I Recommended a “Bad” Book

I read a lot and have favorite authors. One of the books I read about a dozen years ago I not only could not put down, but I’ve been recommending it ever since and have even gotten copies for friends that have been recovering from illnesses or operations. No one has ever told me they enjoyed the book.

I liked the book so much that I wanted to reread it and recently purchased a copy at a used book fair, and quickly immersed myself in it. Well, I can understand why no one commented on it – the beginning was tedious, verbose and drawn out. I did not remember it that way but remembered the storyline in the middle and through the end and the strong character the author developed. The book also became the first of a five-book mini-series featuring that character. Rereading it made me realize that no one I gave it to would have gotten past the first 50 or 75 pages. My bad! Obviously, I will not continue to recommend this book.

I recommend a lot of books because I enjoy sharing what I like. Most of this is done one-on-one but I also use this blog to share information about books I’ve read and liked. In retrospect, I’ve written quite a few blogs in the past 6½ years recommending books. Following is a listing and the dates the blogs were posted. Read some, and let me know if you’ve enjoyed them as much as I indicated in the blogs.

• Managing the Elephant by Louis V. Gerstner, Jr Jun 14, 2012
• Micro by Michael Crichton Jun 28, 2012
• Damn Good Advice by George Lois Aug 1, 2013
• Corporate Lifecycles by Ichak Adizes Nov 5, 2013
• 11/22/63 by Stephen King Nov 26, 2013
• Book of Ages by Jill Lepore Feb 18, 2014
• Getting Things Done by Edwin Bliss May 20, 2014
• The Peter Principle by Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull May 22, 2014
• Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Jan 20, 2015
• MONEY: Master the Game by Tony Robbins Feb 19, 2015
• Ireland’s Professional Amateurs by Andy Mendlowitz Mar 17, 2015
• Gutenberg’s Apprentice by Alix Christie Jun 23, 2015
• The Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen Aug 18, 2015
• 50 Plus! / Critical Career Decisions By Robert L. Dilenschneider Nov 19, 2015
• The Wright Brothers by David McCullough Feb 18, 2016
• Parkinson’s Law by C. Northcote Parkinson Mar 29, 2016
• Just Kids from the Bronx by Arlene Alda May 24, 2016
• The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks Jun 2, 2016
• Who Killed Change? by Ken Blanchard et al Sep 6, 2016
• How the Post Office Created America by Winifred Gallagher Oct 27, 2016
• The President is Dead! By Louis Picone Dec 22, 2016
• First Entrepreneur by Edward G. Lengel Jan 19, 2017
• The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande Apr 15, 2017
• Am I Being Too Subtle? By Sam Zell Aug 15, 2017
• Chief Value Officer by Mervyn King and Jill Atkins Oct 19, 2017

Books I wrote:

• Power Bites
• Getting Your Affairs in Order
• Call Me Before You Do Anything (my professional autobiography)

There are other books I mentioned or referred to that are too numerous to list. All of the above are recommended. I also posted some reviews on Amazon.com before I started these blogs that you could check out. I also present a speech, Growing from Other’s Experiences, with 200 bullet points from 42 books.

Enjoy!

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