My favorite Books
6 Books & a Magazine on Creativity
I’ve been reading a ton over the years & have been asked for a book list from a few different people. Here’s the list!
Contagious - This book was gifted to me during my senior year of college from my marketing professor. It’s mostly stories & insights about manufacturing virality. I ended up reading it 4x while backpacking Asia & applied many principles to my work. I’d like to say this book single handily helped me create viral media. Around 150+ million views since I read this one.
Can’t Hurt Me - If you like audiobooks, go with that version, David Goggins speaks at the end of many chapters. His story is incredible & there aren’t many people that can do BUDS Seals Bootcamp more than once & he did it 4x. It really opens your perspective on life & what might be bothering you can be overcame. It also will make you feel like you aren’t living up to your fullest potential & Goggins shares some really good challenges to work on.
Relentless - This is a must-read for anyone trying to seek peak excellence in their life. Grover trained Kobe up until he passed & shares elite methods for working with the best. From mindset to winning to rock bottom to winning. It’s a must-read for every entrepreneur & athlete. I’d recommend the physical copy so you can underline/take notes. I re-read my notes every few months. One of my favorite books. Another by Tim Grover, W1NNING, is also a great read & a lot about Kobe’s mentality. Both are epic books. Read relentless first if you decide to read both.
Traction - I just finished this book & love the business principles with lessons. It was gifted to me by a very successful B2B software entrepreneur. His friend actually wrote it & it’s opened my eyes to many areas I’ve lacked in creating traction. It has many tools & thought models that can be applied to any type of business. It has tons of mini lessons built in between their ‘traction models’ & uses real-life case studies to exemplify the ‘traction’ logic. I ended up writing throughout my entire physical book & will be applying a lot of what I learned going forward.
Meeting the Shadow, The Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature - This book is very interesting. It’s going to raise emotions within you when reading that are very healthy & thought-provoking. It’s comprised of mini-chapters from a ton of contributors. You can read any section & don’t have to stick to reading it in order. I’ve found a lot of the ‘dark side’ stories shared from history have repeated consistenly throughout our modern times. If you enjoy psychology & also want to understand your dark side more, it’s a good read. In Relentless as mentioned above, Grover talks about how the dark side is the most important aspect to be channeled by pro athletes/businessmen/high achievers. It’s the side of humans that if channeled improperly can hurt you or others, but when channeled well, it opens up doors of opportunity. “Something we were withholding made us weak, Until we found it ourselves.”
The Science of Creativity - This is an old magazine filled with endless information on the studies & outcomes of creatives. Ranging from famous artists who have died 100s of years ago to the modern artists who have taken their creativity the highest levels. I keep this around my nightstand & often read a few pages before bed randomly. I really think everyone has an inner genius & expression of creativity that can be sparked at random times. There’s a lot of insight in here about capitalizing & maximizing your creativity.
A Random Walk Down Wall Street - This book has made me a good amount of money off the principles & trends it showcases from the 2000 dot com bubble. I have enjoyed hearing about the 2000s bubble compared to the bubble many say we are in now. It will change your outlook on many stocks & viewpoints while making you a better investor. It showcases how amazon went from $70 to $1 during the early 2000s dot com crash & now look at Amazon. It gives you a lot of insight on how to find the best stocks in downturns. Highly recommend it to everyone who’s investing currently or will be in the near future. The principles will stick for a lifetime.
Stay Up.
-HW