I always find the split between serious and fun books I read interesting.

Sometimes, it indicates where I am, what motivates me, or my stress levels.

2021/2022/2023 – Work was super intense both these years as I am booting up Shepherd. So I couldn’t read as much, and many books were on the fun side. I also listened to many work podcasts around SEO, marketing, and other skill sets. 2022 was a challenging year with other stuff going on as well at times.

2018 was an all-time high in the number of books I read, and the number of serious books picked up as I started reading about people analytics and some other business books. It was a lot of pleasure, though, as I had a big bike ride that left a lot of time for reading :).

2017 was an all-time high for fun books at 91%… I sold my last company in June, so being unemployed helped that, and I’m pretty burned out and working to recharge :). Plus, I have nothing I can apply to some of the serious books.

2016 has thus far had the highest percentage of fun books. I think that is partly because I am burned out a bit right now and have been working 2 CEO jobs for the entire year. Just reading fun books is escapism, and the MBA-type books I read have been less numerous.

Pre-2014, I read many more work-related books as I worked hard to improve my abilities as a CEO and grow a large company. I also read many more history books as I traveled around then.