Master and Commander series. Patrick O’Brian.   These books ( 21)  were written from 1969 to 2004.  The author focussed on the topics of Royal Navy sailing man of war during the era of the Napoleonic and US independence wars.    The series follows the career of Jack Aubrey – captain and his friend Stephen Maturin – Physician, naturalist and secret agent.   The details of sailing from England around the world, exploring, fighting and surviving are fascinating.  These sailors were intrepid, rugged and aggressive. One has to admire their abilities to overcome so much.  The author did a lot of research to align this series with real events.  Great tales, intrigues, plots and lots of action, with a major focus on men and their attitudes.  The books in the series are:

Master and Commander (1969)
Post Captain (1972)
HMS Surprise (1973)
The Mauritius Command (1977)
Desolation Island (1978)
The Fortune of War (1979)
The Surgeon’s Mate (1980)
The Ionian Mission (1981)
Treason’s Harbour (1983)
The Far Side of the World (1984)
The Reverse of the Medal (1986)
The Letter of Marque (1988)
The Thirteen-Gun Salute (1989)
The Nutmeg of Consolation (1991)
Clarissa Oakes (1992) – (The Truelove in the US)
The Wine-Dark Sea (1993)
The Commodore (1995)
The Yellow Admiral (1996)
The Hundred Days (1998)
Blue at the Mizzen (1999)
The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey (2004).

How to Sell In Place, Closing deals in the new normal. Tom Searcy & Carajane Moore. 2020.  These two have a history of selling very big sales without f2F meetings over the years ( Co = Hunt Big Sales).  This short book concisely and clearly lays out how they have done this. For the reader, this is a prescription of how to move forward in today’s new normal.   I appreciate and recognize the logic in this approach as it reflects what we have learned over the years in doing much the same.  The online resources are useful but the reader needs to do the hard work in making it apply to their business.  With the present two books on Virtual Selling ( Jeb Blount, The RAIN group)  this one is a good complement.

Virtual Selling. A quick start guide to leveraging video, technology and virtual communication channels to engage remote buyers and close deals fast. Jeb Blount. 2020  Wiley. This book was getting quite a bit of good press so I asked Jeb for a review copy. It came a few days ago.  I have read several of Jeb’s very useful books and I like the work he does.  This book does not disappoint.  Part of good sales technique is being efficient (do the right things) and being effective ( do them at the right time)  Jeb covers both of these very well. His ideas and guides are very current and much of what we do with present clients is contained here. A bonus is the plethora of online resources available to buyers of the ebook.  This is very good value and the content is presented in an easy to assimilate and use style.   Buy this book, read it once and then read it again. get to work.  Your commissions will soar!.

Virtual Selling. How to build relationships, differentiate, and win sales remotely. Mike Schultz, David Shaby, Andy Springer.  2020. ISBN 97817348839.  In a time of virtual selling along comes this  book from the RAIN group with very timely advice.  They are quite experienced in selling and as a consequence they do a very good job.  Plus there is a ton of related tools/content on their website to help sales managers implement.   I like how current their thinking is wrto sprints etc ( Agile in the sales process)  Quick , easy read but very dense with useful content.

The Robert Hunter series. Chris Carter. 2013-2019.  Robert Hunter is the lead detective in the Ultra violent Crimes Homicide Unit in LA police.  The stories involve the sickest of the sick killers.  Hunter  is a genius at solving these things, But make no mistake, non of these stories will feature in a episode of Criminal Minds.   Carter has no delusions about the venality and cruelty of the general public and he exposes it relentlessly.   Despite the vivid portrayals of gruesome subject matter the stories are very fast paced and well constructed.  This makes each novel hard to put down.

I read:

• The Hunter
• The Crucifix Killer
• Executioner
• The Night Stalker
• The Death Sculpter
• One by One
• An Evil Mind
• The Caller