If you’ve been following what I write about for a little while, you’ll know that I’m always on about thinking for yourself, learning, reading, questioning … you get the idea. Books have always been a great way to learn and that’s not going to change anytime soon. Audio books, Kindle, web transcriptions and so forth will not stop humans wanting to read from paper-based mediums.

Here in Australia, books are too expensive! Thankfully, the internet is rescuing us readers from having to pay too much for our reading material. There are a few places that you can find what you are looking for online. Lately, I’ve started to shop at different online stores depending on what I’m after:

• First, I check Booko to see where I can find the cheapest per item price and a comparison of numerous suppliers.
• If I am buying only a few books, I’ll generally either pick the best option from Booko or I’ll head straight to The Book Depository; they have free shipping worldwide and it works out cheaper than most other stores if you’re only after a few titles in one purchase.
• If I’m going to place a bulk order, I’ll go straight to Amazon. Shipping a single order of many titles from Amazon results in decent savings over most other suppliers.

I hope this helps you find the books you want at a decent price. If you have anything to add, please leave a comment.

I studied Computing at Monash University many years ago. It has had very little impact on where I am now. I still use computers. But I do not use the specific skills that I was taught at uni. I studied programming and software engineering and now I do neither. In fact, I am so far removed from computing in my day-to-day business that I find it quite amusing.

Monash University’s motto is Ancora Imparo which is Latin for I am still learning. I have always admired that motto and I think of it often. As a young entrepreneur I learn something every day and I think it is key to ongoing success in business and in life.

The smart entrepreneur looks to learn from every situation. It is no secret that every successful entrepreneur has spent many

hours learning their craft, either from a mentor, at the coal front, from books, videos and the internet, from colleagues … you get the picture. A failure to educate oneself in the machinations of business is to invite disaster.

You don’t need to attend university or pay for insanely expensive business courses (although you may learn from them). There are a lot of relatively inexpensive and sometimes free channels of learning. I have included a few of my favourites in this post.

Books

• Malcolm Gladwell
  • The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
  • Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
  • Outliers: The Story of Success

• Dale Carnegie
  • How to Win Friends & Influence People
  • How to Stop Worrying and Start Living

• Seth Godin
  • Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
  • Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
  • The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)
  • Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers

• Various authors
  • The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber
  • Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive: Outsell, Outmanage, Outmotivate, and Outnegotiate Your Competition by Harvey B. Mackay
  • The One Minute Millionaire: The Enlightened Way to Wealth by Mark Victor Hansen
  • Billionaire In Training (Instant Success Series) by Bradley J. Sugar
  • The 4-Hour work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss

Websites

• Life
  • On Simplicity – creating a happier, easier, more enjoyable life for yourself
  • Zen Habits – simple productivity
  • Simple. Organised. Life. – simplifying your life, one step at a time

• Entrepreneurship
  • Mixergy – where ambitious start-ups mix
  • Chris Brogan – 25 ways to build you community

• Tools
  • 85 Absolutely Free Online Business Classes
  • The Break-even Calculator

This is not a complete list of my favourite business and entrepreneurial titles but it is a great start for anyone wanting to increase their understanding of many aspects of what is required to succeed. Please also refer to previous post for other important and highly recommended titles.

Yes, yes … there are so many more links out there. Please add your favourites in a comment.

The whole point of this post is to show you that there is so much information available to you. In fact, you could never absorb all that there is. That’s okay though. Take what’s right for you, mold it and use it.

I will be writing reviews on some of the above books in the future. So stay tuned.