I must confess I have always wanted to read more than I actually do. Even though, I read a decent amount of books per year if I compare myself to the average.
You can easily find me on my couch or on my bed reading a book. I read different types of books depending on my mood. I enjoy a lot literature books, marketing & creativity topics, academic articles are always welcome and even some bestsellers have been able to take a part of my collection in these past years.
So here are five (5) books I read during this 2018 and I think you should read too:
1. Growth Hacking by Sean Ellis: If you are an entrepreneur this book is a must for you!
Why?
Growth hacking is a method that have helped brands such as Dropbox and airbnb to have a big and fast adoption among the population. The GROWTH HACKING techniques involve continuous testing and iteration in order to grow companies and products. The book teaches you how to attain, engage, retain and monetise customers. I ran several experiments this year following the growth hacking method and they worked wonders.
Disclaimer: Before I read this book I did two Growth Hacking courses, that might have helped my experiments success. Anyway, read it if you are interested in learning marketing on steroids!
2. Ikagai by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles: One of my deepest secrets is admiring the Japanese culture (now that I have said it is not a secret anymore…).
Hector and Francesc, writers of the book, did a research in the Okinawa Island on what makes the Japanese people grow so old and healthy. The result, the book Ikagai, in which you can find a repertory of the best Japanese secrets for aging and being happy.
Personally, after reading this book, I tend to analyse more what I eat and drink; I realised that my favorite type of exercises: yoga, Yi gong and walking, are the one’s that are suggested on the book and I started appreciating even more the beauty of imperfections & the slow life.
3. One hundreds years of solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez: This book is a classic of the Colombian literature. The reason why I mention it on this list, (even though it is not the first time I read it) is because the past December 5th was the 90th anniversary of one of the most tragic events of the Colombian history, the banana massacre.
The banana masacre or as we know it in Spanish “La masacre de las bananeras” is one of the most predominant events that occurred during the history of Macondo (the small town where the story is told) and also marks a big part of the Buendia’s linage circular history. The funny part, or maybe not so funny, it is that the fiction in this book describes clearly the political tensions and situations that are currently happening in the Colombian country.
4. Growth Hacker Marketing by Ryan Holiday: If you still don’t know if Growth Hacking is something for you. You can read this book to start getting familiar with it. This book brings some examples of what the technique is and how can you apply it to your company in only 100 pages.
It also will work for you if you are a bit lazy when it comes to reading, all the knowledge is concentrated in this small book!
5. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Vol I by Douglas Adams: If you saw the film “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” you know what I’m talking about. I only have read the first volume of this book series but assuming on the quality of the first one, I think all the five volumes are worth to be read.
In the first volume of this book series, the Vogons alien race has come to earth to demolish it. An intergalactic highway need to pass through our galaxy.
Arthur and Ford (two of the main characters in this story), had the chance to get on board in the “Vogons” ship just before the earth is destroyed… I won’t say no more.
Reading these pages can get you out of boredom and can give you lots of endorphins’ shots. On each page you read there will be a phrase that will make you laugh. When I was reading this book my boyfriend got tired of me trying to read a funny piece of the book every 5 mins!
These are all the books I wanted to suggest. Now, happy reading!