BookWyrm

cdm reviewed Good Habits, Bad Habits by Wendy Wood

Good Habits, Bad Habits

3 stars

The author studied habits her whole life
She explains that willpower is not enough to form a habit alone
Very important is e.g. also the environment.
- E.g. American soldiers took drugs during the Vietnam War, but only 5% of the drug-takers continued to take it when they came back
- So you should shape your environment so that it makes you more productive

cdm reviewed The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick

Rob Fitzpatrick: The Mom Test (2014, CreateSpace)

Hm. How to tell this. I read this book for exploration and found much more …

Ask your customers

4 stars

Very good book, just a bit short
It explains that instead of asking customers about their opinion on your product, you should figure indirectly out how they are currently doing it
You should get to know how your customer lives and design the product after that

cdm reviewed Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy

Eat That Frog!

4 stars

Things that I learned:
- Set Deadlines for all my Projects
- Plan every Day, Week and Month ahead by creating lists with all the tasks and prioritize them. The most important task should be done first
The last few pages were empty (it has less than 120 pages with words on it)
Most of the topics in the book I've heard already, but it is a good summary and motivates

cdm reviewed The E-myth revisited by Michael E. Gerber

Michael E. Gerber: The E-myth revisited (1995)

The best book on running a business I have read so far

5 stars

It's a great book, the best book on running a business I have read so far
He says there are three characters living in every company starter: The entrepreneur who has the vision, the technician who does the actual technical work and the manager who takes care that everything is planned and done the right way
The Issue with most business starters is, they are mostly technicians who don't do the managing and entrepreneur part too much
E.g. these "technicians" hire other people to do the work they don't like / know how to do
Then the newly hired people are often overburdened with too much work and quit or don't do it as expected (because they don't get managed right)
He says you should act like you are building a franchise because this forces you to create a system for operating your business like writing documentation of the operation …

It's a great book, the best book on running a business I have read so far
He says there are three characters living in every company starter: The entrepreneur who has the vision, the technician who does the actual technical work and the manager who takes care that everything is planned and done the right way
The Issue with most business starters is, they are mostly technicians who don't do the managing and entrepreneur part too much
E.g. these "technicians" hire other people to do the work they don't like / know how to do
Then the newly hired people are often overburdened with too much work and quit or don't do it as expected (because they don't get managed right)
He says you should act like you are building a franchise because this forces you to create a system for operating your business like writing documentation of the operation processes
He also says you should track all important metrics, like sales before and after a change (how can you figure out if a change was positive on the sales if you don't know the numbers?)

cdm reviewed Amusing ourselves to death by Neil Postman

Neil Postman: Amusing ourselves to death (2006, Penguin Books)

Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (1985) is a …

Describes how different media affects how we think and act

5 stars

Content warning Summary

It was a good book
Describes how different media affects how we think and act
E.g. when books were the only media, people talked and thought like written word and had long attention spans (the e.q. listened for 8 hours of political discussion)
Also describes that when the Telegraph came up, suddenly unimportant international news were in the local newspapers and people got flooded with too much information
Neils says that in todays world basically the horror imagination from "Brave New World" (Aldous Huxley) became reality and this reality is that we are getting flooded with too much information which means that we can't concentrate or focus anymore on that what is really important

cdm reviewed Law of Success: The 21st-Century Edition by Napoleon Hill

Napoleon Hill: Law of Success: The 21st-Century Edition (Paperback, 2004, High Roads Media)

Napoleon Hill wirkt verrückt

1 star

Kann es definitiv nicht empfehlen… In „Think and Grow Rich“ wirkt Napoleon Hill noch ganz normal, aber in dem Buch dichtet er sich mit gefährlichem Halbwissen (zu Hills Zeiten wusste man über vieles ja noch nicht so viel) eine etwas komische Weltanschauung zusammen…
Die meisten Sachen stimmen schon, aber spätestens bei Hills Überzeugung von Telepathie merkt man schon, dass er in seiner eigenen Welt lebt 😂

cdm reviewed The World As I See It by Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein: The World As I See It (Paperback, 2007, Book Tree)

The World as I See It is a book by Albert Einstein translated from the …

Boring collection, not really a book

1 star

It's really bad. More like a collection from mails and talks from Albert Einstein. Really boring.

cdm reviewed Getting Acquired by Andrew Gazdecki

No cover — Andrew Gazdecki: Getting Acquired (2022, Scribe Media)

Short book, helpful if you want to sell a Startup

4 stars

Its mostly the story of how Andrew Gazdecki build his three businesses
He also gives his tips on various topics of running and selling a startup

cdm reviewed The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason

George S. Clason: The Richest Man in Babylon (Paperback, 2009, CreateSpace)

Basic "learn to invest" book

3 stars

Very basic, comparable to Rich Dad Poor Dad

cdm reviewed The dungeon master by William Dear

William Dear: The dungeon master (1984, Houghton Mifflin)

Based on a true Story

5 stars

Content warning I will tell you the ending

Its based on a true story and written by the main investigator of the case.
I read the part where William C. Dear plays Dungeons & Dragons and I now want to play that pen & paper game myself!
- You can really tell that all modern RPG video games are based on this pen & paper game
Ended differently then I thought. He was found alive and killed himself later in his own apartment

cdm reviewed The Shining by Stephen King (Stephen King, #3)

Stephen King: The Shining (Paperback, 2001, Pocket Books)

The Overlook Hotel is more than just a home-away-from-home for the Torrance family. For Jack, …

The Book is way better than the Movie

4 stars

Content warning Spoilers ahead!

The book has a complete different ending than the movie we watched. In the movie, the cook dies. In the book, the cook actually saves the mother and the boy and helps them recover from the accident.
Seems like the movies directors used a lot of their artistic freedom because the movie really is in a lot of ways different from the book.
The maze in the movie doesn’t exist in the book. Instead there is a Roque (variant of Croquet) game with hedge animals…

cdm reviewed The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham

Benjamin Graham: The Intelligent Investor (2003)

More than one million hardcovers sold Now available for the first time in paperback!

The …

Boring to read but important strategies

4 stars

Sometimes its boring to read and many examples are really old but the core strategies in the book are still valid today and will probably be still important in the future
Read something really interesting in "The Intelligent Investor": “One fairly dependable sign of the approaching end of a bull swing is the fact that new common stocks of small and nondescript companies are offered at prices somewhat higher than the current level for many medium-sized companies with a long market history.” - Benjamin Graham

cdm reviewed Made to Stick by Chip Heath

Mark Twain once observed, "A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth …

Made to Stick

5 stars

Its a really good book

cdm reviewed Mastering the market cycle by Howard Marks

"One of the most successful Wall Street investors of all time provides practical insight and …

One of my favorite investment books ever

5 stars

Explains how to detect in which market cycle we are in and which market cycles exist

cdm reviewed Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein

David Epstein: Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World (2019)

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World is a 2019 book by David Epstein …

Changed my view on Generalists

5 stars

Explains how Generalists with many interests and who can dive deep fast into new areas can outperform specialists