Reading Globally: 2015 Reading Challenge

Introduction: Reading Globally: 2015 Reading Challenge

Don Tapscott, author of The Digital Economy, and business executive specializing in the role of technology in business and society predicts that the already quickened pace of technology will accelerate. Many jobs have been lost to automation in the past two decades, and many more will be lost to robotics and big data. How safe is your career, and will you be a victim of automation? I do not have the answer, but I think we can intentionally read our way to a solution. Won’t you join me on the Reading Globally: The Invisible Mentor 2015 Reading Challenge, which starts on January 1, 2015? We will hold each other accountable.

Further Reading

Ten million jobs at risk from advancing technology
What Happens to Society When Robots Replace Workers?

The Case for Reading Globally:  2015 Reading Challenge

One response to automation is ongoing learning. And Marty Neumeier, an expert in design, innovation, and creativity believes that it’s difficult to copy creative work. He defines creative work as unique, imaginative, non-routine and autonomous. On the other hand, robotic work is algorithmic, computerized, efficient, and purchased. In other words unoriginal and non-creative. So what will it take to build continuous learning into your day? What will it take for you to read more books to give your brain an intellectual workout? If you are already reading books, what will it take to elevate your level of reading?

Related Posts

An Evening with Don Tapscott at the Rotman School of Management

I have been working on an informal liberal arts education, and I have completed the course requirements, but I have not read enough classic literature. This is a non-degree program that I created for myself, so I can pretty much do whatever I want, but I have decided to make sure that I reap real benefits since I am investing so much time. The road has not been easy, because when I first started, I was taking courses that were interesting and not necessarily ones that would aid my career. When I shifted my focus, I started to see the real benefits. I suspect that after I have read more classic literature the big payout will come to me.

I have always had problems reading only classic literature, so I would often spend time reading other books so that I wouldn't get bored. This has been the case for several years now, and I have been wondering how to break or even interrupt the pattern. Also, I have been thinking a lot about reading globally, but when I dissected my thoughts, what I really wanted to do is to read deeply and broadly, of which reading globally is a subset.

Since I want to write a book about my experience journeying to an informal liberal arts education, it's important to keep things interesting, while sticking to my reading goal, so I thought a reading challenge would be an excellent way to do that – to keep me on track. And having a reading challenge would involve others, and that will also help to keep me on track. We would be each other’s accountability partner. Additionally, the second Virtual Book Tour would evolve from this endeavor.

There are many reading challenges floating around the Internet, some of them are excellent, but this one is different because the sole intent is for us to read broadly and deeply, and in the process, secure our future as much as we can. We will aim to read one book a week – that’s 52 books in a year. Why one book a week? Bill Gates on average reads a book a week, need I say more. Please join my LinkedIn group Leaders are Great Readers where we can talk about our experiences reading globally and broadly.

The Invisible Mentor 2015 Reading Challenge

1. 30 books written by authors born in 30 different countries.
2. A book that will allow you to perform your job better.
3. A book that will allow you to develop a new skill.
4. Book to improve your writing.
5. Book to improve your memory.
6. A book to help you read faster.
7. Science fiction novel.
8. Mystery, detective or drama.
9. A children's book that you did not read as a child.
10. A book that's over 400 pages long.
11. Book about religion.
12. Book about psychology.
13. Book about sports or one that uses sports metaphors.
14. Book that blends disciplines.
15. A book about doodling or sketchnoting.
16. Graphic novel.
17. Collection of comics.
18. A book about art or an artist.
19. A book about nature.
20. A collection of short stories.
21. An epic poem.
22. Collection of poetry.
23. Book about How X Works (For instance, I have How Language Works, How Music Works and How Winning Works.
24. A book written at least 100 years ago
25. A trilogy, quartet, quintet, or more!

Some of the above will overlap, but that is okay, the intent is to have diversity to our reading.

Recommended Books from my Bookshelf

 The Tango Singer The Thorn Birds Anne of Green Gables Stories: 12 Books, 142 Short Stories Eva Luna: A Novel Diary of a Madman, and other stories

