- Man vs Bookshelf: Outro
- Man vs Bookshelf: Introduction
- Man vs Bookshelf: Horowitz Horror
- Man vs Bookshelf: Lisey’s Story
- Man vs Bookshelf: Devil May Care
- Man vs Bookshelf: Big Little Lies
- Man vs Bookshelf: Good Omens
- Man vs Bookshelf: Grandpa’s Great Escape
- Man vs Bookshelf: Clough: The Autobiography
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Cuckoo’s Calling
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Escape
- Man vs Bookshelf: I Am Legend
- Man vs Bookshelf: Confessions of a Sociopath
- Man vs Bookshelf: Silence
- Man vs Bookshelf: Six Years
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Thin Executioner
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Entrepreneur’s Book of Checklists
- Man vs Bookshelf: John Dies at the End
- Man vs Bookshelf: Harry Potter and the case of the Duplicates
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (series)
- Man vs Bookshelf: Ayoade on Ayoade
- Man vs Bookshelf: Junk
- Man vs Bookshelf: Bobby Moore
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Hard Way
- Man vs Bookshelf: 102 days down (+ Freakonomics)
- Man vs Bookshelf: Dirk Gently (1 & 2)
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Clifton Chronicles (1 & 2)
- Man vs Bookshelf: Twitterature
- Man vs Bookshelf: Pele
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Collector
- Man vs Bookshelf: Cirque Du Freak
- Man vs Bookshelf: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Scripts
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Hobbit
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Lord of the Rings
- Man vs Bookshelf: Odd Thomas (1-3)
- Man vs Bookshelf: Harry Redknapp
- Man vs Bookshelf: Motivation and Doctor Who
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Killing Floor
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Dark Tower
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Moaning of Life
- Man vs Bookshelf: Will You Manage?
- Man vs Bookshelf: Creative Writing
- Man vs Bookshelf: Quantum of Solace
- Man vs Bookshelf: The City Trilogy
- Man vs Bookshelf: Horowitz’s Holmes
- Man vs Bookshelf: Forever Young
- Man vs Bookshelf: Drive
- Man vs Bookshelf: Story
- Man vs Bookshelf: Whatever You Say I Am
- Man vs Bookshelf: Football Manager Stole My Life
- Man vs Bookshelf: Red Dragon
- Man vs Bookshelf: Business Stripped Bare
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Damned UTD
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Gold Standard – Rules to Rule By
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Bazaar of Bad Dreams
- Man vs Bookshelf: Am I Proud?
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Black Angel
- Man vs Bookshelf: Stress and Soccernomics
- Man vs Bookshelf: A Spot of Bother
- Man vs Bookshelf: Word Count & The Good Guy
- Man vs Bookshelf: Amazon Recommendations and Noughts and Crosses
- Man vs Bookshelf: More Word Count and Mother Tongue
- Man vs Bookshelf: Cardio Sucks
- Man vs Bookshelf: Thanks for Nothing
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Finish Line & The Bachman Books
- Man vs Bookshelf: Book 100 & Extraordinary People
- Man vs Bookshelf: Arsenal & MotD
- Man vs Bookshelf: Kevin Master of the Universe
- Man vs Bookshelf: Inbound Marketing
- Man vs Bookshelf: Goosebumps Collection 13
- Man vs Bookshelf: 1001 Days that Shaped the World
- Man vs Bookshelf: Dexter 1-3
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Inbetweeners
- Man vs Bookshelf: Manuscript Makeover
- Man vs Bookshelf: How to Think like Steve Jobs
- Man vs Bookshelf: Harlen Coben
- Man vs Bookshelf: One year, three weeks and Simon Pegg
- Man vs Bookshelf: Jonothon Fairfax
- Man vs Bookshelf: Nolan’s Batman
- Man vs Bookshelf: Discworld (1-5)
- Man vs Bookshelf: Extras++
- Man vs Bookshelf: Diamond Brothers
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Point
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Demonata
- Man vs Bookshelf: Awkward Situations for Men
- Man vs Bookshelf: Peep Show
- Man vs Bookshelf: A Song of Fire and Ice
- Man vs Bookshelf: Doctor Who
- Man vs Bookshelf: Cherub
- Man vs Bookshelf: Expectant Dad
- Man vs Bookshelf: Ferguson & United
- Man vs Bookshelf: Sirens
- Man vs Bookshelf: Carrie
- Man vs Bookshelf: Salem’s Lot
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Shining
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Stand
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Dead Zone
- Man vs Bookshelf: Firestarter
- Man vs Bookshelf: Cujo
- Man vs Bookshelf: On Writing
- Man vs Bookshelf: Caxton
- Man vs Bookshelf: Harry Potter
- Man vs Bookshelf: Zom-B
- Man vs Bookshelf: The Last Stats
Hands up who had a good Christmas?
