The Invisible Mentor

Archive for the ‘Reading’ Category

Reading broadly is a great tool for creative problem solving.

Are you a fountain of great ideas? When issues inevitably arise in your life, are you able to resolve them effectively? Are you known as someone who applies creative solutions to pesky problems?

Graham Wallas Image published in Pease, E.R.: The History of the Fabian Society, E.P. Dutton & Co., New York 1916. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In his 1926 book The Art of Thought, Graham Wallas, the English political scientist and psychologist, adopted and expanded Hermann von Helmholtz’s process to idea development. Wallas describes a four-stage creativity process for generating great ideas — preparation, incubation, illumination and implementation. The preparation stage is the one where you gather data, whether it is interviewing people, reading books, reviewing what’s been done before. It’s the input section – you take in information.

In James Webb Young’s A Technique for Producing Ideas, in the preparation section, where you gather information, he added an activity to data collection step, which is a process you continue for your entire life – gathering general information. Whenever you come across useful information, you record it so you can access it easily. Reading broadly allows you to discover lots of interesting information, and over a lifetime you build an immense body of knowledge, which is at your fingertips during problem solving.

In computer programming, they have a concept called Garbage In, Garbage Out. The concept is appropriate for reading as well. What you read (your input), will impact the quality of your ideas and solutions (output). And when you read, never do it in a vacuum. Connect the new information with what you already know. Innovation occurs when an old idea intersects with a new one.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Book links are affiliate links.

Additional Reading 

The Formula for Generating Great Ideas

Do You Read in a Vacuum?

Related articles

• Why You Must Read Broadly – Tip 1(theinvisiblementor.com)

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How many books do you read each month? And when you read, what do you read? I have always enjoyed reading, even when I was a child. Today, I work hard at expanding my menu choices when it comes to reading. Over 10 years ago, while listening to Earl Nightingale’s Lead the Field, he recommended that we should read a book a week. I took that to heart, and was very intentional about reading four books a month.

Two years later, I decided to push myself and read more, which I have kept on doing, until last year I read 200 books. I am not saying this to brag, but reading forces me to think, and I find that I get to know myself a lot better in the process. As an active reader, reading often transports me into another world, and if I’m reading fiction, I am taken into the lives of the characters, and often have to check the qualities in myself that I detest in the characters. Setting a reading goal a achieving it, has taught me that when I commit fully to achieving a goal, I do so.

The Invisible Mentor blog is an educational one, so with that in mind, I’m inviting my readers on an adventure in learning, which is taking place all of 2012. You do not have to read 200 books – I read a lot for my consulting business – but I would like you to read one book a week, so at the end of 2012, you would have read 52 books. It’s a couple of weeks into the new year, so you have to play a little bit of catch-up.

Here are a few books that are on my reading pile for this year. Some of the books I have seen the films, but have never read the books. I will be more intentional about reading classic literature. I have struggled with focusing on classic literature, and the reason could be that the plots often move at the speed of molasses, so I put them aside and read books that I find more exciting. The best approach for me is to carve out at least three hours, or until I get to the point where I know that I have to finish the book. That’s the only way I will get through more of the classics this year.

As you will notice from the books on the list, some of them were all the rage in 2011, but I don’t necessarily follow the crowds, I skip to the beat of my own drum. All the books on the list I have them already. Choose some of the books from my list. As soon as I read and review the books, I will return to this post and add the links to the review.

I have this idea, which has been percolating in my mind for a while now, and that is to have a faceoff between books, when I do the reviews for Booked for Mentoring. What I have in mind, is to have two reviews of very different books, then find a way to connect them with the key takeaways. Let’s see how that works out.

