“Books I Have Loved”

An introduction to the books that have influenced me the most (and not just business books, but the whole spectrum)

Business Books

The Proverbs of Solomon – Most business people talk about Think and Grow Rich or 7 Habits of Highly Effective People or How to Win Friends and Influence People (none of which make my top list) but this book beats all others, hands down. No contest. If I had to take one business book to a desert Island, it would be Proverbs. Written by the Jewish king Solomon in ~1000BC, it’s got more common sense and wisdom per paragraph than any other book anywhere, period. You can read one of its 31 chapters each day this month. I can’t tell you how many times the advice in Proverbs has saved me from serious peril.

Unlimited Wealth by Paul Zane Pilzer – The first time I heard Pilzer it was a revolution in my brain. Value and wealth are created by human ingenuity, not fighting and dividing and cutting. Business and economics are fundamentally about alchemy, not dividing spoils. Only when you understand this can you recognize the contribution that entrepreneurs make – you yourself make – to the world. The success of the world rides the shoulders of enterprising people who do economic alchemy.

The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch – Took this book to my favorite Coffee Hangout, the Buzz Cafe, and at about page 14 my brain nearly exploded. Jumped up, rushed home, and started crunching numbers. My wife found me on the floor in the living room with a scientific calculator and papers all over the place. “What happened to YOU???” Everybody’s heard of the 80/20 rule, but it’s not just a B-School abstraction, it’s a law of nature. What I realized that day is it’s also multi, multi-dimensional – and when you overlay multiple 80/20 aspects of your business together (especially a direct marketing business) there are points where very small efforts produce enormous results. One of those rare
books that gave me a totally new set of lenses to view the world in,
which I now can’t imagine living without.

The Brass Balls Seminar – aka Dan Kennedy’s Customer Appreciation Seminar from February 1999. This was my first ever “marketing seminar.” But Dan didn’t really talk about marketing all that much at this event; instead he talked about how successful business people get the world around them to conform to their vision, instead of the other way around. I came home and immediately launched two ventures, one of which generated a quarter million dollars of sales in the next 18 months. It was the beginning of something big.

Psycho Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz – This renowned plastic surgeon discovered that some people’s self image radically changed after he fixed their nose or chin or whatever; suddenly they became more successful, far out of proportion to a simple cosmetic surgery. But he also discovered that some looked in the mirror and couldn’t see any difference at all, because even though the outside as changed, their perception of self was the same. This book is about changing your game from the inside out. Important stuff, too, because I can teach people all kinds of powerful marketing strategies but it only ’takes’ if they’re mentally ready to become more successful.

Sales & Marketing

Scientific Advertising / My Life in Advertising by Claude Hopkins – Hopkins is the Thomas Edison of Direct Marketing, and this is surely the ultimate “Must Read” book for anyone in marketing or advertising. Funny thing though, it’s a little like the book of Proverbs – it seems like everyone has a copy somewhere (it might be a free bonus you got with some e-book, on your hard drive somewhere) but few actually read it. In only 40 pages, Hopkins defines almost everything that makes marketers succeed, especially today on the Internet. His autobiography is equally instructive.

Dan Kennedy’s No BS Marketing Letter / Magnetic Marketing – Magnetic Marketing is the first course I cut my teeth on as a marketer, back in 1997 when I was a manufacturer’s rep. Shortly thereafter I subscrbed to Dan’s newsletter and a stream of savvy marketing education began. Magnetic Marketing is still hard to beat as an introduction to results accountable advertising, and thousands of highly effective entrepreneurs read Dan’s newsletter as soon as it arrives every month.

Being Direct by Lester Wunderman - For a first-hand account of the early days of direct marketing, Wunderman is one of the few living souls who was there in the beginning. Wunderman is a true master, and masters of any profession always look at things a little differently than everyone else. Wunderman literally invented key concepts behind the American Express Card, the Doubleday Book Club and the Columbia Record and Tape Club. This book tells the stories behind these innovagtions and shows you how a true advertising legend thinks.

The Cluetrain Manifesto – I read this book on a bus in the mountains of southwestern China with a Chinese government newspaper in my lap. While reading, I suddenly had an epiphany: “Hey, you know what? There is NO difference between communist propaganda and a typical press release from a U.S. Corporation.” For most businesses, companies and governments, publicity and advertising is about disguising the truth of what’s going on. But with a little moxie, it can just as easily be about what’s really going on – and thus be inherently more interesting, more relevant and more persuasive. By chapter 3 (and all the chapters are free on the author’s website BTW) I instantly understood the heart and sould of successful PR. I went on to get over 100 pages of press exposure in a tiny niche industry in the following year.

