This is a classic that I have just discovered. The book was written many years ago, but has been updated.

It focuses on non-fiction writing and has lots of great guidelines plus great advice.

My favorite piece of advice was – if you are having difficulty with re-writing a sentence, try deleting it and see what the effect is.

The basic tenet of the book is that writing is re-writing. No one gets it right first time, so be prepared for re-writing and re-writing.

I know from personal experience that I can improve existing writing – but a blank page is hard to edit.

It has specialist sections on most popular types of non-fiction writing. I skipped a few that I don’t write about e.g. Sport.

Highly recommend.

If you are interest in fiction writing check out Stephen King’s (yes THE Stephen King) classic – On Writing.

Written in his typical storytelling style, Malcolm Gladwell examines a police incident to see why and how we struggle to understand and relate to strangers.

Its not as straight forward as you think.

The book covers a lot of ground in many different areas. It is interesting and confronting.

If you liked his previous books then this one is worth reading.

I first heard about Derek Sivers on Tim Ferris’s podcast and now have three of his books.

His back story is amazing and covered in a previous book.

This book is written about music and musicians, but it really applies to any creative endeavor.

Good ideas to help you get your music (or creative work) out there.

Short read – recommend.

Available from his website – link below.

https://sive.rs/

I first heard about Derek Sivers on Tim Ferris’s podcast and now have three of his books.

His back story is amazing and covered in a previous book.

This book is about identifying and doing what’s important.

Lots of short ideas to help kick start your important work.

It is a short read and I think only available from his website – link below.

https://sive.rs/

Another great book by Seth.

It is written in bullet point form and has lots of pearls of wisdom to help you get your work out there into the world.

Seth looks at things a bit differently and that can help you focus on what you need to do and get it done.

A great book to help you think about things a little differently and hopefully act a little differently too.

Some great ideas and stories, highly recommend.

Many examples relate to music and musicians, but the practices apply to everyone.

I listened to the audio book version which had the added benefit of music.

A new book that covers how you can make small incremental changes over time that lead to large results.

Atomic means small, as in atoms.

I have followed James’s Blog (link below) for a number of years and this book covers topics from the blog plus new material.

James Clear’s blog

His back story is interesting and inspiring.

It is a practical book and he provides ideas to increase your good habits and reduce your bad habits – useful strategies to do both are included.

Habits are automatic and many times unconscious, so the more automated and intentional you make your habits the more time you have for other important things.

You may need to read it a couple of times to get the most out of all his suggestions.

Highly recommend.

A great book to help you create better charts/graphs. (Note: I call them charts because I use Excel – graphs may be the correct term.)

The book explains many visualisation concepts and backs it up with step by step examples of improving charts.

The before and after charts speak for themselves.

The book also places emphasis on identifying the message you are seeking to convey to the reader of your chart and making sure you are using the best chart to get that message across.

With dashboards being the buzz at the moment learning how to best display your information is a good skill to have.

This quote was used in the book and encapsulates many of the recommendations. Highly recommend this book.

Essentialism is a great concept and well explained and described in this book. Lots of examples and ways to include it in your life.

It is a different mindset and will take a while to implement and incorporate.

I read this book with Deep Work by Cal Newport they compliment each other.

Highly recommend.

A good book to encourage and motivate you to focus more.

Social media and the internet are designed to keep your eyeballs on the screen. This doesn’t get the worthwhile work done.

Moderation is tough in anything and with the dice loaded against you its hard to limit time on the net.

Some good suggestions and ideas to help you get more great work done.

I read this book with Essentialism by Greg McKeown. they compliment each other.

Highly recommend.

Some great practical advice on areas to improve on.

Applies to many different areas of life.

Basic premise is simple, but some great suggestions on how you can improve in all areas of your life.

Eric has blogged for many years and this book follows on from his blog.

His writing style is relaxed and it is an easy read.

A book that turns some common advice on its head and confirms others.

Lots of studies are examined some of them conflicting, so you may need to experiment yourself with some of the practical suggestions.

Another great book from Tim Ferriss.

This has lots of short advice about life from successful people from all walks of life.

Its a smorgasbord – you can open it randomly and learn something new.

It follows on from his podcast and the Tools of Titans – another great book.

