BookReview
My 2020 Read
Last year 2021, I took upon a challenge upon me to read one book per month. Taking the time to learn and grow. I’m glad I did this and have completed reading 20 books!
Hacking Growth
You would want to read this book twice, I did!
Picked up this book as I have noticed more and more companies are hiring Growth Managers/ Designers, and I wasn’t sure what do they do.
Hacking growth is scientific, data-driven and, high-tempo experimentation to win customers.
This book is fully packed with amazing examples from various companies like Dropbox, Airbnb, LinkedIn, and many more on how they did experiment with growth hacking.
You would get hooked to this book and would want to spread the same message in your firm.
Inspired
“If you worked for me, the monthly salary would depend on this!” *
Yes, this what Marty Cagan said to me.
Well, not directly, it’s a slim chance I would ever meet him, so the closest I can do is get his audiobook.
The audiobook “Inspired” hit home multiple times!
Listening to this book, especially when narrated by the author, it felt like Marty was talking directly to me. ❤️
If you are a Product Manager, this is a must-read.
Well, not only Product Managers, anyone who works in a tech space should read this book.
*The author emphasizes that the PM, Product Designer, and Developer should visit a customer at least once a week.
Solving Product Design Exercises
A question I frequently get asked during my mentoring sessions (on adplist.org) is “a book recommendation that will win me my next UX job?”.
Solving Product Design Exercise by Artiom Dashinsky is the book you should get your hands on. The author has beautifully tailored this book, making it short and crisp, and to the point. You would not take more than 3-5 hours to complete reading this book. The author has included a couple of examples on how to present your portfolio and a ton of other resources.
Creativity Inc
A tear rolled down my face* 😢
The Author Ed Catmull shares his remarkable journey of building Pixar and later becoming the CEO of Pixar + Disney.
Me, being a Pixar fan, I couldn’t keep the book down.
This book is a must-read, especially for anyone to learn to lead a team and become a great leader.
The author shares what it takes to build a great company, and it is to invest and support its people.
*The last chapter is dedicated to Steve Jobs and his role at Pixar. This chapter moved me.
Sapiens
This would be my first non “Self-help book” I’ve read this year.
I’ve heard many speak about it, so I thought of giving it a try.
This book did get my eyebrows raised multiple times.
This book did give me many sleepless nights as my mind kept wondering about various “what if” scenarios.
Reading this book gets you to believe how evil humans are.
ikigai
Reading this book made me wonder what is my ikigai?
As a designer, I keep exploring new domains very often and always wandering, does this mean I haven’t found my ikigai?
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Another takeaway was that reading the stories of the supercentenarians, gave me the motivation to live a long and meaningful life.
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These are a few notes I’ve taken away, btw have you found your ikigai?
The Alchemist
“I left my job after reading this”
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That’s what my friend Dr. REENA VALECHA said, which got me intrigued to read this book.
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Enjoyed every sentence when reading this book. I know I’m super late to pick this book. Better late than never. Paulo Coelho published this book in 1988!
The Psychology of Money
I picked this book “The Psychology of Money” by Morgan Housel during my covid downtime. I’ve been curious to know how wealthy people think about money. This book has short and sweet 20 chapters. I am sure you would love it.
Here are some of my key takeaways:
– Behaviour is more important than intelligence.
When handling money, say the behavior of saving money is more important than investing it “smartly”.
The Compound Effect
This is not a finance book!
I’ve picked up this book after multiple recommendations by Chris Do. I enjoyed how the author DARREN HARDY was able to break down the habits needed to be a successful person. This is book has many examples that you can relate to. This book is not for you! This book is for those who want to play the long game! If this was easy and quick, everybody would have been successful!
Influence
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Robert Cialdini
This book beautifully explains how marketers can tap into the psychology of the buyer. Click, Whirr…..Click Whirr….the human brain keeps ticking away!
This book has compiled some of the proven tricks and tips used by many successful #salespeople. And boy! I’ve fallen to each one of them.
This book is jam-packed with many real examples, and I’ve enjoyed reading this book—I was smiling throughout my reading.
Tools of Titans
Ouch! My hand and brain hurt!
This is one heavy book!
In this book, Tim Ferriss compiled more than 100 world-class personalities and what they did to become one.
This book blew my mind, learning the commitment and dedication these titans undergo to achieve what they have.
There is no shortcut nor cheat sheet to succeed in life. Instead, the daily practice and dedication will make you a TITAN.
Atomic Habits
Completed a book in 2021, to make it easier to accomplish this, I’ve picked up an audiobook.
Picking up “Atomic Habit” by James Clear was intentional.
