My 2020 Best reads
Every year I read several books in the most different domains. I switch easily from fiction to personal development, business/entrepreneurship, or human behavior. I found this reading habit some years ago, and it helped me immensely broaden my outer and inner world view. To change or upgrade my “lenses.” Both at personal and professional level.
While I’m not addicted “per se” to reading (I can willingly switch to a good movie or TV series), I feel more comfortable if I know I have new books on the shelf for the next read. I usually pick up my readings from comments, suggestions, or articles, but randomly, depending on the curiosity it awakens.
Below is a one sentence extract of my top readings from 2020 — one (or two) of the best sentences that I usually underline in the book, or take notes.
The Breakthrough Experience / John Demartini: “Many people live in the desperate have-to level. “I have to go to work”; “I have to get them back in my life.” They think an oppressive social force outside of themselves is forcing them to do something, and they’re dissociated from their own power.”
Power Vs Force / David Hawkins: “it is clear that power is associated with that which supports life, and force is associated with that which exploits life for the gain of an individual, or organization. Force is divisive, and through that divisiveness weakens, whereas power unifies”.
Adventures in the Screen trade / William Goldman: “Nobody knows anything…… Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what’s going to work. Every time out it’s a guess and, if you’re lucky, an educated one.”
Waking Up/Sam Harris: “Although wealth and fame can secure us some form of pleasure, few of us have the illusion that they guarantee happiness.”
“There is indeed something preposterous about well-educated Westerners racing East in search of spiritual enlightenment while Easterners make the opposite pilgrimage seeking education and economic opportunities. We can also say that Eastern wisdom has not produced societies or political institutions that are any better than their Western counterparts.”
Factfulness / Hans Rosling: “Does saying “things are improving” imply that everything is fine and we shall all relax and not worry? No, not at all. It’s both, bad and better. “
“Remember that media and activists rely on drama to grab your attention.”
Race Against the Machine/Erik Brynjolfsson & Andrew McAfee: “Economic history teaches that when companies grow, earn profits, and buy equipment, they also typically hire workers. But American companies didn’t resume hiring after the 2008/2009 recession. Companies brought new machines in, but not new people.
Feeling is the secret / Neville Goddard: “ “your body is an emotional filter and bears the unmistakable marks of your prevalent emotions”
“you never attract that which you want but always attract that which you are conscious of being.”
Co-Creating at its best / Wayne Dyer & Esther Hicks: “the universe doesn’t hear what you say, the universe hears how you feel”
“I don’t think you really want to know what I think. I think you want me to agree with what you think about it”
Bored & Brilliant / Manoush Zomorodi: “when you’re given nothing to do, your thoughts don’t stop. You continue to generate thought even when there’s nothing for you to do with the thought.”
What am I reading right now? I’m about to start “Essentialism — The disciplined pursuit of less by Greg McKeown. Out of curiosity, what are you reading right now?
Amaro Araujo
