This page details my progress in a fifty book reading challenge to be completed between January 2012 and December 2012.

The last time I successfully hit 50 books was 2008 where I had a firm commitment to reach that total. The in-between years were “going through the motions”. In 2012 it is again time to fully commit to the goal of 50 self-development and leadership books.

List of books read in 2012

#CoverDescriptionFinishedRating
1.Good to Great by Jim Collins Good to Great by Jim Collins

 Not yet finished
2.Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

 Not yet finished
3.Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek

Start With Why gets five stars from me for the idea. You need to know WHY to build a business. I felt that it's all covered to sufficient detail in the first third of the book. For me, that's where 95% of the value lay. 		2012-01-16
4.Dialogue Mapping: Building Shared Understanding of Wicked Problems by E. Jeffrey Conklin Dialogue Mapping: Building Shared Understanding of Wicked Problems by E. Jeffrey Conklin

As it says on the cover Dialogue Mapping is a way to build shared understanding of wicked problems. I've only had one chance to use the tools explained in the book and even though I did all the thinking (rather than in a group session as the process is designed for) the resulting map enabled me to communicate my thinking clearly to others.		 2012-02-19
5.Hold On, You Lost Me!: Use Learning Styles to Create Training That Sticks by Bernice McCarthy Hold On, You Lost Me!: Use Learning Styles to Create Training That Sticks by Bernice McCarthy

Looking forward to putting the ideas in this book into practice. It has helped me understand where I can improve the training I deliver and receive. 		2012-02-22
6.The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Spiritual Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams And Reaching Your Destiny by Robin S. Sharma The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Spiritual Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams And Reaching Your Destiny by Robin S. Sharma

I find myself in two very distinct minds about this book. If it were a book I read early in my journey on self-development I would rave about it -- just as I rave about those that were. It wasn't though and that's where the polarity occurs. It felt very much like I was reading a 190 page synopsis of my bookshelf. The information on goals, visualisation, meditation, discipline, learning from mistakes, etc., was nothing new.

I always say that if I take away one thing from a book I'm happy. In this case its the mental model of a garden containing a lighthouse, out of which walks a 900lb sumo wrestler only to be brought to the ground by a stopwatch. The smell of a rose awakens him so that he sees a road of diamond ahead. This memory aid I think will prove useful.

The book has also given me a bit of a kick in the backside to get focussed on my own destiny. The lack thereof has been a source of suffering these past few weeks.

And the Ferrari? I think it gets a total of four sentences in the book if that. The word appears more times on the cover than within.		 2012-03-04
7.Coaching To The Human Soul Ontological Coaching And Deep Change, Vol. 1 by Alan Sieler Coaching To The Human Soul Ontological Coaching And Deep Change, Vol. 1 by Alan Sieler

 2012-04-25
Data from Goodreads

Note: You may have noted above the number of books in the list doesn't match the number of books I said that I read. This has occurred because I've read one or more books multiple times during the year, but they are only shown as of the most recent read. You may also have seen dates outside the nominated reading year. Again, a book read in subsequent years will have a later date shown.