Lift & Read Book Club Issue 15

I finished reading "The Count of Monte Cristo" about a month back. 

Wow.

What an incredible story. 

It wasn't at all like I assumed it would be, having heard of it as a classic tale of escape and adventure. My mind assumed the entire novel would head a completely different direction, but that's why you read the books.

This one was full of humble teachings and lessons right up until the very last sentence.

This is a true classic and a pretty easy – albeit, fairly long – read. It's funny, it's sad, it's redeeming.

Everyone should read "The Count of Monte Cristo."

While I was reading that, one of my brother's suggested I check out, "Papillon," another French (true) story of a young man wrongfully accused of crime, sent to crazy high security prison, and escape(s).

I found the book on ThriftBooks.com for cheap. It said the copy was in "acceptable" condition. I guess what passes for acceptable includes brittle pages that fall out of the binding and crack just from picking it up. Luckily, I had some duct tape handy (I always do) and was able to tape the binding to at least delay the rate at which the copy would fall apart in my hands. *Edit, it began falling apart in my hands at page 129. But, after I got to page 160, the binding seemed to be more solid for the final 250 some pages.

I've since finished "Papillon" and am now reading the author's second book, "Banco," which apparently covers more adventures of his (Papillon's) life in South America.

On the personal development side of things, I've finished "Disciplines of a Godly Man." I highly recommend. It's one of those books you're going to wish you read 10 years earlier, but such is life. It's very worthwhile and I think it's one that's worthy of a re-read every year.

I'm now drumming through Dan Koe's, "The Art of Focus." I'm not far enough along to have any insights on its worthiness or not yet, but it came highly recommended for those of us that have an entrepreneural itch, and specifically for those of us that partake in business or creating content online. My social media lifespan died in under 5 years, but I do still have a YouTube channel, Substack (newsletter), Gumroad site (my email list), and, of course, my main home – the 30 Minute Physique blog. The Substack and Gumroad sites are both basically email lists and my products are all sold on Gumroad. So while I'm not your run-of-the-mill Instagram, Tik Tok, or twitter content guy, I definitely do create and write a great deal of "content," so it seemed like Koe's book may benefit me. 

As for podcasts, I've been listening but not sharing (and not listening as much as over the summer). But, I have to share this one:

The best podcast I've listened to....maybe all year?

Check it out!

I'm going to listen to it at least one other time over the next few weeks.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0uHzPrzoreDeWJxBme4Cpd?si=p4NljwuZQxm0cXknmboykg

My lifting is continuing to be frequent (4-6 days per week) yet brief (30 minutes). Just how I like it.

Have a great month and be sure to dedicate some time each week to lifting and reading. I don't care how busy you are. I know you have time to do both every week. 

Talk soon.