In the lead up to Christmas we’re asking readers, contributors and people we’re fans of here at Nextness to tell us their favourite book of the year. Whether it inspires your own holiday reading list or helps you buy for that hard-to-please brainiac, please enjoy Wishlisting: books we loved in 2012. Part One here. And now: Ben Malbon, Mike Connaghan, Chris Savage and Jessica Stanley.
1. Ben Malbon | The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation by Jon Gertner.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e90sw6-qxmE
There are so many lessons in here for agencies and tech companies.
Ben Malbon is the Managing Director of Google Creative Lab | @malbonnington.
2. Mike Connaghan | The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien.
I re-read The Hobbit this year with my 8 year old son. I was inspired to have a go with him because the Peter Jackson movie was on its way.I was determined to have more one on one time with each of my kids. This 8 year old would have me endlessly play cricket or rugby or basketball or tennis or golf or surf or… You get the picture.
It was bedtime project and often I really didn’t want to do it. Too tired, too distracted. He made me. He loved it, I think I loved it more. The book reminded me of great story telling. How many other books/films did Tolkien spawn? Most importantly it reminded me of taking time to breath and slow down, and give some of your precious time to those most important.
Mike Connaghan is the CEO of STW Group.
3. Chris Savage | Fun while it lasted, by Barnaby Conrad.
Fun while it lasted is a wonderful and true story of a young American who becomes a matador in Spain in the late 1940s and 1950s. He followed his dream, believed he could do anything, and damn near did.
This book reminded me to always challenge the pirate in me- not to follow the usual course, take a risk, reach for a different path, be confident in oneself. It’s one of a few books a will ensure my children read before they are adults.
Chris Savage is the COO of STW Group. He blogs at Wrestling Possums | @chrisjohnsavage.
4. Jessica Stanley | How should a person be? by Sheila Heti.
How should a person be? is a novel-from-life by Sheila Heti. The -from-life part’s important because the book’s main character is “Sheila,” and just like the author she’s a divorced writer with a best friend called Margaux. Both fictional Sheila and real Sheila are trying to work out what it means to be an artist, a friend, and a person.
It’s really intimate in some bits -- reviewers like to called the sex scenes “graphic.” In others, she transcribes recorded conversations. Some bits feel really gripping, like a thriller -- others are poetic and lyrical. It’s self-helpish too, in that it’s about trying to be better.
It’s one of those books you read that makes you say “I could write that.” Not because it’s easy -- it’s not. It took her six years. It just that it fills you with such energy that before you’ve put it down you’ve reached for your own pen.
Jessica Stanley edits Nextness and blogs at jessicastanley.com.au | @dailydoseofjess.