Winning Through Intimidation by Robert Ringer – If you don’t like the title of this book it’s a trustworthy indicator that you desperately need to read it. In sales, someone always has the upper hand and it’s a function of who does a better job of establishing their authority. This book unapologetically reveals the harsh reality of what real selling is like, and what it requires, much more than any other sales book I can think of. If you’re ready for a blast of brutal honesty, this book is for you.

SpeedSelling by John Paul Mendocha – John is the most savvy sales person I’ve ever seen in action, and from him I’ve learned the 5 Power Disqualifiers and the Discovery Contract, which I’ve used with great success in my consulting work. This is the only sales training I’ve ever had that tells the real truth about selling. If you ever get a chance to spend time with John, go. He will enlighten and amaze you.

On Writing by Stephen King – Not a business book. But if you have strong writing skills you’ve automatically got an advantage over 90% of the people you compete with, and this is one of the best books on writing I’ve seen. Discover how to add color, drama and clarity to your writing, and express yourself with minimal verbiage and maximum ease.

Society / Culture / Travel

Democracy in America – 50 years after the US Revolution, young America was the toast of Europe. Aristocrats in France eyed democratic government with considerable apprehension. So they sent boy genius Alexis de Tocqueville to the United States to ‘figure out what’s going on over there.’ Well I don’t know how he did it, but, figure it out he did. Tocqueville puts his finger on what’s unique about America and what makes American culture tick, better than any other person or book I’ve seen. Democracy in America is 170 years old but it’s still dead-on accurate in most respects. I read this as a Freshman in college and again a few years ago, and it has immensely strengthened my understanding of the ideas
that created the modern West.

Falling Off the Map: Some Lonely Places of The World by Pico Iyer – The ultimate Wanderlust book, Iyer goes to some of the world’s least-visited countries (North Korea, Argentina, Cuba, Iceland, Bhutan, Vietnam, Australia, Paraguay) and tells some truly strange stories.

Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuscinski – If there is such a thing as a book that “explains Africa” this is it. The author worked as a Polish news correspondent for 30 years and traveled all over the Dark Continent, and he weaves the most fascinating tales. Beautifully written, deeply insightful and completely arresting.

The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto – a strapping  8″x12″ 400-page text. Big as it is, it’s so fascinating it’s almost impossible to put down. It traces compulsory education in America from the mid-1800′s to the present, in all of its hideous complexity. Gatto received the New York State Teacher of the Year award in 1990 and was named New York City Teacher of the Year in 1991. He then left his job and ever since has been exposing the ”education racket” for what it is.

The True Believer by Eric Hoffer - a deeply insightful, deeply cynical book about what propels mass political, religious and social movements. Flawed in its conclusions but stunningly accurate in its observations, you could use this book as the basis for starting your own cult if you wanted to. Hoffer puts his finger on the most significant things that drive human culture. Where I differ with him is this: he thinks the human drive to fix our broken world is an irrational, unfortunate accident of nature. I say – maybe we want to die for something because there are some things worth dying for. Maybe we search for a purpose because there is one…

Science and Technology

1-2-3 Infinity by George Gamow - This book has probably inspired more young people to pursue careers in science and mathematics than any other. I read it when I was 12 and felt as though I now understood Einstein’s theory of relativity, imaginary numbers, time, space, math and physics. Gamow is one of the premier scientists of the 20th century, yet is able to communicate complex ideas with childlike simplicity. It’s hard to imagine any science-minded person who would not love this book.

The Beauty of Fractals: Images of Complex Dynamical Systems by Heinz-Otto Peitgen and Peter H. Richter – After reading this book, the world was never the same again. The book revealed that fractal patterns are everywhere in the world, and when I went out to my car in the morning, there they were – ice crystals on the roof. Rarely does a book shift your entire view of the world, but this one did for me.

For the Glory of God : How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts, and the End of Slavery by Rodney Stark – Most people have a secular understanding of  history, believing that modern science was the triumph of reason and logic over religion and superstition. But that is simply not true. Christian theology is a bulwark of sophisticated, logical, rational thought. The reason we have science in the first place is because monks and scholars believed God had created a rational universe that operates according to fixed, discoverable laws. There was no such belief in other cultures. Stark goes on to show that the purging of slavery from the West occurred for similar reasons – that if God made all men equal, slavery is inherently wrong. Stark does not offer an overly romantic view of Christian history and in fact he talks candidly about it, warts and all.

Another outstanding work by Stark, The Victory of Reason, traces Western history from the 3rd century onward and shows that “The Dark Ages” is a fabrication of revisionist 19th century historians. Our modern intellectual world owes its very existence to the theologians, and the Western concept of technological progress flows from a worldview that sees time as moving unstoppably forward towards a fulfillment of all things.

