takeaways from the books i read this year

i've read just over 50 books so far in 2012. i've got a few more to go before the end of the year next week. we'll see how many i end up with.

it's become a custom for me to write here on renown at the end of the year about what i'm learning from the books i read.

i'll write a fairly short snippet about each book - maybe a brief summary of my takeaways and what the overall concept is of the book. + i like to rank the books with a STAR * system. i'll rank each book between 1-5 *s just to let you know what i thought of it.

explaining the star system:
obviously 5*s is the best and 1* is the worst but here's a little better pic of what each level means:
5*s - one of the top books i've ever read. period. not just top book of 2012, but top book ever. past books in the 5 star category for me may be ones like Visioneering, Made to Stick, Let the Nations Be Glad, The Tipping Point, etc...
4*s - a really, really, REALLY good book. even a great book. just not one of the greatest of all time. but really good. if it gets 4*s you should probably read it!
3*s - it's a pretty decent, even good book. i learned a good deal. it was helpful. but there's probably MANY books you should read before reading this one.
2*s - don't waste your time at all with 2* books. i learned something from it, but surprised i even finished it.
1* - absolute waste of time. an awful book. (hopefully there won't be any of these that i wasted my precious time reading)

i won't try to post my thoughts on all 50something books in 1 post. i'll split them up into several different posts.

and then at the end of all those i'll give my top 10 books of 2012.
(here are the links for my top 10 reads for 2011, 2010, 2009)

& just bkuz it's interesting to me to look back on, my #1 reads from the past 3 years are:
2009 = Good to Great, Jim Collins
2010 = Made to Stick, Chip & Dan Heath
2011 = Humility, Andrew Murray

so, look for my post tomorrow to begin my brief downloads of the 50something books i read this year.