What I’m Reading and Why You Might Care

A trip to an independent bookstore is like a trip inside a person’s mind, that person being the store owner more often than not. That’s where the pure delight of it resides.

Big chain bookstores are basically homogenous – you expect to see the top ten bestselling authors in all categories prominently displayed, and I can pretty much tell you what will be featured on the table in front of the business section at any given time.

Every shelf on an independent bookstore on the other hand, is a surprise. A tickle for the mind that can set thoughts and actions into motion such that you would never have expected. Like visiting the bookshelf of a good friend, or trading in some paperbacks at a spa resort – the randomness of the selection there is in itself, a gift.

I talk a lot about the value of individualism. Of being a ‘Google‘ for your clients.

In a business climate where everyone seems to ask ‘What keywords are people searching on today?’ there is immense value in asking instead ‘What keywords would I like to create an interest in tomorrow?’

‘Purple Cow’ meant nothing until someone made it worth searching on. There’s a fine, nuanced, valuable difference there.

Here’s what I’m reading after a delightful visit to Abraxas Bookstore and Art Supplies (link not available) on Denman Island, a day trip from Vancouver Island.

Ann Lovejoy’s Organic Garden Design School, A Guide to Creating Your Own Beautiful, Easy-Care Garden has a chapter dedicated to ‘Making Beautiful Dirt.’

That, and Ann’s propensity for mixing the language of art and storytelling into the craft of building a garden had me at first scan.

With our move to Vancouver Island imminent, this will be a useful indulgence.

Carry Tiger to Mountain: The Tao of Activism and Leadership by Stephen Legault is one of those books I know I won’t read right away. But owning it is a way of keeping my heart and mind propped open to the topic. I’ll grow as a person because the book is on my shelf.

Like Schnarch’s Passionate Marriage, it’s a book that teaches by existing. And, I’m sure the words will be significant too, but I’m okay with not knowing for sure how just yet.

That said, it does contains a chapter called ‘Reatreat to Ride Tiger’ a topic very close to the one I wrote on ‘Riding the Tiger’ in Money, Meaning and Beyond…it’s a different treatment, but similar. I just love the power behind the riding tiger analogy and couldn’t resist, so I didn’t.

Easy Curry Cookery (reprinted by popular demand) leaves no curry recipe unphotographed. Page 56 – Creamy Chicken and Basil Curry is first on the agenda, followed closely by homemade naan.

In college it used to be that macaroni and cheese brought comfort, these days it’s curry, and with my surgery in just one week – this will feel great to come home to.

Last but definitely not least, I’m reading Zen Guitar, by Philip Toshio Sudo, which turns out to be very close to a book I’ve been writing in my head and in various journals. Finding it releases me of this task, the better to finish other manuscripts!

This is a treasure of a gem of a find of a book that I already love – though nominally it is about music, and how to play guitar from a spiritual perspective, it’s actually just a spiritual perspective that translates to everything – business building, coaching, etc.

Here are a few slivers of goodness:

“When you fall, fall like a cat.”

“Prepare to meet your death. When the moment comes, there is no time for thinking.”

“Measure a compliment the same as you measure a critique.”

“Add two and two to make one.”

“See the glass as half full. Understand that as you try to fill it, the glass gets bigger.”

“Speak directly from your heart to the heart of your listener, as if passing the flame of a candle.”

My dear reader, if your business and life has been feeling a bit too familiar, here’s a suggested exercise for mixing things up a bit at a root level…something I seem to do on a monthly basis.

Like the soundtrack of your life, there’s also your life’s reading list. So take a look at what you’re reading right now. Are you only reading books that everyone else seems to be reading? It’s kinda neat to share a common new language that way.

And…instead of considering only what’s on the bestseller list, why not walk the road less travelled a bit?

Try browsing randomly in a bookstore – chain or independent, online or in person. Visit a neighbourhood library for that matter.

In person, spend a full 10 minutes reading back covers in a section of the store you usually don’t visit. Perhaps it ‘s a section of the store you don’t ‘believe in’ or even get upset about.

Online, browse other people’s lists of favorite books. Or the recommended booklists of fellow bloggers. Take a tangent by peeking at bibliographies using Amazon’s Search Inside tool.

And then, once you’ve selected a packet of new books, don’t forget to mix and stir.

Ask “If Ann Lovejoy (of the organic gardening book, above) and the Easy Curry Cookbook authors were to get together for a bottle of wine and supper, what would that conversation lead to? (Someone say Organic Curry Garden Design!) Or? (Fill in your own interesting spastic iteration here.)

What if your mind, with all its attendant thoughts and shades of meaning were to mix, kaleidoscope-like, with __________________ (Again fill in your own interesting random author, book, school of thought here.)?

This exercise is the best cure for being in a rut I know of and with time, will make you a more original, meaningful, interesting thinker and leader in your industry.

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