Tag: books

My book just turned 2 years old! Here are 9 ways it has changed my life.

I have dreamed about writing a book since I realized people did such things. As a kid, I knew Dr Suess did it. So did Laura Ingalls Wilder. But it seemed super hard. And time-consuming. But in March of 2020, I took the pandemically-induced gift of time, and started writing. And like a literary Forrest Gump, I just kept write-ing and write-ing. Today, my little paper baby, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? is 2 years old! So I have taken a moment to reflect on how writing this book has impacted my life.

9 Ways writing a book has impacted my life.

  1. I learned I can do hard things. Doing hard things demystifies the hard things you do. Yes, writing a book requires a lot of time, energy and focus. But it requires a little bit every day, not a full deposit at one time. Writing a book is actually like running 3 marathons. A writing marathon, a publishing marathon, and a marketing marathon (which only ends when you stop promoting your book.) I wrote more about it in this post. I enjoyed the process. It was not too much for me. And it’s not too much for you either.

2. I have earned a new level of respect. Our society respects published authors. I think it’s because you have done something that other people know is hard. And it indicates that you have a deep level of knowledge in a specific area. Or that you are both creative and disciplined. #createiplined I consider being a published author The Poor Man’s Ph.D. (Or Poor Woman’s Ph.D.) Because when you add author to your title it earns you a higher level of respect. (I always say respect like Ali G says respek!)

3. I get hired to speak. Since publishing my book my speaking requests have quadrizumpled. (Which is a Mary Poppins-like way of saying ‘greatly increased’. This year I traveled all over the country speaking at conferences, symposiums, company meetings, association events, rotary clubs, chamber of commerce events, and schools. I love speaking. For me, it’s right up there with smiling and chocolate milk.

4. I have made money. Between book sales and speaking engagements, my book has become a source of income. It’s cool to have a product that you only have to create once, but you can sell over and over again, like Nelly and Tim McGraw.

5. I get invited to be a guest. Since publishing my book I have been a guest on countless podcasts. (OK, I could probably count them if I tried really hard, but I haven’t.) I have also been invited to be a guest on the Milwaukee morning show The Morning Blend on NBC about 6 times, including this week! (Tune in here Friday morning at 9am, or find segments from the past anytime.)

6. I have been quoted. A cool result of writing a book is that I have been quoted on social media by people I don’t know. I have been alerted of mentions of my name, and when I followed the thread I realized that people I didn’t know shared quotes from the book. I have reached out to some of these people to thank them and find out how they read the quote. Some of them read the book. Others googled for quotes on positivity or other such positive terms. It’s pretty cool to have your work spread like that. Now I know how Jif and Skippy feel when people spread their work.

7. I attend book club discussions. I have never joined a book club. Perhaps because I am a dude, And book clubs have historically seemed less dudey. But I always thought they seemed like a cool idea. Now, every time I hear of a book club reading my book I volunteer to attend the discussion. My next one is coming up in January. It’s enjoyable to have conversations with people who read your book critically. And I love it when people share their favorite funny lines from the book. #DepecheMode

8. I have seen pictures of my book all over the world. Ok, so not North Korea or Antarctica. But, you know, a lot of cool places. People often take my book on vacation and enjoy reading it in some spectacular locales. Then they send me pics or tag me in photos. It is safe to say my book has been to more interesting places than I have.

9. I can buy my book from any bookseller. Initially, my book was only available on Amazon, from my publisher, Ripples Media, or from the trunk of my car. However, now, you can order my book from virtually anywhere. All the online booksellers that I have ever checked now carry it. And all independent bookstores can order it too. (Shout out to Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee for being amongst the first stores to stock the book on their shelves.)

Key Takeaway

Writing and publishing my book has added to my life in many positive and rewarding ways. And the impact continues to compound. Yes, it takes work. But the payoff has been well worth it. If you have considered writing a book I strongly encourage you to do it for real. I am happy to share everything I know. Although the key is to simply open a Google document (or Word doc) and start writing. Then write a little more every day, just like Elvis Costello.

