Shawn M. Finch, DVM

The self-assigned Read Every Single Book on the Veterinary Economics 25 Books List Project was so fun that I read the last two books really slowly because I did not want the project to end.  Then I realized that between friends and family loaning, giving and suggesting books, books the authors of the books on the lists recommended, and books I found in hunting down all twenty five books, I have an ENDLESS list of books to read this year!  Yay!

I wanted to list as many as possible in one place.  Now they are in a combination of on-my-shelf, on-my-nightstand, in-my-head, in-my-notebook, in-the-reference-section-of-the-books-I-have-read and in-cyberspace.  Very unorganized and overwhelming.  AND…when I am overwhelmed, I write a list!

So, you have seen the list of Books I Have Recently Read and Loved.

Here is the list of Books I Would Like to Read.  Anytime I try to put What’s In My Head into a list, things can get a little crazy, which makes sense, considering the contents of my head.  You’ve been warned. : )

What books would you add that you have read or would like to read?  Thank you for all of your recommendations this past year and In The Future!  This has been so fun!

What Clients Love by Harry Beckwith (Thanks Phil!)

The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino (Thanks Dad!)

Soar with your Strengths by Donald O. Clifton and Paula Nelson (Thanks Dad!)

Where Have All the Leaders Gone? By Lee Iacocca (Thanks Dad!)

SuperFreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

The Future Books by Malcolm Gladwell

Every Book Published by “Twelve”

The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem Van Loon (Thanks Brendan!)

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (the original edition)

Public Speaking and Influencing Men In Business by Dale Carnegie

Public Speaking for Success by Dale Carnegie

Lincoln the Unknown by Dale Carnegie

Five Minute Biographies by Dale Carnegie

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie

The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough

The Great Bridge by David McCullough

The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough

Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough

Brave Companions by David McCullough

John Adams by David McCullough

1776 by David McCullough (Thanks Cathy-Friend!)

In the Dark Streets Shineth: A 1941 Christmas Eve Story by David McCullough

The Greater Journey by David McCullough (comes out May 24, 2011)

The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt

Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Built to Last by Jim Collins

Teaching and Learning Communication Skills in Medicine by Dr. Suzanne Kurtz, Dr. Jonathan Silverman and Dr. Juliet Draper

1812 by David Nevin (Thanks Cathy-Friend!)

Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell (Thanks Bryan!)

So Long, Insecurity by Beth Moore (Thanks Mom-Karen!)

Heaven by Lisa Miller (Thanks Karen-Friend!)

Chicken Soup for the Soul - Power Moms

The Divine Life of Animals by Ptolemy Tompkins (Thanks Mom-Karen!)

The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs (Thanks Cara-I-Love!)

Don’t Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor (Thanks Cara-I-Love!)

Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef (Thanks Sara-I-Love!)

The Dental Radiography book at work

The Five Minute Veterinary Something by Someone and Dr. Tilley - I will write it down and fix this entry!  (I have always loved this book, but I have never read it from cover to cover)

The Hill’s Veterinary Nutrition Book

The rest of the Marvin, The Golf Caddy Dog series by Harold R. Mann (This was to be an entire Marvin series, but I am not entirely sure the rest of the series yet exists in Real Life - I hope so or that it will exist soon as it was a fun book!)

Your Dog, The Owner’s Manual by Dr. Marty Becker

um.

This may be a longer reading project than the previous one.

Also, I need more suggestions from you.

I have always loved to read.  So has Russ.  It has been fun to see this trait passed down to both of our daughters.  Our oldest has been told at least once every school year that recess is not for reading, it is for playing.

Once at a party I picked up my friend’s JAVMA (Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association), and he said “Seriously?  It’s Friday night!”  I said something super cool along the lines of “Um, I hadn’t gotten my mail yet…I didn’t know this issue was out…I…um…” and then joined the party like a Normal Person.  I love reading. : )

Skills for Communicating with Patients - Five Stars! This may be the most helpful book I have read from the  Veterinary Economics 25 Books List.  It is an excellent communication book written for MD’s, though the authors have worked with veterinarians too, which I thought was cool.  It is a medical school textbook and is taking me FOREVER to read!  SO worth it though.  I will review it for you as soon as I finish it!

Summary of my Favorites from the Veterinary Economics 25 Books List - Very fun project…I am finishing the last two books.

