So we are now half way through 2017 and I have written 22 book reviews so far this year! Some books have been pretty bland but others have been so amazing that they have revolutionised my thinking. Here is my list of the 10 books that have been most influential on my mind/life in the last 6 months.

10) Ask Gary Vee. Others on this list may be more thought provoking but this list wouldn't exist if I hadn't listened to the latest book by Gary Vaynerchuk back in January on my audible free trial. It gave me the motivational kick start to create my website and take my blogging to the next level.
Review: http://www.drchrisharper.co.uk/blog/book-review-ask-gary-vee
Or purchase here: https://amzn.to/2vGHVA1

9) Sapiens. A fascinating book with so many enlightening insights into human history and culture.
Review: http://www.drchrisharper.co.uk/blog/book-review-sapiens
Purchase: https://amzn.to/2FcwNu8

8) The Miracle Morning Routine. Great if you want to learn how to make the most of the best time of the day and make yourself healthier, happier and less stressed.
Review: http://www.drchrisharper.co.uk/blog/book-review-the-miracle-morning
Purchase: https://amzn.to/2HnOSM7

7) Hooked (or alternatively thinking fast and slow). If you want to have an understanding of why people act the way they do then definitely read this.
Review: http://www.drchrisharper.co.uk/blog/double-book-review-hooked-and-thinking-fast-and-slow
Purchase: https://amzn.to/2FaqKGI

6) E myth. I haven't really implemented much from the E myth as of yet but if I owned a business then this would be one I return to time and again.
Review: http://www.drchrisharper.co.uk/blog/book-review-e-myth
Purchase: https://amzn.to/2HoxVRB

5) 4DX. Goal setting and team leadership boiled down to make it simple, executable and clear.
Review: http://www.drchrisharper.co.uk/blog/book-review-the-4-disciplines-of-execution
Purchase: https://amzn.to/2qYExLl

4) Black box thinking. Essential reading for all dentists in my opinion. Learn why we fail, how to accept failure rather than ignore it and thrive because of the lessons you gain from it.
Review: http://www.drchrisharper.co.uk/blog/book-review-black-box-thinking
Purchase: https://amzn.to/2Hr5C0W

3) Start with why. It doesn't matter what kind of business you are in. If you don't know your why then everything else is complex. Simplify your life by working out your why.
Review: http://www.drchrisharper.co.uk/blog/start-with-why
Purchase: https://amzn.to/2HozfUz

2) How to have a good day. If you want to read one book from this list that gives you a good summary of many of the important concepts of most of the others I would choose this one. So many evidence based actionable ideas to help you reduce stress and make progress.
Review: http://www.drchrisharper.co.uk/blog/how-to-have-a-good-day
Purchase: https://amzn.to/2Ka92qv

And the book that has had the biggest influence on my thinking this year is....

1) Productivity ninja. I have talked about this book many times and have expanded on the ideas contained in it in multiple ways. People regularly ask me how I have time to be a full time dentist, be a husband and a father to 3 children as well as publish 4 blog posts per week. The answer is by implementing the ideas from this book.
Review: http://www.drchrisharper.co.uk/blog/book-review-how-to-be-a-productivity-ninja
Purchase: https://amzn.to/2FbZ4kQ

Last night saw Steve and Richard from Optident providing a practical hands-on session for members of Dentinal Tubules around Exeter. We were using the new Clarke HD posterior matrices (also called Bioclear around the world).

I had a great time and really like the new matrices, but having said that I already have the old full Bioclear kit so it wasn't really surprising that I liked the new addition to the range.
I also had my first opportunity to try the All Surface Access Polishers (A.S.A.P.) and I will definitely be putting in an order for them.
Here is a very quick photo collage of my work from last night:

Today was spent in Bristol at the Holiday Inn for the third BDA Young Dentist Group Conference. It was a great day with useful lectures on a variety of topics and opportunity to meet like-minded dentists and representatives from the sponsor companies.

I thought I would just do a quick roundup of just a few of the key learning points I walked away with today.

