaters were set up with THX because Lucas wanted the audience at Return of the Jedi to experience the best possible sound quality and he didn’t think movie theaters were equipped to provide that. Pixar also took wings at Lucasfilm and was eventually spun off and sold to Steve Jobs. A well researched look into the life of George Lucas and a must read for even a casual fan of his work.

Milwaukee Braves: Heroes and Heartbreak by William Povletich – Growing up in Milwaukee, I had heard about the Braves, but didn’t know much of their history other than the World Series Championship in 1957, their near miss in 1958 and the team leaving for Atlanta after the 1965 season. The Boston Braves were a joke in the National League with the league’s worst record, but with the move to Milwaukee in 1953, the team finished in second place and the city fell in love with the Braves. They lead the Major Leagues in attendance for numerous seasons.

Povletich does a wonderful job of recreating what it was like like back then and retraces each season with the help of archival news clippings, photos and interviews with former Milwaukee Braves players. He recounts several important games from each season, especially games that happened in the heat of the pennant races. I felt that I was going through the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat as it was happening.

In 1956, the Braves had a one game advantage with three to play but lost two games and their chance to play in the World Series by one game. In 1957, the team was determined, having been so close the year before, and ended up advancing to the World Series where they beat the New York Yankees for the championship. The city celebrated their team as heroes. In 1958 they again advanced to the World Series and held a three game to one advantage over the Yankees, but the Yankees won the last three games and the World Series. In 1959, they lost a playoff with the Dodgers and missed their chance at another World Series. They were in the pennant race in 1960 but their best years were behind them and interest in the team started to wane.

Many players talked about how the team should have won multiple World Series Championships, but it wasn’t meant to be. The Milwaukee Braves played 13 seasons in Milwaukee and never had a losing record. Many teams used Milwaukee as a model and moved to new cities because of Milwaukee’s financial success. In the 50 years prior to the Braves moving from Boston to Milwaukee no other team in Major League Baseball had moved. In the 20 years after the move, 10 teams relocated, including the Dodges from Brooklyn to Los Angles, the Giants from New York to San Francisco and the St. Louis Browns who moved to Baltimore and became the Orioles. This was a wonderful look back at a different time and a different game.

Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done by Jon Acuff – An interesting look at how to accomplish more. One tip, cut your goals in half. Acuff writes that most people stop pursuing their goals the day after perfect.That’s hard to live up to and easy to stop. Cutting your goals in half is a psychological trick. In doing so, you actually end up surpassing your original goal. What’s been shown is that achieving a goal makes you want to keep going. Want to achieve great things? Cut your goal in half.

The most impactful part of the book for me was the chapter entitled “Leave Your Hiding Place and Ignore Noble Obstacles.” Hiding places are unproductive traps. It’s taking care of things that don’t need attention to avoid what really needs to be done. Noble obstacles are those pursuits that trouble perfectionists. It tells them that they can’t do X, until they do Y. It makes your goal harder to accomplish. The example Acuff uses in the book is about a man who wants to clean the garage. Instead of emptying the garage so it’s clean, he decides to have a garage sale so he can make some money. Then this simple task becomes a list of 16 things that need to be done in order to have the sale, like picking the day, advertising, pricing the items, labeling, holding the sale, etc. This simple one-step goal turned into a project, one that never gets done because that’s too much work.

Another suggestion is to avoid the word “until.” Not doing your goal until you figure something else out first. His example is about a woman who wants to start a blog, but worries she needs to meet with a copyright lawyer first to protect her content. She doesn’t start because if she does she’ll get too successful and people other than her will cash in on her work. This is something I’ve struggled with many times. When I wanted to start a blog I spent more time researching web hosts, themes for my website and what widgets and plugins I needed than I did writing. The best idea is to start and if you become successful worry about the consequences later.

If you’re the kind of person who starts projects but never finishes them, this is the perfect book to read in 2018. I’m excited to see what I finish in the year ahead. What are you looking forward to finishing?

Did any of these books make your list? What do you recommend? What are you looking forward to reading in 2018?