If you are still looking for a great Christmas present that doesn’t break the bank, please consider giving What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? If you read this too late to be delivered and you live in the Milwaukee area, reach out to me directly at adam@theweaponry.com. I can hook you up with a signed copy, even up to the last minute. Boom!

I was given $200 I could spend on anything. Here’s what I bought with it.

Three years ago $200 fell out of the sky and into my hand. No, it wasn’t 20,000 pennies from Heaven. That would have been cool. But life-threatening.

Gusto, the online payroll processing vendor that The Weaponry uses to pay our people, ran a referral promotion that allowed us to share our referral code with others. If someone we referred signed up for Gusto we would both get a $200 gift card. And when my friend Theresa Pride, owner of Pride Physique Pilates and Physical Therapy in Atlanta ran her first payroll we both received our Amazon gift cards.

This created a fun opportunity. Because Amazon sells almost every product under the sun. (Or under the moon if you shop at night.) So I could buy practically any product on the planet that costs $200 or less. I felt like I was at Chuck E Cheese’s and got to choose anything on the prize wall valued at $200 or less. It was a little kid’s dream come true for this big kid.

What Will I Do?

As I pondered my opportunity my mind returned to my favorite childhood book, Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I have read that book more times than any other book.

One of my favorite stories in the book recounts a time when Almanzo Wilder was at his town’s 4th of July celebration and his cousin dared him to ask his Dad for a nickel to buy a lemonade. Nervously, Almanzo asks his father for the nickel. After a long thoughtful moment, Almanzo’s Pa pulls a 50-cent piece out of his pocket (not out of Da Club) and reminds Almanzo about all of the hard farm work that goes into earning 50 cents. He hands Almanzo the coin and tells him he can buy the lemonade, drink it up and it will be gone. Or he can use the money to buy a suckling pig, raise it up, and sell it at a significant profit. You know, farm stuff.

Almanzo quickly recognized the opportunity to turn his 50 cents into far more value by investing it, rather than spending it. He bought the pig.

150 years later Almanzo inspired me to do the same thing. Only not with a pig.

Investing vs Spending

I could have used the $200 Amazon gift card to buy practically anything. But I chose to invest it in books for my library.

I invested the money in my own education. And I learned far more than $200 worth.

I learned lessons that make me better at my job. I learned lessons that make me a better person. I bought books that inspire me to do more, to recognize opportunity, and to think bigger.

Here are the books that I bought and added to my library and to my personal knowledge:

Grit by Angela Duckworth

Never Split The Difference By Chris Voss

The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Chris ‘Don’t Call Me McKenny’ McChesney

The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason

Principles by Ray Dalio  (This is not about people who lead schools)

Start With Why by Simon Sinek  (I heard this inspired The Carpenters to write the lyrics to Close To You)

Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff

Estimating Rehab Costs by J Scott. (This is about rehabbing properties, not going to rehab.)

So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport

Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki

The Book on Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner

The Innovators Dilemma by Clayton Christensen

The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz

Call Me Ted by Ted Turner

While I spent $200 on these books, I couldn’t possibly calculate all the value I have received in return. I highly recommend all of these books.

Key Takeaway:

Remember not to just spend on yourself. Invest in yourself. Invest in your education, your skills, and your motivation. I hope you get to experience a fun and revealing test like this. And I hope you put thought into it, so you get a great deal out of it like I did.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

It’s not where you start that matters. It’s who you bump into.

Yesterday I played mini golf with my family. It was my son Magnus’s birthday, And it was a fun way to kick off his teenage years with more ball-rolling than eye-rolling. After we played 18 holes and returned our clubs we got to drop our golf balls into a Plinko game. If your ball landed in the right slot you would win free ice cream. If it didn’t you would save yourself 30 minutes of cardio.

Plinko is an interesting game of chance that was originally discovered by Bob Barker and a contestant who had come on down to the set of The Price is Right in the 1980s.

To play the game you drop a ball or chip over a grid of pegs. As the object falls it bounces off the pegs and is redirected several times until it finally lands in a slot at the bottom of the grid. What you quickly realize is that where the object starts at the top has very little to do with where it lands at the bottom. It is the collisions that keep redirecting the object and determining where you finish. Kinda like NASCAR.