The Creator and the Cosmos by Hugh Ross – In 1994 I heard Ross’s landmark presentation “New Scientific Evidence for the God of the Bible” and I was riveted as he described, in remarkable detail, how the Big Bang, background radiation and the universe seen by the Hubble telesecope exactly match the cosmology of Biblical writers 3500 years ago. With very simple assumptions (“day”=period of of time; and the story is told from a terrestrial point of view) Genesis 1 matches modern astronomy and the fossil record tit for tat, with perfect accuracy.
Faith and science are allies, not enemies.

In the Beginning was Information by Werner Gitt (link is a free PDF ebook) – Possibly the most profound science book I’ve ever read. The most concise and productive way to understand living things is that they originate first as information in DNA. As a communication engineer  and author of an Ethernet book, I was amazed to discover everything I already knew about communication sytems – 1′s and 0′s, noise reduction,  error correction, data compression and transmission – applies to DNA. Because DNA is a digital communication system, the tools of the information age unlock its secrets and lead us to form testable hypotheses. Gitt makes a rigorous, airtight case for an intelligent designer based on Claude Shannon’s information theory. I’ve run across a number of people and websites who say they’ve overturned Gitt’s theorems, but to a person, every single one of them violates Shannon’s work at some key point. This book brings more clarity to complex subject material than almost any I’ve ever read.

In the last couple of years I’ve developed my own series of talks on this subject, given from a somewhat different point of view. You can read or listen to that talk: If You Can Read This I Can Prove God Exists.

When we discuss such things it’s inevitable that the question of “creation vs. evolution” comes up, and James A. Shapiro’s paper A 21st Century View of Evolution provides an unexpected answer: that evolution is indeed observed to happen, but it proceeds as an engineered process, NOT a random, purposeless mechanism. This discovery goes back to work done by Barbara McClintock in the 1940′s. She received a Nobel Prize for her research in 1983. Nothing could be more devastating to traditional Darwinism! The logical conclusion, then, is that “creation vs.  evolution” is not an either / or question. Evolution, to the extent that is true, is proof of intelligent design. God has a sense of humor, doesn’t He?

AudioXPress Magazine is the first magazine I ever subscribed to, at age 13. When I was growing up it was called Speaker Builder. This is a magazine for people who build audio equipment. Reading this magazine is really kind of like a journey to a more innocent era of tinkerers and electronic hobbyists, vacuum tubes, ham radio and custom built speaker cabinets. It’s quintessentially Democratic, as articles are accepted from all types – novices to experts.

The Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill – In all my experimentation and schooling as an Electrical Engineer, this was the best book ever. Practical, common-sense, plain-English explanations of dozens of vital electronics topics.

Spirituality

A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken – A masterfully crafted autobiography and the story of an intensely deep love relationship, a profound introspective on their path to finding God, and the utimate bereavement the author experiences as his thirty-something wife dies of a terminal illness. Along the way, their paths cross with C.S. Lewis; personal correspondence with Lewis peppers the book, as does a collection of superb poems written by Vanauken. It explores complex theological, philosophical and aesthetic issues with deep insight and profoundly sharp perspective. I can’t recommend it highly enough, it’s truly one if the best books I’ve ever read – a work of art which crosses many dimensions.

God in the Pits: Confessions of a Commodities Trader by Mark Ritchie – One of the most candid and soul-searching books you’ll ever read. Ritchie works at the Chicago Board of Trade and executes million dollar deals, but this book isn’t as much about making money in the commodities markets as it is about the perils and pitfalls of that business. At its core it’s about a son of missionary parents, working his way through deep spiritual and existential questions. He finds he can neither embrace nor reject his father’s fundamentalism, but instead must kindle his own connection to God.

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis - a rational, no-frills case Christianity being rational, intuitive, and true. C.S. Lewis possessed a profound gift for bringing clarity and simplicity to enormously complex questions, and he does not disappoint us here. He shows that the moral sensibilties all people possess signal the existence of a higher order. It is our challenge in life to understand that order and live in harmony with it.

Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Don Miller - “I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn’t resolve. I used to not like God because God didn’t resolve. But that was before any of this happened…” This is Don Miller’s  elliptical journey from trite phrases and stuffy stereotypes to social action and risky steps of faith. If you’ve ever felt like “pat answer” Christianity is hollow and unsatisfying but had a hard time articulating what it should be like instead, you’ll probably appreciate this book.

Wild At Heart by John Eldredge - One of the most personally challenging books I’ve encountered. Reading this was like taking a scalpel to all kinds of garbage inside and saying “OK Perry, here it is, do you want to face up to this, or not?” Eldredge is extremely well read, his literary vocabulary spans a vastly wider range than what you normally find in the religious section of any bookstore, but at the same time it’s penetrating and direct. He gets to the heart of the wildness of God, the craving that all men have for adventure, and how all men have bitter wounds we must overcome. Most Christian books have a “sissy” texture, but this one’s for Real Men.