Many of his podcast questions are answered by people who haven’t been on the podcast.

Highly recommend.

This book has it all, humour, drama, intrigue, family secrets and running jokes throughout.

Plus its all true. Anh is a nice guy and a great comedian and he writes well. I didn’t realise he had done so some many things, and done them successfully.

It shows the impact of a new country on refugees. A great read!

I heard it might be made into a movie – look forward to it.

A must read.

It will get you thinking about how we have progressed and whether it has been progress or regress.

Have the lives of sapiens improved over the thousands of years?

What about the planet and the other animals on the planet, (the ones we haven’t killed off any way) are they better off?

It has lots of great ideas, concepts, tricks and tips. Highly recommend.

Tim is famous for the 4 hour work week book, but more recently his podcasts have become legendary.

The book is based on the people Tim has interviewed and had on the Podcast (not all the podcasts are interviews). I am a big fan of the podcast and the book delivers.

Great to have so much information in one book.

In the introduction Tim says to skip stuff that doesn’t interest you. I have skipped over a lot of the “supplement” chapters as it isn’t my thing.

But there are still lot of gems in this book no matter what your stage in life.

The kindle version has lots of internal links within the book.

Definitely worth your money, time and effort.

A short book with short chapters meant to get you thinking differently about work.

Much of what the book covers goes against the “common” advice out there.

It gets you thinking (sometimes differently) and that’s one thing a good book is all about.

David Heinemeir Hansson has recently been featured on two Tim Ferris podcasts – two excellent episodes.

Audio Book review.

Narrated by the author – a TV anchor from the US.

Interesting perspectives. Takes a bit to get going as he goes through his back story. Some parts are a bit long winded, but over all, worth a listen.

Meditation is the answer to the question, how can I be 10% happier?

This is the first fiction book I have included on my website. Whilst Science Fiction, the story is based on accurate scientific knowledge.

The author self-published and was “discovered” after the book went viral.

This is one of the best audio books I have ever listened to.

Narrator was brilliant.

The story was terrific, lots of high and lows and great humor.

Highly recommend, even if you don’t normally read Sci-Fi.

Great advice from some very high profile contributors.

I plan to start applying some of these ideas straightaway.

A quick read, worth the effort. Great read for a plane flight.

An excellent book. It details one man’s struggle with terminal cancer. But its less of a struggle and more of a journey. Having seen a relative go through the same journey it can help to understand what goes through the minds of all concerned. Highly recommend.

Youtube of the lecture is below.

Great book that extends the previous research and looks at what is needed to thrive in a constantly changing world. Examples from different areas of life are used as well as business examples. Some interesting insights – some are counter intuitive. Highly recommend. I listened to the audio book.

A brilliant book. Very accessible. It covers many aspects of encouraging and maintaining creativity in an organisation and it uses Pixar movies as an example.

It was amazing to hear how some of the Pixar movies changed as they were developed.

I listened to the audio book which was narrated by the author which always adds to the experience.

Ed Catmull worked closely with Steve Jobs and the book finishes with Ed’s thoughts on Steve.

Highly recommend, 10 / 10.

This is the third version of this book that I have bought. I own XL 2000, XL 2007 and now this one. It’s worth updating as new features are added in each Excel version.

I highly recommend this book if you have been using macros for a while and want to take them to another level. It is not a step by step instruction guide you need to read and absorb.

It demonstrates and explains many best-practice techniques but it can take time to digest the ideas. It has a companion website with the examples from the book.

(John Walkenbach is my favorite Excel author and I was honoured that he wrote a recommendation that appears on the back of my own book)

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book to review.

If you’re after an introduction to using Excel for Financial Modelling, this is a good place to start. Danielle has even included shortcuts and explanations for the Mac version of Excel. For the beginner there are lots of good habits that you can learn. For the more experienced users there are explanations of how common bad habits can impact your models.

Just following her recommendations and using her tips could save you hours of work and also the frustration of “learning the hard way”.

Added June 2017 – You might want to check out Danielle’s latest book Financial Modeling in Excel For Dummies.

A great little book to help you test and improve your computer interfaces.

Easy to read and understand.

Uses humour and examples to get the points across.