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1. The Tango Singer, Tomas Eloy Martinez (San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina)
2. True History of the Kelly Gang: A Novel, Peter Carey (Bacchus Marsh, Melbourne, Australia)
3. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak (Sydney, Australia)
4. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough (Wellington, Australia)
5. The Man Without Qualities (2 volume set), Robert Musil ( Klagenfurt, Austria)
6. The Devil to Pay in the Backlands (“”The Devil in the Street, In the Middle of the Whirlwind”), João Guimarães Rosa ( Cordisburgo, Minas Gerais, Brazil)
7. Herzog (Penguin Classics), Saul Bellow (Lachine, Canada)
8. Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables Library: Anne of Green Gables; Anne of Avonlea; Anne of the Island; Anne's House of Dreams (An Anne of Green Gables Novel)), Lucy Maud Montgomery (Canada)
9. Eva Luna: A Novel, Isabel Allende (Chile)
10. Monkey – Journey to the West, Wu Cheng’en (China)
11. The Three Kingdoms (Three Kingdoms (Chinese Classics, 4 Volumes)), Luo Guanzhong (China)
12. Diary of a Madman, and other stories, Lu Xun (China)
13. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia)
14. The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street (Everyman's Library), Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt)
15. Gargantua and Pantagruel (Penguin Classics), Francois Rabelais (France)
16. Sentimental Education (Penguin Classics), Gustave Flaubert (France)
17. Pere Goriot (Signet Classics), Honoré de Balzac (France)
18. Montaigne: Essays, Michel de Montaigne (France)
19. Journey to the End of the Night, Louis-Ferdinand Céline (France)
20. The Tin Drum, Günter Grass (Germany)
21. The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (African Writers Series), Ayi Kwei Armah (Ghana)
22. The Iliad (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition), Homer (Greece)
23. Palace of the Peacock, Wilson Harris (Guyana)
24. Independent People, Halldór Laxness (Iceland)
25. Njal’s Saga (Penguin Classics) (Iceland)
26. The Bhagavad Gita (Penguin Classics), India
27. The God of Small Things: A Novel, Arundhati Roy (India)
28. The Masnavi I Ma'navi of Rumi: Complete (Forgotten Books), Rumi (Iran)
29. Three Novels: Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable, Samuel Beckett (Ireland)
30. Dracula (Dover Thrift Editions), Bram Stoker (Ireland)
31. The Divine Comedy (The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso), Dante Alighieri (Italy)
32. The Decameron (Penguin Classics), Giovanni Boccaccio (Italy)
33. The Harder They Come, Michael Thelwell (Jamaica)
34. The Tale of Genji: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition), Murasaki Shikibu (Japan)
35. A Grain of Wheat (Penguin African Writers) Ngugi wa Thiong'o (Kenya)
36. The Death of Artemio Cruz: A Novel (FSG Classics), Carlos Fuentes (Mexico)
37. Arrow of God, Chinua Achebe (Nigeria)
38. Sophie’s World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy (FSG Classics), Jostein Gaarder (Norway)
39. Blindness (Harvest Book), Jose Saramago (Portugal)
40. The Book of Disquiet (Penguin Classics), Fernando Pessoa (Portugal)
41. Doctor Zhivago (Vintage International), Boris Pasternak (Russia)
42. Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky (Russia)
43. Dead Souls, Nikolai Gogol (Russia)
44. My Name Is Red, Orhan Pamuk (Turkey)
45. Burger’s Daughter, Nadine Gordimer (South Africa)
46. Don Quixote (Penguin Classics), Miguel de Cervantes (Spain)
47. The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje (Sri Lanka)
48. Wave (Vintage), Sonali Deraniyagala (Sri Lanka)
49. Serious Game, Hjalmar Soderberg (Sweden)
50. A House for Mr. Biswas, V S Naipaul (Trinidad)
51. Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph: The Complete 1922 Text, TE Lawrence (UK)
52. A Passage to India, E M Forster (UK)
53. The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics), John Milton (UK)
54. Middlemarch (Penguin Classics), George Eliot (UK)
55. How Language Works, David Crystal (UK)
56. Corelli's Mandolin: A Novel, Louis de Bernières (UK)
57. Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir, Frank McCourt (USA)
58. The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop., Robert Coover (USA)
59. Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston (USA)
60. The Doodle Revolution: Unlock the Power to Think Differently, Sunni Brown (USA)
61. Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life, Martin E P Selignman (USA)
62. Gone with the Wind, 75th Anniversary Edition, Margaret Mitchell (USA)
63. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Revised Edition, Robert Cialdini (USA)
64. The Long Goodbye, Raymond Chandler (USA)
65. The Plateau Effect: Getting from Stuck to Success, Bob Sullivan (USA)
66. Lonesome Dove: A Novel, Larry McMurtry (USA)
67. Dune, Frank Herbert (USA)
68. Organize Your Mind, Organize Your Life: Train Your Brain to Get More Done in Less Time, Paul Hammerness & Margaret Moore (USA)
69. Hypnotic Writing: How to Seduce and Persuade Customers with Only Your Words, Joe Vitale (USA)
70. Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, Janine M. Benyus (USA)
71. Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works (Lean (O’Reilly)), Ash Maurya
72. Nervous Conditions [Import], Tsitsi Dangarembga, (Zimbabwe)
73. Think Like A SheEO: Succeeding in the Age of Creators, Makers and Entrepreneurs, Vicki Saunders, Canada
74. Converge: Transforming Business at the Intersection of Marketing and Technology
75. Social Physics: How Good Ideas Spread—The Lessons from a New Science, Alex Pentland
76. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values, Robert M. Pirsig
77. The Rosie Effect: A Novel, Graeme Simsion
78. What I Know For Sure, Oprah Winfrey
79. By Anthony Marra A Constellation of Vital Phenomena: A Novel (First Edition), Anthony Marra
80. Leviathan (Penguin Classics), Thomas Hobbes
81. The Age of Innocence (Dover Thrift Editions), Edith Wharton
82. Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives, Dan Millman
83. Rembrandt: Master of the Portrait (Discoveries), Pascal Bonafoux
84. Weather: Drama of the Heavens (Discoveries), Rene Chaboud
85. An Experiment with Time (Studies in Consciousness), John Dunne
86. The Serial Universe, John Dunne
87. In His Image: The Cloning of a Man, David Rorvik
88. As Man Becomes Machine: The Evolution of the Cyborg, David Rorvik
89. Brave New Baby; Promise and Peril of the Biological Revolution, David Rorvik
90. The Natural Way to Draw: A Working Plan for Art Study, Kimon Nicolaides
91. Journeys Out of the Body, Robert Monroe
92. Two Serious Ladies: A Novel, Jane Bowles
93. Let It Come Down: A Novel, Paul Bowles
94. The Sheltering Sky, Paul Bowles
95. Nightwood (New Edition), Djuna Barnes
96. The Pilgrim on the Earth, Julien Green
97. If I Were You, Julien Green
98. The Green Hat (Capuchin Classics), Michael Arlen
99. Cain's Book, Alexander Trocchi
100. The Magus, John Fowles
101. The Nightcomers, Michael Hastings (Retelling of the Turn of the Screw)
102. Beat Not the Bones, Charlotte Jay
103. Nightwings, Robert Silverberg
104. Fury (Henry Kuttner Series Book 1), Henry Kuttner
105. Changeling Earth, Fred Saberhagen
106. Three to Conquer, Eric Frank Russell
107. Walk To End Of World, Suzy McKee Charnas
108. The World Wreckers (Darkover: Against the Terrans: The Second Age), Marion Zimmer Bradley
109. Witch-Doctor's Apprentice: Hunting for Medicinal Plants in the Amazon (Library of the Mystic Arts), Nicole Maxwell
110. Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics, Alfred Korzybski
111. Memoirs of a Geisha: a Novel, Arthur Golden (USA)
112. Le Morte Darthur: The Winchester Manuscript (Oxford World's Classics), Sir Thomas Mallory (United Kingdom)
113. J.R.R. Tolkien 4-Book Boxed Set: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (Movie Tie-in): The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King, JRR Tolkien (South Africa)
114. Secrets of VITO: Think and Sell Like a CEO, Anthony Parinello (USA)
115. Masters of Sales, Ivan Misner (USA)
116. The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand (Russia)
117. Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson (USA)
118. A Woman of Substance, Barbara Taylor Bradford
119. The Boat Who Wouldn't Float, Farley Mowat
120. The Goldfinch: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction), Donna Tartt
121. Middlesex: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club), Jeffrey Eugenides
122. Human Bondage – The Original Classic Edition, W Somerset Maugham
123. 50 Big Ideas You Really Need to Know (50 Ideas) (Hardcover), Ben Dupre

