The CEO Challenge 2019

Just Google the question, how many books a year do CEOs read, and over the last two years there is over a full page worth of results. So for 2019, I'm going to attempt this challenge. Finger's crossed. Now I know CEOs are reading 60 non-fiction books a year, but one, I'm not a CEO, and two, I'm fiction writer so I have to read fiction to understand the market. So below I'm going to give you THE RULES. And later a flexible start to THE LIST. 

THE RULES: 1) I'm an audiobook narrator, no books I read for that purpose will not count towards my 60 books. Mostly this is because I have a commercial stake in whether or not they do well, and I cannot give you a honest review on these titles. So if I make it through all 60 books, you can be assured it is 60 books, plus the audiobooks I have narrated this year. For more information on this check out this post here.

2) I'm calling it the Bill Clinton rule. I don't admire the man, but when he was running for president in 1992 I caught an interview (I don't remember where) discussing his reading habits. In it he stated he liked to read one fiction book for every non-fiction book he read. Since I've already stated I'm not going to read only non-fiction books, I need a way to limit my fiction book reading. Otherwise, I'd power through like, 70 fiction novels, and defeat the whole experiment. 

3) There will be a review posted for each and every book I read. In the month of January these reviews will be posted on Saturdays because weekdays are dedicated to #JanNoEdiMo.

4) We will see if anything changes in my life as a result of reading this books. As a sample of one, I don't know what value it will have, but if the CEO's can do it, so can I.

5) 12-14 of the books will be audiobooks. I have an audible subscription, so I will go through and clear out my back list, and go through all of the my new one. For the purposes of this, my credits drop really late in the month, so I'm going to listen to those books in the following month. 

6) The list is flexible, so if you want drop me a suggestion, feel free.

7) All of the books are book I have not yet read. I am actively trying not to repeat authors, I am trying to keep a 1:1 of conservative subjects to liberal ones, but I make no promises.

THE LIST

Non-Fiction                                                                    Fiction

1) Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the                               The Remains of the Day--Kazuo Ishiguro

    American City--Matthew Desmond

2) The Intelligent Investor--Benjamin Graham               Crime and Punishment--Fyodor Dostoevsky                  

3) A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety--Jimmy Carter        Dona Barbara--Romulo Gallegos

  

4) Portfolios of the Poor-- Daryl Collins, Jonathan         Prayer for Owen Meany--John Irving        

     Morduch, Stuart Rutherford, Orlanda Ruthven

5)  The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revoluntionary          The Curious Incident of the Dog in th            

      Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business    Nighttime--Mark Haddon

      --Clayton  M. Christensen

6) Business Adventures--John Brooks                              Ready Player One--Earnest Cline                     

7) Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies               Atlas Shrugged-Ayn Rand

8) World Order--Henry Kissinger                                     The Stand--Stephen King  

9)  The Boys in the Boat--Daniel James Brown                Rebecca--Daphne Du Maurier

10) Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error       A Tree Grows in Brooklyn--Betty Smith

       --Kathryn Schulz

11) Competing Against Time--George Stalk, Jr.,             Turtles All The Way Down --John Green       

       Thomas M. Hout

12) Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind--                 Fairest/Cress : The Lunar Chronicals--                    Yuval Noah Harari                                                    Marissa Myers                  

       

13) The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and       The U.P. Trail--Zane Grey *     

      & Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success

       --William N. Thorndike, Jr.

14) The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the    The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse--

       Art and Science of Personal Magnetism                       V. Blasco Ibanez*

15)  John Quincy Adams--Harlow Giles Unger                 The Tin Soldier--Temple Bailey*

16)  A History of France--John Julius Norwich                  Kindred of the Dust--Peter B. Kyne*
             

17)  SPQR--Mary Beard                                                     The Age of Innocence--Edith Wharton*

18) 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed                   If Winter Comes--ASM Hutchinson*
       (Turning Points in Ancient History)--Eric C. Cline

19)  Becoming--Michelle Obama                                        Black Oxen--Gertrude Atherton*

20)  Worst. President. Ever. --Robert Strauss                       So Big--Edna Ferber*
        (A book about Jame Buchanan)

21)  Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises--             Soundings--A. Hamilton Gibbs*
        Timothy F. Geithner

22)  Too Big to Fail--Andrew Ross Sorkin                        The Private Life of Helen of Troy--John                                                                                                    Erskine*

23) The Restless Wave--John McCain                                Elmer Gantry--Sinclair Lewis*
                  

24) The Radical King--Martin Luther King, Jr.                The Bridge of San Luis Rey--Thorton                 edited by Cornell West                                                  Wilder
        

25) Assata--Assata Shakur                                               All Quiet on the Western Front--Erich Maria                                                                                             Remarque                                             

26) TBD

27) TBD

28) TBD

29) TBD

30) TBD

Disclaimers:* denotes books that may not be available in my local library.

The fiction books have been curated from two lists, one is PBS The Great American Read. You can find that list here, the other is from Literary Hub--the best selling books of the last century. You can find that list here.

The non-fiction books have been curated from Business Insider 15 books famous CEOs think you should read. You can find that list here. And from the also bought section in my Audible account of other non-fiction books I have read. That list is everything after #14.

What's on your To Be Read List? Let me know in the comments below.