I try my best to stay well read. I read mostly non-fiction books but try to read all sort of things. I want to highlight these three books I've read since the pandemic that have positively influenced my thoughts.
This book is correctly titled and is a great introduction into not only Feng Shui but also good design. I truly believe this book has helped me lead a richer life and has helped me become a better designer and person. I only wish I read this book earlier in my life.
Growing up and early in my career I would be very self conscious when I competed against specialist and lost. I went to programming contests in high school and got crushed by students who made computer science their entire personality. This pattern continued when I took Japanese in college, and then again when I was interviewing for banking my senior year. I always considered myself to have a wide range of interests and I could never hold a candle to the people who had focus and I envied their performance. This book found me at the right time and helped coach me through these thoughts and showed me those that have range have the long term advantage. This has matched my own experience in the recent parts of my career. It is clear to me now that my range has helped make me special and successful in my career. I encourage this book to everyone, I think it will encourage specialist to experiment more and help encourage those with range to have confidence.
Will Guidara was the head of front of house at Eleven Madison Park, the restaurant in NYC, when it was named the number one restaurant in the world. The book is an excellent read full of great stories, but the reason it has influenced my thinking is hearing from Guidara how he transformed front of house and up leveled the entire fine dining scene is inspiring. Guidara shows that there is always places to find improvement and always innovation to be had. This book is a love letter to not only New York City and fine dining, but also leadership, teamwork, and relationships.
I hope these books will be as inspiring to you as they were to me.