One Book at a Time

By Avil M. Beckford

Copyright 2009 Ambeck Enterprise 1

3 Reasons to Read ............................................................ Page 4
4 Levels of Reading .......................................................... Page 5
Impact of Reading ........................................................... Page 7
How Many Books for a Well Fed Mind ..................................... Page 8
What to Read ................................................................. Page 10
Are You Too Busy to Read ................................................... Page 11
How to Remember What You Read........................................ Page 12
Keeping Track to Master a Subject........................................ Page 13
Keeping Track of What You Have Read ................................... Page 14
How to Develop a Reading Plan ........................................... Page 15
Reading Plan Process ........................................................ Page 17
Book Recommendations .................................................... Page 22
Rare Books That Inspire Learning ...................................... Page 27
Avil Beckford’s List of Books That Influence ............................. Page 28
Books Important to President Barack Obama ............................ Page 29
Authors Important to President Barack Obama .......................... Page 30

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“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed,
and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some
books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but
not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with
diligence and attention” says Francis Bacon, author,
philosopher and the father of inductive reasoning.

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Professionals who aspire to become leaders in their field must
develop intellectual power. To do that requires chewing, digesting
and savoring the right books one book at a time.
Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren in their groundbreaking book
How To Read A Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading, say
people read for three reasons:
1. Entertainment
2. Information
3. Understanding (Necessary to further knowledge)
To get the most from reading, readers have to interact with the words
on the page, have to think about what the authors are saying, and
why they are saying what they are saying.

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 Elementary: Level of reading that is learned in elementary school

 Inspectional: Emphasis is on time - getting the most out of a book

within a short time frame. There are two types of inspectional
reading, systematic skimming or pre-reading and superficial
reading

 Analytical: Deals with classifying the book, coming to terms with

it, determining the book's message, and criticizing both the book
and the author. Analytical reading is a very active type of reading

 Syntopical: Also known as comparative reading, is the most

complex form of reading. It is reading multiple books on the
same subject and placing them in relation to each other

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Comparing Adler’s and Van Doren’s four levels of reading to Francis
Bacon’s quotation, elementary reading is similar to tasting,
inspectional to swallowing and analytical to chewing and digesting.

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 Build verbal power
 Build a body of knowledge
 Gain insights
 Discover guidelines to live by
 Secure formulas and intellectual frameworks to use
 Gain a deeper understanding and heightened awareness
 Discover new ways of thinking
 Introduce rigor to your thinking
 Gain an understanding of cultures, civilization and the world
 Awake/Ignite something within

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Research by Samsung Economic Research Institute (SERI)
reported that Korean CEOs read an average of two or
three books per month, which was slightly lower than what
their counterparts at western companies who read on
average 1,000 pages per month. This equates to
approximately four to five books each month assuming
each book is 200 – 250 pages in length.
Source: Korea Economic Trends, NO.333, August 7, 2004

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The “menu” of books should include a selection of not just
bestsellers, but also books that are off the beaten tracks. In fact, the
great thinkers who have transformed the world did not read
bestsellers.

As an aspiring leader, or someone who wants to be on the fast track,

if you focus only on what others are focusing on, how can you stretch
and expand your thinking to develop the intellectual power required
to respond with agility to opportunities and challenges in the
workplace? Books featured on bestsellers’ lists are unlikely to give
your mind an intellectual workout.

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To get book recommendations, ask mentors, colleagues, friends
and family:

3.Which book had a profound impact on your life?

5.If you were stranded on a deserted island, what are five

books that you would like to have with you?

Offer to compile a list of the results and email to them.

If reading to master a subject area, read books by the leaders

in the area that you are interested in.

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In a 24/7 world that is ever changing, one where people are
constantly bombarded with information, busy professionals have to
be intentional about reading, carving out time for learning in an
already tightly scheduled day. To achieve a reading goal a reading
plan is required.

“The only books that influence us are those for which we are ready,
and which have gone a little farther down our particular path than
we have yet got ourselves.”
E. M. Forster, English novelist and essayist

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 Take notes while you read in a notebook designated for that
purpose, or write the notes on the inside cover of the book and
on other blank pages. This is very important if reading to master
a subject. Record all the page numbers for easy access to the
information

 Connect what you are reading to what you already know

 Identify what are the strength and weaknesses of the book

 Make special note of any information that you can readily apply
to work and life

 Each month record book information to keep track of what you

have read, and write a brief summary of the book from your
notes

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Title/Author

Concept 1

Documentation/Page
Found
Concept 2

Documentation/Page
Found
Concept 3

Documentation/Page
Found
What are the
Weaknesses of the
Authors’ Arguments,
Evidence and
Conclusions?
Special Notes

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 Name of Book Name of Author Month Read Short Summary of
Book
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

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 How many books have you read in the past six months?

 Of the books that you read, how many were for entertainment,
information and understanding?

 Did you recommend any of books you read in the past six months
to anyone? Why? Why not?

 What are you now able to do that you were not able to do six
months ago, that is a direct result of reading a book?

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 In what subject area would you like to build intellectual capacity
and power in?

 What has prevented you so far from building intellectual capacity

and power in areas that you need to?

 What are some strategies that you can develop to minimize the
barriers that prevent you from building your intellectual capacity?

 Are you committed to developing a reading plan? If yes, when?

