Books are the repository of all man’s knowledge. When a man learns something new and applies that new knowledge One of the first things that man does is share what he knows. This is often the case in nonfiction books. But that is also the case in fiction books.
Fiction books do a better job of giving an example of what would happen if there was a particular scenario or if they are wanting to explain a particular philosophy. FIction books are a great vehicle to share those what-ifs. Many genres have used their nonfiction storytelling to help people understand the plight of racism through the use of aliens. They can often take scenarios to the extreme to really hammer home a point that they are trying to make.
Non-Fiction books are great mediums for sharing thoughts and processes along with the whys. This is where you find out the methods to the madness. You see new ideas take shapes and as you continue to read you start to understand how that particular book can help you become better at your objective.
So with that, I wanted to share this year’s book that will help you to become a better man, husband, and father. These books can help you to grow and improve your opportunities to achieve your goals, your outlook on life, and improve your standing. Therefore here are 12 books I would read for next year.
Atlas Shrugged – Ayn Rand
Maybe you have seen the movies that try to tell the tale of Dagny Taggart and John Galt or maybe you have just heard of the title and that is all. Yet this book is on that is on my yearly read list.
Why would I subject myself to 1100+ pages each and every year? Well first of all I listen to it, and yes listening qualifies as reading. Yet that is beside the point. Why read it time and time again, each year for the past 5 years? That is because of the message about the virtues of hard work and doing what you are called to do.
It raises the flag of what is happening in the world today with collectivism and how businesses are being attacked by the government. But for this article, I wanted to share that this book also inspires you to stand strong in any opposition. If what you are doing is right and just you will prevail. It shows what happens if the collective overtakes the world. What happens if you take the true businessman out of the equation. how well will society stand if the thinking man goes on strike? Without the capitalist, society doesn’t have one person to take responsibility or move the world forward.
Atlas Shrugged also shows why being an individual is needed for the whole of society. The Collective sounds like a nice wholesome idea where we all help each other. We sacrifice who we are and what we do for the good of each other but in reality, that practice is ultimately bad and immoral.
The Fountainhead – Ayn Rand
Now Atlas Shrugged is actually a huge compliment to The Fountainhead. This book is all about the individual. Going with what you see is right and not worrying about what anybody else thinks you should do. This is the story of Howard Roark and his desire to do nothing but build the buildings he sees. He is relentless and will not work with anybody else because he knows that his thoughts are his own. This is a book about being selfish. Now I know that sounds like greed but greed is a completly different animal than being selfish.
The book shows why being an individual makes people stronger. WHy compromising your thoughts and ideas is the biggest sin you can commit on yourself. It shows that your ideas are just that “Yours” and how people will try to convince you that the best way is the wrong way. We learn about Howard , and Gail Wynand see each other as equals. The first time you read it you may even miss why is Dominique Francon hell bent on destroying Howards hard work.
So if you want to good shot to the arm on why you can be selfish and being selfish is actually to a benefit to other people then The Fountainhead is a book you want to read.
The Big Leap – Gay Hendricks
How is it that people who win the lottery end up losing millions of dollars in such a short amount of time? Have you ever gotten an opportunity and self-sabotaged it? How about those who are running their own business why can you not make more than your best year? The answer is your upper limit.
Your upper limit challenge is one of the many terms and concepts you learn about when you read about taking the Big Leap. The author Gay Hendricks explains about your different zones and which ones we operate in normally and why they cause you to burn out.
Gay also talks about einstein time and how you can actually control time so you can get more done in less time. Which is a really interesting idea.
Bad Childhood Good Life – Laura Schlessinger
So many people struggle through life by looking in their past. Many people are even trapped in the past over a traumatic experience. Some people allow abuse that happened in their past to define who they are. They stay in the place of being a small wounded child and don’t take the lessons learned and grow from them.
This book Bad Childhood Good Life: How to Blossom and Thrive in Spite of an Unhappy Childhood gives you permission to drop the victim mindset and to forge a path to being a great adult. You can grow from that world of abuse and be a stronger adult for it.
Man’s Search for Meaning – Viktor E. Frankl
You believe you have a rough life? Well I direct you to Victor Frankl. He was a Nazi concentration camp survivor. What makes his view of the situation he was in different is that he was psychotherapist who identified 3 responses by people who react under extreme circumstances.
