One of the things that I really like to do is read. I remind myself every morning that it’s something that I’m passionate about, because I enjoy developing myself and learning new things, and I just find it relaxing and a good way to stretch my imagination muscles. But because it’s something that I like to do, I sometimes feel bad doing it because shouldn’t I be doing something else MORE PRODUCTIVE?? Do you guys ever do that — beat yourself up for doing something that you like? I know that’s not a healthy mindset, so a couple years ago I made it my goal to read one book per month, nothing too crazy when you hear of people finishing a book in a weekend — wow! To hold myself accountable to this goal, I enlisted help from you all and formed our very own CFKI Book Club. We’ve wavered from 2 members in a month to 5 or 6, and some people admittedly come to our monthly meeting not having finished or even read the book at all, but just want to chat! I have to admit I’ve been in that boat before once — I just quit reading the book and danced around each chapter a bit to get a summary, but I didn’t really like it.
This morning I gathered up all the Book Club books that I still have — I’ve given some to friends and probably just don’t know where the others are — to jog my memory on my Top 5. If you haven’t read these, I recommend them — and I’ll tell you why below. I’d be interested to hear from other Book Clubbers on their favorites too!
Here we go, in no particular order:
Out and Back, by Hillary Allen
I think this was the first book that we selected back in 2022, and it was a great start — it kind of put us on a trend of reading thrilling or adventure style books for a few months. It’s the self-told story of a world-class ultrarunner who has a catastrophic near-fatal fall, 150 feet off of a mountainous ridge during a race in Norway. Her story of overcoming all the physical and mental pain and struggles to get back to competing in “skyrunning” is incredible, and a really fast but emotional read.
Unbeatable Mind, by Mark Divine
This book back in the early 2000’s put me on a path toward developing myself as much mentally as physically, and helped me understand that the two are very closely linked. Since then I have trained personally with Coach Divine and the SEALFIT and Unbeatable team to become an Unbeatable Mind coach myself, and I align my daily training very closely with this operating model.
If you want to get started with a integrated body-mind training regimen, this is the book that you need to read first.
The 12 Hour Walk, by Colin O’Brady
You may have heard of Colin O’Brady – he’s a ten-time world record holder in endurance events, like the first solo unsupported crossing of Antarctica, and the first human-powered ocean row across the Drake Passage. This book takes lessons from those events and many other mountaineering challenges and applies them to the lesson that we preach at CFKI as well: do hard things because you’ll learn about yourself and grow. The 12 Hour Walk is his challenge to all of us — go out on a 12-hour walk, by yourself, no phone, no music. See what happens.
Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson
This was the hardest one to read but I’m so glad that I did, for the history lessons that many of us didn’t learn in school. The author explores how America has been shaped throughout its history by a hidden caste system, like the more overt caste system that still exists in many ways in India and the systemic racism of Nazi Germany. This was definitely the deepest and most intellectually stimulating discussion that we had about a book.
Four Thousand Weeks, by Oliver Burkeman
The title of the book is an obscure one, but once you know what he’s referring to — the average human lifespan — you know it’s about to get deep. The subtitle is “Time Management for Mortals”, and it’s a great one because there are so many awesome scientifically-backed lessons and practical exercises crammed in here. Of all five books listed here, this is the one I realize I need to read again to see if I need a refresher course.
Let me know if you’d like to borrow any of these great reads! And please throw out some recommendations of books we need to get into next. We haven’t picked one yet for September!!
Happy reading!
Ryan