Lecture 1
The Future of Young Dentists - Dr Alun Rees
Alan is the president of the BDA western counties and is now "The dental coach" helping dentists across the country.
His presentation was mainly motivation and advice about how to stay ahead of the field. His top tips are:
1) Take responsibility for your own life
2) Dentistry is a marathon not a sprint
3) Put pts interests first
4) Be effective. You must be good at what you do
5) You need to be able to live and understand the business of dentistry
6) Choose your company wisely
7) Be humble
6) When you get to work leave your baggage at the door
7) Avoid arrogance
8) Take pride in what you do and wave the flag for good dentistry
9) Prevent yourself from burning out.
10) Keep evolving


Lecture 2
Risk Management in Dentistry - Dr Aubrey Craig from MDDUS
Respect pts right to make decisions
Do no harm
Do good
Be able to Justify your actions

Top tips about record keeping:
See photo

After the lecture I discussed consent forms and information sheets with Dr Craig particularly regarding the consent forms I created and shared last year. He stated, on behalf of MDDUS, that he would very much support dentists using such template forms. He said that you must make sure the form is personalised as needed for this patient by deleting unrelated items and adding or embellishing other points and must be understandable to the patient. Ideally also offering the patient sufficient time absorb and reflect upon the form, so offering a paper copy is recommended.
These forms can be found here:
http://www.drchrisharper.co.uk/blog/consent-forms-my-biggest-impact-post-of-2016


Lecture 3
Oral Surgery Complications - Prof Tara Renton
Communication is key. Remember that pts are anxious particularly regarding the association with the chair and pain. So they will not be able to take the info in. Therefore we should be doing what all other medical professionals do and only put the pt in the chair to examine or treat the pt. at other times they should be in a normal chair or a consultation room etc.

Pt safety:
Standardise, educate, harmonise
Reports of serious events isn't happening the way it should be so we cant learn from these events.


Lecture 4
Introduction to Dental Implants - Dr Nik Sisodia
Start with the end in mind. If you can learn how to restore implants you will be far better at the surgery.

People who have complete dentures have 1/6th the chewing capacity of dentate individuals

His opinion is that we are only 1 big legal case away from CBCT being the basic standard of planning involved with implants.

If you are not doing any restoring of implants then start working closely with a surgeon and get him to teach you to restore them. If things don't work then build another relationship with someone else.


Lecture 5
Updates in Paediatric Dentistry regarding safeguarding - Professor Richard Welbury
Ghandi "A nation can be judged on how it treats it's children"

45000 children at any one time who are at rims of suffering significant harm and are on child protection registers.
Disabled children are over 3x more likely to be subject to abuse and neglect.


Next years conference will be in Exeter. Whether you are a very new graduate or have been around for some time I would recommend you check it out.

How many hours a day do you spend in the car? Have you extrapolated that figure for the year? My figure is just under 400 hours a year. How do you spend that time? Presumably most people will answer with listening to the radio or your own music.

Recently I have realised that there are lots of options for making better use of that time and I have been amazed at how much learning can be done in my commute when previously I would have just been listening to Radio 2.
So here are different ways you can build up your knowledge, rack up a huge amount of CPD and be entertained while driving to and from work:

Audiobooks.
I have 2 sources for my audiobooks. My local library allows free downloads via the overdrive app. Not surprisingly they don't have any dental audiobooks available but they have a pretty decent business and motivation section. That was how I came across the Zero to One audiobook by Peter Thiel (review here: www.drchrisharper.co.uk/blog/book-review-zero-to-one-by-peter-thiel)
The second source for my audiobooks is Amazon's Audible app. They have the biggest collection of audiobooks to buy worldwide so lots of suitable material. That was how I came across the Ask Gary Vee book (review here: http://www.drchrisharper.co.uk/blog/book-review-ask-gary-vee).
Audible is not free (although they do offer a 30 day free trial which allows you to get one free audiobook too). There are various membership plans starting from £7.99 per month and that allows you to purchase one audiobook for free every month, no matter what it would usually cost. Additional books can be bought at their individual price. On my list of books to read in the near future are these as well as many others:
4 disciplines of execution
The E-myth revisited
Black box thinking
Extreme ownership

Podcasts
There are lots of podcasts you can choose. Obviously loads of motivational ones, however if you want dental specific podcasts I would recommend trying The Dental Guys, Dentalpreneur and Dental Hacks to start with.

​And one more potential source of audio material I have discovered is via Dentinal Tubules. While most of their content is video or written articles they have an archive of audio as well. Have a look here: http://www.dentinaltubules.com/browse/audio

If you have found any other ways of making the most of your commute I would love it if you could share it here so others can benefit from it to.