Yesterday at lunch, our teams interns and me started talking books, and the hour flew by. At the end a task was opened up to share some favorites. Here it goes 😊
Books that have influenced my thinking the most
Antifragile by Nassim Taleb — goes over the idea that in certain domains, the extremes are what matter, I base a lot of my life on the philosphy that stems from that
Principles by Ray Dalio — Dalio’s rules for operating at life and business. I loved his idea of “the machine” of achieving your goals, and how many interactions can be generalized as “another one of those”. Aside from his concepts, I stole his idea of a Principles list, which I keep, and a Situations List.
The Red Queen by Matt Ridley — fascinating book, about the constant race that occurs within species through sexual selection.
Stoic authors: Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, A Guide to the Good Life — From these authors I gained the idea of focusing on what we can control. I also love how these philosophers were doers, their philosophy is rooted in reality. A great essay to start with is “On the shortness of life” by Seneca
Models by Mark Manson — Philosophy book disguised as dating advice. I gave this to my sister I liked it so much! The main idea is to be vulnerable and real in relationships
Getting Things Done by David Allen — David spent all his life perfecting the way to manage your life and work — his ideas have influenced pretty drastically how I operate on a day-to-day basis
Feeling Good by David Burns — If you find yourself having a lot of ups and downs in mood, this book helps greatly. His ideas for the way which we misperceive reality was an eye opener for me.
Essays by Paul Graham — I think PG’s thoughts are going to last the test of time. Many ideas on building wealth, friendships, hacking, and painting are keystones to my philosophy. I even made a book from it once to make things easy
Fiction I have re-read over and over again
Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa — This goes over the story of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, it’s a tale of historical fiction I found so rivetting, and had me researching a lot of Japanese history :>
The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas — I’ve read this book multiple times, with the first time being when I was about 13. Each time, I see a different side of this story. It’s an 18th century tale of badassery, where the protagonist just kicks bum
The Works of Rafael Sabatini — In a span of 5 months I read 30 of his books. They’re all simple plots, but nourish the adventurer, and the hero within you. I’d recommend you start with Captain Blood, then Scaramouche
The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho — The idea that we are all one, and a part of the “soul of the world”, is something I’ve grown to internalize
The Prophet by Khalil Gibran — This is the only poem-book I have found to like. Such beautiful verse, it’s a pleasure to re-read
Some fun books
Chimpanzee Politics — This book got me diving deep into a bunch more books on chimps. Rivetting story about a tribe that was being studied. Many applications to human behavior.
The other side of the leash — A book on dogs and how they think. Called my parents afterwards and asked them to get a dog
Total Recall by Arnold — Arnold has so much raw ambition and belief in himself, it’s pretty astounding. Have read many of his books, and found them invigorating
Leaving the best for last….
The Life Changing Magic of Tidying up by Mario Kondo :). Will turn many slobs into masters of cleaning
Oky doke, those are the main recommendations that come to mind. I wrote from memory to make sure these were really the books I liked, and not the ones I wanted people to think I liked :). This is a snapshot of my mind in August 2018
Update 2020
About 2 years have past. I would add 2 books and a series to this list:
Finally, a call to action: any book recommendations for me? :)