E17: Three Types of Books To Read As Per Elon Musk
Elon Musk said we should view knowledge as a semantic tree. We should first understand the fundamental principles, i.e. the trunk and big branches, before we get to the leaves, which are details. May be we can apply this metaphor to books.
Books play an important role in building our competence. But there are so many books. If you go to Amazon and search on any domain, you will get thousands of books. Which one read?
Wouldn't some kind of classification help?
Elon Musk said we should view knowledge as a semantic tree. We should first understand the fundamental principles, i.e. the trunk and big branches, before we get to the leaves, which are details.
Wouldn't you say it is a great metaphor for classifying books?
Going by what Elon Musk said, we can classify books into three categories:
- Trunk books
- Branch books
- Leaf books
Trunk books are those that explain the fundamentals of a domain.
Ram Charan's What the CEO wants you to know, Steven Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and William Zinsser's On Writing Well are all trunk books.
The content of the books remain relevant for decades. So you should probably buy the books in physical form and read and re-read them.
Next are branch books.
They deal with one area of the field.
I talked about William Zinsser's book - On Writing Well. Whether you are writing novel or a business email the principles are applicable. But Christopher Booker's The Seven Basic Plots is specific to fiction writing.
There is a book called "Finance for non-finance managers." It doesn't talk about entire finance field, nor about management. It teaches corporate finance to manager. It is a typical branch book.
Branch books also remain relevant for many years. So probably you should get them in physical format too.
The last ones are the leaf books.
A leaf book teaches you a specific skill or a trend. Say Excel 2019 or membership economy.
Leaf books teach you all you need to know about an emerging trend. But to build a successful venture out of the trend, you still need trunk and branch knowledge.
Leaf books are transient. So it doesn’t make sense to buy them. Better to read them through a subscription service like Scribd. Or if you want to support the author, buy as an e-book.
You gain from all three types of books - the trunk, the branch, and leaf books.
It is possible to start with a leaf book and go down the journey into building trunk knowledge. You might begin with Excel 2019. Because of early success with it, you might become interested in data visualization in Excel and then onto data modeling using it.
Even leaf books give you short-term gains. You need to be cautious because you could chase one shiny object after another, never building a strong foundation to a lasting success.
If you aspire to stay successful, you should lay a strong foundation on solid principles. Only trunk and branch books teach you those rock-solid principles.
Do you agree with this classification?
If you liked the episode, hit the subscribe and like buttons. And share with at least one friend.
Connect with me:
Wouldn't some kind of classification help?
Elon Musk said we should view knowledge as a semantic tree. We should first understand the fundamental principles, i.e. the trunk and big branches, before we get to the leaves, which are details.
Wouldn't you say it is a great metaphor for classifying books?
Going by what Elon Musk said, we can classify books into three categories:
- Trunk books
- Branch books
- Leaf books
Trunk books are those that explain the fundamentals of a domain.
Ram Charan's What the CEO wants you to know, Steven Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and William Zinsser's On Writing Well are all trunk books.
The content of the books remain relevant for decades. So you should probably buy the books in physical form and read and re-read them.
Next are branch books.
They deal with one area of the field.
I talked about William Zinsser's book - On Writing Well. Whether you are writing novel or a business email the principles are applicable. But Christopher Booker's The Seven Basic Plots is specific to fiction writing.
There is a book called "Finance for non-finance managers." It doesn't talk about entire finance field, nor about management. It teaches corporate finance to manager. It is a typical branch book.
Branch books also remain relevant for many years. So probably you should get them in physical format too.
The last ones are the leaf books.
A leaf book teaches you a specific skill or a trend. Say Excel 2019 or membership economy.
Leaf books teach you all you need to know about an emerging trend. But to build a successful venture out of the trend, you still need trunk and branch knowledge.
Leaf books are transient. So it doesn’t make sense to buy them. Better to read them through a subscription service like Scribd. Or if you want to support the author, buy as an e-book.
You gain from all three types of books - the trunk, the branch, and leaf books.
It is possible to start with a leaf book and go down the journey into building trunk knowledge. You might begin with Excel 2019. Because of early success with it, you might become interested in data visualization in Excel and then onto data modeling using it.
Even leaf books give you short-term gains. You need to be cautious because you could chase one shiny object after another, never building a strong foundation to a lasting success.
If you aspire to stay successful, you should lay a strong foundation on solid principles. Only trunk and branch books teach you those rock-solid principles.
Do you agree with this classification?
If you liked the episode, hit the subscribe and like buttons. And share with at least one friend.
Connect with me:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/jjude
- Website: https://jjude.com/
- Newsletter: https://jjude.com/subscribe
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jjude/
- Email: podcast@jjude.com
- Executive Coaching Program: https://gravitaswins.com
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Have a life of WINS.
I would like to hear what struck you most in this episode. Either you can email me or share it on social media and tag me. Thank you for your support.
Have a life of WINS.
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