SHOW TRANSCRIPT

This transcript is automatically generated by Descript.  Any errors or omissions are unintentional.

[00:00:00]

[00:00:00] Jeff Sieh: Hello folks. Welcome to Creator News Live. I’m Jeff Sieh and you’re not.

[00:00:09] Conor Brown: I am Connor Brown, and this is the show that keeps you up to date on what’s happening in the world of the creator economy and so much more.

[00:00:16] Jeff Sieh: You ever found yourself wondering which books truly shape the way creators think and build their business? Maybe you’re curious about stories and ideas that leave a lasting impact long after the final page, or maybe you’re looking for a few great reads that might influence how you approach creativity, work, or life.

[00:00:33] Jeff Sieh: If those questions sound familiar, then you are in the right place.

[00:00:37] Conor Brown: Today’s episode is a little different because it’s just Jeff Sieh and me sharing the 10 books that have meant the most to us. Five fiction, five nonfiction. These are the books that changed how we see the world. Challenged our thinking and stayed with us over time.

[00:00:52] Jeff Sieh: So sit back, clear your schedule, clear your mind to get ready for this week’s episode of Creator News [00:01:00] Live.

[00:01:00] Intro: It is Conner and Jeff on the mic bringing books to life that you just might like. Big ideas in a chapter or two. It’s the book just for you.

[00:01:17] Jeff Sieh: That’s right folks. We’re doing books that you must read. We’ve already got some great people, putting comments in of their favorite books. So we’ll make sure to get to those later. But Connor, we’re gonna start with you ’cause we have five fiction, five nonfiction for both of us. And it’s funny ’cause there there weren’t a lot of crossover.

[00:01:35] Jeff Sieh: I mean, a couple of I I’d read, so we’ll talk about that. But I’m gonna let you start it off because you know you are the special guest today.

[00:01:43] Conor Brown: All right. What do we got first going with fiction, right?

[00:01:46] Jeff Sieh: Yeah, here we go.

[00:01:47] Conor Brown: Lonesome Dove. I mean, I think that so many people talk about this book being their favorite book. So there was so much hype for me going into it when I read it a couple years ago. and it is a daunting book. It’s [00:02:00] a lot of pages.

[00:02:00] Conor Brown: It’s thick, you know, you gotta commit some, some, some serious time to it. and I’ll be honest, the first few pages I’m like, I’m not seeing it. I’m not seeing it. Next thing you know, you’re a hundred pages in and you can’t put it down. I think Jeff Lonesome Dove is this great book about. This idea of the Wild West, right?

[00:02:18] Conor Brown: But it’s really, of course, about the characters in it and the stories behind them and all of their pasts and, and, experiences that lead them to, to this point at certain,chapters in the book. It, it’s heartbreaking. I remember a couple times reading it. I was so engrossed in it and connected with these characters.

[00:02:36] Conor Brown: Something happens to one of the characters. I have to put the book down and just be like, oh my gosh, I can’t believe that occurred. I will say one of my very good friends, he just read this as well,after me having some time to convince. And he loved it as well. and we found the miniseries, the old miniseries, which has like Tommy Lee Jones.

[00:02:56] Conor Brown: Yeah. And Robert, Danny Glover, amongst [00:03:00] others, I think Diane Lane maybe. you can watch it on Pluto tv, which is free. So I think I might have to do that this weekend just ’cause it’s on the top of my mind. it’s great. I think the one thing that I’ve, I’ve stayed away from is, this is technically, the middle book in a trilogy.

[00:03:18] Conor Brown: so there’s a prequel and a sequel. I haven’t read either of them, and I don’t think I will because I don’t wanna spoil anything, like take away from just how perfect this, this book is,standing alone by itself. Have you ever read this one, Jeff?

[00:03:32] Jeff Sieh: You know what? I haven’t, it’s on my list. When you brought it up, I was like, ah. ’cause I think I had to, I think I had to watch the miniseries in school, or I watched it with my parent. I can’t remember the exact, because it’s been a while. Like it’s a, did it come out in the eighties? Is that when the, the miniseries was? So, I really wanna read it ’cause, it’s a classic miniseries. Everybody talks about that, but I really wanna dive into the book. So, so mine, um, would be, this is the one that probably one of the books other than like, the Bible has [00:04:00] changed my thinking the most would be like The Chronicles of Narnia. I am a big CS Lewis fan. I love his, all this, I even love like his nonfiction stuff.

[00:04:08] Jeff Sieh: and Chronicles of Narnia, just a classic fantasy story. I read all of them. I could tell you what the book covers looked like from, I used to just stare at ’em like when I was in, in bed at, when I was a kid. ’cause I would read like before bed. and I just, I just love them. And I, you know, even the fir the, the movies weren’t horrible.

[00:04:26] Jeff Sieh: I had a big problem with the voice of Azlan. ’cause I mean, I know it’s Liam Nees. But I, I really wanted James Earl Jones. Like, it just ’cause of Mufasa and all that kind of, it just, it was the wrong voice of the lion. Right? Like, so anyway, that was the only thing. but I thought they did a pretty good time with that.

[00:04:42] Jeff Sieh: What did you think? Have you read the, I’m sure you have and which in the

[00:04:45] Conor Brown: Long, long time ago. I, I’m kind of of the same,mindset as you. Great. There’s just so many different, allegories within it. Right. And, and it’s a magic kind of area that’s not too complicated. And, and it’s great. They are classics for a reason. [00:05:00] I love other CS Lewis ones. Like, like you’re talking about Jeff.

[00:05:02] Conor Brown: I love the screw tape letters, the great divorce, mere Christianity. They’re

[00:05:07] Jeff Sieh: you ever read The Martian Chronicles? Did you ever read his sci-fi

[00:05:10] Jeff Sieh: thing?

[00:05:10] Conor Brown: think so, no.

[00:05:11] Jeff Sieh: It’s pretty good. It’s a pretty good one too. Yeah.

[00:05:13] Conor Brown: very talented. And I know you mentioned the movies. I think next year there’s a big blockbuster coming out. Greta Gerwig, who did the Barbie movie, little women, She’s doing a, a take on Narnia of her own.

[00:05:26] Conor Brown: I don’t know how many books it’s gonna encompass, but I’m sure it’s gonna be awesome. Yeah.

[00:05:30] Jeff Sieh: So one of my favorite ones out of the series, ’cause he’s, I think, I can’t remember the exact one, but the, the voyage of the Don tr is one of my favorite ones. And I think that’s where they stopped at the movies is they didn’t, you know, finish the rest of it. And I really, really, like that one. I love that story.

[00:05:44] Jeff Sieh: there’s just so many, so much good things in there. So, and I think that book started my Enjoyment of Fantasy and some of the other ones. So it, it, it kind of crafted that love when I was a kid and I still like to read that every once in a while. So that was my first one when we come to nonfiction.

