Book Binge – December Edition

I typically spend the end of my year self reflecting on how things have gone – both the good and the bad.  Usually that leads me to this thoughtful place of “I need more books.”  For some reason to me books are instant inspiration and a great alternative to binge streaming.  They remind me of the people I want to be, the challenges I want to battle and conquer, and seamlessly entangle themselves into whatever it is I am currently experiencing.

Here are 3 of my binges this month:

First up: You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living Your Life by Jen Sincero

This is a really great read.  Despite the title being a little melodramatic (I don’t really believe that I’m not already a super badass, or that my greatness isn’t already infiltrating the world), Jen writes in a style that is very easy to understand.  She breaks down several “self help” concepts in an analytical fashion that reveals itself through words that actually make sense.  There’s a fair amount of brash language as well, something I appreciate in writing.

Backstory on this purchase:  I actually bought a copy of this book for me and 2 fellow data warriors.  I wanted it to serve as a reminder that we are badasses and can persevere in a world where we’re sometimes misunderstood.

To contradict all the positiveness I learned from Jen Sincero, I then purchased this guy: The Subtle Art of not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson.  (Maybe there’s a theme here: I like books with profanity on the cover?)

Despite the title, it isn’t about how you can be indifferent to everything in the world – definitely not a guide on how to detach from everything going on.  Instead it’s a book designed to help you prioritize the important things, see suffering as a growth opportunity, and figure out what suffering you like to do on a repeated basis.  I’m still working my way through this one, but I appreciate some of the basic principles that we all need to hear.  Namely that the human condition IS to be in a constant state of solving problems and suffering and fixing, improving, overcoming.  That there is no finish line, and when you reach your goal you don’t achieve confetti and prizes (maybe you do), but instead you get a whole slew of new problems to battle.

Last book of the month is more data related.  It’s good old Tableau Your Data by Dan Murray + Interworks team.

I was inspired to buy this after I met Dan (way back in March of 2016).  I’ve had the book for several months, but wanted to give it a shout out for being my friend.  I’ve had some sticky challenges regarding Tableau Server this month and the language, organized layout, and approach to deployment have been the reinforcement (read as: validation) I’ve needed at times in an otherwise turbulent sea.

More realistically – I try to buy at least 1 book a month.  So I’m hoping to break in some good 2017 habits of doing small recaps on what I’ve read and the imprint new (or revisited) reads leave behind.

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