What I read back in the first quarter of 2016.

Disclaimer: I’m doing this to get better at writing. That’s it…period. Being public about it forces on me a level of discipline and precision that writing just for myself does not. If you find it interesting, great! If not, feel free to just move along; no hard feelings.

Several years ago, I made a concerted effort to read more. Not just tweets and posts…not just articles…but actual books. Shocking, right? And, because I love the tactical feel of a book, because I love the smell of a book, and because I love to markup the pages with underlines and notes, and also because I tend to zig when others zag, I tossed my Kindle to the side and went back to physical books.

In addition to reading more, I started tracking all the books I read. So, I thought I would use this as inspiration for what I will write about – for a little while, at least. My tracking started back in January 2016…so it’ll take me a few posts to get caught up to present.

Also, I want to apologize in advance as these days it feels like everyone and their cousin have a recommended reading list. But, I refer you back to the disclaimer that I started this post with…and that’s that.

Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking by Richard Nisbett

I honestly can’t remember how this book ended up on my reading list; I draw inspiration for what to read from a wide variety of places. But, this is a fantastic read. It is dense – lots and lots of great information and great insights packed in (my copy has tons of notes I made while reading it). It brings together so many different elements about thought, logic, reason, cultural influences, mental models, statistics, and much, much more. Just sticking with the concept of mental models for one minute – this book will definitely challenge how you think and push you to think in new and surprisingly effective ways. For anyone wanting to hone their critical thinking skills, this is highly recommended.

Zillow Talk: Rewriting the Rules of Real Estate by Spencer Rascoff and Stan Humphries

I read this while I was working at Xome. We had ambitions to upset the consumer real estate transaction industry…which I still firmly believe is ripe for complete disruption. It’s an interesting, although quite self-serving, look into the mountains of data that Zillow has on home sales. Mining that data for insights, Zillow Talk proves some long-standing beliefs (“homes listed in the last weeks of March sold the fastest and for the most money”), but also disproves beliefs that many of us likely take for granted (“kitchen renovations, at any level, offer among the lowest return on investment of the home improvements studied”). An easy and enjoyable read that shines a light on the housing market that only massive amounts of data can yield.

Picking the Low Hanging Fruit: And Other Stupid Stuff We Say in the Corporate World by James Sudakow and illustrated by Todd Kale

Another Disclaimer: James Sudakow is a very longtime friend of mine.

That being said, this is a fun and enjoyable read for anyone that has rolled their eyes while looking at the problem from 20,000 feet, then double clicking on it, but then…after peeling back the onion and needing to put a stake in the ground, you decide to take the discussion offline and tell your co-worker that you’ll ping them later. A glossary for today’s Dilbert-esque corporate world…and with some amazing and hysterical illustrations to go with it. Read this for a chuckle and to make you sound smart at that next meeting…it’s a win-win!