My “Year of Reading 2019” book list and an invitation to join me in reading one or more of them

I compiled a book reading list for 2018 at the end of 2017. The whole experience of compiling a list and then reading through the list was a productive experience and finally got me back into the routine of reading books. I picked 9 books for my Year of Reading 2018 list. I successfully read 7 of the list and read a couple of others not on the list.

I have now compiled my 2019 reading list. This is a good reflection of my current interest areas and you may gain a good insight into me as a person from this list.

I want to invite any of you to join me in reading 1 or more of these books in 2019 and, like me, to share your notes and thoughts on the book in an online community during the year. I had some people reading along with me this year but am learning lessons along the way to see if I can increase the numbers.

One of the issues is around how much time should we give to each book. Last year it was one book per month for 9 specific months of the year. It was all very informal with some posting notes, some doing 1:1 video chats and some doing solo “talking to camera” videos.

I was reminded of the Foundations of the Social Age MOOC that I did in Q1/2 2017 which had the following instructions at the start of the 12-unit course …

I've structured this course to be non-linear, meaning that you can visit all the levels in no particular order. The Social Age itself is broad and complex, and the twelve aspects you will be exploring are all linked in multiple ways, so keep this in mind as you move through the course. 

Although you can navigate this course in any way you wish, I’d recommend starting at the beginning (Welcome to the Social Age) to help you gain confidence in the platform, navigation and ultimately to gain some context - at which point you can navigate however you wish.

I have decided to experiment this year and actively encourage people to do any of the books in any order and, by implication whenever they want.

When I did the MOOC above, I rebelled at being told how to study BUT I followed the instructions and decided to do the course units based on my highest interest first and then each unit in turn based on my level of interest. It was an eye-opening experience as I started with one of the later units out of 12. What this meant was that as I posted content for some units I was the first to post and for others there were lots of posts that could be read while I was posting mine. An interesting experience. This also means that for those who are into Working Out Loud you may be posting the first comments for a particular book.

I intend to stick to the Jan – Dec format as the books were sequenced for me specifically.

If you would like to join me in reading any of these books, I am happy for you to start whenever you want and to take whatever amount of time you want or need. I am also happy to do anything with anyone related to any of these books and am open to all and any suggestions.

I will be using a Workplace by Facebook community of learners for this book group. This is a closed community of c100 people with varying levels of engagement and contains lots of content on a range of organisational subjects as the community started back in November 2017 with a super-circle of 3 Working Out Loud circles. A group for each book on my list has been set up so you can start reading any of the books at any time and start posting as soon as you have access to Workplace.

I am happy to set anyone up on Workplace who wants to read along. I just need a personal email address or an organisational email address that has not already been used to register for any other Workplace by Facebook communities. Note that Workplace by Facebook is a different service from the consumer version of Facebook and they are not allowed to use any of the data in these communities.

Feel free to invite any other people

Happy to take any questions.

… and so my list of books for 2019 with some rationale, background and a video to introduce the book is as follows:-

• January - Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way; Shauna Niequist

• Stumbled over a video resource for this book a long time ago and it appealed to me back then.
• This is part of my concerted effort to do more self-care for me in 2019.
• There is a Brene Brown connection; they are mates and she wrote the foreword.

• February - Rebel Talent: Why it Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life; Francesca Gino

2

• I have stumbled over articles etc in 2018 repeatedly for this book.
• The subject appeals to me.
• 3 people expressed an interest in joining with me in reading this one in December 2018 during a #TwitterDisco chat with UK NHS professionals.

• March - Make It Stick; Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger, Mark A. McDaniel

• Specifically looked for a book for my One Word 2019 of “apply” (my learning in all contexts) and this one looked ideal to help me this year.
• High hopes that this book will significantly help me apply my learning activities into daily practice.

• April - Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy; Tim Harford

• This was an amazingly informative BBC Radio documentary series that I heard in full recently.
• Appeals to my curiosity about lots of things to study more of this material in depth.

• May - Community: The Structure of Belonging; Peter Block

• A book specifically recommended to me by Rachel Happe (a global authority on communities & Enterprise Social Networks) when I asked her for a book recommendation on this subject for this list
• I want to learn more formal info about communities as this may be next for my work life.

• June - Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently; Gregory Berns

• Recommended to me specifically by Bill Burnett (co-author of Designing Your Life) in response to a question from me in a recent Designing Your Life Facebook webinar about my need to think more wildly and creatively and address my fears. This is a development area for me.
• May have a partner to read this one with me.

• July - WTF?: What's the Future and Why It's Up to Us; Tim O'Reilly

• Reading this primarily after hearing his amazing podcast interview on The Tim Feriss Show which revealed him to be a deeply-interesting person in a number of areas of the modern world.
• He reads fiction and recommends that you do.
• This is a book on strategy and futures. I am keenly interested in these areas.

• August - Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones; James Clear

• Habits and practices are one of my interest areas.
• The book was recommended to me by Catherine who I mentored to do a Twitter Chat with in Q3 2018.

• September - The Expertise Economy: How the Smartest Companies Use Learning to Engage, Compete, and Succeed; Kelly Palmer, David Blake

• Hopeful that this book will further my personal online learning experience and seek to transition that more formally into my paid employment.
• This book is by two Degreed execs including the CEO who emailed me in the past in response to a public tweet about my content mgt hell as did one of his staff team when he cc-ed her, both gave me their best practice and advice. I have used Degreed to play with training pathways.

• October - Insight: The Power of Self-Awareness in a Self-Deluded World; Tasha Eurich

• This has been on my list for a long time.
• Tasha talks a lot of practical sense.
• I have a suspicion that my self-awareness may be a blind spot for me or at the very least could be improved!

• November - The Excellence Dividend: Meeting the Tech Tide with Work That Wows and Jobs That Last; Tom Peters

• I have not read one of his books for years but he has been hugely influential in my service delivery e.g. his take on professional service firms and branding.
• I love his contagious enthusiasm.
• This is a distillation of his life’s work.

• December - The 5 Second Rule Transform Your Life, Work and Confidence with Everyday Courage; Mel Robbins

• Over the past 2 years I have been far more spontaneous in doing and saying things IRL and online far more than at any other time in my life.
• This has led me to some amazing online learning adventures and occasionally spilling over into real life.
• The subject of this book is what I suspect I have been doing over this period.

What do you think of my list? Any of these intriguing you? Want to read along with me?