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UK's leaders name reading that inspired them

A new list of reading recommendations by leaders from across the UK has been launched to provide a source of inspiration for anyone looking for challenging or stimulating reading.

The list, compiled by Common Purpose, includes recommendations from management writer Charles Handy; John Inge, the Bishop of Worcester; and James Ramsbotham, Chief Executive of the North East Chamber of Commerce.

James Ramsbotham recommended The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell (2000). He said: “Anita Roddick said ‘If you think you’re too small to make a difference, you have never been to bed with a mosquito’. This book convinces you to keep trying.”

Management books feature strongly in the list but there are also some surprising inclusions such as If this is a man by Primo Levi which was recommended by Tim Smit, Chief Executive of The Eden Project and The State vs. Nelson Mandela: The Trial That Changed South Africa by Joel Joffe which was suggested by Philip Kolvin, Barrister and Chairman of the Crystal Palace Campaign.

Richard Charkin, Executive Director, Bloomsbury Publishing found Catch-22 by Joseph Heller inspirational. He said: “I first read it aged fifteen when I still thought the world might be rational. It helped me recognise the absurdity of organisations, structures, rules and strategies!”

The list doesn’t just include books, several speeches were cited as influential, such as Martin Luther King’s 1963 I’ve been to the mountain top and, perhaps slightly oddly, J.K Rowling’s Harvard Commencement address The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .