A true book lover, I used to hold on to every book I’d read and stack my home library to the brim. When you tossed in cookbooks, my collection swelled to a level of absurdity. That is, until a cross-country move in 2016 made me change my ways and purge before packing.
Then, each and every item that went into a box had to pass the “is it worth moving 1,200 miles” test.
Books, cookbooks, clothing, kitchen wares, bar stock, sports gear, junk drawers…all were subject to the purge. [The scotch I left behind as a bequeath to neighbors is still causing marital ripples to this day!] Bookwise, I pared down to only my absolute favorites and I ended up making the move with maybe a dozen beloved books and a handful of the most used cookbooks.
Now that I’ve settled in a much smaller space that also carves out home office space for myself and my spouse, I am super stringent about which books I hang onto. Maybe 1 in 5 make the cut and land on my bookshelf or workspace.
When I recently snapped a photo of my Yoda bobblehead desk toy for a post about motivating teams, it made me examine the stack of books in the background that have earned a spot on my desk.
Here are the dozen that made the cut and remain at my fingertips for repeated inspiration and focus:
“Mastering the Craft of Writing”, Stephen Wilburs
“The Adweek Copywriting Handbook”, Joe Sugarman
“Off Balance”, Matthew Kelly
“Everything is F*cked”, Mark Manson
“It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work”, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
“Start With Why”, Simon Sinek
“Find Your Why”, Simon Sink and Peter Docker
“Talk Like TED”, Carmine Gallo
“Crossing the Chasm”, Geoffrey A. Moore
“Inside the Tornado”, Geoffrey A. Moore
“Atomic Habits”, James Clear
To make it a Baker’s Dozen, I would toss in: “Good to Great”, Jim Collins
On Deck:
“Build for Tomorrow”, Jason Feifer
“The Ride of a Lifetime”, Robert Iger
More to follow on my top takeaway from each.
Lisa Jordan 