Most of my senior business clients read regularly. But I’ve been surprised on numerous occasions by how few books they read over a year. Though lack of time is the typical response, there’s another response that’s rarely mentioned. But by questioning them and making suggestions, I’ve figured out why they limit their reading. They don’t know if a book is worth their time. Actually, there are several rather simple ways to figure out that issue.
The obvious first response is that you usually want to limit your book-buying to just those subjects in which you’re interested. If you’re at the level in your firm where you’re responsible for a lot of decision-making, you might want to be looking in that area. So, for example, there’s a new book on judgment called simply, “Noise: A flaw in human judgment.”
A second way to quickly determine whether to buy is the author(s) themselves. Are the writers trustworthy. Do they have a history of providing both thoughtful insights and pragmatic suggestions? Since many business writers are academics, this is one place to be very careful. Many academics are just outstanding at diagnosing problems, but piss-poor at suggesting resolutions that are especially useful for business or the business-person.
Take “Noise,” for an example. Daniel Kahneman, the Nobel prize winner, is the first author. He’s a genius at diagnosis, but merely OK at resolution. And his resolutions tend to be individually oriented, not organizationally oriented. Cass Sunstein, the well-known author of “Nudge” worked in politics and is currently Harvard faculty. His resolutions tend to be a bit abstract and needing to be put on the bottom shelf. The third author, Olivier Sibony, also an academic—but with a broad-based background from many fields. He’s an absolute genius at practical resolution. He knows how to put the cookies on the bottom shelf and regularly locates them right there for everyone. That’s probably why he was invited to write with the other two.
The third way to decide whether to buy a book is to turn it over first, before opening it up, and read the blurbs on the back of the book. “Noise” had nine blurbs. Among the group is Steven Levitt, who wrote that hilarious and useful “Freakonomics.” Robert Cialdini, author of the most widely book on personal persuasion, “Influence.” Angela Duckworth, the author of “Grit.” Max Bazerman, the author of “Better, No Perfect.” And then Adam Grant, author of “Think Again.”
That’s enough blurbs to flag any PR bias, suggesting that “Noise” is going to be a highly useful contribution to our decision processes.
The fourth way to decide whether or not to buy a book is your own previous experience with the writer. If you read regularly in a field like business, you’ll come to the place where you find certain prolific authors who are always making significant contributions to your chosen field. For example, I regularly read the books of Malcolm Gladwell, Bob Sutton, Jeffrey Pfeffer, and Walter Brueggemann. Of course, if you pay close attention to their bibliographies, you’ll identify other expertise.
The fifth way to decide is to focus on something completely outside your normal reading interests. About ten years ago, I picked up a work by Susan Neiman, a philosopher who grabbed my attention by the book title, “Moral Clarity.” I found her writing so intensely relevant, practical and downright intriguing—and sometimes hilarious--that I read everything she writes. Just the other day, I finished her little book, “Why Grow Up? Subversive thoughts for an infantile age.” The first four pages are filled with my notes and page numbers—that says it all. Just fascinating, brilliant and highly useful. Then last week, I decided to read way outside my normal fiction of mystery and espionage by picking up a copy of George Eliot’s (1871) monumental work of fiction, “Middlemarch.” A novel in which she completely changed the nature of the fiction genre. I’m planning to read it over my vacation at the end of July.
Unless you’re retired, or in a business like mine which requires a regular updating, you won’t have the time to become as knowledgeable as this about your reading. But just a few years into your career, you will be able to use the first four strategies. They’ll take about 10 minutes, on Amazon. But I much prefer a quick trek to the local bookstore a couple times a year which will normally have the new books and important books out on a table or two.