[00:05:58] Jeff Sieh: So, this is [00:06:00] your next one, so I’m gonna pull this one up

[00:06:02] Conor Brown: Little life. So

[00:06:03] Jeff Sieh: about this. I had never heard of this one before.

[00:06:05] Conor Brown: before I get to this. I’ll encourage everyone I know Kira is already commenting, and, and Paul, drop your favorite fiction books in here too. ’cause when we’re done with this, Jeff and I will go back and forth and, and see if we’veread them as well. So drop your favorite, favorite fiction books in here and let us know why you like them so much.

[00:06:22] Conor Brown: A little life. This was another one that I had heard so much about. Everyone always cautioned you when you read it. They said, it’s so good, but it will destroy you. And sure enough, it did destroy me. This is not a happy book. this is not a a oh fun. Oh, it’s so great book. No, this, while there are times of joy and triumph and feel goodness within this book, it is not a necessarily happy ending or happy endings throughout it as well, but it goes over the course of, of decades, and it follows a main character who, you know, for lack [00:07:00] of a better word, has really just had life kick the crap out of him, right?

[00:07:03] Conor Brown: And he’s got a lot of bad things that happen to him, but he’s surrounded by good people as he’s, as he’s growing. And I think for me, what I love about these books, and this is another one that’s a lot of pages, right? 600 pages, something like that. You can develop the story so much more, you can follow the character so much more.

[00:07:23] Conor Brown: And I think these books, Jeff, what I really love about them is it’s a different view. It’s a different way of life than I’ve ever experienced. And I think the best thing about fiction books is, yeah, it might be a made up story, but there’s still some realness rooted in it, whether it’s a little life, whether it’s cowboys on lonesome dove, and you become a little bit more empathetic for that way of life.

[00:07:46] Conor Brown: So that’s why I like these kinds of books.

[00:07:49] Jeff Sieh: So on this kind of book, ’cause you said it’s not like a happy, fun story in this book. Is this the kind of book that you recommend to everybody? or do you have like certain people you recommend? It’s like, like, Hey, everybody [00:08:00] should read this. Or it’s like, you need to be really in a, a good frame of mind, or you need to be like, you know, this is a, a winner book where you curl up and you process, you know, what you just read kind of a thing.

[00:08:09] Conor Brown: I think it might be the latter. I, I don’t think this is, this is great for everyone at every stage of their life or whatever you’re dealing with, you know, but I do think that no matter where you are, you can get some, some good,takes and, and, and ideas from it. so yeah, you, you, not everyone needs to read it,right now, but it is, it is worth it in the end.

[00:08:32] Jeff Sieh: Yeah. And so this next one is actually, it was recommended by, the amazing Paul Gowder. he, uh, once said this one as well, project Hill Mary, I think I read this. So I read The Martian, liked it, it was really good. Saw the movie, really great movie, and I just kinda let it go. And then Paul kept talking about this book, and I’m like, okay, I gotta try it out and read it.

[00:08:52] Jeff Sieh: And it’s, it is one of the best. Sci-fi books I’ve read in a long time. I would put it up there with like, Enders game. ’cause that’s a really like classic one that [00:09:00] a lot of people like. It was really, really good. and I can’t wait for the movie. I think the movie, is it this weekend or next? It comes out,

[00:09:06] Conor Brown: pretty close.

[00:09:07] Jeff Sieh: it’s coming out and I’ve heard really good things.

[00:09:09] Jeff Sieh: Like Del Toro said it was like a masterpiece. And I’m like, that really gets me, you know, pumped for this. ’cause the book is fabulous. I don’t know if you guys have read it in the comments other than Paul, but if you haven’t read it, it is really good. And the cool thing about Andrew Weir is, um, I I, it’s very different from The Martian project.

[00:09:26] Jeff Sieh: Hail Mary is very different from even his other one. Artemis, I think is this other one that I, I’ve read as well. totally different characters, different style of writing almost. And this is my favorite. Like this is my top favorite sci-fi, book I’ve read in a long, long time. So, have you read it yet, Connor?

[00:09:42] Conor Brown: I, so, I, I dunno about you, Jeff. I wanna get your take on this. When you listen to an audio book, do you tell people you’ve read it?

[00:09:49] Jeff Sieh: I don’t listen to audio books unless I’m driving and most of the time I use, I do podcasts. I, I, I can’t, when I’m reading, I can’t pro I, I either take notes or like I’m engrossed in [00:10:00] the book and I just, I can’t listen.

[00:10:02] Conor Brown: Oh, I’ve only listened to a couple of audio books for that same reasoning. I find myself, even with podcasts, like hitting the RER button constantly, right? To be like, oh, what was that? What was that? When I read books, I wanna be fully engrossed in it and, and kind of processing it like that.

[00:10:18] Conor Brown: That being said, project Hail Mary was an audio book I listened to. It’s really great. The narrator is awesome. But one thing that isn’t necessarily taking this a, a away or, or giving any spoilers, Jeff Rocky and his musical notes in the audio book is actual music.

[00:10:39] Conor Brown: So instead of That is really cool. Yeah.

[00:10:41] Conor Brown: that’s what makes it pretty, pretty special.

[00:10:43] Conor Brown: And I know that there’s a big trend going on, uh uh, nowadays where people are. Reading the book and listening to the audiobook at the same time. So they have like headphones on and it’s called Active Reading, and they’re reading it as it’s in their, uh, uh,audiobook and stuff. So [00:11:00] that might be one to, to do it for.

[00:11:01] Jeff Sieh: So I, ’cause I like the Theater of the Mind idea. I mean, because like I went and listened to the BBC radio play of the Star Wars, where they had the actual actors, you know, and it’s really, really good. Like, it’s, it’s a really good audiobook. There’s some, uh, we used to do with the kids. We had the audiobooks of Chronicles and Narnia they would listen to before they went to bed, and they loved that.

[00:11:21] Jeff Sieh: So, very, very cool. Paul did say, don’t watch the trailer if you haven’t read the book. So I don’t, I haven’t watched the trailer. I don’t think I have. Maybe I saw a teaser, so a little warning from, Paul there. But, uh, I try to stay off, off social media, like when a movie is that I really wanna see is coming out.

[00:11:36] Jeff Sieh: And so I’ve kind of stayed away because I don’t wanna, I already know the story, but I, I don’t, I wanna see if it matches my mind kind of a thing. So I know it’s weird, but that’s what I do.

[00:11:45] Conor Brown: I get it.

[00:11:46] Conor Brown: I

[00:11:46] Jeff Sieh: yeah. So it’s your turn. So let me pull that next one up. This one is, I’m really interested to hear you talk about it ’cause the cover is very interesting.

[00:11:55] Conor Brown: Dungeon crawler. Carl, I will say about the last [00:12:00] maybe three years, this, this book in this series has taken off and it’s become hugely popular. I think there are already. There’s gonna be eight books, I think in this series. I think he’s already written maybe five or six, something like that. So the premise is Simple Dungeon Carl right there.