Booked for Mentoring 2012 Reading List

1. Dune, 40th Anniversary Edition (Dune Chronicles, Book 1), Frank Herbert
2. The Letters of Pliny the Younger
3. Scaramouche, Rafael Sabatini
4. The Scarlet Pimpernel, Baroness Emmuska Orczy
5. The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
6. Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier
7. The Sleepwalkers, Paul Grossman
8. Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson
9. Songs of Innocence and of Experience, William Blake
10. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Collins Business Essentials), Robert Cialdini
11. From This Moment On, Shania Twain
12. Why I am So Wise (Great Ideas), Friedrich Nietzche
13. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: A Friendship That Changed the World, Penny Colman
14. Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously, Julie Powell
15. Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia, Elizabeth Gilbert
16. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig
17. How the Mind Works, Steven Pinker
18. The Fountainhead, (Ayn Rand Box Set: Atlas Shrugged/ The Fountainhead) Ayn Rand
19. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackery
20. The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins
21. Moby-Dick (Vintage Classics), Herman Melville
22. Nicholas Nickleby (Arcturus Paperback Classics), Charles Dickens
23. Dracula (Dover Thrift Editions), Bram Stoker
24. Silas Marner (Dover Thrift Editions), George Eliot
25. David Copperfield (Penguin Classics), Charles Dickens
26. A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, Daniel H. Pink
27. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain
28. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
29. Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, Janine Benyus
30. Anne Of Green Gables : Three In One Set : Complete And Unabridged: Anne Of Green Gables : Anne Of Avonlea : Anne Of The Island, L. M. Montgomery
31. A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
32. Emma (Dover Thrift Editions), Jane Austen
33. Tess of the D’Urbervilles (Dover Thrift Editions), Thomas Hardy
34. Profiles in Courage (P.S.), John F. Kennedy
35. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
36. The Portrait of a Lady – Volume 1, Henry James
37. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
38. The Old Curiosity Shop (Penguin Classics), Charles Dickens
39. The Last of the Mohicans (Signet Classics), James Fenmore Cooper
40. Little Women (Sterling Classics), Louisa May Scott
41. Far From the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
42. The Magus, John Fowles
43. Killing Giants: 10 Strategies to Topple the Goliath in Your Industry, Stephen Denny
44. Ten Steps Ahead: What Separates Successful Business Visionaries from the Rest of Us, Erik Calonius
45. Idea Man: A Memoir by the Cofounder of Microsoft, Paul Allen
46. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, Chip Heath and Dan Heath
47. The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci
48. Roughing It, Mark Twain
49. Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda
50. Of Human Bondage (Modern Library Classics), W. Somerset Maugham
51. Captain Cook’s Journal, First Voyage
52. Thus Spake Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzche
53. The Invisible Man, H. G. Wells
54. Paradise Lost, (Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained (Signet Classics)) John Milton
55. Paradise Regained, John Milton
56. Ulysses, James Joyce
57. The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
58. A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce
59. Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds, Charles Mackay
60. Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand

Other Books for Mentoring

Founders and VCs Reveal 21 Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read

10 Great Beach Reads That Will Make You Sharper When You Return To The Office 

As you will notice from the list of books that I intend to read in 2012, only a few of them are business books. I do not read many business books because most of them do not make you think. The most successful people do not read business books either, instead, they read the kind of books that are on my list. Let’s read together in 2012!

Further Reading

Life Lessons from the Great Books

The Business Case for Reading Novels

Why Startup Founders Should Stop Reading Business Books

10 Benefits Of Reading!

Read a Book a Week

Watch This. No. Read It!

10 Ways Reading the Great Books Can Improve Your Life 

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Book links are affiliate links.

Cover of The Hunger Games

This is what we talked about on The invisible Mentor Blog this week: Reading list for this Summer 2011, Review of Catching Fire and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, Ada Lovelace the First Computer Programmer and Interview with Patty DeDominic.

Mondays at the Salon

A list of books to keep you busy this summer.

The Invisible Mentor Summer 2011 Reading List

Booked on Tuesdays

We previously reviewed The Hunger Games and today we review the last two instalments: Catching Fire and Mockingjay in The Hunger Games trilogy.

Review: Catching Fire and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Wisdom Wednesdays

In this profile, you’ll learn about Ada Lovelace the first computer programmer. Ada was a visionary and over a century ahead of her time.

Ada Lovelace, First Computer Programmer.

Perspective Thursdays and Workshop Fridays

This week we featured Patty DeDominic a very successful businesswoman. She always operates with high integrity. Patty started an international women’s festival, celebrated around International Women’s Day (March 8th) to honour the accomplishments and potential of women. Here are Part One and Part Two of Patty DeDominic’s interview.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Book links are affiliate links.

When you wake up in the mornings, what is the first thing that you do? Do you have a spiritual practice or ritual that you perform? What do you do to set the tone for your day? The way you start your day often determines what type of day you’ll have.

I meditate when I arise and just before I go to sleep at night. But for the past month I have been very intentional about how I start my day. Each morning when I first wake up, in addition to meditating for about 15 to 20 minutes, I have been reading one of Brian Johnson’s Philosopher’s Notes. Each note is very uplifting,  educational and shifts me into a very positive mindset, where I feel like I can make the impossible possible.