Anesthesia for the Pet Practitioner - Five Stars! This will be a two part review, the first part here and the second part on Wagging Tail.  Anesthesia for the Pet Practitioner is a wonderful veterinary anesthesia book that I have used for years.  The third edition was recently published by Banfield Pet Hospital, and that is the one I am reviewing.  It is also the best one yet!

The Complete Cat’s Meow by Darlene Arden - Five Stars! OK, I just started this book, but it has a gorgeous Max the Cat cat on the cover and is written by one of my Very Favorite People AND Darlene mentioned me in the acknowledgements.  (Thank you Darlene!!)  What’s not to love??  Even though I am only a few pages in, I can tell it is also an EXCELLENT resource for cat lovers.  See, I can be objective! : )

Love Wins by Rob Bell - Just kidding!  Different blog!  I do love it though.  The topics covered in this book are ones I have been struggling with and studying Scripture about for the past few years.  Just reading the intro sitting with Abby in the bookstore allowed me to breathe a deep cosmic sigh of relief.  Not that Rob Bell is the end-all authority on truth, or even claims to be.  He IS, however, very good at making a person think, and tackling Ideas That Shall Not Be Mentioned head on.  At least one Christian leader has been fired over saying he liked the book.  But I am a vet.  I like the book.  And now…back to pets!

Why all the book reviews?

Life is still sad.  I miss Ebony Dog and Wuzzy Rat terribly.  I also miss Fuzzy Rat, Piggy Pig and Princess Gerbil.

Max the Cat is in the beginning stages of Chronic Kidney Disease.  Not always a big deal for an old cat, actually.  (You know, unless he or she is your cat, or…unless it is.)

But then, when Ebony first got sick, I was hoping that if and when we found the underlying cause of her Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia it would not be awful, but it was.  So I am still in a pretty rough season and having a sick cat is freaking me out a bit.  I am writing about all that, but trying hard to keep it upbeat here.

Even so, a Princess Gerbil Memorial is in the works.  She deserves one as much as the other four!  It is not her fault she passed away when I was too exhausted to write One More.  And she was super cute and kind of quirky, so I think you will like it!

And finally…

Happy Heartworm-Free May!

And then…

I dunno!  A happier season maybe?  Just an idea…

In the midst of reading the 25 leadership books recommended by Veterinary Economics, I snuck in this super awesome book that I HAVE to tell you about because I LOVE it.

Houdini Was…

Written and illustrated

by

the Second Grade Students of White Bluffs Elementary in Richland, Washington

I bought the book because of the very cute hamster on the cover.  (I judge books by their cover, which you should not do, and though I can usually tell at first glance whether I will like a book or not, my reasoning is not always quite…linear.)

This book covers in impressive depth the human-animal bond, pet loss, processing grief, the value of pets, lessons to be learned from our relationships with our pets and even the value a classroom pet adds to the educational experience*.  What impresses me is that all of this is done so poinently and concisely…by second graders…mostly by crayon.  I love the pictures.  I love the humor.  I love seeing Houdini hamster through the eyes of those who knew and loved her.  It almost makes me want to treat my Fuzzy-loss with a hamster…

…but I won’t.

Houdini Was…

Five Stars!

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This book won the 2010 Scholastic “Kids Are Authors” contest and is available at all the Scholastic Book Fairs going on now!  I got it tonight during Parent-Teacher conferences

*Click here for information on “Pets in the Classroom”, a very fun CareFRESH grant program that assists with the adoption and care of small pets in the classroom.

I am reading through Veterinary Economic’s Summer Reading List.  Ha, very funny Veterinary Economics!  This is not summer reading!  This pile of books is taller than Wuzzy Rat!  At least the Bible in a Year gives me, you know, a year.  From the “summer” list, I am currently reading Collapse, by Jared Diamond, and Truman, by David McCullough.  I expect to be here for quite some time!  So, no reviews for a while!  I am loving Truman, which surprised me.  I am not usually a big history buff, but it is a great book.

Wuzzy Rat and Phil discuss whether I can actually finish this project, while Bunny tries to jump from the lamp to the Bible.

I have not reviewed a book from the Veterinary Economics Summer Reading List here for a while because I have apparently saved all of the big, huge books for last, and they are taking me FOREVER to read!  I am almost halfway done with the twenty-five books.  I am still having fun, and I am learning lots, but I may not have much to say for a while.  I will complete the list, but most likely not by the end of summer!

