[Reviews of Books] Read by #IS During February 2011

Hey SCG,

I am still blown away by your comments & emails you have flooded me with after mycome back“. Wow! It truly feels great to know, that my work matters to you. Thank you!  But, let us get back to shipping mode now & let’s catch up on my one month of “sick leave”with a recap of books I have read during the shortest month of a year -> February.

#1

A Search In Secret India by Paul Brunton

A Search In Secret India was on my radar for almost 4 years. Why so long? This book was on a “one year reading list” by a person who I truly admire -> SCG-er Prof. Srikumar Rao. I was kind of “getting ready’ for this book for years & “my time” came in February 2011. I was reading it in a very slow pace, made tons of notes & marked many pages of the book with stickers. It is a very powerful story of Paul Brunton, who followed his calling & he pursued a journey to India in search for sages & true yogis. It is a must read for everyone, who is on a quest of seeking wisdom, is open – minded & ready to change own mental models.

#2

Evil Plan by Hugh MacLeod

Evil Plan is second book of Hugh’s & its subtitle: Having Fun On the Road to World Domination reveals a bit more, what is Evil Plan about. Hugh’s first book Ignore Everybody is very dear to me & Hugh carried on with delighting my soul with his second piece as well. I suspect that every passionate do-er will love this book.  So, SCG-ers read it & execute your evil plan! => And of course have FUN, while doing so! 😉

#3

Poke the Box (PTB) by Seth Godin

My heart beats faster when I only think about Poke the Box. Why, so? First of all, Seth is my personal inspiration for over 2 years, secondly PTB is first book published via The Domino Project, which I am virtually part of as a Street Team Member & last not the least Seth is one of us => SCG-er (I am still digesting, that he has commented on the last #IS blog post). I believe it is clear, that Seth’s PTB is an essential read. Go, get it! If you are still hesitant about its purchase, you might get some encouragement by shipment (=blog post) with the best 22 Quotes from PTB.

#4

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Life of Pi was my Christmas 2008 gift & for unknown reason I was putting it away from my reading list ever since. Even tough this book won prestigious The Man BOOKER Prize in 2002, I must confess, that I did not finish reading it. There are still 50 pages or so left. Why? Well, I found it too harsh & brutal especially close to the end. I know it has a happy ending and hero -> boy Pi -> the only human survivor of sank cargo ship, will be saved, but I was not in a mood for reading about one’s suffering. It must have taken loads of effort & imagination from the author to put it all together, no doubt about it, but for now I am putting it away again. SCG, did anyone of you read this book? How did you like it?

***


Quotes Of the Month Column goes to Hugh MacLeod’s Evil Plan

*

Product benefit does not excite us. Belief in humanity and human potential excites us.

*

Your brand develops relationships in enough different places to the extent that your permanent address becomes almost irrelevant.

*

Like a very talented pianist once told me when I was a boy, it’s better to practice a musical instrument for five minutes a day than to practice for two hours once a week.

*

If your boss will not let you to articulate your Evil Plan during company hours, quit.

*

The bad news is, the better your Evil Plan, the more people are going to hate it.

*

Real truth is always found in the moment, never in the future.

*

A waker is someone who is very good at waking other people up from their metaphorical slumber, temporary or otherwise. A waker reminds you on a constant basis just how alive you really are. Just how much human potential you really have inside of you.

*

Evil Plans are not products, Evil Plans are gifts.

*

I hated a job because it never allowed me to give enough to the world.

***

SCG,

what have you read lately? Share with us list of books, which left you gasping. 😉

cheers from,

i.

Comments

  1. Arjan Tiessen says:

    Life of Pi!!!!
    wow! it’s one of the two books in my life worth reading twice….
    It is one of my favorite books really, and especially the end is of unexpected beauty.
    I admit the first 60 pages or so are harsh to get through, but after I am still blown away.
    An absolutely fantastic book!!
    Another pearl: ‘Boy in the Striped pyjama”

    • Arjan,
      your enthusiasm convinced me to give Life of Pi a try, I will try to finish remaining pages tonight & I will tell you how was it, ok?;-)
      Plus I am bookmarking your second tip, too;-)

    • wohooo, I have seen the movie “boy in the striped pyjamas” … I was totally speechless in the end .. soo beautiful and supersad …. Looking forward to “Life of Pi” 🙂

      • aw, now I recall, which movie/book is “boy in the striped pyjamas”
        😉 I have seen movie trailer somewhere.
        Andrea, tell us then, how did you like Life of Pi;-)

  2. the last chapter of life of pi is absolutely hilarious. you should definitely give it a try. anyway – why not creating goodreads account for IS?

  3. > did anyone of you read this book?
    You actually reminded me that I never finished Life of Pi either 🙂

  4. Ivana always sharing this sort of valuable book’s review .Thanx a lot .

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