Various people (including the excellent Jonny Bowden and Carl Harvey) have invited me to make a list of 10 books that have stayed with me. Here are the first 10 biggies that occurred to me, in no particular order... 1) Quantum Psychology by Robert Anton Wilson. One of my favourite books of all time, and one that I’ve re-read at least 6 or 7 times. When I used to run NLP Master Practitioner programmes, I’d give out this book as the ‘alternative training manual’. It’s like a user’s guide for the statement “The map is not the territory”. Some people would say it’s the sequel to Wilson’s Prometheus Rising (also one of my favourite books), and while you may find Prometheus Rising useful to loosen yourself up, Quantum Psychology can be read as a standalone. Warning/Guarantee: Robert Anton Wilson has probably had more impact on my personal writing style than any other writer. Make sure you do the exercises! 2) The 50th Law by Robert Greene and 50-cent. A fascinating read and a compelling counterpoint to the “rainbows and kittens dipped in sugar” vibe of the new-age personal development world… The 50th Law documents rapper Curtis Jackson’s (aka 50-cent) meteoric rise from crack-dealer to multi-millionaire megastar and entrepreneur. Robert Greene (also known for Seduction & the 48 Laws of Power) contributes a keen eye and high-quality wordsmithing. 3) The Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki. I read this book immediately after reading “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by the same author. Lots of people slag Kiyosaki off, but these books had a profound impact on my psychology around money. 4) Antifragile by Nicholas Nassim Taleb. Certainly not everyone’s cup of tea, but I found this book to be brilliant, engaging and massively though-provoking. Taleb is smarter than a sackful of Nobel prize-winners, and doesn’t give a damn about what anybody else thinks. Refreshingly authentic, incisive and original. 5) The Missing Link by Sydney Banks. OK - I was given this book in 1999, read it in an hour and dismissed it, saying “I already know all that, and it’s more complicated than that”. I read it again 7 years later and came to the same conclusion. Finally, in 2009, after life had beaten me into a state of greater open-mindedness, I read it again. Now it’s one of my favourite books. I can read a single sentence and get floored. Truly mind-opening. 6) Journey to Ixtlan by Carlos Castaneda. Another book that I’ve read many times. While Castaneda’s earlier books focused on the use of psychotropic plants (peyote, datura etc), Ixtlan is looking more from a psychological / spiritual perspective at his induction into the ways of the sorcerer. In Castaneda’s own words (from one of my favourite passages in the books), The basic premise of sorcery for a sorcerer is that the world of everyday life is not real, or out there, as we believe it is. For a sorcerer, reality, or the world we all know, is only a description. For the sake of validating this premise I will concentrate the best of my efforts into leading you into a genuine conviction that what you hold in mind as the world at hand is merely a description of the world; a description that has been pounded into you from the moment you were born.” Frustrating at some points, breathtaking at others. Very cool. 7) Courage: The Joy of Living Dangerously by Osho. This one wins the prize for “best title ever”. I read it ten or fifteen years ago and had numerous insights. Osho seemed to me to be pretty much bonkers by the end of his life, but his earlier stuff has some real gold in it. BTW, as far as I can tell, the name “Osho” seems to have been granted / branded posthumously. While he had a number of names, I was aware of him going under the name Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh when I was a teen. He had a big ashram in Oregon, a few hundred miles south of where I grew up, where he collected a fleet of Rolls Royces and snorted laughing gas. Definitely on his own railroad”. 8) All Marketers Are Liars by Seth Godin. My first attempt to educate myself about marketing was an audio programme by Seth Godin called “Making Money on the Web” which I bought and listened to in 2001 (on cassette tape, believe it or not!) Given how many dodgy “make money” products there are in the world, I got lucky with this one. Seth introduced me to the idea of “relationship marketing” and I used it to build my company, Salad. “All Marketers Are Liars” is absolutely brilliant, giving a blueprint for authentic, values-based business in the 21st century. Godin gives you the big ideas, but you need to discover the “how tos” yourself. Fortunately, I like that. 9) Positioning by Jack Ries & Al Trout. Indispensable book about communication and influence. Up there with the superb “Influence” by Robert Cialdini, and arguably even more influential. I’ve read “Positioning” at least half a dozen times. 10) On Being A Confident Prescriber by Ian Watson. This isn’t actually a book - it’s an audio programme by Ian Watson (then homeopath, now 3 Principles teacher). A friend of mine gave me this and his equally excellent audio, Living Abundantly, back in 2003. They had a profound impact on the way I worked, and the way I thought about business (insights I got while listening to these recordings inspired me to create the first Salad audio products). These were very impactful in shaping how I thought about change, and paved the way for the big insight and change of direction which started for me in 2009. I haven’t listened to them in years, but they were truly pivotal. Ian’s now a good friend & colleague, and continues to be an inspiration.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 07:50:18 +0000
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