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The Invisible Mentor Weekly Newsletter: Brain Food Wednesdays Number 109: How to Pair and Group Books
Dear Reader,
For years, I’ve been preaching that if you want to lay the foundation to understand a topic, you have to read at least five of the best books on the subject. But when you’re reading a book, always think about which book you can pair it with.
A section of each Bookish Note I create for the Art of Learning Leadership Academy is called Book Pairing. Sometimes, when I pair or group books together, it’s an easy exercise. Other times it feels like it’s a hair-raising one. And I struggle to come up with a suitable match.
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Recently, I read If You Ask Me by Betty White, the actress who recently died. While writing the Bookish Note, I was concerned about the Book Pairing section. I haven’t read many memoirs and biographies, so I was unsure of how to pair or group this book. For the past two months, I’ve been more intentional about reading memoirs and biographies because on Wednesdays, I want to dedicate the book summaries, on my blog, The Invisible Mentor, to that genre.
In the Ask Avil section of this newsletter, I’ll delve more deeply into how to pair and group books together and introduce you to a concept called irrelevant reading.
I’ll be starting a reading challenge in February i the Facebook group. Why don’t you join me?
Join my Facebook group Reading Rocks: Read a Book, Discover Solutions, Change the World.
In the News
Here are some podcasts I appeared on. They’re packed with a lot of information.
208: Have You Been Reading Books Wrong? https://elkinsconsulting.com/sarahs-blog-podcast/2021/12/21/208
Ellevate Network: http://ow.ly/s8pR50GCBTy
Envision2BWell: https://blog.envision2bwell.io/post/1157/envisionwell-podcast-invisible-mentors
313 Challenge with Ryan Foland: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/avil-beckford-read-and-get-new-ideas/id1484382840?i=1000523572323
I would appreciate your support in growing my YouTube channel.
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Ask Avil
How to Pair and Group Books for Intellectual Growth
What I’ve noticed since consistently pairing and grouping books is that sometimes it’s obvious and other times it’s non-obvious. And the answer to how to group a book may come to you when you least expect it, when you’re not thinking about it.
I was struggling with how to pair or group If You Ask Me. And I was thinking about which other biographies and memoirs it would complement. Nothing was coming to me, so I started working on another task. I’m writing a short book on leadership reading and while conducting research to write the introduction, I came across a concept called irrelevant reading. This is essentially reading that has nothing to do with what you’re working on.
Often when you’re creatively problem-solving, during those moments of rest, or when you’re working on an unrelated task, the solution to your problem comes to you. It popped into my head that I needed to pair If You Ask Me with Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life. You may be asking how I came up with that book pairing.
Betty White died about three weeks before she turned 100 years old. Ikigai is about longevity, and the reason you get up in the mornings. One of the characteristics of people who live very long is that they never retire – they remain active. Betty White was still working in her nineties. I was able to pair the books together, based on the thread — longevity.
Do you now see how the pairing makes sense, and somehow extends your understanding of a topic?
Now back to where the conversation started. I mentioned that if you want to learn a topic, a great way to lay the foundation, on which you can later build, is to read at least five of the best books. What I’ve discovered is that it’s best not to read the five books one after the other. I get overloaded whenever I do that. Therefore, I recommend that you read an unrelated book in between. That is, you engage in irrelevant reading.
And what often happens, is that you’ll find that the book you thought had nothing to do with the topic you’re interested in, will be connected somehow. Your brain will find connections. And you’ll end up understanding your topic in new ways.
I discovered the concept of irrelevant reading a week ago. Professor and New Testament scholar Wesley Hill came up with the concept. As I was reading his definition of irrelevant reading, I immediately saw how it was related to intersection thinking. According to Rohit Bhargava, author of Non-Obvious 2019: How to Predict Trends and Win The Future:
“Intersection thinking is a method for creating overlap between seemingly disconnected ideas in order to generate new ideas, directions, and strategies for powering your own success. It can create a crossover gamechanger. It allows you to think in a way your competitors aren’t.”
So you have at least five books you want to read on a topic. When you’re reading them, you read other unrelated books in between. Your mind goes into weird and wonderful places. A good exercise is to figure out how to connect these unrelated books. Perhaps you can do so using only a thread, or even one idea.