I wanted to learn how to build good habits and simultaneously unlearn the bad ones.
My favorite takeaway from this book is that 1% improvement in my habits and over time will bring a remarkable change in me.
The Book You Wished Your Parents Had Read
This year I’ve picked a couple of books to learn and grow. I’ve been reading books on productivity, leadership, design, and money, but nothing on how to be a great father!
This part of our life ( parenting/ relationships), we seldom take them for granted. We assume that everything will fall in place naturally.
Parenting is a complex subject, and there is no one fit all advice that anyone can provide. In case you like to explore this subject, this book by @philippa Perry is something I would highly recommend.
Zero to One
Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have read and given reviews on this book. So I thought of joining this book club.
Zero to One, written by Peter Thiel (co-founder of PayPal) and Blake Masters, talks about what it takes to build a unicorn. Reading this book gave me a real sense that this game is not for all.
“The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won’t make a search engine. And the next Mark Zuckerberg won’t create a social network. So if you are copying these guys, you aren’t learning from them.”
The Credibility Code
I have come across this book “The Credibility Code” by Cara Hale Alter.
I have been asked many times to speak louder!
I have also observed many of my listeners are not convinced with the ideas I share!
Reading this book helped me understand on
– The way how I speak (sounding not confident, using fillers such as ..hmm..err.. and, like… etc).
– The way how I stood in front of an audience (walking up and down, fidgeting, touching my nose, or brushing my hair).
– The way how I addressed my audience ( I was staring at the ceiling or kept reading the presentation, avoiding any eye contact).
Ideas and knowledge are really important,
Presenting them with confidence is equally important!
The Visual MBA
I picked this book as I was curious to know what goes in an MBA program.
The author Jason Barron, MBA, did his MBA from Brigham Young University Marriott School of Business. He was capturing his classes notes in doodle format. This sketch note style captured the essence of the courses he attended. He also got many of his classmates’ attention, thus the birth of this book.
The book explains MBA at a very high level.
Some of the topics covered in this book are Leadership, Marketing, Business Finance, Strategic Thinking, Creativity and Innovation, and many more.
The 5AM Club
Own your morning and elevate your life
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This gif is a dedication to “The 5 AM Club” by Robin Sharma.
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Robin Sharma speaks about the importance of early to bed and early to rise, and especially on what to do in the first hour after you wake up, which will set your day and eventually your life course.
This way you will be able to conquer the 4 pillars of your inner strength, i.e your Soul Set, Mind Set, Heart Set, and Health Set.
66 day rule:
To bring any new change in your life, you’ve got to practice doing it for 66 days, so as to rewire your brain and make it a habit.
Tribes
We are all part of a tribe/ tribes, and every tribe has a leader!
Picked up this book after I had a discussion with a friend, who mentioned that some tribes don’t need a leader!
This is my first Seth Godin book, and in this book, he tells us what it takes to be a leader.
Some points from this book:
– Tribes have a core value, they challenge the status quo.
– Tribes can be very niche.
– Tribes are the new way of marketing.
– Leaders don’t ask nor seek permission to do something.
– Leaders don’t have to be charismatic, leaders need to be authentic.
– Leaders don’t have to spread the word, the tribe will do it for you.
The Design of Everyday Things
I’m Embarrassed!*
This book was first published 25years ago and still holds relevant even today, and hopefully, it will, for another 25 years!
The author explains the psychology of users and their interactions with everyday objects. But, unfortunately, some of these products have been poorly designed, and some even cost lives!
Don Norman explains beautifully many design and psychology concepts using simple day-to-day objects. The user is never to be blamed nor wronged, and the design should take care of all these conditions.
A must-read book, you should get a copy, even better, maybe gift someone.
*Many of my friends (esp non-designers) have read this book, and whenever they mentioned it to me, I was embarrassed to say I haven’t read it!
The Subtle Art of not Giving a F*ck
I’ve given way too many F!
My Weekend Book 📚
Love the Mark Manson style of writing, he brings many real-life examples to his philosophical points and explains them better.
Do not judge this book by its title, the author by no means is asking his readers to not give an F about anything, otherwise, we would be psychopaths, and who wants to be a psychopath!
Mark tells us that life is not all rosy and beautiful, and to achieve something we must be willing to sacrifice something. No Pain, No Gain.
The author also asks us to give F to a very few things in our life, to that what matters. This hit me hard. As a designer, I wanted to be a logo designer, packaging designer, video editor, motion graphics expert, and product designer! I can’t give that many F about everything.
There are many other stories and examples Mark mentions in his book. I will stop it here, as I’m not sure who would give any F about this post! 😛
