I’m a confessed bibilophile. I absolutely love books, and I read voraciously. Usually several books at a time, and a combination of nonfiction, business, and pleasure reading books. I know Tamsen reads like a madwoman, too.

I’m also incredibly excited to become a real-live published author myself (which is decidedly better than a real dead one). And because I’m fortunate to work in a vibrant area of business these days, I’m often sent books by other authors because they’re looking for people to do book reviews on their blog.

I’ve always struggled with this for a few reasons. First off, blog posts are fleeting. Yeah, I know they have a shelf life through links and such, but they’re still a bit more transient and detached than a more permanently curated resource. I most certainly still find many of them valuable and I’m sure Jay and I will share our upcoming book with the blogging community in some way. But for my own blog, something more enduring seemed more helpful.

Second, I’m weird, but I don’t enjoy being the critic. If I don’t particularly care for a book, I’d rather just recommend a useful one instead rather than picking apart the flaws and shortcomings of another one. It’s the constructive heretic in me, I guess. I know lots of others are wired differently, and I think that’s great. But Brass Tack Thinking is all about making things happen, so it felt like we needed something more useful and practical that focused on what to read rather than what not to read.

So emerged a different idea.

Brass Tack Reading

Tamsen and I are going to build out a section here on the blog called Brass Tack Reading. It’ll be our recommended reading list, and a more comprehensive resource of the books that we find useful or valuable for a variety of reasons. We’re often asked what resources we recommend, so now we can keep them all in one place, point people there, and maintain the whole thing ongoing. Plus, if you find a listing for one book, you might be able to find others in our list that interest you, too.

This also helps us address one of the key objections most blog reviews get: that they’re just being posted as favors or a quid pro quo, or that there are only ever positive reviews, or whatever else you can imagine. From the very start, it’ll only be a list of books we’ve read and that we’d recommend to others. No bones about it. These are books we like. We’ll tell you why. Some will undoubtedly be those written by friends. Some will be must-have classics. Some will be books you’ve never heard of. But no matter what, they come with our official BTT seal (tack?) of approval.

Our list is under construction right now, so stay tuned. It’ll likely start with the business/personal development kind of books, but who knows. Maybe we’ll branch out someday and include some of the fiction or pleasure reading we love, too.

Have a Book We Should Consider?

We’re always happy to hear about new books or even old books that need a revisit. If you’ve got a book you’d like us to consider for the BTR list, just drop an email to either or both of us (our emails are in the sidebar over there to the right).

The deal is: we don’t promise reviews. If we find the book valuable, we’ll write up a synopsis and our thoughts, and post it on the list. Whatever links we include will be the choice of the author or, in absence of that, a non-affiliate link to the Amazon listing for the book. This isn’t a money-making venture for us, but simply a way to share resources with our community. If we’ve been given the book as a review copy (vs. something we’ve purchased for ourselves), we’ll disclose that every time.

So Stay Tuned.

Brass Tack Reading will be posted here in the next couple of weeks with an initial selection of books, and we’ll add to them over time. We’re really looking forward to sharing our love for books, learning, and reading with you, and hope you’ll let us know what books you have found valuable in your life and work.

After all, the best books are often the ones that a friend recommends, right?

Read on.