The American Association of Young People Blog

Get Your Learn On

There are a number of reasons why you should read, such as learning about new cultures, thinking about new ideas, entertainment, blah blah blah. Expand your mind. We get it. But the book I’m always looking for is the one that expands my wallet.

There are books that do this directly, giving advice on how to save money or make it. I remember reading one back when I was a kid titled, Better Than A Lemonade Stand by Daryl Bernstein. The ideas are now older, some are slightly outdated, but the premise remains good - make money by coming up with new ideas! However, I’m under the impression that any book that gives you advice on how to make money, gives everyone else the exact same advice on how to make money, thereby reducing its value to the paper it’s printed on (though I’m sure many of the ideas these books have can make you money, there are likely better ways to make some spare change).

I’m thinking more about books that can indirectly make you money - either through new concepts or applications of thinking.

Three excellent books that do this (and that I think should be required reading) are:

Freakonomics - By Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner - addresses “the hidden side of everything” and in doing so raises some interesting questions and ideas - then with a little thinking of your own, maybe you can think about the hidden side of something else, something that can you can turn into a groundbreaking news article, a bestselling book, or even a business.

Blink - by Malcolm Gladwell - addresses the whole ‘gut feeling’ notion. A very interesting read from the psychological perspective, it can also influence you business-wise (because really, if you’re not going to be able to go with your gut, you’re probably not going to be taking very many risks). I’m disappointed I didn’t learn about this book sooner, as two ideas I had for films came out a few years after I thought of the concepts (Hotel Rwanda and The Motorcycle Diaries) and one idea I had for a socially conscious clothing/commercial line (U2’s Bono jacked my idea for his Project Red concept, picked up by companies like Sprint, the Gap, and Apple). The point is, I’ve had good ideas before. I keep having them. And now I know that there is a reason my gut feeling is right, because Malcolm Gladwell said so.

The Tipping Point - by Gladwell once again. This book describes the phenomenon of ‘trends’ - or rather, the how and why something (an idea, a brand, a product, whatever) becomes popular. It describes the type of people necessary to make something work, and like Blink, gives incredible examples. Though some of the concepts seem pretty basic to the individual already familiar with business, the examples (or case studies) are quite incredible and the book is a must-read for any would-be trendsetter.

Outside of the world of books, there are magazines, blogs, and newspapers - from which you should be gleaning knowledge and ideas. I’ll post another entry listing some of my favorites later, but the idea is this: fuel the sparks in your brain by reading about other people’s ideas.

I saw an article about a former crew teammate of mine in Fortune Small Business about a start-up he’s the CEO of, Knowble, a networking site similar to Facebook, but with a higher calling: linking scientists and researchers together to make the process and the speed of sharing information easier.