The Helper by Catherine Marshall - Catherine’s husband, Scottish minister Peter Marshall (who I believe is a very distant relative of mine) was much more famous than she, but this book truly is a gem. It answers the question “How do you listen to God’s voice?” For a logical, theological, scientific guy like me, answers to questions like this don’t come naturally. But Catherine leads you by the hand and shows you how to receive guidance for any and all situations, through listening, solitude and intuition.

The Gift of Pain by Paul Brand and Philip Yancey – Dr. Paul Brand is the doctor who unravelled the mystery of leprosy, working with lepers in India for over 30 years. He discovered that the one and only cause of leprosy is damage to the nervous system and the victim’s inability
to feel pain. All the disfigurement of leprosy stems from that, sometimes in most unexpected ways. Brand takes this medical knowledge and develops this into a much wider philosophy, that pain is always a sign that something is amiss. Our attempts to anesthetize pain only prolong our suffering and deepen the damage. For me, one of those rare books that caused me to see a host of things with a fresh perspective.

Real Miracles by H. Richard Casdorph – There are literally thousands of documented, medically attested miracles and healings all over the world, but if you listen to skeptics (and a lot of Christians too) you would never, ever know this. The author, a Medical Doctor, followed Kathryn Kuhlman’s healing ministry in the 1970′s and carefully documented healings from cancer, arthritis, tumors and the like. He shows medical reports, physicians’ notes and X-Rays from ten different cases, clearly indicating immediate or rapid recovery from otherwise intractable illnesses. Another remarkable book that deals with the miraculous on quite a different level is Bruchko by Bruce Olson.

A purely secular book that deals more generally with the existence of the paranormal is Margins of Reality: The Role of Consciousness in the Physical World by Brenda Dunne and Robert Jahn.  This presents studies done by the Princeton University Engineering Anomalies Research Lab, where five 9′s of statistical confidence verify the ability of people to alter the direction of falling objects and do remote viewing of physically distant locations. The closing chapters are especially interesting because the authors discuss the almost universal resistance of scientists to accept the existence of such phenomena, even when presented with irrefutable scientific data - simply becauase they do not fit the current politically currect paradigm of “Enlightenment” philosophy.

Fiction

Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien – What could I possibly say about this book that hasn’t already been said? It’s been voted fiction book of the 20th century by readers all over the world. The film trilogy by Peter Jackson was absolutely stunning, but as usual, the movie is never as good as the book. Yeah, I know you don’t have time to read a 1200 page book, but…  you should give yourself a treat and read it anyway. A rewarding  experience indeed. (And you can even skip The Hobbit entirely, if you want. )

Foreign Bodies by Hwee Hwee Tan - A delightfully Gen-X book about Asian young adulthood, it takes place in Singapore and deals with the author’s own struggles concerning justice, spirituality, sexual abuse, loyalty and betrayal.

IT by Stephen King – I read this when I was 17 and couldn’t put it down. 1100 pages of pure horror adventure. The plot develops at a natural, scintillating pace and finally all hell breaks loose in the last 150 pages. Dreamcatcher by Stephen King - goes a step beyond King’s usual material as it’s informed by a near-fatal car accident. Overtones of deep existential questions and spiritual exploration inform a story that’s already thrilling.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver – Man, does this woman ever have issues with men. Well, I’m willing to forgive her for that, and if you can recognize it for what it is, this is one of the most enchanting and beautifully written novels I’ve ever read. It’s fueled by a level of poetry and intuition that borders on magical, and the hearbeat of Africa is keenly felt. The last 100 pages held me spellbound.

Biographies

Run Baby Run by Nicky Cruz – My Sunday School teacher gave this to me when I was 12. My parents probably wouldn’t have let me read it if they’d known all the stuff that was in it (defnitely PG-13) but I’m sure glad I read it anyway. Nicky Cruz was a murderer, a drug dealer and president of a Harlem gang when he had a radical encounter with a skinny preacher dude named Dave Wilkerson – and a Jewish carpenter named Jesus. His life did a complete 180, and now in his 70′s, Nicky Cruz continues to help criminals, drug dealers, gang bangers and the broken-hearted turn their lives around. I saw him speak in a high school gym in Chicago about 10 years ago and it was a head-twisting experience. A hard-hitting book about life on the street for people of any age.

Chasing the Dragon by Jackie Pullinger – Jackie bought a 1-way ticket to Hong Kong and ended up in the Kowloon Walled City, a 6-acre slum that was home to 30,000 people. The Walled City was so uncontrollable that the local police left governance to the gangs and drug dealers. She helped gang bangers, prostitutes and junkies find God. And I kid you not – she harnessed this newfound power to deliver heroin addicts from addiction with no withdrawal symptoms, escapes from poverty and lifetime commitments to gangs and gambling.