I’d tell you about mine but I’m writing this on the 19th, and I don’t want to be presumptuous.
Besides I’m not here to talk about Christmas.
I’m here to talk about The Entrepreneurs book of Checklists.
Well, sort of.
Business and me
Yes, I know, this is where I talk about the author.
I’m hoping you’re all too drunk and full from Christmas to notice.
Of course, if you’re not reading this on the day it came out, and many of you won’t be, it’s all for nothing. The Christmas references will fall flat.
But, whatever.
I don’t know the author.
What I do know is I’ve always wanted to be a writer. That’s a constant. But, back when I was a kid, it shared joint place with my desire to own a business.
Not a specific business, mind. I just wanted to own and operate some kind of successful company.
Nowadays, what with Amazon self-publishing, I pretty much do run my own business. Albeit not in the way I used to envision.
When I was younger, I used to consume books like this one. Absorbing every bit of knowledge that might one day help with the business I never started.
Such books have been scarcer in my reading lists in recent years. Writing has become my focus, and so novels on more conventional business models are of less use. Other than The Lean Start Up, which was brilliant.
This book, though, was still on my shelf, from whenever ago. And this challenge is not just about reading fiction and biographies.
Everything gets read.
And so, that’s what I did.
The Entrepreneur’s Book of Checklists
This book, if you can’t guess from the titles, is a book of checklists.
100 lists of 10 in all so 1,000 nuggets of business information.
Topics range from getting your ideas to generating extra cash to knowing when to call it a day.
Beyond that, there are little tidbits of information to aid the reader. Plus, at least one case study for each list. These tend to cover small businesses the majority of us won’t have heard of (more grounding that way). But some larger companies do feature – such as Wrigley’s of gum fame.
Case study research aside, I don’t imagine the book was difficult to write.
Most of the information here is common sense.
That could be a little harsh. I’ve been reading business books all my life, and my idea of common sense may derive from stuff I learned a long time ago.
For your average Joe (this book’s target market) who has an idea for a small business but doesn’t know how to begin, this could be valuable. This could be lists and lists of information they had never considered and which help them in many ways.
I don’t know.
It’s a difficult one because I am not reading it for the right reasons. I am not looking for advice, and I read it from cover to cover. Most would pick the list that they needed the most.
No one is picking this book up for enjoyment.
I gave this a two on Goodreads.
It’s starting to seem like that might have been unfair.
To sum up, this book is not written for someone doing a Man vs Bookshelf challenge. There is not a gripping antagonist and no love interest (madness!)
But, hell, for someone with no idea about business looking to get started, this is probably a good place to start.
It’s simple. It’s straightforward. It’s not daunting. And there are plenty of case studies to show where people like the reader have had success in the past.
So, um, I guess I’ve just done an about turn opinion wise?
Sorry about that too!
Next Time
Let’s move hurriedly on and hope no one starts reading my Man vs Bookshelf series with this review.
Let’s face it; they wouldn’t come back.
But if this isn’t your first Man vs Bookshelf, and you’re willing to look past this terrible review, let’s look onwards.
Next week we have comedy. We have horror. We have what has been described as a “Stephen King/ Douglas Adams” mash-up.
It’s John Dies at the End by David Wong.
See you then.
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