 One Hundred Years of Solitude (Harper Perennial Modern Classics) Pere Goriot (Oxford World's Classics) The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street (Everyman's Library) The Tin Drum The Harder They Come Journey to the End of the Night Njal's Saga (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature) Palace of the Peacock The Bhagavad Gita (Penguin Classics) My Name Is Red Angela's Ashes: A Memoir Corelli's Mandolin: A Novel (Vintage International) Lonesome Dove: A Novel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance The Sheltering Sky

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The list of books from my bookshelf is meant to be a guide, so you do not have to read those books. I created the list because I have invested the money in buying the books so I am determined to read them. I also know that some people will need some assistance in choosing books to read. For you, it is critical that you include books that will enable you to be more valuable to yourself and to your employer. Although the books have been written by authors from around the globe, I am going to start the 2015 reading challenge by reading the short books first. I need to feel like I am making progress so I would like some early wins, and proceeding this way will do that for me.

Also keep in mind that January is National Mentoring Month, February is Black History Month, and March is Women’s History Month, so that may inform your choices of books to read each of those three months. Reading one book a week may seem like a lot, but it is not – the trick is to read every day. I practice interstitial reading – I have the Kindle app on my desktop computer and my mobile device, and I usually have a book in my purse so I can read when I find myself having to wait, or with unexpected free time. To make sure that you get the most from your reading, jot down your thoughts and ideas in Evernote or Diaro, an online diary. If you do not want to go the high tech route, a simple notebook will do.

Conclusion: Reading Globally: 2015 Reading Challenge

You'll get support from me and other Challenge participants to keep you on track. I will provide you will tools and resources to help you get the most from the 52 books you read this year.

Note from Avil: This experiment did not work. What I have learned is that people need a lot more support. So for this time around, when you officially sign up for the reading challenge, you get weekly email prompts reminding you to read a book. You'll also get resources to help you get the most from the book you read. Get on the list and be a part of this extreme reading challenge.

Please take the conversation to my  Facebook page. You can still join the Read the World Challenge – it’s an extreme reading challenge.

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