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Several months ago I finished reading Brain Rules by John Medina and I’ve been raving about it ever since.  Medina is a noted brain researcher and the book contains the 12 things he wishes the lay public knew.

The 12 things (with my notes in bold and italic)

1. EXERCISE | Rule #1: Exercise boosts brain power. – The most important chapter.  Short version – if you exercise your brain will be smarter and it won’t get dementia.  I’ve put this to the test, and I am more focused with exercise than without.
2. SURVIVAL | Rule #2: The human brain evolved, too. – Not that memorable, good background information.
3. WIRING | Rule #3: Every brain is wired differently.- Not that memorable, good background information.
4. ATTENTION | Rule #4: We don’t pay attention to boring things.- Intuitive,  and general background information
5. SHORT-TERM MEMORY | Rule #5: Repeat to remember. – Important, counter intuitive info on memory.
6. LONG-TERM MEMORY | Rule #6: Remember to repeat.- Important, counter intuitive info on memory.
7. SLEEP | Rule #7: Sleep well, think well. – The second most informative chapter.  I had always thought of sleep as a time of rest, it turns out to be a very active process for the brain.   Sleep is when the brain cleans and restocks itself.
8. STRESS | Rule #8: Stressed brains don’t learn the same way. – I had no idea that stress was the physical reaction that it is.  This is the third most important chapter.
9. SENSORY INTEGRATION | Rule #9: Stimulate more of the senses. – Good advice for graphic designers.
10. VISION | Rule #10: Vision trumps all other senses. –  mostly background information.
11. GENDER | Rule #11: Male and female brains are different . – we knew this already, but Medina tells us how male and female brains differ.
12. EXPLORATION | Rule #12: We are powerful and natural explorers. –  mostly background information.

From this book I have made the following changes in life Read more on Everyone should read Brain Rules by John Medina…

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For reasons unknown I spent most of yesterday dealing with salespeople.  One common component of all the salespeople was the instinct to “Close”.  The longer the contract period (these were all service companies) the stronger the close instinct.

Read more on Beware aggressive salespeople – The power of “No”…

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I listened to an interview with negotiation coach Jim Camp on Mixergy and learned much from the experience.  He evangelizes (for lack of a better word) a negotiation strategy based on rules rather than outcomes, which rules out “win-win” as a strategy.    He also posted the audio copy of his book “Start With No” on his website, called (not surprisingly) StartWithNo.com.  I’m listening to the audio version now and I’m learning useful things.  So far, the economic basis for negotiation (consumer surplus, gains from trade, etc) is omitted and he affirms several obvious points that everyone needs to remember and explains several subtle points in detail.

Read more on Free Jim Camp negotiation book – “Start With No”…

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After writing yesterday’s post on lessons learned from eight years in business, I thought I would come up with my listing of great books that have helped me starting out. I follow Tyler Cowen’s notion that if you you finish every book you start you’re wasting time on crap.  On average I finish less than half of the books I start.   Since I’ve gotten a Kindle I’ve upped my selectivity considerably.  Before anyone asks, I have yet to finish Getting Things Done by David Allen.

With no further ado – here are the books I recommend to start out. Read more on Ten great books for American business…

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Overall Grade: 6/10

I recently picked up a copy of The Power of Less by Leo Babauta (I was using a gift certificate and that was the only interesting thing Barnes and Noble had in stock).  Babauta blogs as www.zenhabits.net and I imagine most of the content originally appeared there.  It is an easy, fast read.

The book boils down to these points: Read more on Review of The Power of Less by Leo Babauta…

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Last night I decided to package up some of my insights I’ve gathered in my seven and and a half years as an introverted small business person into a convenient e-book. Being a self-diagnosed Aspie, I’ve categorized most of my feelings into Jungian Archetypes with descriptive names and stories behind the names.

Overall Ranking: 8/10

The first book I purchased on my new Kindle was Ignore Everybody by Hugh MacLeod. I bought it based on this review by Derek Sivers. On the whole, I liked it very much. In fact, I read it in one sitting. Here are my thoughts:

What the book is not:

• A step by step manual for doing anything
• A specific guide to doing anything
• Case studies

What the book is:

• A collection of generalized lessons learned from 20 odd years in the creative business
• Extremely well written
• Largely a collection of aphorisms, similar to the work of Eric Hoffer
• Highly motivational

Read more on Review of Ignore Everybody by Hugh MacLeod…

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I recently finished Create Your Own Economy by Tyler Cowen and loved it. I found it to be an insightful treatise on the Autistic Spectrum and it raised many thoughts which are still bouncing around my head.

Read more on Thoughts on Create Your Own Economy by Tyler Cowen…

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I recently read the Web Startup Success Guide by Bob Walsh and liked it. It was chock full of useful information and helpful tips about how to go from a programmer to an actual Owner. In the words of Michael Gerber, it helps you work on your business, and not in it.

Read more on The Web Startup Success Guide by Bob Walsh…

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