General Notes

Reading serves two purposes for me; learning and entertainment. When these two aspects are combined into one book it is a great feeling.

I read before sleeping most days as that is when I find I can focus on the content but still wind my mind down.

I also read plenty of articles/blogs, with the Reeder App. A few of the blogs I read:

• Astral Codex Ten
• James Clear’s 3/2/1
• Farnam Street

I have not yet read enough to develop a proper rating system for the books I have read, but I will update this if I create something I think is worth sharing.

Recent

All of the below books I have read with a book club based in Dogpatch Labs. Thomas Forbes and I set this up and it has been very beneficial for accountability and discussion.

We create somewhat comprehensive notes on each book, and if you want any of these notes or want to join the book club please reach out to me.

• Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• Hell yeah or no by Derek Sivers
• The Art of War by Sun Tzu
• Never split the difference by Chris Voss

Current

Currently my reading is not as varied as I would like it to be, it has too much of a lean on non-fiction. That being said, I am currently reading:

• Super Forecasting by Philip E. Tetlock
• Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
• Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday
• To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee

All Time

Overall, books have had a large impact on my life. Here are some of the books that have served me well:

• Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
  • This was such a good read. His style is simple to follow but he still is able to convey complex ideas. I would recommend this to anyone.
• A long walk to freedom by Nelson Mandela
  • A long book, but totally worth it. The story of Mandela’s life is somehow saddening, inspiring, motivating, shocking, and interesting all at the same time.
• Atomic Habits by James Clear
  • This should be classified as an essential book for new humans. Bold prediction - my potential children will be reading this in school in place of current classics.
• Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
  • What I like about this book is that it gives actionable takeaways. For example, I no longer use social media apps (instead use the browser if I need to check). I also have my phone on complete greyscale, which just makes it much less attractive to my simple mind.
• The mom test by Rob Fitzpatrick
  • If you’re trying to know what users think or want, this is basically a full solve. Such a quick read too.

Full list

Here is a list of books I have read to date, that I have recorded. Italic means that I would/have re-read it, which is my bar for quality right now.

• Make something wonderful - Steve Jobs
• The hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy - Douglas Adams
• Outlive - Peter Attia
• Second brain - Tiago Forte
• Snow crash - Neal Stephenson
• Do epic shit - Ankur Warikoo
• Looking for alaska - John Green
• Six easy pieces - Richard Feynman
• 4000 weeks - Oliver Burkeman
• Ego is the enemy - Ryan Holiday
• The art of war - Sun Tzu
• Super forecasting - Dan Gardener
• 0 to 1 - Peter Thiel
• To kill a mockingbird - Harper Lee
• Skin in the game - Nassim Taleb
• Hell yeah or no - Derek Sivers
• Surely you’re joking, mr. feynmann - Richard Feynman
• The power of habit - Charles Duhigg
• Atomic habits - James Clear
• Net positive - Paul Polman
• Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari
• Digital minimalism - Cal Newport
• MAKE - Pieter Levels
• Long walk to freedom - Nelson Mandela
• Man’s search for meaning = Viktor Frankl
• Freakonomics - Stephen Levitt
• The mom test - Rob Fitzpatrick
• Doing good better - Will MacAskill
• The precipice - Toby Ord
• 80,000 hours - Benjamin Todd
• The psychology of money - Morgan Housel
• Never split the difference - Chris Voss