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 Invest in a good speed-reading course

 To get tips on how to get the most out of your reading, read
 How to Read A Book
 Book-Lover
 The Reading of Books
 How to Read and Why
 The Art of Thought
 The Thinker’s Guides (Center for Critical Thinking)

 Set a daily reading goal and schedule it into your day

 Try to read about 40 to 50 pages a day, which will
allow you to read about a book each week
 Get up earlier and/or stay up later if necessary
 If your aim is to attain mastery in a topic within three
years you have to apply the necessary discipline

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 What to read each month:
 Start with the book recommendation from mentors,
family and friends
 Have a combination of fiction and non-fiction and
every now and again read a fairy tale or a children’s
book “just because”

 Take an inventory of all the unread books that are on your

bookshelf

 Join a Book-of-the-Month Club. Two suggestions are:

 Book of the Month Club http://www.bomc.com
 Quality Paperback Book Club http://www.qpb.com

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 Subscribe to business book summaries and use them as a guide
to decide which books are worth reading.
 Audio-Tech Business Book Summaries
http://store.audiotech.com
 Soundview Executive Book Summaries
http://www.summary.com
 The Summaries.com http://www.thesummaries.com/

 Make professional development a fun time for the family.

And, if you have a long commute to work, invest in:
 Unabridged books on CDs and tapes to listen to during
the commute
 Audio programs that your family can listen to during
family time or on road trips

 Create a form to record information on the books that you

have read, for easy reference

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 For articles to read, two very good websites for magazine
articles are
 Magportal.com
 Magatopia.com

 Each week read some alternative articles on subjects that you

would not usually read

 For electronic book downloads

 Google Books
 Project Gutenberg
 World Public Library
 BookYards
 The Great Book
 Great Books for Free
 Classic-Literature & Literature Page

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 Join the:

 Centre for the Study of Great Ideas

 Great Books Foundation

 School of Thinking

 Foundation for Critical Thinking

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 Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri
 The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
 Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller
 Faust, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
 The Penguin History of the World, J. M. Roberts
 The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic
Societies, Marcel Mauss
 Rubáiyát, Omar Khayya
 The Way to Love, Anthony de Mello

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 That Which You Are Seeking Is Causing You to Seek, Cheri Huber
 Alexander Hamilton: The Year That Rocked The World, Ron
Chernow
 All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes, Maya Angelou
 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
 Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, Doris
Kearns Goodwin
 The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Visions of Glory,
William Manchester

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Copyright 2009 Ambeck Enterprise 24
As a professional who is an avid reader and continuous learner, I am
always on the lookout for book recommendations. Also, as someone
with over 15 years research experience, I have used my skills to
interview accomplished individuals to find the answers to my
questions.

On the next few page you will discover the gems that I have found
over the years. By diligently chewing, swallowing and digesting the
decadent entrees on the book menu, you will not only please your
palate, but you will develop a well-fed mind.

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 In the New York Times article “C.E.O. Libraries Reveal
Keys to Success,” journalist Harriet Rubin reveals that
“Serious leaders who are serious readers build personal
libraries dedicated to how to think, not how to compete”

 The CEOs mentioned in the New York Times article seldom

read business books. To gain wisdom and insights they
chew and digest biographies, literary works and poetry,
many of which have been around for decades and
sometimes centuries. They too interact with the words on
the pages to stretch and expand their minds.

 The books mentioned in the New York Times article

included on the list of books recommended

 Rubin, Harriet. July 21, 2009, “

C.E.O. Libraries Reveal Keys to Success.” New York Times

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The list of great books compiled by Professor Gene Waddell
is quite impressive and is for those readers who aspire to
be extraordinary.

Why the Books on This List is Important

Everything old is new again. Throughout history, the great

inventors a and thinkers have built on the work of others to
create successful businesses, products and services.

What innovation might you create after reading books from

Professor Waddell’s list?

Using Rare Books to Inspire Learning Part 1

Using Rare Books to Inspire Learning Part 2

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Some of the questions that I ask during the extensive
interviews that I conduct with highly accomplished
individuals include:

oWhich one book had a profound impact on your life?

oIf you were stranded on a deserted island what are
five books that you would like to have with you?
oHave you ever read any books that prompted you to
start a business, or invent a product or service?
oWhat books did your mentors recommend to you?

Avil’s List

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Souls of Black Folk, W. E. B. DuBois
Letter From Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King
Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison
The Power and the Glory & The Quiet American, Graham Greene
The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing
Cancer Ward, Alexander Solzhenitsyn
In Dubious Battle, John Steinbeck
Power Broker, Robert Caro
Working, Studs Terkel
Wealth of Nations & Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith
All the King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren

Source: Abe Books

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Ralph Waldo Emerson
Thomas Jefferson
Mark Twain
Abraham Lincoln
James Baldwin
Friedrich Nietzsche
Reinhold Niebuhr
Paul Tillich

Source: Abe Books

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Avil Beckford President of Ambeck Enterprise and Chief Invisible
Mentor, is an accomplished writer, researcher, and analyst with over
15 years of experience. Her strong service orientation, dedication to
learning and exploring new ways of improving her own life as well as
the many she touches, has underpinned her success to date.
 
A published author, her new book, Tales of People Who Get It is the
culmination of her life experiences. It has often been said of Avil that
her life informs her work. She has also created a companion workbook
Journey to Getting It.
 
Avil’s many readers look forward to Ambeck Edge, her company’s
regular e-Newsletter that is a rich resource those interested in self-
improvement, as well as those professionals who struggle with life
balance issues. More recently, she created The Invisible Mentor Blog to
use books, articles and interviews by and about successful people to
mentor her readers.
 

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Websites
 
Ambeck Enterprise http://www.ambeck.com
 
The Invisible Mentor Blog http://theinvisiblementor.com
 
Resources
 
Website Resources: http://www.ambeck.com/resources.html
 
Blog Resources: http://theinvisiblementor.com/resources/
 
Books: Tales of People Who Get It, Journey to Getting It, The
Invisible Mentor Tool Kit, Work-Life Balance Self Discovery
Worksheet http://stores.lulu.com/avilbeckford
 

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