Life works like a giant Plinko game. It is not where you start that matters. It is who and what you bump into along the way that matters. It is the pegs you encounter that have the greatest influence on your life.

Your pegs are:

  • People you spend time with.
  • Books you read.
  • Experiences you have.
  • Places you visit
  • The mom from Married With Children

Your pegs alter your course. They provide new influences and nudge you in new directions. Some are positive, and some are negative. Positive pegs tend to direct you towards even more positive influences. Although negative pegs can push us in positive directions too. Especially once you’ve encountered someone who turns negatives into positives.

Key Takeaway

Life is like a giant Plinko game. The people you collide with change the course of your life. So do the books you read, the places you visit, and the experiences you have. Seek out great pegs. They have the power to change your whole trajectory.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

3 Great books you should read now.

I set a goal this year of reading 24 new books. As we are nearing Memorial Day Weekend I am already on pace to read nearly 40 books. Half of those books are physical books, half are audiobooks, and unlike in past years, none are coloring books.

Like a wiley old prospector, I have struck gold with my recent book choices. I have discovered valuable reads exposing me to new ideas that I can use to live a better life. Interestingly, my last 3 books have all been based on the concept of time. Like Morris Day’s band.

When by Daniel Pink

I would read anything written by Daniel Pink. Even his grocery shopping list. He offers great insights into how humans operate. When is no exception. In this fascinating deep dive on timing Pink (the author, not the aerobatic rockstar) exposes the importance of when things happen. He reveals the well-documented worst part of the day for humans, so you will know the worst time to have surgery or defuse a bomb. He shares the peak times for divorce filings, and why. He reveals when you are most likely to run your first marathon. There is even a tutorial on the most effective timing for naps and how long it takes coffee to kick in. I learned about the life-long impact of starting your career during a recession, and how to restart anything when you are struggling. Plus, he shares the interesting effect of midpoints. You also learn what the ideal score is for your favorite team at halftime. There are a lot of great nuggets in this book. I encourage you to read it next.

A Calendar of Wisdom by Leo Tolstoy

This book is crammed with 366 days worth of profound wisdom. Tolstoy collected valuable insights, quotes, and verses from throughout his life to share in this amazing tome. There is one page dedicated to each day of the year, including February 29th. With each page you read you feel as if you are being mentored by a wise old sage. Like Yoda. Only taller. And Tolstoy’s words are all in the right order. The book’s brief sentences and paragraphs of wisdom are dense with life lessons and truisms from great philosophers, leaders, authors, poets and religious books. Each day follows a singular theme. This is a great nightstand book, if you have a nightstand. If you are not typically a reader but wish you were, this book allows you to get your recommended daily allowance of new wisdom in a single nutrient-dense page.

Die With Zero by Bill Perkins

This book is not about Coke Zero. It’s a thought-provoking book on the relationship between time and money. Perkins’ basic philosophy is that we should hit the grave with no money in our bank account or in the coffee cans buried in the backyard. (Those stupid K-Cups are no good for burying money.) Instead, we should spend our money, while alive on experiences that make our lives richer. These experiences turn into memories. And memories are the real wealth of life that money can help you buy. Perkins believes that any time you spend working to earn money past the amount you can spend in your lifetime is wasting your life on work. It’s a fascinating and compelling philosophy. Two of the great takeaways from the book are that you shouldn’t save your money just in case you need long-term medical care at the end and that beyond a certain age you will have a hard time spending your money because your physical ability to do things that cost money diminish with age. Read this book while you still can.

Kris Barger loves gifting this book to grads and showing off how many books she can hold at once.

Bonus Book

If you have a high school or college graduate in your life, consider giving them my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? It offers 80 Important life lessons the universe is trying to share with you. Each chapter is short, funny and packed with wisdom. Like my Mom. The book has been a very popular graduation gift since it was first published. If you live near Milwaukee or plan ahead a little I am happy to sign the book for you.

Key Takeaway

Read great books. Build your personal library. It is the best and easiest way to gain wisdom, insights and perspective that will improve your life.

The easiest way to help good things happen.

