Book Club – My Top 25 Picks

If you were to ask me WHAT are the 05 THINGS I cannot LIVE without - BOOKS will surely feature in TOP - 05

THE ACCIDENTAL
READER!

I was very good with words from the very beginning - All thanks to bedtime stories narrated by my Grandfather. They were a ritual then.
The story ritual was followed by the Reading Ritual.
I started reading comics borrowed from a library my elder brother used to run, No wonder I was reprimanded for reading non-academic books.
Glad I didn't stop.

My first library visit happened when I was 12 and that has been my favourite place ever since.
At age 18, I stopped watching the TV (I moved to a university town and luckily there was no access to personal TV, which worked in my favour).

WHEN I STARTED MAKING A LIST OF BOOKS
I LOVED GOING BACK TO AGAIN & AGAIN!

Here is the list of Books I loved reading the first time and every time.
There are books on Personal Growth; the Science behind Productivity, Goal setting, and habits; you will also find books on finding the motivation to write and overcoming resistance (no wonder Steven Pressfield's and Jeff Goins are personal favourites).

WHO IS THIS
LIST FOR?

These Books are for the ones trying to find meaning in their work, win back their creative voice, and reinvent how they approach their work and life.
These Books are for the ones working freelance, as an artist or trying to lead their small teams into greatness.

Tests that each book had to pass so as to make it to the list:
The Content in these books can be used the third day from reading it.
If I were to move to a new country which all books will I read before moving or carry with me?
Will I recommend it to my younger Siblings?

Voila!

These books have passed all these tests and I am so excited to share these books with you.

deep-work

Deep Work :

Rules for Focussed Success in a Distracted World

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“Less mental clutter means more mental resources available for deep thinking.”
“Human beings, it seems, are at their best when immersed deeply in something challenging."

By Cal Newport.

The Power of Habit :

Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“If you want to do something that requires willpower—like going for a run after work—you have to conserve your willpower muscle during the day,”
“Good leaders seize crises to remake organizational habits.”

By Charles Duhigg.

2 book
3 book

Finding Your Element :

Discover Your Talents and Passions and Transform Your Life

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“Many of the opportunities you have in your life are generated by the energy you create around you.”
“You create your own life by how you see the world and your place in it;”

By Sir Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica.

Mastery

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“The time that leads to mastery is dependent on the intensity of our focus.”
“The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways.”

By Robert Greene.

4 book
5 book

The Art of Work :

A Proven Path to Discovering What You Were Meant to Do

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“A calling isn’t something new and shiny. Often it’s something old and predictable, a familiar face that’s easily taken for granted, an old habit or hobby that comes back into our lives.”
“You can’t find your passion if you don’t push through the pain.”

By Jeff Goins.

Body of Work :

Finding the Thread That Ties Your Story Together

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“Individuals who structure their careers around autonomy, mastery, and purpose will have a powerful body of work.”
“Consistent impact over the course of your life on a body of work you care about deeply is legacy.”

By Pamela Slim.

6 book
7 book

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big :

Kind of the Story of My Life

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“Avoid career traps such as pursuing jobs that require you to sell your limited supply of time while preparing you for nothing better.”
“Priorities are the things you need to get right so the things you love can thrive.”
“Failure always brings something valuable with it. I don’t let it leave until I extract that value.”

By Scott Adams.

Simple Rules :

How to Thrive in the Complex World

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“Too often, a company’s strategy sits on a shelf, gathering dust. A strategy that doesn’t influence critical decisions on a day-to-day basis, however, is not a strategy—it is a book report.”
“Meeting complexity with complexity can create more confusion than it resolves.”

By Donald Sull.

8 book
9 book

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“The question of what you want to own is actually the question of how you want to live your life.”
“The space in which we live should be for the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were in the past.”

By Marie Kondo.

Small Giants :

Companies that Choose to be Great Instead of Big

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“Success means you’re going to have better problems. I’m very happy with the problems I have now.”

By Bo Burlingham.

10 book
11 book

The Hard Thing About Hard Things :

Building a Business when there are no Easy Answers

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“Note to self: It’s a good idea to ask, “What am I not doing?”
“That’s the hard thing about hard things—there is no formula for dealing with them.”

By Ben Horowitz.

Powerful :

Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“That respect for one another’s intelligence and genuine desire to discover the bases of colleagues’ views drove intense mutual questioning and kept it mostly productive and civil, if often quite colourful.”
“Trusting people to be responsible with their time was one of the early steps in giving them back their power.”

By Patty McCord.

12 book
13 book

Smarter Faster Better :

The Secrets of Being Productive

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“By developing a habit of telling ourselves stories about what’s going on around us, we learn to sharpen where our attention goes.”
“People who know how to manage their attention and who habitually build robust mental models tend to earn more money and get better grades.”

By Charles Duhigg.

The Checklist Manifesto :

How to Get Things Right

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“We are besieged by simple problems... Checklists can provide protection”
“That’s not my problem” is possibly the worst thing people can think,”

By Atul Gawande.

14 book
15 book

Turning Pro :

Tap Your Inner Power and Create Your Life's Work

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“Turning pro is like kicking a drug habit or stopping drinking. It's a decision, a decision to which we must re-commit every day.”
“The amateur tweets. The pro works.”

By Steven Pressfield.

Do the Work :

Overcome Resistance and Get Out of Your Own Way

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“Start before you're ready.”
“Don’t think. Act. We can always revise and revisit once we’ve acted. But we can accomplish nothing until we act.”

By Steven Pressfield.

16 book
17 book

On Writing :

A Memoir of the Craft

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“The scariest moment is always just before you start.”
“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”

By Stephen King.

Ego is the Enemy :

The Fight to Master Our Greatest Opponent

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“Most successful people are people you’ve never heard of. They want it that way. It keeps them sober. It helps them do their jobs.”
“People learn from their failures. Seldom do they learn anything from success.”
“Greatness comes from humble beginnings; it comes from grunt work. It means you’re the least important person in the room—until you change that with results.”

By Ryan Holiday.

18 book
19 book

How Children Succeed :

Confidence, Curiosity and Hidden Power of Character

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“The key channel through which early adversity causes damage to developing bodies and brains is stress.”
“five skills, which he called leadership principles, that he wanted OneGoal teachers to emphasize: resourcefulness, resilience, ambition, professionalism, and integrity.”

By Charles Tough.

The Last Lecture :

Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams - Lessons in Living

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“The key question to keep asking is, Are you spending your time on the right things? Because time is all you have. ”
“Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other.”

By Randy Pauch.

20 book
21 book

Man's Search for Meaning

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.”
“But there was no need to be ashamed of tears, for tears bore witness that a man had the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer.”

By Victor Frankl.

Humble Inquiry :

The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“We must become better at asking and do less telling in a culture that overvalues telling.”
“Telling puts the other person down. It implies that the other person does not already know what I am telling and that the other person ought to know it.”

By Edgar H. Schein.

22 book
23 boo

Love is a Killer App :

How to Win Business and Influence Friends

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“Nice, smart people succeed.”

By Tim Sanders.

How Full is Your Bucket?

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

"Each of us has an invisible bucket. It is constantly emptied or filled depending on what others say or do to us. When our bucket is full, we feel great. When it's empty, We feel awful."

By Tom Rath and Donald O. Cliffton.

24 book
25 book

When Things Fall Apart :

Heart Advice for Difficult Times

My Favorite Quote(s) from the Book:

“Finally, never give up on yourself. Then you will never give up on others.”
“When there’s a big disappointment, we don’t know if that’s the end of the story. It may be just the beginning of a great adventure.”

By Pema Chodron.