petermcelwee

I don't know what you have read before but here are three great suggestions from different genres that I have enjoyed and read numerous times: Thriller - The Traveller by John Twelve Hawks - This book is about freedom vs control and two brothers Gabriel and Michael who get caught up in the middle. Both brothers are travellers, people with the ability to travel to different dimensions and throughout the book people on both sides fight to promote their own point of view. Like all great thriller its a real page turner but what sets this one appart is the questions it asks about government and business intereferance in our daily lives. Fantasy - Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman - This story is about the end-of-days and has some incredible characters including a demon and an angel who have picked up some very human habits and the anti-christ (who is called Adam here) who thanks to a mess up by the forces of darkness ends up being raised in a small village by a kind and loving family and turns out to be a normal boy. It is an incredibly engrossing story and is so well told that you will probaly read it in one go (like I did) and end up reading it time and time again. Non-fiction - The Jetstream of Success by Julian Pencilliah - This is an unusual book. Part memoir / part self help book it recounts moments in the authors life that inspired him to think differently. The autobiographical sections are very descriptive and very well told while the self help part is very thought provoking. Instead of dishing out the usual message of "think positively" it focuses on teaching you how to get over and avoid setbacks, how to identify opportunites that others might miss and more importantly how to constantly improve yourself so that you can become the best version of yourself. I read it last Christmas and have gone back to it several times and found it very helpful in my career.

I've read a few self help and professional development books and most were very dissapointing but I can recommend two which made a big impact on my life. How To Win Friends and Influnce People by Dale Carnegie - we moved around a bit when I was growing up and I ended up being a bit quiet and withdrawn. Thankfully I was recommended this book and it totally changed my social life. Essentially it shows you how to strike up a conversation with anyone and teaches basic negotiation skills. I do a lot presentations in my job now and still use the techniques in the book. The Jetstream of Success by Julian Pencilliah - my wife gave me this book last Christmas as I was looking to start a new business. This book teaches you three basic things - how to move on from setbacks, how to spot new opportunities and ways to constantly improve yourself. I have found what it syas to be very practical and have used them in my career and particulrlly love the way its so precise instead of just giving the same "think positively" which most other self-help books tend to do. I also discovered later that the author established and runs his own vc company and so maybe the reason why I find what he says so useful is because its what he has used himself.