Books, Books and Books
How do you start your day? What do you have for breakfast?
(Shoutout to David Sedaris for teaching me how to ask better questions. And, y’know, how to fake being a person who actually listens *wink* 😄
Comment below, I’d like to know. Seriously
Me? My day technically starts the night before. With a thought. A craving. A itch. A habit I should quit but won’t: a fruit punch Rockstar energy drink. I know, shame shame shame Alex…
I tell myself I’ll stop. That this can of red dye and artificially flavored diabetes isn’t the best way to kick off the morning. And yet, every day, there it is. Right next to my breakfast, which is either:
A) A blueberry muffin.
B) A Thomas’ English muffin.
C) The weekend feast: full-on rib-sticking breakfast—sausage, bacon, sometimes eggs and potatoes, sometimes pancakes, because balance.
Some Mondays, I get ambitious and meal-prep breakfast burritos for the whole week. You know, just in case Future Me wakes up feeling like a grown boy.
Here you go:
- A dozen to fifteen eggs scrambled with jalapeños (maybe ten until egg prices come down).
- A dozen smoked hot or mild links.
- Two bell peppers (one green, one red, for
healthcolor). - Five medium russet potatoes.
I cook everything separately, then mix it all together in a giant bowl and refrigerate. Done.
Mornings for me = burritos (or bread-based carbs), Rockstar (always), and a book. I have a dozen sitting in my Amazon cart right now. Another half-dozen within arm’s reach as I type this.
I used to be a book-a-week kind of guy. But 2025? Man, it’s been a humdinger.
As Julie Andrews (one of many *childhood crushes) sang to frightened kiddies her favorite things, I’m left thinking about all my favorite things.
Sure leather jackets, beanies, double monk strap shoes and rip-roaring experiences top the list but books reign even more supreme. I read over fifty books during 2024, these are my favorites.
Yum!
Alex’s Podium Finish
🥇 First - The War of Art - Steven Pressfield (One of the best books you’ll ever read. Unless you identify as perfect.)
🥈Second - This is Culture - Marcus Collins (If you’re a marketer, content creator, entrepreneur, solopreneur or advertiser and you have a creative bone in your body, you need this.)
🥉 Third - Book of Gossage - Unknown Author (About the coolest ad-man who ever lived. Real guy… Forget Don Draper, Howard Gossage was the man. He died in the sixties, long before I was born. I would have loved to have a Manhattan with the guy while talking shop.)
Books that changed my business mindset
1. Unreasonable Hospitality - Will Guidara (I’d gift this book to almost anyone)
2. True Story - Ty Montague
3. Over Deliver - Brian Kurtz (Pretty much teaches marketers how to become human.)
4. Thinking in Systems - Donella H Meadows (Snoozefest but insightful.)
5. Book of Gossage - Unknown Author (YAYYYY)
6. This is Culture - Marcus Collins (Double YAAYYYYY)
7. Upstream - Chip and Dan Heath
8. Inside Story - Dara Marks
Marketing Books
1. This is Culture - Marcus Collins
2. Marketing a love Story - Benedette Jiwa
3. The Practice - Seth Godin (Best marketer alive today.)
4. Baked In - Alex Bogusky
5. Pop - Sam Horn (So underrated but grea.)
Advertising Books
1. Hey Whipple Squeeze This - Luke Sullivan
2. Wizard of Ads trilogy - Roy H Williams
3. Hegarty on Advertising - Sir John Hegarty
Funny Reads
1. Calypso - David Sedaris (Best question asker on the planet. Check out his masterclass.)
2. Tough Titties - Laura Belgray (Got a crush on her too. I think it’s the big teeth and her sense of humor.)
Design Books
1. The Eyes of the Skin - Juhani Pallasmaa
2. A Frame for Live - Ilse Crawford (My fav episode on abstract. Type it in Netflix.)
3. Yes is More - Bjarke Ingels (Two words - Graphic Novel Architecture. I know hush.)
4. The Design of Everyday things - Don Norman
Branding Books
1. The Brand Gap - Marty Neumeier (FYI Marty is branding)
2. Zag - Marty Neumeier
3. Brand it like Serhant - ( By the silver-haired wonder himself Ryan Serhant.)
Deep Murky Waters. Deep Reads
1. Scattered Minds - Gabor Mate (Watch his podcast on Diary of a CEO)
2. Status and Culture - W David Marx (I’m upset with David. I sent him a message on bluesky telling him how much I liked this book. His response was kinda meh! I’ll get over it.)
3. Italian Hours - Henry James
4. The Arcades Project - Walter Benjamin (Tough read but interesting. Taught me about the flâneur, a character I identify as.)
5. Leonardo da Vinci - Walter Issacson (Long, Long Long. Lord of the Rings Long.)
Writing
1 - Everybody Writes - Ann Handley (I recommend subscribing to her newsletter)
2 - Consider This - Chuck Palahniuk
Life Changing in a dramatic way, because i’m full of drama.
1 - What is Art - Leo Tolstoy (The dude died running away from his wife. And his definition of art is the only one I’ll repeat.)
“Art is a human activity consisting in this, that one man consciously, by means of certain external signs, hands on to others feelings he has lived through, and that other people are infected by these feelings and also experience them. — Tolstoy)
2 - The War of Art - Steven Pressfield (If you read any book on this list, make it this one.)
3 - How to Live or A life of Montaigne - Sarah Bakewell
4 - Scattered Minds - Gabor Mate (Got ADHD, you need this book)
The Fun Bits
1. City of Thieves - David Benioff (Don’t read this if you’re still mad over the Game of Thrones thing.)
2. Dune - Frank Herbert (Best Sci-fi today. Besides The Expanse, Three Body Problem, Silo, StarGate, Foundation, Battlestar Gallactica, Black Mirror *First two seasons*, Arcane, Humans, Firefly, The Last of Us. Severance sucks.)
3. Fear and loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S Thompson (wack job but amazing writer.)
4. Sense of Style - Steven Pinker
5. Thousand Years - Donald Miller
6. I Robot - Issac Asimov
7. Dune - Frank Herbert
8.The City we Became - N.K. Jemisin
9. Ametora - W David Marx (Tough, academic’y read but insightful. Still mad at David.)
10. The Creative Habit - Twyla Tharp
11. The Guide to Going Viral - Brendan Kane
Books I liked but didn’t like for some reason
1. Bread and Circus - Airea Matthews
2. Quietly Hostile - Samantha Irby
3. World Travel - Anthony Bourdain
I read at least two dozen more but I'm tired of thinking and typing.
I do use affiliate links on this site but I didn’t want to be THAT guy. So I didn’t use them in this post.
*whatever*