Last week I was at an independent bookstore on vacation in Seaside, Florida. I love a good independent bookstore and try to support them whenever I can. Lord knows they need all the help they can get. Because their competition is built like an Amazon.

I bought a copy of The Body by Bill Bryson. And I asked the woman at the front desk if they carried The Tiger by John Valliant. After clarifying that the book was not about Tiger Woods or Tony from Frosted Flakes, she looked it up for me. Then she let me know that it was sold out, but added that it definitely looked like a great book that they should restock quickly.

Then my wife Dawn added, ‘My husband is also an author of a great book that you should carry.’ The woman turned and smiled at me and asked, ‘Really? What is the name of your book?”

I said, ‘What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? It features 80 life lessons the universe is trying to share with you.’

The woman lit up and replied, ‘Oooh! I am going to look that up today. People on vacation love reading self-help books.’

She then asked me for my information so she could look into the book.

And just like that, I had another opportunity to expand the distribution, readership and impact of my book. It’s easier than you think. The hard part is simply initiating a conversation about the person, business, product, service, or cause you support.

People enjoy reading my book on vacation. But then again, you can enjoy anything while relaxing in warm weather surrounded by palm trees, while wearing something cute on your head.

Dawn dramatically improved the odds of the store carrying my book simply by suggesting it. During sporting events, there is a tracker of the probability that one team will win or lose the competition based on the current score and the time left to play. Imagine that same tracker offering the odds of the store carrying my book. Before Dawn mentioned my book the odds were zero. In the moments afterward, the probability increased dramatically. Whether that was 10%, 50%, or 99 Luft Balloons, I don’t know. But even a 10% chance is infinitely better than 0.

Key Takeaway

Promote the people, products, businesses and causes you believe in. Tell people about them. Share your good news and recommendations. Awareness is key. And a word-of-mouth recommendation is the most valued endorsement because it is a first-person testimonial tied to your reputation. A simple no means you move on to the next thing. No harm done. But a yes or tell-me-more changes the future. And changing the future prospects for the better is what we are all here to do.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

++ If you find yourself in Seaside, Florida stop into Sundog Books. The store is fun and smells like books and beach. And ask them if they carry What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? It’s a great book to read on vacation.

I reread one of my favorite books and realize you never read the same book twice.

Before I launched the advertising and ideas agency, The Weaponry, I read an article about Pharrell Williams in Fast Company. In the article, the famously happy singer, songwriter, and producer talked about his success and inspirations that have helped him along the way. He didn’t mention the Arby’s hat.

Williams raved about the book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. In fact, he claimed that this book was like his Bible. And since The Bible is my Bible, I figured The Alchemist was probably also worth reading. So I bought a used copy. And I devoured it. (In a literary way, not a digestive track-way.)

The book helped me think about the story of my life and my personal legend. It made me start paying attention to all the signs the universe was sending me, encouraging me to follow my own path. This was highly valuable because at the time the universe started putting up neon signs everywhere. Like Reno.

Those signs were telling me that I should launch a new ad agency. So I did, in part because The Alchemist helped me recognize the signs, and taught me that when you want something enough the whole universe conspires to help you get it. (Except maybe for short sellers. Those people love a good dumpster fire.)

Shortly after reading The Alchemist, I started my entrepreneurial adventure. That was 7 years ago. Entrepreneurship led me to blog. Which led me to write my first book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? Which has led me to amazing speaking opportunities. Which has made me think a lot about what’s next for me and my personal story.

So I recently picked up The Alchemist again. I eagerly read through it in 3 days. But I also recently read a quote (or maybe it was a fortune cookie) that said You never read the same book twice. That was definitely true of my reread of The Alchemist.

This time around I didn’t feel like I was just starting my journey. I felt like I was in the thick of writing my story every day, with the universe as my co-author. And the story keeps getting better. Today I feel a little like Clark Kent or Bruce Banner must have felt once they began understanding their superpowers. Except my superpowers are more like smiling, offering encouragement, and dropping random pop culture references. But I’ll take what I can get, yes I’ll take what I can get. (And then she looked at me with big brown eyes and said…)

Key Takeaway:

Read The Alchemist. Or re-read it if you have read it before. You will find something new and inspiring. I am sure there are signs the universe is giving you right now that you don’t recognize. This book will help you see.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

My new book, The Culture Turnaround launches today!