I found a cute star template weeks ago and have not gotten to use it yet.  So I will give you my input on a Book NOT on the list, you know, so I can use my stars…

Word of God - Five Stars!

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Next in the leadership series…

How to Win Friends and Influence People

by

Dale Carnegie

Since I am only reviewing leadership books of the Veterinary Economics suggested reading list to which I can give five stars, I think I will start each review the same way…I loved this book!  Five stars!

And I did.  How to Win Friends and Influence People was published in 1936 and I absolutely LOVE Dale Carnegie’s writing style.  He wrote as if he were wearing a top hat.  Unfortunately, I read a rereleased edition that Mrs. Carnegie published in 1981.  She updated some of the stories and language.  So every time I read a story in the first person that occurred after Mr. Carnegie passed away in 1955, I would do a double take - a sort of “I-just-saw-a-ghost” jump and yell.  The lessons in this book are invaluable and timeless.  I will buy it for sure if I can find an original edition.

Bunny Trails Several times, when Mr. Carnegie needed an especially pure or great example, he would turn to a story of a dog.  What struck me was his emphasis on the effectiveness of positive reinforcement training (which he did not word in that way of course, as it is a relatively new term, though not as new of a concept as I had assumed.)  When he wanted to emphasize how kind words are more effective than harsh words, he would remind the readers how much more quickly our pets learn when we train with kindness and rewards.  I began to think it would be very fun to trace the history of animal training.

Of course, as far back as the Old Testament, Balaam was reprimanded by an angel of God Himself for mistreating his poor donkey.  But I had until now assumed that “Positive Reinforcement Training” as a replacement for “Negative Reinforcement Training” had just tipped into favor in the last few decades.  Apparently wise, successful people knew all along that kindness and compassion are the best way to treat anyone, whether human or animal, and just did not have a nifty name for the concept yet.

Also, of course, I would like to read the other books Dale Carnegie has written.  He had an engaging writing style, and fun stories with solid morals.  And while he was a great man in his own right, he also seems to have been one or two degrees from every famous person of his time, which also makes for a fun read.

Next in the leadership series…

Start-Up Nation, The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle

by

Dan Senor and Saul Singer

I LOVED this book…five stars!

I have a special place in my heart for Israel, and the multilayered reasons for that do not even fit in the “What in The World Does This Have to Do with Pets?” section of this website.  That would be another website entirely!  The history contained in this book is fascinating, and has changed the way I view world history overall.

But this is not a book about heart or emotions or passion.  It is a book about achieving success against seemingly insurmountable odds, which is a theme that I absolutely love.  It is a book about Israel, which I have already told you I love, and it is a book about entrepreneurs and start-up companies, especially those in the technology sector, which, until this past week, I did not care one bit about.  In fact, I had to open the book and change every single vowel in my spelling of entrepreneurs, as I am quite sure I have not ever used the word before today.

And I love that about the book too.  I found myself caring very much why start-ups are successful or not, why Israeli start-ups tend to be SO successful, and even caring about the details of the businesses profiled in the book.

I suppose most of all I love a book that can make me care about things I did not know I would care about.  And in that regard above all, this is a great book.

Bunny Trails: The publishing company of this book intrigues me.  The book was published in November 2009 by Twelve.  They publish at most one book a month and invest in the long term success of the books they publish.  When I have time, I will read the other books published by Twelve.  Theoretically, if I can catch up with what they have published so far, I should be able to keep up by reading one book a month.  Woo!  I need another reading project!  Well, no I don’t.  But I am excited to have one.

Next in the leadership series…

Blink, The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

by

Malcolm Gladwell

I liked this book very much, maybe even more the second time than the first.

Five stars!  That’s all I’ve got.  Also, I took careful note of the cover on this one.  White like the rest of his books.  Classy white, not boring white.  I love it.

Bunny Trails: Now I want to go back and read Tipping Point, Outliers and What the Dog Saw again.  Malcolm Gladwell may very well be my favorite author.

More Bunny Trails: Click here to see a video of my brother Dave Nelson and Matt Helt of Secret Penguin playing paddleball with Malcolm Gladwell.  That would actually lend itself better to a discussion of Tipping Point, but once again, that’s what I’ve got.  And how fun!!

