What I read in 2016

I’ve been an occasional reader over the years. 90% of what I read could be filed under business, leadership and productivity. Realizing the value and utility of what I read and the impact it can have (has had even) on my life and business, I’ve harbored a strong desire to become a more prolific reader. Given the time commitment involved, it’s been a pipe dream to fit more reading into my crazy schedule. Until I realized towards the end of 2105, that reading more doesn’t really need me to read more at all. Enter Audible, thanks to which, I went through 16 books in 2016, mostly by listening to them. It’s awesome because I listen to books while I’m walking, running and working out. Basically, out of thin air, I’ve magicked up an hour of personal enrichment time pretty much every day.

Two things to note here:

1. I didn’t finish all 16 of the books I started; just half of them actually. I consume (encompasses both, reading and listening) several in parallel, switching back and forth between them at random; makes life more interesting. That’s also the reason I try not to read physical books. Between the Kindle app on my iPad and the Audible app on my phone, I could practically carry the Library of Congress around with me.

2. I don’t just listen to books every morning. I also listen to podcasts and articles. That took a toll on the number of books I consumed through the year.

The books I started and finished in 2016 are:

1. Venture Deals – Brad Feld & Jason Mendelson

2. How Will You Measure Your Life? – Clay Christensen

3. The Lean Startup – Eric Ries

4. Zero to One – Peter Thiel

5. Elon Musk – Ashlee Vance

6. Originals – Adam Grant

7. The Seventh Sense – Joshua Cooper Ramo

8. Smarter, Faster, Better – Charles Duhigg

The books I started in 2016 but haven’t yet finished are:

1. The Productivity Project – Chris Bailey

2. If You Really Want To Change The World – Henry Kressel & Norman Winarsky

3. Give and Take – Adam Grant

4. Thinking, Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman

5. A Sense Of Urgency – John Kotter

6. High Output Management – Andy Grove

7. Bold – Peter Diamandis & Steven Kotler

8. Tools of Titans – Tim Ferriss

9. Unladylike – Radhika Vaz

10. With A Little Help From My Friends – Dev Lahiri

Between my Kindle and Audible apps, there are another 20 books waiting to be read or listened to. I have my work cut out for 2017.