There is so much to this book but the biggest takeaway is that no matter what experience you have it depends on your attitude. Even those who were eternal optimists ended up dying is because eventually their spirit was broken and they gave up hope. Yet if you can have a positive outlook on your situation and visualize a time when you will have the fortitude to keep pressing on. This is a fascinating book that helps you find the right mindset to keep going even when you are really facing a sucky part of the quest.
Psycho-Cybernetics – Maxwell Maltz
How do you steer your mind to a successful goal? That is what psycho-cybernetics talks about. How do we use our mind to get the most out of life? Is it all about how we think? The answer according to Maxwell Maltz the answer is yes.
Maxwell is a plastic surgeon and he noticed that many times people who have physical deformities get say a large nose altered some people suddenly take off and become wildly successful. While other people still act as if they are permanently disfigured even after having a scar fixed. Why are some people so greatly affected while others aren’t? The answer that Maxell believes is that it has everything to do with how you view yourself.
Maxwell talks about how you can change your thought patterns and create systems for how you see yourself. Which inturns allows for you to find ways to look at the world and see how you can achieve the goals and dreams you are after.
Man Up: It’s Hard to Resist a Bad Boy . . . Even More So a Good Man! – Scott C. Schuler
This is a call to arms. Why being a man is needed in today’s society. What does it take to be a man? That is the pivotal piece that Man Up addresses. Scott addresses how you can show up as a true man in Work, your marriage, and as a dad.
All these areas are places that many men fail to rise to the occasion yeah society may want to minimize men but reading Man Up helps you have the right frame of mind as to how you can show up and and man up.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin – Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin is one of the most important men in our history. He was a prolific inventor from even a young age he created fins to help him swim faster than the other boys around him. Benjamin Franklin was not afraid to ask questions and then go out and find the answer.
This book has many key points that are important to a man. One of the biggest being his dedication to self-improvement. He had 13 virtues he made sure to live his life by. In his autobiography, he describes how he tracked his improvements. He would review his day and score how well he did. Which is important for men to do on a regular basis.
7 Habits of Highly effective people – Stephen Covey
How do you become effective at what you are doing? That is a question many people ask and for 30 years people have been turning to this book. The 7 Habit of Highly Effective People. From knowing how to set up a decision matrix to how to effectively motivate people, this book has helped millions come to understand how to be a more effective leader.
Whether you are beginning with the end in mind or looking for that elusive win/win situation you will discover new and inventive ways to be effective. You also find ways to be a better leader with principles like Seeking to first understand the other person before you work to be understood.
Sovereignty: The Battle for the Hearts and Minds of Men – Ryan Michler
What do you have power over? The simple answer? Yourself. This is what Ryan Michler has on his heart and mind. From the battle to the mission to how to conduct yourself in a masculine way.
Ryan lays out a battle plan for for how you can conduct yourself to have the most integrity and mental fortitude so that you care able to become the best man your family requires of you. Ryan talks about being self aware and being intentional in all your actions Doing so helps you understand what it take to be a man and to be the best leader of your life Your family and your community.
The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It – Warren Farrell Ph.D., John Gray Ph.D.
You may have heard me talk about how we are in a fight for masculinity. The battle front is namely with our boys. From treating boys as broken girls in the classroom to making sure boys feel bad about being the bread winners for the family. The book helps you understand the problems we are facing, citing examples of how we are letting our sons down. It explains how we got into this situation in the first place because we over compensated in making sure girls had the same opportunities.
WHen you have your eyes opened to the problem you come to understand why I feel the need to stand up for the boys and allow them to be as rough and tumble as they naturally are. WHy we need to allow the boys to flex their young muscles and understand their world in the best way they can understand the world and that isn’t by feminising them.
The Compound Effect – Darren hardy
How do you get yourself in the position of being successful? By making systems that help you become successful. The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy Explains how the compound effect works by using the power of compound interest in finances. From here he explains you you can get just a little bit better in other parts of your life by making the needed choices and building the proper habits. From there you are able to build the needed momentum to keep going.
The Compound effect is needed for those times you are getting yourself up off the ground so that you are to start moving. You have an idea and you want to get moving. Applying the lessons learned through the compound effect will help you reap some
