Steve Jobs; The Power of Habit; Outliers… Which other books are on your “I Never Got around to Reading This, but I Should” list?

You know the problem.  You’ve got this stack of books – books you’ve bought, books that you intend/intended to read, but the stack still stares up at you.  And the book is still unread.

I’ve got that same stack, and it does not get any smaller!

We can help you a little.  Karl Krayer and I present two new book synopses every month.  We take our best shot at extracting the important takeaways, the transferable principles, of these books.  Our presentations are just over 15 minutes long, and for each, we provide a multi-page comprehensive handout.  These handouts include excerpts taken directly from the book, plus an overview of the key points of the book.  (At the bottom of this post, you will see the the cover page, and the last page, of my handout on the Walter Isaacson book, Steve Jobs.  The last page has my takeaways from this excellent book).

We record our presentations, which are delivered to a live audience at the Park City Club in Dallas the first Friday of each month.  (The Park City Club has a spectacular view of the city, and a great! breakfast).  These recordings, and our comprehensive handouts, are available for purchase at our companion web site, 15minutebusinessbooks.com.  Each synopsis is $9.99, or you can buy the entire archive, and the coming twelve months of new synopses, for a subscription price.  Each synopsis you purchase comes in a downloadable file, with audio plus handout.  You can then listen and read on any device, (and, you can, of course, print out the handout).

Here are the books we have presented so far this year.  All of these are available on our site.

January, 2012:
1.  The 3rd Alternative: Solving Life’s Most Difficult Problems by Stephen R. Covey.
2.  Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

February, 2012:
1.  Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy by Martin Lindstrom.
2.  The Rare Find: Spotting Exceptional Talent Before Everyone Else by George Anders.

March, 2012:
1.  Taking People With You: The Only Way to Make Big Things Happen by David Novak.
2.  Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain.

April, 2012:
1.  Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.
2. What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation by Gary Hamel.

May, 2012:
1.  Take the Stairs: 7 Steps to Achieving True Success, by Rory Vaden.
2.  Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer.

June, 2012:
1.  All In: How the Best Managers Create a Culture of Belief and Drive Big Results by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton.
2.  The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg.

July, 2012
1.  Reverse Innovation: Create Far From Home, Win Everywhere by Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble (Indra K. Nooyi – Foreword).
2.  Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think by Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler.

August, 2012
1.  Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World  by Michael Hyatt.
2.  The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox.

September, 2012
1.  The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals by Chris McChesney , Sean Covey , Jim Huling
2.  Every Nation for Itself: Winners and Losers in a G-Zero World by Ian Bremmer

October, 2012 (These synopses will be uploaded to our site in a couple of weeks)
1.  The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business by Patrick M. Lencioni.
2. The Coming Jobs War by Jim Clifton.

And, of course, we have other really good books coming each month.

Karl and I have made these presentations every month since April, 1998.  (Not all of the “early” presentations are available on our web site.  Sorry about that).  So, we’ve read a few books!  And though it is far better for you to actually read that stack of books that stares up at you, our presentations provide a good way to help you be conversant about the key ideas, and some of the great stories, to be found in these excellent books.

Check it out!

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