[00:12:19] Conor Brown: he’s lying in bed and the earth is ending and the earth is ending because it’s being taken over by this alien species who they go from planet to planet every 20, 50 years, something like that. They take over the planet, they end it, and they end it with a TV game show kind of survivalist thing.

[00:12:40] Jeff Sieh: running man kind of thing. Got it. Got it.

[00:12:42] Conor Brown: exactly, a narrator comes up and says, we’re taking over your planet.

[00:12:45] Conor Brown: You have 15 minutes to get to one of these open doors. If you wanna participate in the game, if you don’t wanna participate in the game, it’s the apocalypse. Good luck. So Carl runs in, grabs his now ex-girlfriend’s cat. [00:13:00] Princess Cupcake right there. And, they go into, uh, this and it’s all about that.

[00:13:05] Conor Brown: It’s about part of,the game show about how totally rigged it is for these contestants. It’s about Carl finding himself, of course, and it’s set up like a video game of sorts. So he levels up, you know, he gets to certain levels by defeating like neighborhood bosses and stuff. It’s hilarious. You’ll read it really, really quick.

[00:13:28] Conor Brown: The only caution I would give you is you’re gonna like it so much, you’re gonna have to read the second and the third, and so on and so forth. I’m about to start the third, but I can already tell it’s gonna be one of my favorite series of all time,

[00:13:39] Jeff Sieh: See, and I, I put this on the list after I saw it. ’cause it was, I read the, like, the synopsis of it and I was like, this sounds fun. It sounds very almost Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy. Like kind of,

[00:13:50] Conor Brown: I would say that meets Ready Player One, if you

[00:13:53] Jeff Sieh: Oh, okay. Yeah,

[00:13:54] Conor Brown: I love Ready Player One. It’s a lot like those two combined.

[00:13:58] Jeff Sieh: Did you read the sequel to Ready [00:14:00] Player One?

[00:14:00] Conor Brown: I haven’t yet Ready Player two. Right. People said it’s, it’s actually pretty solid.

[00:14:05] Jeff Sieh: It’s not as good as the first one in my opinion, but anyway, yeah, it was, so this is one I I put on there. So Dungeon Carer, Carl, if you guys read it, I wanna know if anybody other than Connor has read this book, because this is, this was a kind of a deep cut I thought for Connor I had, it’s like, oh wow, this is kind of okay.

[00:14:22] Jeff Sieh: Maybe I just haven I haven’t heard of, you know. Yeah. So Connor’s was Dungeon Crawler. Carl Mine and I don’t know, this is an old one and it was a bad, bad movie was based off of it, but it was Preston and Child. These two are some of my favorite authors.

[00:14:36] Jeff Sieh: Like, they have a ton of books out. They’re almost like Clive Cussler and some of the, I mean, but I think they worked for the museum for Natural Natural History because this is the first book in what’s called the Pinder Gas. Series. He’s this eccentric, FBI agent who’s from New Orleans. And there’s this, this weird history around, the backstory of him and they kind of almost get to supernaturally kind of stuff.

[00:14:59] Jeff Sieh: And [00:15:00] it’s, but it has science. It’s kind of Michael Reish a little bit too, but I think they have 16 books in this series, and they have other ones that they have, But I really like these two authors they write together, which is kind of interesting how they do it. But really, really good books. really, really like it.

[00:15:16] Jeff Sieh: I’m on, I think 18 of the Pendergast series now, and I’m like, I sign up. As soon as I see one, a new one’s coming. I’m like, okay, pre-order. I’ll get it to my Kindle as soon as it drops. but I really, really like, these, they’re just, they’re just very entertaining and fun. I’m really surprised. Other than the bad movie, the Relic, it was actually, they made this first one.

[00:15:33] Jeff Sieh: I don’t know if they should make some other ones. I mean, it’s just a good story. It’s really, really good story,

[00:15:37] Jeff Sieh: right?

[00:15:37] Conor Brown: sometimes whenever that happens and the first one doesn’t do well, they don’t try again. You, you mentioned one Clive Cussler, like Sahara

[00:15:46] Jeff Sieh: that was a great movie. I thought it was good.

[00:15:48] Conor Brown: it doesn’t take off, it doesn’t get whatever it needs, so they don’t try any of his other books. on the flip side of that, you have another author you mentioned that’s probably my favorite, like mass media author in [00:16:00] Michael Creighton.

[00:16:00] Conor Brown: Everything he does gets adapted into an awesome,series or, or, movie or something like that. So that’s how I praise for all of that. It, when you started saying that, it reminded me of I love a who done it. I love, a detective story. Have you ever read anything by Robert Galbrath?

[00:16:18] Jeff Sieh: Gimme a title. That sounds familiar. The

[00:16:19] Conor Brown: Robert Galrith writes the Corin Strike series. You might know Robert Galrith as their actual name, JK Rowling. So

[00:16:29] Jeff Sieh: Oh, uh.

[00:16:31] Conor Brown: came up and said, I wonder if I could do this. And he’s like a, a former military person in, in Britain, becomes a private investigator and starts, you know, solving these cases and stuff.

[00:16:41] Conor Brown: And it’s, it’s very well done. So it reminds me a little bit of that.

[00:16:44] Jeff Sieh: Yeah. Alright, so we’ll get to some of these comments here in a minute. But like, Paul said he listened to, project here on Mary. He really liked it. The Zach Brown. Amazing. Zach Brown says, man in the High Castle for fiction. Jim Henson’s biography nonfiction.

[00:16:57] Jeff Sieh: Ooh, I have that on my list. I have not read it [00:17:00] yet. I watched the documentary on Disney’s Plus. That was really, really good.

[00:17:03] Conor Brown: I, I’ve read the Jim Henson biography. It’s fantastic. And I believe the person that wrote that biography also has one on George Lucas, which

[00:17:12] Jeff Sieh: Mm, I just got the hard back of, Industrial Light and Magic, their 50 year book. I’m really excited to dive into that one. and yeah, so Paul said they also did this with the Harry Potter book, the, the Audio Full Cast and Sound for the Effects.

[00:17:25] Jeff Sieh: And Zach loved Ready Player One and yeah, so Jim Fs says, one of my all time favorites is the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit. Yeah, I would say one of my favorites as well. The cool thing about CS Lewis, he had a thing called, called the Inklings that he would go down at at the bar and hang out with Tolkien and they would talk about their stories, like talk about community.

[00:17:45] Jeff Sieh: I just think that is such a cool, I would love to have been a fly on the wall hearing them discuss that, in their inklings kind of group. That is so cool. So, oh, real quick. Kira says, I must say Martin Short’s autobiography is amazing. Have not read that one yet. [00:18:00] Steve Martins is one

[00:18:01] Jeff Sieh: of my really good ones.

