A list of books I’ve read with links to my notes and highlights from them. I mostly read non-fiction, but there will be an occasional fiction book in the mix.
I digitise my book highlights from physical books and organise Kindle highlights using Readwise.io. Highlights from here are then synced to my note-taking tool – Roam Research. Once I’ve gathered my book higlights in Roam, I review them and make my own notes with links and references to other notes. In some cases, I draw sketch-notes if the subject can be illustrated visually.
When my notes are ready, a distilled version of the raw book highlights, I review and add them to this blog and update this table.
| Book Name | Book Category | Short Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Buy-In | Sales | A book that explains how to win over an audience and make them “buy in” to your offer. |
| Creating Signature Stories | Storytelling | Signature story is an intriguing, authentic, involving narrative that delivers/supports a strategic message clarifying/enhancing the brand vision, customer relationship, organizational values and/or business strategy. |
| Design of Everyday Things | Design | A classic and a must read if you want develop a keen sense of design. A foundational book if you’re interested in design thinking. |
| Differentiate or Die | Marketing | A classic book on marketing to understand how to differentiate your brand, service or product. While a bit outdated, it is essential reading for learning about Brand Positioning. |
| All Marketers are Liars | Storytelling | Seth Godin’s advice on how to use storytelling effectively in marketing. |
| Play Bigger | Marketing | A startup playbook on Positioning or as the authors call it “category design”. |
| Atomic Habits | Productivity | The science of productivity(good/bad habits) is distilled down to practical and actionable steps. |
| Hey Whipple | Advertising | An advertising classic that traces the history and evolution of advertising. Timeless advice for creating great ads and copy |
| Pitch Anything | Sales | A guide to pitching your ideas effectively using a combination of storytelling and managing social dynamics (frames). |
| What Great Brands Do | Brand | Defining what great brands do and tools for auditing, analysing and articulating your brand-building strategy. |
| The Physics of Business Growth | Business | A systems approach to brainstorming, identifying and executing for growth. |
| Finding the Right Message | Marketing | A practical book on why you need to invest time in understanding your customers better. Useful tips on how to conduct surveys and how to translate the insights into good copy. |