Good morning!

I am thrilled to announce that my new book is available today!  The book is titled The Culture Turnaround. It shares 9 Proven Ways to Create an Undeniable Organizational Culture. 

I have always been a huge believer in the power of culture. It is the secret ingredient that magnetizes humans to each other. Culture is what helps make families, teams and businesses greater as a collective than they are as individuals. (Plus, you can’t make yogurt without it.)

I first experienced the transformational power of culture through team sports. In high school, I was part of a state championship track & field team. And my high school football team made it to the state semi-finals twice. #GoMarauders! In college, I was a member of the University of Wisconsin track and field team that won Big 10 Conference championships in both my junior and senior years. #OnWisconsin!

In business, culture is one of the most important and least understood ingredients of success. My co-author Jeff Hilimire and I worked together at Engauge after our previous advertising agencies merged in an acquisition.

Instead of letting territorial battles ruin the new organization, our leadership team purposefully created a new culture based on ‘weness’ and high performance. As a result, Engauge flourished and began a new business win streak like I had never seen before. (#streakingthequad) This ultimately led to Publicis acquiring the agency.

I went on to launch the advertising and ideas agency, The Weaponry, and Jeff launched another great agency called Dragon Army. We also both started writing books to share our learnings with the world. (Which is easier than buying the world a Coke.) 

Today, Jeff and I share insights about what we helped created together at Engauge. The Culture Turnaround is a fictional story that shares how you can change the trajectory of an organization by focusing on its cultural foundation. The book offers 9 practical ways to improve your team culture or establish a great culture in a new team.

The book is available in paperback and on Kindle. The piece of wood is not included.

Where To Find It.

If your organization could use some help in the culture department, I highly encourage you to pick up a copy of the book at Ripples.media/shop or at an Amazon website near you. The book also makes a great gift, which is good to know if you have any major gift-giving occasions coming up in the next, say, 13 days. #hohoho

I also encourage you to check out Jeff Hilimire’s first 3 books in The Turnaround Leadership Series. The first book focuses on leading like an entrepreneur, the second on leading through a crisis, and the third on building a great team. Then, along came The Culture Turnaround.

Let’s Talk!

If you would like to learn more about how to implement a great culture within your organization, please let me know. I’d love to talk.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

How to have the best life possible.

I am always looking for insights and advice on how to live a great life. I look for wisdom and nuggets everywhere. I expect you share the same interest in life advice since you decided to read this article based on the best-life headline.

When I find golden lessons I like to share them with as many people as possible. In fact, I recently published an entire book full of 80 of the best life lessons I have learned titled What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? The book lets you consume a lot of actionable insight without consuming the 20 calories packed into those delightfully bland non-cookie cookies. And since there are 80 lessons, the book saves you 1600 calories. So it’s kind of a weight loss book too. (But not really.)

Another Book Recommendation

But I am not the only one who writes about the valuable life lessons they have discovered. Ray Dalio’s #1 New York Times bestselling book Principles is full of great lessons on both life and work. Plus, it is the only book I own that comes with two of those built-in bookmark ribbon thingies.

While there are many great lessons in Dalio’s book here is his simple summation of the entire work.

In order to have the best life possible, you have to:

1) know what the best decisions are and

2) have the courage to make them.

-Ray Dalio

The key insight here is that you have to constantly improve your decision-making ability and increase your courage. Which means that we are all on the Yellow Brick Road with the Scarecrow and the Lion.

Key Takeaway

Constantly upgrade your decision-making skills. Know your own guiding principles. Study the outcomes of your decisions to learn what works. And study the principles of others so that you can adopt their best thinking as your own. Then live life according to your own proven principles. They will not only lead to better decisions, but they will also lead to positive outcomes that will increase your courage to make the right difficult decisions in the future.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my new book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

Your future is the greatest mystery of all. But you get to write it.

I stopped into a bookstore at the airport in Minneapolis yesterday. Since publishing my first book 11 months ago I look at bookstores differently. Now I study them in great detail.

I am curious to know more about everything. The categories. The book cover designs. The titles. The displays. The shoppers. The best-seller list. The people who work in the stores who don’t look like they spend a lot of time in the sun. Or play sports.

Yesterday I was drawn to the mystery section. I noticed it was where the rockstar authors were. And the big names each had multiple books on the shelves. It was in the back corner of the store. The mystery books were clearly the smelly chunks of cheese that the owner placed at the far corner of the store to lure travelers through the bookstore maze to find the delicious story they want to read on their next flight to Des Moines or Myrtle Beach.

People love a good mystery. I used to read a lot of mysteries too. But now most of what I read is focused on self improvement. Because I discovered that the most interesting mystery of all is me. And my mysteries are endless.

  • Where am I going?
  • What am I going to do next?
  • What am I learning?
  • What plot twists lie ahead?
  • What is going to happen with all of these other characters in my story?
  • What kind of success will I have.
  • How much money will I make?
  • What don’t I know yet?
  • What am I about to figure out?
  • Where will I go?
  • How long will I live?
  • Who can it be knocking at my door? (Go away. Don’t come round here no more.)

Key Takeaway

Your future is the greatest mystery in life. You are both the reader and the author. Write an exciting next chapter staring today. Make yourself the hero. Add great characters. Surprise everyone, including yourself, with an amazing ending. Make it a story that inspires others to achieve their own greatnesss. But don’t wait. Because time is ticking.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my new book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

6 Great books I read in September that you should read in October.

While driving between The Weaponry’s offices in Milwaukee and Columbus this week I hit my max. No, not max driving speed. Or the maximum amount of time I could stand sitting. Which is a funny thing to say. I maxed out on the number of audiobooks I could listen to this month on my library app. My app (Hoopla) maxes out at 6 books per month. I hit 6 and would have kept going if they let me. But alas, I have to wait until tomorrow to get a fresh allocation of audiobooks. And another opportunity to use alas in a sentence.

Here are the 6 great audiobooks I listened to in September:

  1. Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller Sr. by Ron Chernow.

This is a fascinating look at the one-time world’s richest man. It offers great inspiration for entrepreneurs and business humans. But it’s a great story of putting your wealth to good use for the planet. I was shocked at all that the Rockefellers helped create. It went well beyond the oysters and the ice skating center.

Rating: Read it to know how it all happened.

2. Truman by David McCullough. (2274 5-star reviews on Amazon)

This is about President Harry S. Truman’s remarkable life and impact on the world. The audiobook is over 50 hours long. And that doesn’t even include the movie with Jim Carey.

Rating; Read it if you have time.

3. Trillion Dollar Coach by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg & Alan Eagle.

This was an amazing find about a guy named Bill Campbell who started out as the head football coach at Columbia. He then joined Apple and became the CEO of Intuit. He went on to coach some of the biggest icons and best companies in Silicon Valley, including Google and Apple.

Rating: Highly Recommend. And not just because Bill used the F-word a lot.

4. $100 Million Offers by Alex Hormozi

Hormozi is a highly successful young entrepreneur with a massive following uncommon for someone who typically wears cutoff jean shorts, wife-beaters and flannels. The book teaches you how to market great offers (what I might call offerings or deals) to help generated leads and close sales.

Rating: Highly Recommend.

5. Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America by John M. Barry

This is about the Mississippi River, attempts to manage the river, and the epic flood of 1927. Read this if you are into history, weather, or still need to learn how to spell Mississippi. I’d like to make this story into a movie.

Rating: Totes Recommend.

6. The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer.

This is a deep book that takes a look at what our minds and selves really are, and how they are untethered by our physical bodies. It has 26,196 reviews on Amazon. So you know it is better than Waffle House. This is a book you should read to think more deeply about who you really are at the highest level.

Rating: You Gotsta Read

Key Takeaway:

Keep Reading. Keep Learning. Keep maxing out the number of books the library will loan you if you want to maximize your investment in yourself.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+If you’re into books, also check out my new book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.