[00:18:02] Jeff Sieh: I love that. born Standing Up. Yeah, that’s really good. Alright, so Connor, your next fiction, uh, book. it was another one that I had not read. about this

[00:18:12] Conor Brown: Another fantastic series, Brandon Sanderson in the world of, just getting one thing done. Brandon Sanderson is the most efficient author you will ever see in your life. The man is, he, he does a great job of also promoting himself and telling his fans what he’s up to. So he’ll post on social, he’ll send out newsletters, and he has a progress chart of every single book he’s working on right now where it’s at, how he’s writing.

[00:18:41] Conor Brown: He’s a madman when it comes to producing content. And it’s not just mass scale like, crap. It’s really, really good stuff. Mistborn is his entry point, so he’s kind of created this whole magical universe called the Cosme and he has a bunch of different, entry points into [00:19:00] that, a bunch of different series.

[00:19:01] Conor Brown: I would say that Mistborn is the easiest to get into first. It’s first a quick trilogy. it’s an interesting, fantasy story. So if you’ve never done fantasy, there are some nuances here. There’s a magic system they call it, so they push and pull with metals and, that creates for some really cool action sequences and understanding of it all.

[00:19:24] Conor Brown: but of course, it’s about, as most of these fantasy series are, an orphan who has really good powers. Somebody finds out they have really good powers, brings ’em onto the good team side, and they’re trying to, you know, fight the bad team. which is, really, really well done. Again, three books.

[00:19:40] Conor Brown: But, um, it’s really good.

[00:19:42] Jeff Sieh: So if somebody who’s not like really into fantasy, is this a good book to get? Like maybe like, Hey, I’m interested in fantasy. I’ve never really found one I like, is this one that they should try out?

[00:19:52] Conor Brown: This is the first one that I actually tried out with, and now I’ve, gone on from there to many, many fantasy books beyond that. this is a [00:20:00] great entry point for that and it’s a great entry point because Brandon Sanderson has some more complicated series as well, so it’s a great entry point for him, but also for fantasy overall Huge deal just happened where, he inked a deal with Apple tv where he’s going to write and create a series for Apple TV on one of his, his book series.

[00:20:24] Conor Brown: And then Mistborn is going to be movies on Apple TV plus as well, so that would

[00:20:29] Jeff Sieh: that’s gonna be cool. I mean, they did a good job with the foundation series, I thought. I haven’t finished it yet, but the production on that is just out of this world. So it’s really, it’s really good. Alright, so Mistborn Okay. I’m gonna have so many books now to read. so this is the one, another huge series.

[00:20:46] Jeff Sieh: I think he has like 16 or 17 books. Jim Butcher, he’s a guy out of Missouri. he’s written some fantasy, but this is his like, core series that kind of made him famous. It’s about Harry Dresden, who is a professional wizard, and he works as this [00:21:00] private investigator in modern Chicago. And so it started out kind of doing local stuff and now it’s like this whole universe where there’s like the White Council of Wizards that he’s kind of run, you know, against and kind.

[00:21:11] Jeff Sieh: They’re the ones who come and smite you if you go outta line. And, the first book, it’s like he’s got a talking skull that has a spirit of like, wisdom in it that he, you know, he banters back and forth. So there’s like humor, it’s like detective, noir and I’m. Most of the time, I don’t like first person where the like, hey, it was a dark and stormy night, and the chick walked in and like, you know, I’m, I’m not into that first person, but this one, it’s really good and the battles are awesome.

[00:21:37] Jeff Sieh: And like I said, it’s like 17 books and his universe keeps expanding and it’s just like, okay, now he’s in trouble, and like, you just can’t wait for the next book to come out. So I really, really like this ’cause the way it mixes things up and it’s just, it’s really, really fun. It’s one of my, it’s another one that I’ll wait and like, oh, he’s got another book.

[00:21:54] Jeff Sieh: Okay. Pre-order kind of a thing,

[00:21:56] Conor Brown: It’s always a good thing when you can say it’s unlike any other book I’ve [00:22:00] read. You know, sometimes that’s a bad thing, but more often than not, I like when it’s different and I think that that’s also a great thing about fiction because it can introduce you to other creativity and other. Points of view, like I said before.

[00:22:14] Conor Brown: So I think, like, I know a lot of people these days are like nonfiction, nonfiction, nonfiction, you know, as many business books or biographies or whatever

[00:22:23] Conor Brown: history books that you can read. I love those, but I don’t know about you, Jeff. I, I’d love, we could talk a little bit more about, I know you always read two books at a time, right?

[00:22:31] Conor Brown: And I’m starting to be on that trajectory as well because I think the creative aspects of fiction and like the, the, actual matter of life things that you can learn from nonfiction are, are good and, and well paired together.

[00:22:45] Jeff Sieh: My thing is like, first thing in the morning before my day starts, I kinda do the, you know, meditation stuff and then read.

[00:22:50] Jeff Sieh: Nonfiction. And then at night I have on my, and it actually is on my iPad ’cause I can take notes. And then at night I have a Kindle by my bed and that’s where I read fiction. [00:23:00] So I have it like, structured in a weird way, but that’s just how it works for me. It helps me go to sleep at night, you know, I don’t have to, I’m not thinking of like business, these stuff, I wanna, you know, go to sleep.

[00:23:11] Jeff Sieh: So, that’s what I kinda do. So the, I’d love to know the audience, as well. What, when do you read, like, when, I mean, so like some people it’s so like it’s audiobooks on the train or driving or whatever, but like, when do you consume content? either audiobooks or sitting down and reading? So like when is your, when is Connor Brown’s like reading time?

[00:23:30] Conor Brown: I’ll always read right before night just like you. That will be my, Fiction as well. Again, I think it’s just, and I know there’s been a lot of studies done that that’s like the best way to get to sleep. And even if it’s a high action intense fiction, you know, that’s going on, it still shuts your brain down quietly, which, which I love.

[00:23:50] Conor Brown: and then on the weekends I’ll, I’ll read as, as much as a free time allows for whatever, I’ll usually find myself reading a nonfiction or business book [00:24:00] during the day. So something that my brain’s a little bit more a attuned, I can take notes, I can like digest it a little bit more when I need to. So that’s when I, I find that I’m reading that type of book.

[00:24:12] Jeff Sieh: well talk about this next one because I have actually read it as well, and I wanna know your thoughts about the series. So let’s talk about Red Rising,

[00:24:20] Conor Brown: So my only complaint about books these days is that they all seem to be part of an eight book series and no one has time for that. That being said. On my favorite list, I have a bunch of books in an eight book series, right? That’s just the way that it is. Red Rising is that Red Rising is probably, the number one fantasy series today.

[00:24:43] Conor Brown: I think everyone is anxiously awaiting Pierce Brown to finalize the final book in this eight book or seven book series that’s going on. The way that this is structured is it’s a, a, a trilogy to start then a number of [00:25:00] years pass, and then it’s four books after that. So here’s the premise again, kind of a, a, a poor person.

[00:25:07] Conor Brown: rises, ascends to a, a, a historic level because of things that he’s really, really good at and fights the bad guy. So that’s what Red Rising is about. Red being the planet of Mars. And in this,dystopia, I guess you could call it, everyone is, based on a color. So there are reds, there are golds, there are bronzes, and they’re all kind of fighting each other and they all have their place in society.

