Stretch Yourself

The STRETCH YOURSELF Perpetual Reading Challenge asks you to:

:: choose 4 (or more) books
…that you’ve put off reading
OR…that are in a genre you don’t normally read from but wish you did
OR…that are outside of your reading comfort zone
OR…that intimidate you, for whatever reason

:: read those books and then write a brief review
(even if you didn’t like the book and set it aside, write a short review to say why)

 
 

Here is the list of books I will choose from… these being books that are in a genre I don’t normally read from, but wish I did: Nonfiction.

Note: Those with an asterisk (*) beside them are books that sort of intimidate me, for one reason or other, and therefore are books that I most want to push myself to try.

• “How the Mind Works” by Steven Pinker*
• “Once Upon a Time” by J. Randy Taraborelli
• “Ladies of the Grand Tour” by Brian Dolan
• “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” by Daniel H. Pink*
• “A History of Reading” by Alberto Manguel*
• “A Short History of Nearly Everything” by Bill Bryson*
• “The Brain that Changes Itself” by Norman Doidge*
• “Tribes” by Seth Godin*
• “The Origin of Species” by Charles Darwin*
• “Bird By Bird” by Anne Lamott
• “Mindset” by Carol Dweck
• “The Adversity Advantage” by Paul Stoltz
• “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There” by Marshall Goldsmith
• “Spoken Here” by Mark Abley
• “A Nation of Wimps” by Hara Marano
• “Getting Things Done” by David Allen
• “Library: An Unquiet History” by Matthew Battles
• “Habits of the Mind” by James W. Sire
• “Made to Stick” by Chip Heath & Dan Heath
• “The New Creative Artist” by Nita Leland
• “Organizing for Life” by Sandra Felton
• “Work Hard. Be Nice” by Jay Matthews
• “The Dip” by Seth Godin
• “The Book of Awesome” by Neil Pasricha
• “One to Nine” by Andrew Hodges*
• “The Case for Books” by Robert Darnton
• “Eat That Frog!” by Brian Tracy
• “Always Change a Losing Game” by David Posen
• “Hooked” by Joe S. McIlhaney & Freda M. Bush
• “The Happiness Hypothesis” by Jonathan Haidt
• “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey
• “The Paradox of Choice” by Barry Schwartz
• “Me to We” by Marc & Craig Kielburger
• “Stumbling on Happiness” by Daniel Gilbert
• “The Blank Slate” by Steven Pinker*
• “Monk Habits for Everyday People” by Dennis Okholm
• “The Mother Tongue” by Bill Bryson
• “The Now Habit” by Neil Fiore
• “Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain” by Sharon Begley
• “The Good Book” by David Plotz
• “Radical” by David Platt
• “Life Strategies” by Dr. Phil McGraw
• “Consulting for Dummies” by Bob Nelson
• “The Secret of the Great Pyramid” by Bob Brier & Jean-Pierre Houdin
• “Sticklers, Sideburns, & Bikinis” by Graeme Donald
• “Weight Loss Confidential” by Anne M. Fletcher
• “Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude” by Napoleon Hill
• “Infidel” by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (a memoir)
• “Pieces of My Heart” by Robert Wagner (a memoir)
• “Find Your Strongest Life” by Marcus Buckingham
• “How We Decide” by Jonah Lehrer
• “Nudge” by Richard Thaler & Cass Sunstein
• “Blind Spots” by Madeleine van Hecke
• “Fascinate” by Sally Hogshead
• “The Power of Positive Deviance” by Richard Pascale
• “Immunity to Change” by Robert Kegan & Lisa Lahey
• “Start With Why” by Simon Sinek
• “The Think Big Manifesto” by Michael Port
• “Driven” by Robert Herjavec
• “The Adventures of Johnny Bunko” by Daniel H. Pink
• “A Whole New Mind” by Daniel H. Pink
• “The Dragonfly Effect” by Jennifer Aaker & Andy Smith
• “Creativity” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
• “ThinkerToys” by Michael Michalko
• “Learned Optimism” by Martin Seligman, PhD.
• “The Resilience Factor” by Karen Reivich & Andrew Shatté

My goal is to read at least 4 books from the list above. I may read more, but we shall see.