By: Derek Sivers

Portfolio (September 15, 2015)
96 pages

Anything You Want is maybe the best business book I have ever read. I had never heard of Derek Sivers until he was interviewed by Tim Ferriss. I wish I had heard of him sooner. But he was the guy behind CD Baby – if your remember that. Who is Derek Sivers? He is a musician turned programmer/entrepreneur. He built a huge business, almost on accident. And then gave it all away? Who does this? Derek Sivers does.

Two of my favorite quotes:

Don’t be on your deathbed someday, having squandered your one chance at life, full of regret because you pursued little distractions instead of big dreams. You need to know your personal philosophy of what makes you happy and what’s worth doing.

There’s a big difference between being self-employed and being a business owner. Being self-employed feels like freedom until you realize that if you take time off, your business crumbles. To be a true business owner, make it so that you could leave for a year, and when you came back, your business would be doing better than when you left.

Buy this book.

By: E.C. “Teddy Blue” Abbott and Helena Smith
University of Oklahoma Press; 15th printing edition (November 15, 1976)
272 pages

Teddy Blue was one of the last. One of the last great cowboys from the open range. I mean he was a living, breathing, man that lived the pages of the famed novel Lonesome Dove. In this book, he shares story after story about his life. About how it actually was on the great cattle drives – as apposed to “how it was told in the movies.” For anyone interested in the west, this book should not be missed.

Two of my favorite quotes:

In fact there was only two things the old-time cowpuncher was afraid of, a decent woman and being set afoot.

I did get to be a cowboy, though, and as Charlie Russell used to say, we were just white Indians anyway.

Buy this book.