[00:25:32] Conor Brown: Red Rising is basically red Mars rising to be above what it’s been labeled as so far. the first book is my favorite because the main character goes to almost like an academy. It’s very like Hunger Games, meets a little bit of Harry Potter. I’m reading another book right now, the Will of the many that’s very similar to that.

[00:25:54] Conor Brown: So it’s this kind of, You know, going to, uh, magical school in a way. some [00:26:00] seriously intense action sequences

[00:26:01] Conor Brown: here, but I think, I think, I don’t know how far you’ve gotten in it, Jeff, but the, the trilogy, the first three books are fantastic. The next four are good. They’re just very different.

[00:26:13] Jeff Sieh: That’s, I, so I read, I love the first three, like I read them all and consumed ’em really, really fast. And then the fourth one, it just kind of, I don’t know if I fell out of it or I, or whatever, but they, they are very, very different. And I have not finished the series because I got to the third. I think I maybe read the fourth, maybe the fifth.

[00:26:30] Jeff Sieh: I’m not sure. I can’t, I have to go back and look. But, the first three fabulous. Like really, really good.

[00:26:35] Jeff Sieh: Yeah.

[00:26:35] Conor Brown: yeah. And I think that’s it. It’s, they change up the narrators in books four through, through what’s gonna be seven. So, yeah, so it’s, it’s definitely got a, a different feel to it. but it is, it is popular and it is successful for a reason.

[00:26:51] Jeff Sieh: Yeah, we’ve got, Hey Rich Graham saying I haven’t read anything fiction forever. Probably need to get back on that. Yeah, you should, rich. I mean, it really does. Connor kind of alluded to it, [00:27:00] there’s been a lot of studies about creativity and helping you by, by using some of that, brain power kind of at night to kind of refresh those brain cells and help you be more creative.

[00:27:09] Jeff Sieh: Least it is for me. So I get it. And he goes, he also loves David Sedaris audio books are his favorite. So yeah, a lot of people like those audio books, so very, very cool. Rich Graham. And, so I, because I’m in charge of all the buttons, I have actually two on my, the last two. So I cheated Connor. ’cause you had two in the nonfiction, so I thought, you know what, I’m gonna do it anyway.

[00:27:31] Jeff Sieh: So you mentioned, It’s kind of the same vein as it’s a sign fiction book, but it’s really, really good. It’s Midshipman’s Hope, it’s kind of a famous series. but what it is, is this young naval midshipman is in space, so it’s, it takes a lot of the stuff that you know about, like warships and then moves it into like sci-fi area.

[00:27:51] Jeff Sieh: He’s kind of thrust into leadership after a disaster strikes his, Starship, it’s kind of almost kind of mirrors a little bit of like the Jack Ryan series, if you ever read those at [00:28:00] Tom Clancy. but he struggles with self-doubt. There’s a very strict moral code. You’ve gotta follow kind of the, the maritime law that’s in space and like, he’s gotta deal with this.

[00:28:10] Jeff Sieh: But it’s, it talks about leadership, responsibility, survival, it’s, and, and it’s really good battles, but it’s really, really, it’s intense. But it’s really, really good. And there’s, it’s a series, but start with Book One of the Seaford Saga is what it’s called. so, really, really fun. You would, you would like it, I can tell from like, if you liked Red Rising, you’d like this a lot,

[00:28:30] Conor Brown: I love books that like take one thing that you’re familiar with, like this being like a navy midshipman and putting it somewhere that’s unfamiliar, like space. I think that that creates for a lot of cool and unique perspectives and stuff. One thing that I think is always funny in fantasy books is whenever they say they say like, instead of saying, oh my God, they’ll say, oh my gods.

[00:28:53] Conor Brown: And it’s just this small little thing where you’re like, oh yeah, ’cause they’re in a different world. They believe in multiple gods or whatever. So I like [00:29:00] that when it transports you to somewhere, but it’s still a little bit familiar.

[00:29:03] Jeff Sieh: yeah. It’s, and they’re really, really good. I can’t remember who recommended to me, but I, those are the other ones I like consumed. Super fast once I discover them. And this last one for me is classic. Terry Brooks is a, I mean, if you ever heard of the short sort of Shaara series, this is the guy who did it, but he’s got a series about the Magic Kingdom of Landover.

[00:29:23] Jeff Sieh: And I started these, I think in early college and he’s kind of put ’em out, but they’re really, really good. This first one is called Magic Kingdom for Sale Sold. And this guy, as weird as it sounds, he gets to buy, he’s a, this lawyer, he’s a delusion lawyer, kind of like Lou Mongello. but he buys a, kinda like Lou, he buys a fantasy world, like Disney.

[00:29:41] Jeff Sieh: he, he buys it and he has this landover and becomes, it’s got these quirky magical creatures. It’s not real high fantasy, but it’s kind of mixing two worlds. And Terry Brooks is a great author. so it’s very, it’s kind of lighthearted, but it’s a really good series. So I, I really enjoyed it. And so that’s one that I, I’ve really gone back to and I’ve read a couple times.

[00:29:59] Jeff Sieh: So it’s just [00:30:00] fun.

[00:30:00] Conor Brown: I had love to know Jeff, where do you find new books? Where do you add to your list? Oh, I gotta read this. Yep.

[00:30:07] Jeff Sieh: So the, so it’s really, I have kind of different from, fiction versus, nonfiction. I used to go like into Walmart. now everything’s on Kindle and I get that ’cause my, we have so many books, but I would just go and look and see what caught my eye on the shelf back in the day. Now for fiction, it’s usually recommended by others or authors that I, I like When it comes to nonfiction, it’s usually podcasts.

[00:30:29] Jeff Sieh: There’s a lot of like authors, like I’m editing Guys’ show, and I, I hear ’em, they talk, they are, have a great episode and I want to read more about them. Or they mention somebody, I’m like, Ooh, that sounds good. And then I’ll go find it. So the rabbit trails of those kind of things. That’s kind of how I, I find it.

[00:30:44] Jeff Sieh: What about you? How do you discover new ones?

[00:30:46] Conor Brown: A huge one now is TikTok, I think

[00:30:48] Jeff Sieh: Oh, really? Book talk.

[00:30:50] Conor Brown: Book talk.

[00:30:50] Conor Brown: Book talk. which is always recommending books and a lot of good creators on there that you kind of gravitate towards. ’cause they talk about some other books that you’ve already [00:31:00] read and you liked them and they like them so you know that your tastes are kind of similar in that,sense.

[00:31:04] Conor Brown: That has really, really elongated my books to read list for sure. One thing I’ll tell Rich Graham, who’s, who’s watching type in books to, get out of a rut or books to start reading again, because I’ve seen a lot of videos lately of creators basically saying, Hey, this is a quick, easy book to get into.

[00:31:24] Conor Brown: You can read it really fast and you just want to keep that reading cycle going. So there’s a lot of great options. And I would say for me, dungeon Crawler Carl is that one where you should start with really easy to get into, and it can get you out of the rut.

[00:31:38] Jeff Sieh: It’s really interesting. for me it’s easier to find nonfiction books that are really good than it is fiction books, at least. Anymore. I don’t know if my tastes have changed or I’m more discerning in what I wanna read, but I find it easier to find really good nonfiction books compared to fiction books.

[00:31:53] Jeff Sieh: I dunno about you.

[00:31:54] Conor Brown: Are you a book quitter, Jeff, or will you still see it all the way through?

[00:31:58] Jeff Sieh: There’s only a [00:32:00] couple that I, and I, and I’ll usually go finish ’em and just bear, like, there’s one about Martin Luther and I, and I don’t know enough about him and so I was trying to learn, but this book I got is a slog and it’s long and I have given up and restarted that one multiple times.

[00:32:14] Jeff Sieh: so yeah, I don’t quit books. I, I’ll read multiple ones in a row, but mo like, I read all the tracker series because I, we were watching the tracker show on TV and I’m like, Ooh, this is interesting. And I read the books and I kind of binge those. So I kind of do that kind of thing for, for fiction. So.

[00:32:29] Jeff Sieh: Alright, let’s go to nonfiction and if you haven’t yet, put your favorite nonfiction. down below, wherever you’re watching from. you know, rich Graham said David Saris audiobooks are his. Kira said, I must say, Martin Short’s audio biography is amazing. and oh, and then Sean says he’s late, he can’t read anyway.

[00:32:47] Jeff Sieh: That’s not true. Sean, what are your favorite fiction and nonfiction books? we wanna know, the World Wants to Know From, but Mostly Disney. so first of all, Connor, what is your number one, book [00:33:00] that is nonfiction that you wanna talk about

[00:33:02] Conor Brown: So it’s number one, it’s the obstacle is the way.

[00:33:05] Jeff Sieh: and, uh, you’re, no, I know you’re a big fan of Ryan Holiday. Yeah.

[00:33:08] Conor Brown: Big fan of, of Ryan Holiday. funny story. Trying to get my first job out of college. I get to the final interview and the CEO o who, I don’t know why I was interviewing with him, he asked, oh, so what books have you read lately? And I hadn’t read a book in, in years, but I remember that there was a book that we were supposed to read in college in my PR class.

[00:33:29] Conor Brown: And I’m like, oh, it was this great book about pr. And he’s like, and what’s the name? And I, I froze. I’m like, I, I can’t remember. So he was like, got it. So it’s a good book, but you can’t remember the name of it. And I was so embarrassed and of course didn’t get that job. So I went back. And I looked and I’m like, what is the name of that book?

[00:33:47] Conor Brown: And it was, trust Me, I’m Lying by Ryan Holiday, which was his first marketing book. And then I started to read that and that’s what kind of got me back into reading, to be honest. was that embarrassing situation. And I started [00:34:00] to follow Ryan Holiday more and he started to write about the ancient philosophy of stoicism, which I think is very well documented by, the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius in his book Meditations, which is not really a book, it’s his journal, it’s his diary, his daily diary.

[00:34:16] Conor Brown: But the notion of stoicism is. Super, super simple. You can only control the actions in which you can control everything else outside of you. You can’t control that, so don’t let it affect you as much as some people do. Kind of being in check with your emotions and acting rational in those sorts of things.

[00:34:36] Conor Brown: The obstacle is the Way is his first true book in the stoicism realm. He’s since written probably close to 10 more books

[00:34:44] Jeff Sieh: Does, doesn’t he, doesn’t he have the Daily Stoic? Isn’t that a podcast or a newsletter or something?

[00:34:48] Conor Brown: It’s a podcast, it’s a newsletter, it’s social media. It’s, it’s huge. And he gets some really great guests on the Daily Stoic as well. the notion behind the obstacle is the way [00:35:00] is simple in the title. It’s you have a way forward. There’s an obstacle in front of you. That is the way you have to conquer the obstacle to get there.

[00:35:09] Conor Brown: You can’t complain about the obstacle. You can’t try to get rid of the obstacle. That’s the way, and it really, really gets to the essence of stoicism. And I think it’s really the book that’s changed my life the most. it’s helped with a lot of anxiety, a lot of,self-doubt and those sorts of things.

[00:35:26] Conor Brown: And it’s, it’s the book that I always go back to time and time again.

[00:35:29] Jeff Sieh: Very, very cool, man. We we’re, we’re gonna have to crank on these, so I’ll, I’ll,

[00:35:33] Jeff Sieh: try to go. So this is one actually Michael Hyatt back in Hi. Way back when he was doing a, oh gosh. He had some sort of toolkit and this was one of ’em in there. And so I’m a believer, and so one of the things that as entrepreneurs too, is like we talk about ROIA lot and I’m like, you know, if, if you believe that there’s something beyond this life.

[00:35:52] Jeff Sieh: Like, the ROI for that is kind of important, so I needed to start it. So this is a really good, it’s the Bible and they have multiple [00:36:00] translations, And this is when I mentioned the, the meditations that I do I start with this ’cause it gives you a old testament, new Testament, Psalms and proverbs in year through the Bible in the year.

[00:36:07] Jeff Sieh: And before I did this, I’d never read it all the way through. And so now I think I’ve read pretty much every translation. I think I started about six years ago and I haven’t, ’cause I, I read that and then I write in a journal and I think I have an unbroken streak of like 1300 days. It’s kinda like Jerry Seinfeld’s thing.

[00:36:24] Jeff Sieh: ’cause I, I use a app called, uh, day one where I put my. Journal entry and, and listen, I’m not writing like pages, folks. I’m like, it’s a paragraph. Some days maybe it’ll be a two sentences if I’m like in a hurry, but I’m doing it every day and I have an unbroken streak for that long of time. So that’s, that’s my, first one.

[00:36:43] Jeff Sieh: and I’m gonna go ahead and go just right to the second one, and then we’ll get to yours. Is, this is one I’ve talked about it in my newsletter. Love Natalie Nixon. I think I heard her on a podcast. It’s all about taking time to rest because it, how it helps you with creativity. This is one of the best books that I’ve read.

[00:36:58] Jeff Sieh: One of the things that, [00:37:00] last year is when I read it, but one of the, the quotes that I, that I talked about in my newsletters, what would change in your work, if you measured impact rather than just output, which I thought was amazing, if doing impact or than the output. That’s a great mindset.

[00:37:12] Jeff Sieh: And then creativity is an engine for, innovation. And so those are the two quotes that I like wrote down and, and really reflect on. So that’s a big one for me.

[00:37:19] Conor Brown: I gotta add that to my, my

[00:37:21] Conor Brown: list.

[00:37:21] Conor Brown: That It’s, It’s, really good. All right. So talk about this one.

[00:37:24] Jeff Sieh: ’cause it is a, it’s a famous book and it’s so good.

[00:37:27] Conor Brown: The War of Art. Really, really quick book that you can read. It’s great. He is got Steven Pressfield, who’s a accomplished author in his own right. He wrote, gates of Fire about Sparta, the 300. Right. he’s really, really good. The notion behind this is if you want to be. An artist. If you want to be a creator and you want to do that professionally, you have to treat it like a job.

[00:37:52] Conor Brown: I think the quote that everyone always talks about from this book, he says, oh, I only write when the muses strike me. Luckily, [00:38:00] the muses strike me every single day at 8:00 AM Right? So you gotta sit down, you gotta do the work. You have to be consistent. It’s really, really short chapters and I would say each chapter is one lesson.

[00:38:11] Conor Brown: So it’s really quick to to get through. I love it. It’ll make you stop dead in your tracks a couple times and just be like, I just gotta do the work.

[00:38:19] Jeff Sieh: yeah, yeah. It’s a great book By the way, before, I got so excited to talk to Connor about books. I forgot to mention our sponsor, Ecamm. If you wanna have cool, overlays, bring up books like we’re doing during your show, make sure you guys go to check out Ecamm at Ecamm dot com slash jeff. You can save, 15% by using code Jeff 15 on checkout.

[00:38:36] Jeff Sieh: And by the way, later on today at 1:00 PM Central, Katie and I are starting our new show. Yes, it is the maker’s table where she will be crocheting. I will be carving and we will be talking together. So,

[00:38:49] Jeff Sieh: check your feeds,it’s supposed to be at the Maker’s Table live and we have that Facebook page, so we’re gonna do that. But yeah, it’s gonna be, interesting to try to figure that out. But we’re gonna be the maker’s [00:39:00] table live everywhere.

[00:39:01] Jeff Sieh: So that’s coming up. Gonna be exciting and fun, Connor. Alright. Yeah. So hopefully there will be no, amputations, from me today. Always the threat. yeah, so, and Rich Graham’s saying, oh my gosh, war of art is fantastic. Zach is reading, move, think, rest right now, but mostly Disney who said he doesn’t read says I just read Three Days In Wonderland, which was awesome.

[00:39:23] Jeff Sieh: That’s on my list too. I have not read that one yet. Alright, let’s crank it on these last couple ones, that we’re talking about. Books for creators. I’m gonna talk about. The wealthy and well-known. Now I, it’s really funny. Roy Vaden, I never read his book.

[00:39:39] Jeff Sieh: He was always at Social Media Marketing World when I was there. I do not like the title of this. It sounds like everything that I don’t like, but it’s really based almost like on StoryBrand, but to the next level. He’s got a bunch of great exercises on, you know, a personal brand, how to grow it.

[00:39:56] Jeff Sieh: I, he writes it with his wife, who’s super smart as well. [00:40:00] But it shares strategies on how to speak, get content, become a thought leader. Really, really good book. I didn’t like the title. It’s, I think it hurt more than Helped, but I cannot recommend this book enough. Roy is a great guy. Tons of great stuff.

[00:40:14] Jeff Sieh: If you’re trying to build your business and really focus on what you need to focus on. Great book.

[00:40:21] Conor Brown: I fell into that trap too. It sounds like a self-help book more than

[00:40:24] Jeff Sieh: Yeah. And it’s not, it’s not at all. It’s really, I. It helps you create trust and authority, but his, his exercises that he has to help narrow you down really, really good. Lots of good, uh, resources that you can download as well. So,

[00:40:35] Conor Brown: all

[00:40:35] Conor Brown: right, Jeff, I’ll go really quickly on my next one. My rule of thumb in life is if Cal Newport writes something, you

[00:40:41] Conor Brown: read it, he’s so smart. He’s a computer scientist, but he writes in a way that anyone can understand. This is my favorite of his books. It really just talks about how we have to be intentional about using digital tools in our life.

[00:40:57] Conor Brown: If I ever feel like I’m spending too much time on my phone, [00:41:00] I’ll pick up this book again, read a couple quick chapters of it and just reset my mind. Super important, and Cal Newport is so smart.

[00:41:07] Jeff Sieh: Any of his books. And also Jonathan Hates, actually did a edited, edited interview with him, that guy did, who wrote The Anxious Generation. Those kind of go hand in hand. it’s really scary, but we need to read it because there’s some really. interesting things that it’s doing to our brain. So, yeah, really, really, really, really cool.

[00:41:24] Jeff Sieh: and oh, and this is, I’m gonna pull up Kevin’s, He goes belonging to the brand. Very good book. Yes. From Doghouse Media, um, mark Schafer, we’ve had him on the show before. It’s solid modern day marketing on building community beginning. Yeah. So wealthy and well-known. This one belonging to the brand.

[00:41:39] Jeff Sieh: Really great books. And then Jim keeps saying this, and I bought this Jim and I have not read it yet. Snow Leopard. How legendary writers create a category of one. it’s right there. I’ve already got it. It’s in my Kindle. It’s way up there. High. I just need to read it. Thanks for the reminder my friend.

[00:41:53] Jeff Sieh: So, you did digital, min, min, I can’t even talk. minimalism Min, um, [00:42:00] I can’t even say it anyway. You know what, it’s by Cal Newport. Get that one. my next one would be, And it’s a classic, I think, creativity Inc. For working with creators. And you wanna see the behind the scenes of Pixar, it’s how Ed Cat Mill, and jobs worked together, started Pixar.

[00:42:17] Jeff Sieh: how he does the, the meetings when anybody, the janitor could come in and suggest a story idea. Like, it’s just really, really cool. So if you work with creators or you are a creative and you’re wanting to know some great business principles and also see behind the scenes of how Pixar started, this is an excellent book, creativity Inc.

[00:42:35] Jeff Sieh: Have you read it yet, Connor?

[00:42:36] Conor Brown: You know what? I haven’t, and I, I feel,like a bad fan for,

[00:42:40] Conor Brown: I’ve never read it,

[00:42:41] Jeff Sieh: I would say that you are. Okay. You have two in the same vein. And I almost didn’t put these up just because of this, but I, I, I honored your wishes

[00:42:51] Jeff Sieh: and let’s

[00:42:51] Conor Brown: listen. I’m a New England Patriots fan. I’m a better fan there than of Pixar it seems like. ’cause I’ve read both of these books. It’s better to [00:43:00] be feared. And then the other book is The Dynasty. the interesting part here is they cover the same topic. The Patriots dynasty with Belichick, with, uh, Kraft the Owner and with Tom Brady.

[00:43:12] Conor Brown: The dynasty is definitely one that was probably seen by the Patriots organization before it got put out. It’s better to be faired. Definitely wasn’t seen before it got put out. So you get to kind of juxtapose what’s the story, what isn’t. I think the biggest thing about all this is they’re the greatest franchise that’s ever done this.

[00:43:33] Conor Brown: Right? But at what cost? At what cost, your personal life, your relationships, all those things. A lot of lessons in there.

[00:43:41] Jeff Sieh: Very, very cool. I, I mean, I love, so, uh, another thing that I read in the morning, Tony Dungy, who is the coach of the, the cults. He has a, like a devotional. And I read that along with that, one year Bible thing. And he, I, he’s just, I love the behind the scenes stuff. Like, I’m like, I didn’t know he did that.

[00:43:58] Jeff Sieh: And, you know, I just love that kind of, [00:44:00] that kind of stuff. And I know you have one after that we’ll talk about that. I’m really interested in, this is my next one. Jordan Raynor, it’s, I guess you’d call it a faith based book, ’cause it’s about. God in work, called Five Mere Christians, which is a play off of the mere Christianity that CS Lewis wrote back in the day.

[00:44:16] Jeff Sieh: But he actually breaks down, five really great leaders and there are Fred Rogers, which was, you know, Mr. Rogers neighborhood. There was so much that dude had to go through just to get that on the show, which it was just fascinating. Fannie Lou Hammer, which I did not know before, she was a civil rights activist and talked about pursuing justice without hating the unjust, Ole Christiansen.

[00:44:40] Jeff Sieh: He is the founder of Lego and like his factory burned down like four times, like it was just hearing him per persevere was really great.Hannah Moore was the other one. She was a audacious poet that helped abolish slavery in Britain. and then CS Lewis. And that was the main reason I got this book.

[00:44:58] Jeff Sieh: ’cause I wanted to read about it. [00:45:00] But anything about him and, and talking about his life So five mere Christians, even if you’re not faith-based or you know, you don’t like that kind of stuff. This is one to read because of these biographies. Like the one about,Fred Rogers was so good.

[00:45:12] Jeff Sieh: Like I, I just send it to people to like, just read that, that chapter. It’s so good. So those are my favorite ones. And then the last one for me, ’cause you did too. I’m gonna do this one talk. Like Ted, last year I did a lot of, work on trying to become a better speaker. I read a lot of books about it.

[00:45:28] Jeff Sieh: This one and the one by Michael Port, which is referable speaker, probably my favorite. It actually helped me. I I did some of the, Kind of worksheets and stuff. When I was preparing my, talk for Social Media Marketing world last year, and it landed me a gig, like from the stage, like after I was done, somebody said, Hey, we want you to come speak.

[00:45:45] Jeff Sieh: We’ll pay for you to come, da da da da. Based off of the things that I learned in that this book. So it’s really, really good if you wanna become a better speaker. that, that book is, and the Referable Speaker by Michael Ports really, really good. So, oh, this is your last one.

[00:45:57] Jeff Sieh: I want, I want you to talk about this. ’cause this was one [00:46:00] I did, I’ve never even heard of or seen before. I, I think if I have a feeling why you picked it, but talk about a course called Ireland.

[00:46:06] Conor Brown: A course called Ireland by Tom Coyne Tom Coyne is a golf writer, and this is his true story about how one summer he set out with just the golf clubs on his back and walked around the entirety of Ireland, the entire country. He walked around playing every single Lynx style golf course on the Emerald aisle.

[00:46:30] Conor Brown: it’s awesome. It seems insane, and it is. But he talks about each course some more in depth than others. But like any story, it’s about the people he meets along the way. It’s about the importance of golf to him, about the things he shared with his dad. It’s just a really, really good book. And, and it’s about, Ireland in general, but finding yourself, setting out, accomplishing something, all that stuff.

[00:46:54] Conor Brown: this of course was very instrumental in the golf trip I took last September with [00:47:00] my dad, where we went to Ireland and played. all of the courses we played are, are in that book one course I had never heard of before until I read that book, and we added it to our itinerary Dukes D-O-O-K-S, which was awesome.

[00:47:14] Conor Brown: Tom Coyne has also now done, a book called, a course called Scotland, where he did kind of the same thing and then a course called America where he didn’t walk around America, but over the course of six months, he basically played at least one round in, in every single state in America, which was awesome.

[00:47:31] Conor Brown: He’s a great writer, great storyteller.

[00:47:34] Jeff Sieh: So let’s say you’re not a golfer or you used to play golf and you don’t call, is it still worth reading? Like if you’re not, will you get stuff out of it if you’re not a sports or a golfer per se?

[00:47:44] Conor Brown: I think so, because some of the things he does talk about are, are a bit technical, like, like golf terminology and stuff. But it’s really about, there’s a story about how a stray dog just kept like chasing him and he is running away with, with the clubs on his back, you know, so there’s [00:48:00] all these little anecdotes in there, that are funny and, and humorous and I think we’ll still keep you entertained even if you don’t play or follow golf.

[00:48:07] Jeff Sieh: Yeah. Cool. Yeah, I love those kind of books. real quick, we have,Kevin saying Creativity Inc. Is high on my list. Highly recommend it. You would like it. because being that you were doing a lot of Hasbro, I think that this would, you’d see a lot of similarities, Kevin. So, I mean, I would love to hear what you think about it.

[00:48:23] Jeff Sieh: and then we’re not gonna bring up this comment. and then, and then he says one book, he, he doubts is on anyone’s list. Highly recommend a whack on the side of the head. I just love that title, Roger, Oec. Yeah. I, I need that like every day. Jody does it pretty much every morning, but, yeah. So now, now that Kevin recommended this, that’s gonna go on my list because I trust what he.

[00:48:45] Jeff Sieh: Says and, and then the title of that just seems really, really cool. So once again, thank you guys so much for everybody who, joined in gave us their book recommendations. So many great ones on here. But before we wrap everything up, Connor, where can people find out about the amazing [00:49:00] unsinkable Connor Brown?

[00:49:01] Conor Brown: You can get head over to vacation kingdoms.com, or you can follow me at Vacation Kingdoms across the social media. A lot of fun stuff coming up. I, I said at the top of the show, I’ll be headed, uh, to Universal. They invited me out, next week to check out all the Mardi Gras stuff and I’ll be going to Disneyland the week after that.

[00:49:19] Conor Brown: They invited me out there to see some new fun stuff that’s coming to that park. So be sure to follow me at Vacation Kingdoms across social media to stay informed on all of that.

[00:49:29] Jeff Sieh: So, once again, I want you guys to come back to this channel at one o’clock ’cause we’re gonna be streaming our new show that we’re doing with Katie Fawkes the Maker’s table. Well, I’ll be carving, she’ll be crocheting and we’ll be chatting with you guys everywhere.

[00:49:42] Jeff Sieh: It’s gonna be a lot of fun. Come and hang out. End your work week in a fun way with Katie and I. And once again, thanks to everybody who watched today. And thanks to our sponsors, Ecamm.

[00:49:51] Jeff Sieh: You can find out more about them at Ecamm dot com slash jeff. You can save on your, first purchase by using code Jeff 15. And thank you [00:50:00] Keira. Thank you Kevin, Jim, everybody who watched, we appreciate you. And with that, we’ll see you guys next time. Bye everybody.