{"id":3000,"date":"2018-12-31T09:09:56","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T14:09:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chrisgrundemann.com\/?p=3000"},"modified":"2021-07-08T11:11:47","modified_gmt":"2021-07-08T15:11:47","slug":"2018-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chrisgrundemann.com\/index.php\/2018\/2018-books\/","title":{"rendered":"2018: My Year in Books"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Note: Feel free to skip right to the book list below if you like.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve been on a mission to read more, again. Throughout my life I’ve had periods where I read a lot and others where I’ve read a little. There are lots of reasons, excuses really, for these reading recessions. Like all distractions from any goals, these too only have power to the degree that I was not committed enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I re-committed to reading going into 2016. It’s a passion my mother instilled in me as a child, and is the one thing always recommended by people I consider successful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not all reading is created equal. I was actually reading a lot, even back then. Emails, social media posts, blogs. Yet only books have that unique trait of summing up everything some authority can express on some topic. They are catapults of knowledge. In fact, Tim Ferris said that reading three books on any topic makes you an expert in that topic. At least these<\/a> two<\/a> people agree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More realistically, I believe that Warren Buffet is right, and that learning aggregates over time, like compound interest. So while the 3 books per topic rule may be totally arbitrary; more books is definitely better than less. But how many is enough?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Averages and Goals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to research from Pew<\/a>, the typical American reads just 5 books a year. That same study showed that those who make over $75k\/yr average 16 books a year. That gave me a baseline, but who wants to be typical, or average? Certainly not me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I kept looking for solid goalposts. Turns out that in 2015, mark Zuckerberg set a goal to read a book every two weeks. He completed 23 books by the end of the year. Bill Gates purportedly reads 50 books a year – about one a week. That number, 50, comes up again and again when looking into the habits of voracious readers. We do like round numbers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Armed with a re-kindled passion, a deeper commitment, and some numbers I set my goal for 2016 and beyond:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read at least 24 books a year, try for 50!<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

And I failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2016 I read 12 books, most of them certification study guides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did better in 2017 with 22 books, and a lot more diversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year I finally broke through the first milestone. In 2018 I read 32 books!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Setting My Sights on 50<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The question now is: How did I get up to 32 books, and how will I get that up to 50 in 2019?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three things contributed to my success this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, I went on vacation and hurt my feet. This year for my birthday we spent a week at Miramar surf camp<\/a> on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua. It was amazing! The surfing was great. So was the skating. They had just finished a sweet concrete ramp…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A post shared by S U R F & S K A T E (@miramarsurfcamp)<\/a> on