| Four Fish |
Paul Greenberg |
⭐️⭐️ |
An enjoyably interwoven narrative/expose of man's evolving exploitation of the ocean from salmon, seabass, cod, tuna... some food for thought incl. that all sea farming is some exploitation of public resources for private gain and that raising warm-blooded fish e.g. tuna defeats the theoretical efficiency of raising fish; worth watching the PBS documentary (The Fish On My Plate, 2017) Greenberg wrote/narrated first/too |
20100600000000 June 2010 |
20200500000000 April 2020 |
| The Man Who Sold America |
Joy-Ann Reid |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
Trump's ascent to power and the consequences thereof often fall prey to singular (oversimplified) narratives. So, new perspectives are always refreshing and important to find and read. I thought this was well-done. In light of ACB's nomination, Reid's highlighting of McConnell's "Laser Focus On Transforming the Judiciary" is particularly salient. |
20190600000000 June 2019 |
20200700000000 July 2020 |
| Blowout |
Rachel Maddow |
⭐️⭐️ |
O&G is an easy industry to bash, but Maddow with her irreverent and undoubtedly entertaining tone does a good job; ultimately she spells out how inevitably corrupting it is because it is particularly (but not exclusively @capitalism writ large) suited to backdoor dealings for connected elites; how this isn't limited to petro-states like Equatorial Guinea are explored in the shocking story of Oklahoma, and it just goes to show how cheap/possible it is to buy a state legislature; the unintended consequences of Russia's slide into being the ultimately petro/failed-state, i.e. destabilizing of global democracies are also interesting |
20191000000000 October 2019 |
20200500000000 May 2020 |
| Deceiving The Sky |
Bill Gertz |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
A refreshing perspective on US-Chinese relations from a well-known China hawk. Gertz outlines how the US' history of appeasement has left it vulnerable to China's growing belligerence and military power (key risks being space/cyber); the association of this appeasement strategy with pro-business groups and Chinese influence operations isn't too surprising — one shocking anecdote is that Steve Wynn handed a letter from XJP to Trump mentioning that extraditing Guo Mengui (a Chinese state enemy) would be a great "personal favour" |
20190900000000 September 2019 |
20200600000000 June 2020 |
| 12 Rules For Life |
Jordan Peterson |
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
This is self-help at it's best: well-researched but with a powerful yet playful tone that always drives the point home. I don't think it's possible to rave enough about this book. If a book is too much of an investment (and it is thick, time-consuming reading), I’d suggest checking out his podcast or YouTube lectures as a warm-up. |
20180100000000 January 2018 |
20200100000000 January 2020 |
| The Algebra of Happiness |
Scott Galloway |
⭐️⭐️ |
20190500000000 May 2019 |
20191200000000 December 2019 |
| AI Superpowers |
Kai-Fu Lee |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
Discusses how China will be the greatest beneficiary of AI. The world's most qualified person to discuss such matters. |
20180900000000 September 2018 |
20181100000000 November 2018 |
| The Ajax Dilemma |
Paul Woodruff |
⭐️ |
20140300000000 March 2014 |
20150500000000 May 2015 |
| A New Foreign Policy |
Jeffrey Sachs |
⭐️⭐️ |
Updated for Trump’s presidency, Sachs (a leading developmental economist) makes a great case for internationalist foreign policy. Much of it is about committing to the UN, but some great points about the arms/aids race (to the bottom) with China. |
20181000000000 October 2018 |
20190400000000 April 2019 |
| Between Debt and the Devil |
Adair Turner |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
Argues successfully that credit creation is "too important to be left in the hands of the private sector" because commercial banks consistently over-lend by underestimating the risk of real estate. Longer life expectancies, income inequality, urbanization, and Moore's Law all exacerbate this. Explains what a balance sheet recession is (expounded in Koo's book). Recommends measures to reign in finance. |
20150100000000 January 2015 |
20160600000000 June 2016 |
| Being Mortal |
Atul Gawande |
⭐️⭐️ |
Asks important questions about our unhealthy obsession with prologing life at any cost. Well-written and powerfully personal, Being Mortal is an important book that you might want to read while you have the luxury to. |
20141000000000 October 2014 |
20170600000000 June 2017 |
| Bad Blood |
John Carreyrou |
⭐️⭐️ |
Bad Blood is an exciting telling of Theranos from start to finish with great descriptions of E. Holmes and the other players involved. Are we as much at blame for believing her? Definitely a developing story given coming trial, an HBO documentary, and a future blockbuster movie. Worth reading to contextualize what's to come. Madoff for Millennials. |
20180500000000 May 2018 |
20190200000000 February 2019 |
| Between the World And Me |
Ta-Nehisi Coates |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
