Book List 2021

The year 2021 marks the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic. And this year, I’ve been hit by something that I never thought would be an issue: boredom or, more accurately, a frequent state of being busy but bored. With this, I gravitated to learning new and exciting things, such as making a proper espresso and playing the piano. I also forced myself to read from a physical Bible and some physical computer science books. Here are the books I ended up reading this year:

Leadership

1. Humble Consulting: How to Provide Real Help Faster* by Edgar H. Schein
2. Introverted Leader: Building on Your Quiet Strength by Jennifer Kahnweiler (MUST READ)
3. Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time by Jeff & J.J. Sutherland
4. Servant Leadership Roadmap: Master the 12 Core Competencies of Management Success with Leadership Qualities and Interpersonal Skills by Cara Bramlett
5. The Go-Giver (Book 1): A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea by Bob Burg and John David Mann (MUST READ)
6. Go-Givers Sell More (Book 1-b) by Bob Burg and John David Mann
7. The Go-Giver Leader (Book 2): A little story about what matters most in business by Bob Burg & John David Mann
8. The Go-Giver Influencer (Book 3) by Bob Burg & John David Mann

Personal Development

1. 9 Things You Simply Must Do to Succeed in Love and Life by Dr. Henry Cloud (MUST READ)
2. An Introvert’s Guide to World Domination: Become a High Level Networker and Upgrade Your Life by Nick Shelton (Entertaining Read)
3. Atomic Habits: An easy and proven way to build good habits & break bad ones by James Clear (MUST READ)
4. Burnout by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski (MUST READ, especially for women)
5. Burnout: Resting in God’s Fairness by Brad C. Hambrick (MUST READ)
6. Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport
7. Empty Out the Negative by Joel Osteen (MUST READ)
8. X: Multiply your God-given potential by John Bevere (MUST READ)
9. You are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit by James K. A. Smith (MUST READ)

Professional Development

1. Cloud Native DevOps with Kubernetes: Building, Deploying, and Scaling Modern Applications in the Cloud by John Arundel & Justin Domingus
2. Consumption Economics: The New Rules of Tech* by J. B. Wood, Thomas Lah, and Todd Hewlin
3. The Future of Insurance: From Disruption to Evolution* by Bryan Falchuk
4. Kubernetes in Action by Marko Lukša
5. Negotiating Globally by Jeanne M. Brett (MUST READ)

Books with * (suffix) were summaries read from GetAbstract.com

Final Thoughts

It’s been a great year with significant right-brain development and EQ growth, especially after reading the different books on leadership, introversion, personal habits, and burnout. So as I close, let me share one of my favourite excerpts from the books I read this year:

“What’s the difference between the best athletes and everyone else?” I asked. “What do the really successful people do that most don’t?” He mentioned the factors you might expect: genetics, luck, talent. But then he said something I wasn’t expecting: “At some point it comes down to who can handle the boredom of training every day, doing the same lifts over and over and over.”…People talk about getting “amped up” to work on their goals. Whether it’s business or sports or art, you hear people say things like, “It all comes down to passion.” Or, “You have to really want it.” As a result, many of us get depressed when we lose focus or motivation because we think that successful people have some bottomless reserve of passion. But this coach was saying that really successful people feel the same lack of motivation as everyone else. The difference is that they still find a way to show up despite the feelings of boredom.…Variable rewards or not, no habit will stay interesting forever. At some point, everyone faces the same challenge on the journey of self-improvement: you have to fall in love with boredom. ~ Atomic Habits by James Clear