I started working through my pile of leadership books I began piling after reading the July 2010 Veterinary Economics article, 25 Books for your Summer Reading List.  I have restrained myself and only started three books.  The first one I finished was

Freakonomics

by

Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Disclaimer:  The books I do not enjoy, I do not talk about, and the ones I do enjoy I rave about.  Who wants to hear about a book that was sort of ok??  No one!  So books get five stars or no mention.  This book gets five stars.

In case I am not the last person in America to read this book, I highly recommend it.  Things you would not expect to bother you will, and things you would expect to really, really bother you - so much that you may have avoided thinking much about them before now - will prove worth analyzing.

The first thing I noticed was the cover.  The names of the authors made me think of the scene in Benny and Joon where Joon gets Benny two goldfish whom she has named Steven and Stephen.  I DID like the cover as soon as I saw it (I assume because it reminded me of the Benny and Joon scene), so this is one book I actually bought instead of borrowing first to make sure I liked it.

My kids pointed out (after I had finished reading the book) the cool picture on the cover of an apple with orange innards (signifying I suppose that things are not always as they seem).  Maybe I should not judge a book by its cover, because I do not notice the things normal people notice.  But in this case, it turned out fine.

I expect much of this book to echo around in my head for a while.  The bonus material contains a very sad recounting from Steven D. Levitt’s own family life which will probably be the part of the book that stays with me permanently, even with all of the crazy, fun turn-what-you-thought-you-knew-on-its-head stories that make up the body of the book.

I will also remember the thirty second thing.  The authors point out in a subpoint to an argument mid-book that drowning can occur in thirty seconds.  When we were in Turks and Caicos for my brother’s wedding in 2007, my daughter went under water and lost consciousness.  My husband pulled her out, and she made a rapid and full recovery.  Those few seconds have changed us forever, and I read the second half of the book with a horrible stomach ache.  I did not know the thirty second thing.

The rest of the paradigm shifts, the ones the authors create on purpose, perhaps should have given me a stomach ache, but did not.  They were well-told, jarring in an entertaining way, and made me want to learn more about things I had not previously even given a second thought…sumo wrestling and real estate agent commissions among them.

I do not know whether or how this will make me a better veterinarian or leader, but maybe.  I still have some thinking to do.

Bunny Trails…Now I want to read SuperFreakonomics by the same authors and wander around their blog, Freakonomics, The Hidden Side of Everything, at the website of the New York Times.  I still have several leadership books to read, so I need to stay focused!  Next up…Blink by Malcolm Gladwell or The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell, whichever one I finish first!

Hmm.  Reading Veterinary Economics has become less passive and more active these past couple of months.  I can’t wait to see what the August issue has in store!

The July 2010 issue had an article about leadership books.  I just stared at the photographs of the books and said, “Yes, Veterinary Economics journal!  I will read the twenty-five books you suggest!”

Click this link to see the article that made me want to put down my Stephen King and Bible in a Year and switch to a leadership kick for a while. (Just kidding Stan! Still reading.)

McFerson T. 25 books for your summer reading list. Veterinary Economics 2010;51(7):18-24.

Tom McFerson got four other veterinary field related professionals together, and they each listed their five favorite leadership books and challenged us to read them all.

So far, I have asked 11,758 people to read with me and Russ has said yes.  Yay!  This will be fun.

Maybe I should NOT start a second pile of books…

If you have whipped through those, or previously read them…here’s some more suggestions…

From Russ:

Fish by Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul and John Christensen

Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson

From Phil Barnes:

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey

Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne

What Clients Love by Harry Beckwith

From Me:

The Tipping Point and then everything else Malcolm Gladwell has ever written and will ever write, even if (maybe especially if) it is on the back of a napkin at dinner.  His brain just seems to think faster than even he himself can process - I love it!

The Referral of a Lifetime by Tim Templeton

The Loyal Customer, A Lesson From a Cab Driver by Shep Hyken (If you’re getting overwhelmed by this growing list, start with this cute little book.  My kid just read it in twenty minutes.)

The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren

From Dad*:

*I’ve been waiting for these suggestions.  Like Russ says, if you want to be a good leader, pay attention to what Bob does.  Bob Nelson is my Dad and he is the most successful person I know.  He was pretty excited to hear about this project, and here are the books he pulled off his shelf to add to my pile…

The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino

Soar with your Strengths by Donald O. Clifton and Paula Nelson

All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum

Where Have All the Leaders Gone? By Lee Iacocca