And the greatest part for someone like me is that I get to learn about new books to read. Feeding my mind with “good food” when it’s most suggestible has been very good for me. I also reflect on what I have read to bring the information to life. This morning ritual is also compatible with my lifestyle because I learn about people to profile and books to summarize for this blog.

What is a ritual that you can perform in the morning that aligns with who you are? Whatever you choose has to fit in with your lifestyle so that you will want to do it every day.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

During an interview once, the interviewee told me that she has often been mentored by the many books that she has read. While browsing a book about authors as mentors in a bookstore, one of the contributors called books, paper mentors.  The contributor also indicated that the author of Harriet the Spy mentored and influenced her as a writer.

Image via Wikipedia

Can a book be a mentor? Or is it the author who assumes the role of mentor? What about the characters in fiction, can they act as mentors? To answer these questions, requires that we look at the roles that mentors play in our lives. In the most basic sense, a mentor helps a protégé to achieve something that’s really important to her.

The Role of Mentors

• Advisor
• Role Model
• Sounding Board
• Guide
• Teacher/Skills Developer
• Resource Provider
• Champion/Advocate
• Cheerleader
• Confidant
• Critic
• Friend
• Facilitator

Mentors play many of the roles above, but no one mentor can play all of the roles in our lives. Let’s say for argument sake that books can be mentors, what characteristics would the books have for them to be great mentors? For a book to assume the role of a mentor, it has to have many of the elements below:

• Provokes thought
• Provides a deeper level of understanding and heightened awareness
• Ignites passion
• Awakens deep-seated emotions
• Provides practical wisdom
• Chronicles events for strategic guidance
• Provides formulas and intellectual frameworks to use
• Be about a change maker
• Solves everyday problems
• Shifts the reader’s mindset

Reflecting on the elements of a book that make it a mentor, when was the last time you read a really good book that mentored you? If there are books that have mentored you, just like my interviewee, think about the following questions.

• What was it about that book that made it memorable?
• How did you feel after you finished reading the book…sated… hungering for more…unnerved…?
• Did you take copious notes while you were reading this book?
• How many people did you refer this book to?
• Did it evoke any strong emotional response from you?
• Have you used any ideas from the book?
• What genre of book was it?
• Would you say that the book had a profound impact on your life?

If there are books that have mentored you, look at others that deal with the same topic, and do what Mortimer Adler recommends in How to Read a Book, and that is to read syntopically to master the topic, and I would add to also get divergent views. How do the books compare to each other? If the book is about a new area, think about what the author is saying, does it make sense? How does it stack up against what you already know? Also, identify:

• The problem the author presented and how it was solved
• The relevance of the information to your work and life
• Five takeaways
• Five great ideas you can glean from the information presented
• Any rule breaking
• Ideas/solutions that relate to work and life
• Solutions to everyday problems
• Ways to use ideas/insights/takeaways to increase the value of your product/service to your customers both internal and external to the organization

A book can never take the place of a traditional mentor, but it can assume some of the roles of a mentor, especially when you are trying to learn something, to gather information or to further your understanding of something.

Examples Where Books (and other publications) as Mentors Helped

Charles Darwin and British biologist Alfred Russel Wallace independently arrived at similar theories of Natural Selection in the mid-1800s after reading Essay on the Principle of Population by British pastor Thomas Malthus.

After many years of research and observing birds in flight, German engineer Otto Lilienthal, also known as the King of Gliders published his findings in the widely read book Birdflight as the Basis of Aviation. Lilienthal’s research article Practical Experiments for the Development of Human Flight, writings and notes proved invaluable to Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright also known as the Wright brothers. The Wright brothers believed that they could improve Lilienthal’s designs and resolve the problems plaguing aircraft theories. The Wright Brothers are credited for inventing the airplane.

As a child, while confined to bed because of illness, Robert Hutchings Goddard read H G Wells’ The War of the Worlds and became captivated with rockets and outer space. Goddard was a pioneer in liquid-fuelled rocketry and made significant contributions to the field.

While reading an article on a flight, Jeff Bezos founder of Amazon learned that the Internet was growing 2,300 per cent each year and wondered how he could use the information. He then looked at the top 20 catalogues to identify which would translate best to an online business and as a result Amazon was formed.

Now that you have read all this information, can books, authors and characters mentor you? I will leave that for you to digest and decide for yourself. How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Book links are affiliate links!

Image Credit: Wikipedia