Pre-Marital Counseling with the Book – Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts: Seven Questions to Ask Before—and After—You Marry
Heather and I recently completed an excellent per-marital course that was recommended by our minister, Reggie. As part of the course we read the book Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts: Seven Questions to Ask Before—and After—You Marry while also working through the paired his and her workbooks. Yes you heard that right. There was a different workbook for the male and female in the couple. Reggie also connected us with a great couple, Tracy & Warren, who was able to talk with us after we completed sections of the reading and workbooks. Yes there was actual work required in all this, but I’m not naive enough to think that getting married isn’t going to be work too! I really enjoyed the whole experience. Although Heather and I have been together...
Book Highlights: The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen
A little over six months ago I heard Clay Christensen speak at one of HubSpot’s BizTalks. The ideas and research that he presented were eye opening in quite a few ways. The concept of the innovator’s dilemma was something that I had understood at an uncanny fundamental level for what feels like forever, but I wasn’t sure why. Check out The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail The power of the innovator’s dilemma revolves around the problems that sometimes occur when perfectly smart and able businesses making rational decisions in the pursuit of future growth and profits. Sometimes this same rational and the right sort of innovation comes along which ultimately undercuts them and lets a smaller,...
Book Highlights: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
I recently read what was one best books of 2010 and after reading it I completely understand why. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is the true story of Louie Zamperini who was young athlete in the 1936 Olympics before joining the Army Air Corps and becoming a bombardier. On a rescue trip his plane crash-landed into the ocean and one of the most fascinating stories of survival and tradgey begins. This book will suck you into his story and amazing resilence through it all. Here is a story of a young man who’s life couldn’t look much brighter and then he is thrown into war. As a POW to the Japanese everything is stripped from him but he survives years of this to come back and live a life of meaning and happiness again. I think there are lessons in this...
Book Notes: Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light by Jane Brox
Here is another book that I recently completed. Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light by Jane Brox was an interesting read. It was interesting learning the story of artificial light and how it has changed human life so much over the last few centuries. Can you image a time when the sun went down people lived in darkness until the next morning? Instead of reading the whole book here are 18 quotes from the book that really stood out in my mind. The story of this increase—just a few centuries old—is one of technology and power, of politics, grievances, and class: the wealthy and powerful have always been the first to acquire new kinds of light and have always had more of it than others. But the story of light is also one of constancy and mystery, of...
Book Notes: Made To Stick by Chip & Dan Heath
Since Heather got me my Kindle for Christmas I’ve really started to enjoy reading books on it. After all my big exciting New Years resolution was to start reading more books. Blogs are great, but you really need a book to get deep into concepts. What is really great about the Kindle is the ability to take notes right on the device. So instead of doing a traditional book review I’m going to share the notes I took from the book. So below are the notes from Made to Stick by Chip & Dan Heath. — How do we find the essential core of our ideas? A successful defense lawyer says, “If you argue ten points, even if each is a good point, when they get back to the jury room they won’t remember any.” Research shows that mentally rehearsing a...
Book Review: Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
Growing up I loved to read fiction, especially fantasy novels. I don’t know what happened but over the last five years it seems like the only thing I truly enjoy more is a great work of non-fiction loaded with explanations, facts and lessons learned. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond fits at the top of the list of must reads. When my friend Yoav Shapira first mentioned this book it sounded exactly like something right in the middle of this sweet spot. Afterall, this book is the winner of the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction! Guns, Germs, and Steel tells the story of mankind over the last 11,000 years. This is the story of the domestication of man. If you have ever wondered why the ancient people of the Fertile...
Subscribe