How do you pair and group books? I don’t have a process where I do X, Y, and Z. For me, it’s intentional. When I’m reading, I automatically connect what I’m reading to what I already know. Sometimes the connections come to me during a time of reflection. If you’ve never paired or grouped books, a logical place to start is to ask and answer the following questions.
- How does the book connect to what you know?
- What problem is the author trying to solve?
- Is the problem relevant to you?
- At the end of the book, did he or she solve the problem?
- What breakthroughs did you have while reading the book?
- Does the book contain facts that are somewhat surprising because they are different from what you know?
Answering the questions allows you to engage in active reading. If you have questions, reply to this newsletter, and I’ll try to answer them.
Reading List
I’m enjoying the reading experience. I’m getting into the habit of reading nonfiction books again, and I want to start reading a book a day for the next three months. That’s a tall order, so I’ll see how that works out. I’ve been working on a project and taking a course. So, I’ve been strapped for time. Because I love to read so much, I make time for reading.
- The Forever Transaction: How to Build a Subscription Model So Compelling, Your Customers Will Never Want to Leave by Robbie Kellman Baxter
- The Subscription Boom: Why an Old Business Model is the Future of Commerce by Adam Levinter
- Retention Point: The Single Biggest Secret to Membership and Subscription Growth for Associations, SAAS, Publishers, Digital Access, Subscription Boxes and all Membership and Subscription Businesses by Robert Skrob
- Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sale into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days by Joey Coleman
- Membership Recruitment: How to Grow Recurring Revenue, Reach New Markets, and Advance Your Mission by Tony Rossell
- The Leadership Gap by Lolly Daskal
- Brave Leadership, Kimberly Davis
- How Women Rise, Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith
- Business Model Shifts by Patrick van der Pijl, Justin Lokitz
- The Invincible Company by Alexander Osterwalder , Yves Pigneur
- Love-Based Business Models by Shawn Driscoll
- Why Leadership Sucks by Miles Anthony Smith, Book 1
- Why Leadership Sucks by Miles Anthony Smith, Book 2
- Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo
- The Airbnb Story: How Three Ordinary Guys Disrupted an Industry, Made Billions . . . and Created Plenty of Controversy by Leigh Gallagher
- Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal by Nick Bilton
- Levers: The Framework for Building Repeatability into Your Business by Amos Schwartzfarb
- Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great by Carmine Gallo
- I Got There: How a Mixed-Race Kid Overcame Racism, Poverty, and Abuse to Arrive at the American Dream by JT McCormick
- One Big Thing: Discovering What You Were Born to Do by Phil Howard Cooke
The Invisible Mentor Blog/Articles Written
Blog Posts
Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, Summary
The One Problem
I’ve published 44 podcast episodes already. How time flies. You can also find these on my YouTube channel.
- Sarah Elkins, Storytelling and StrengthsFinder Coach
- Debbie McKiver, Founder of the Strong and Healthy Temple
- Hedieh Safiyari, Founder, Prompt Health, Healthcare Solutions
- Benita Lee, Trade Consultant, Founder, Benita Lee Professional Corporation
- Jenny Siede, Chief Design Thinker, Green Neurons
- Pamela Jeffery, Founder, The Prosperity Project & Women’s Executive Network
- Alta Odendaal, Financial Coach and Consultant
- Larissa Russell, Founder and CEO Queer Voicez and Creative U Business
- Glain Roberts-McCabe, Founder, the Roundtable, Group Coach Academy
- Dr Marsha Carr, Professor, University of North Carolina, Wilmington
- Gabriella O’Rourke, Business Consultant, Borden Ladner Gervais
- Stefanie Booker Atchison, Wisdom Coach & Motivational Speaker
- Michelle Griffin, Founder Brandthority, Building Your Personal Brand
- Donna Knutson, Founder of Write Journeys
- Sophie Gray, Founder of DiveThru: Being Disconnected from Yourself
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Product Alert
7 Day Reading Makeover Challenge
This is an affordable program to get started on leadership reading. Leaders read to learn what they need to know. You’ll also learn how to synthesize information.
Art of Learning Membership Site
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Until Next Week,
Avil Beckford, Founder, The Invisible Mentor!