Based on previous review posts, I am at least a month ahead of schedule for this post. For me, 2016 was a great year for reading. I signed up for and successfully completed two reading challenges: Goodreads and Modern Mrs. Darcy’s reading challenge. The list of books I read in 2016 helped me see the world just a little differently as well as provide me with some great strategies for engaging with the world.
The Goodreads and Modern Mrs. Darcy’s reading challenge overlapped each other. The Goodreads challenge was about quantity and the Modern Mrs. Darcy’s reading challenge was about quality. For 2016, I was hoping to read at least two books per month. At the end of the year, I was pleased to learn that I read forty-two books. In 2017, I am aiming for 50 books. You have to stretch your goals.
The Modern Mrs. Darcy’s reading challenge forced me to explore outside of my comfort zone. Because of the challenge, I managed to read two wonderful works of fiction: Fahrenheit 451 and The Scarlet Letter. I am confident that I would not have read these two books otherwise. You can read my post on the results to see what else I read to meet the challenge. I am looking forward to the 2017 Modern Mrs. Darcy reading challenge.
As a fan of metrics and lists, I would like to share my 2016 reading results.
In 2016, I more than doubled the number of books read compared to previous years. I simply made reading a greater priority.
What really surprised me was the number of pages that I consumed in 2016. I was two pages away from 10,000.
In 2016, I increased the variety and ages of books I had read. The books prior to 1970 were certainly more challenging to read. They also had a more demanding vocabulary.
Here is a list of what I had read from start to finish:
- In the Plex – How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives
- The 12 Week Year – Get More Done in 12 Weeks Than Others Do in 12 Months
- The Art of Social Media – Power Tips for Power Users
- Evernote. Wow! I Didn’t Know It Could Do That
- Instagram Basics For Your Business
- Think & Grow Rich
- Will It Fly?
- The 4-Hour Workweek
- LinkedIn Marketing – An Hour a Day
- Growth Hacker Marketing
- Evernote: 12 Important GTD Evernote Lessons On How To Use Evernote For Getting Things Done
- Evernote: 31 Steps to Become a Evernote Pro
- The YouTube Marketing Book
- Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
- Booked: The Digital Marketing and Social Media Appointment Setting System for Anyone Looking for a Steady Stream of Leads, Appointments and New Clients
- De-Mythify: Finding freedom in your small business
- In Defense of a Liberal Education
- The Last Lecture
- Level Up Your Life
- Working Out Loud: For a Better Career and Life
- Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business
- Show Your Work! 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered
- The Stranger’s Long Neck: How to Deliver What Your Customers Really Want Online
- The Dip
- ASTD Learning System Module 7 – Coaching
- Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business
- Ready, Set, Curate
- Become Your Own Personal Assistant
- Fahrenheit 451
- Innovate the Pixar Way: Business Lessons from the World’s Most Creative Corporate Playground
- #AskGaryVee
- Scrivener Superpowers: How to Use Cutting-Edge Software to Energize Your Creative Writing Practice
- The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It
- Developing Programs in Adult Education: A Conceptual Programming Model (2nd Edition)
- Genius Biographies
- Program Planning and Evaluation for the Public Manager
- Assessment for Excellence: The Philosophy and Practice of Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education
- The Seventh Sense
- From Maine to Mexico: With America’s Private Pilots in the Fight Against Nazi U-Boats
- My Share of the Task
- Democracy and Education
- The Scarlet Letter
Well, that is 2016 in a reading list. I have a stack of books sitting on the shelf ready to be explored. Hopefully, they will be as rewarding as 2016. Please come join me on Modern Mrs. Darcy’s 2017 reading challenge or come join me on Goodreads. We can cheer each other on. If you have some recommendations you think I will like, please leave a comment.
Enjoy 2017!
Here are my lists for the past few years:
- Taking Stock of My Reading, 20 books in 2015
- 2014 was another great year for reading
- 2013 has been a banner reading year
- Have you been reading more? (2012)