The Booker Award: My 5 Favorite Books

Tanmay Vora is a close friend who is a widely-read blogger and author. He spreads knowledge and joy through his work and writings.

Whenever we converse, I learn something new. In most conversations, we talk about the books we read and reflect.

Both of us enjoy learning to the fullest.

So in that continuation, recently, Tanmay tagged me for “The Booker Award.” It requires me to share five of my favorite books and mention 5-10 other bloggers who deserve this award.

(Tanmay was nominated by one of the deepest thinkers and blogger Michael Wade – You’ll thank me for checking out his blog)

If you’d like to participate, the rules of the award are as below:

1. Nominate 5-10 bloggers and let your recipients know.
2. Post The Booker Award picture.
3. Share your top 5 books of all time.

Some time ago, someone asked me to define myself in one word in 30 seconds. Spontaneously the word that came out was: “Learner.”  If you take learning away from me, I don’t exist.

I invest in continuous learning. Reading contributes heavily to my learning, and it has become an integral part of my life for more than a decade.

Of hundreds of books I’ve read, it’s extremely difficult to limit this list to just five books, but let me try so here they go:

Five of My Favorite Books

1. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

• “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
• “Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.”
• “The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.”

2. The Leader Who Had No Title by Robin Sharma

• “What the society thinks is of no interest to me. All that’s important is how I see myself. I know who who I am. I know the value of my work.”
• “Sometimes success isn’t about making the right decision, it’s more about making some decision.”
• “Victims recite problems, leaders provide solutions.”

3. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

• “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.”
• “Start with the end in mind. ”
• “If I really want to improve my situation, I can work on the one thing over which I have control – myself.”

4. Steve Jobs Biography by Walter Isaacson

• “Steve Jobs had a tendency to see things in a binary way: “A person was either a hero or a bozo, a product was either amazing or shit”
• Apple’s credo: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”
• “My passion has been to build an enduring company where people were motivated to make great products. Everything else was secondary. Sure it was great to make a profit, because that was what allowed you to make great products. But the products, not the profits were the motivation.”

5. The High-Performance Entrepreneur by Subrato Bagchi

• “The job of top leaders is to build leaders. That is a one-on-one thing like a gardener must tend to his or her plants in a one-on-one manner. Each plant has different needs at different times and the gardener must anticipate those and be proactive. The plants do not come to the gardener; the gardener must go to where the plants may be.”

 Five Ten of the Bloggers I’d like to Nominate: