October 19th, 2017.
What is that book about? Is it good? How long did it take you to read it? What are the main topics and themes? How about the arguments? Is it well written?
I am a thirty-something Ph.D and I read a lot. Those are some of the questions people keep asking me when we talk about books. So, I’ve decided to write a blog. A blog about books, a blog about taking time. Time to read, time to think, time to write…
All that with, of course, a dose of nicely brewed black coffee. Welcome on GreatBooks&Coffee!
A word (or two) about me.
First things first, please let me introduce myself!
As mentioned on the ‘about page’, I am a thirty-something Ph.D and I work in the field of international relations.
Simply put? My job is all about researching trends and trying to guess what the heck is going on around us.
Occasionally, I try to produce an idea or two. Sometimes, I even come up with interesting conclusions and try to find ways to share them with colleagues who happen to value ideas and brainstorming.
But I am also an entrepreneur! Or I’m trying to be one, at least.
Before taking my current job in 2015, I actually used to be a consultant and ran my first business. That didn’t leave me much time to get along with books and coffee, clearly. But the work taught me about deadlines and business, and that experience got me sort of a practical, problem-solving and decision-making entrepreneurial mindset.
I enjoy the company of great books.
I don’t know about you, but I do enjoy the company of great books. Call me a library rat if you will – I spend more time in coffee shops than in libraries, though.
My job nonetheless means that I am surrounded by books of all sorts. Most of those books are academic and technical books that I analyze and comment on on a daily basis. But there is much more to it! Politics, economics, society, business,technology books… you name it!
And all these books teach me a lot.
Ideas, critical thinking and all that…
The thing is, I strongly believe that ideas can change you and make you grow. Ideas can open your eyes, make you think, change your mind. And because books are about ideas (most of the time at least), they logically are a powerful tool when it comes to understanding our world.
Sure, the newspapers and cable TV give us information. But let’s face it. How much information do we consume and accept as truth without even thinking about it? How often do we consider finding alternative opinions and additional food for thought?
So, books teach me a lot about trends and critical thinking. A lot about global, regional and local politics, a lot of about trade, a lot about philosophy and economics, a lot about new technologies, a lot about business and personal development… You get my point.
Where does GreatBooks&Coffee come from then?
I’m glad you asked!
The GreatBooks&Coffee project started a little while ago, in late 2016, because I felt like writing for fun and because I wanted to share my reading experiences with people.
I started with a blog and wrote a series of articles about a variety of books, but the site builder never got me anything I liked so the whole thing stagnated and I left this on the side for a while. Things got too frustrating. Eventually the time came to renew my package with them so i re-considered my options.
I still wanted to write, and some friends asked whether I’d consider writing longer book reviews or summaries they could buy.
So I changed, left Wix for Selz (thank you Selz, you’ve been great!) And there I am. I selected the most interesting books from the previous blog, ditched the other ones, and started again!
The idea: if a book is on GreatBooks&Coffee, you should know about it.
GreatBooksAndCoffee is my literary blog. Literary, but without fuss. And here is what I have in mind.
My plan is to post regular book reviews and comments about books that were valuable to me and worth my time. I won’t write on books that didn’t convince me. I’ll explain why I liked them, why they will be valuable to you and why they will be worth your time.
For that reason, i’ll go into the details and will write long reviews. The thing is, there are many book review blogs around here, but most just skim through and provide brief reviews, without real content, that push you to go and look for more elsewhere. Well, I’ll just go full length and I’ll be unapologetic about it, because that’s value for the reader. I think.
The idea is very simple: if a book is on my book reviews blog, then you should know about it. That’s it!
Book summaries too…
While every article will contain a link to allow you to get to those books I recommend, I’ll also write book summaries, to make things easy for those who want more to make up their mind, or for those who don’t have the time but still want to stay up to date on books they should know about… With a little bit of luck, the summaries will actually get you to purchase the books!
So, I’ve also worked on a shop where the extended book summaries can be purchased if you are interested. At this time I’m basically thinking about writing two types of summaries.
One will focus on business & self-development book summaries and will discuss the books I find challenging and inspiring from that side of things.
The other category will rather be about society, politics and technology book summaries, which will give me a good excuse to talk about a wide range of topics, including politics and economics (as the name says) but also new crypto-currencies and the blockchain, the development of new societal trends, etc.
In short? Everything you need to know about!
Anyway, if you’re interested, just click on the picture below.
Ready to use files
My shop makes it very easy for you. All you have to do is download the files.
The shop has a built-in “Download-to-Dropbox” option which allows you save the files in one click on your phone, tablet or laptop.
The summaries are then available in a phone-optimized pdf and in a .epub format which can usually be read by the standard eBook reader of your phone or tablet (Google Play Books is already on your Android, and Ibooks should be on your IOS).
But that’s not it!
If you are a Kindle user, please note that my summaries are also available as .mobi files that you can send directly to your reader and to your Kindle app with the free built-in “Send-to-Kindle” option.
Join the Club and keep in touch
I hope that this great books adventure will be fun and I hope you enjoy it with me.
Please make sure to sign up and join the club as the GreatBooks&Coffee members get 20% AND receive the new book reviews by email every once in a while as soon as they get released!
In sum? GreatBooks&Coffee to me is about great books, good coffee and quality writing time more than about business. I am planning to enjoy the adventure and I hope you will too!
Happy reading!
A.
GreatBooks&Coffee. The book reviews blog. What else?
I am a thirty-something PhD and I read a lot. GreatBooks&Coffee is my books blog! Because nowadays most people never finish the books they buy, I am sharing my reading experiences to help you pick the right books you will want to read up to the last page!
Don’t just buy random books! Let me help you pick the right books!
I Will Make You Think Smart 