Beautifully written and narrated (I listened to the audiobook (3h 35m)), this book is incredibly evocative. Styled as a letter to his teenage son, Coates discusses and illuminates — especially for non-black readers — the cruel, harsh reality (destruction, dispossession, and disembodiment) of being “drafted into the black race,” and dispels the illusion of America as some shining city on a hill. Viewing this somber message under the lens of an, almost apologetic, parent offering advice, you might be moved to tears by this (audio)book. |
20150900000000 September 2015 |
20190100000000 January 2019 |
| Black Edge |
Sheelah Kolhatkar |
⭐️⭐️ |
An accounting of the SEC's quest to bring down Steve Cohen, "the genius trader," whose firm SAC was known to beat the market (by a lot) and trade on inside information (a lot). Ultimately, the SEC failed to get Cohen, instead convicting only a few of SAC's employees and exacting a record $1.2B fine in 2014. Today, however, Cohen is back in the game, unscathed, with billions to his name and a new shining fund: Point72. Raises questions about the SEC's capabilities, something which is expounded on more in Eisenger's The Chickenshit Club |
20170900000000 September 2017 |
20190200000000 February 2019 |
| Blitzscaling |
Reid Hoffman |
⭐️⭐️ |
Blitzscaling (verb): "prioritizing speed over efficiency under uncertainty." Hoffman’s main thrust is to tune your startup strategy for its stage and commands that you have 3 types of innovation: (1) business model, (2) strategy, and (3) management; all of which is intuitive, but which Hoffman is able to uniquely expound upon by using his own experience as a (co)-founder of LinkedIn/PayPal and well as those of other entrepreneurs he’s mingled with. Note: I basically copied 80% of my highlights, so would recommend reading the actual book.
|
20181000000000 October 2018 |
20190500000000 May 2019 |
| The Buy Side |
Turney Duff |
⭐️ |
Duff, a journalism major from Ohio State vividly recounts his experiences as a buy-side trader on Wall St from the 90s to the 00s. What makes this book so entertaining is Duff’s ability to write what is presumably a factual account of his own experiences and his willingness to go to into incredibly sordid details regarding his cocaine/alcohol addiction, which his book suggests is the norm of Wall St’s buy-side (at least back then). I was fascinated by his crediting his success to his interpersonal skills — something which I imagine has in no small part have to do with him being the only son (of a demanding, cold father, see Drama of the Gifted Child) but youngest of 4 children… |
20140600000000 June 2014 |
20190100000000 January 2019 |
| The Chickenshit Club |
Jesse Eisenger |
⭐️⭐️ |
The story behind how Wall St and more became "too big to persecute" from the SEC/DOJ's side; tl;dr rise of the deferred prosecution agreement and the lack of political willpower/resources to go after big cases after past fiascos including Enron, Andersen, KPMG, Bear Stearns; also, regulatory capture. |
20170700000000 July 2017 |
20190400000000 April 2019 |
| The Coddling of the American Mind |
Lukianoff & Haidt |
⭐️⭐️ |
An expanded version of the original 2015 article, but goes into great detail explaining 6 potential causes of the recent safetyism/victimhood culture arising on campuses and spelling out why it's problematic for kids today. Basically, it makes them fragile. |
20180900000000 September 2018 |
20190100000000 January 2019 |
| Colossus: Rise and Fall of the American Empire |
Niall Ferguson |
⭐️⭐️ |
Well-written (as Ferguson always does), 'Colossus' argues the case for why America should be considered an empire and draws out where its fall might come from -- essentially a lack of support / political appetite for prolonged military engagements and settlements. In 2017 this proposition looks increasingly fallible due to America's new-found energy independence (expounded in McNally's book). |
20040600000000 June 2004 |
20160500000000 May 2016 |
| The Conservative Heart |
Arthur Brooks |
⭐️⭐️ |
A well-written defense of traditional conservatism (not the modern day mutation) that makes a good case for the values of conservatism: more work and fulfillment and fewer giveaways. |
20160700000000 June 2016 |
20170300000000 March 2017 |
| Contagious: Why Things Catch On |
Jonah Berger |
⭐️⭐️ |
Despite stilted writing, Wharton professor Berger presents a useful framework to think about what helps a product spread organically and via word of mouth. Especially powerful and salient was the first component of this: social currency-- people share things in order to be perceived of as smarter, more informed, etc. |
20160500000000 May 2016 |
20171200000000 December 2017 |
| Crude Volatility |
Robert McNally |
⭐️⭐️ |
Decent history of the oil industry, offers a nuanced explanation of why crude oil is characterized by inherent price volatility despite concerted efforts to maintain stability. Delves into consequences of US shale oil and new Saudi Arabian oil policy to maintain production, i.e. a reversion to the mean: boom and bust. |
20170100000000 January 2016 |
20170600000000 June 2017 |
| The Drama of the Gifted Child |
Alice Miller |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
Miller's seminal, blockbuster work, this book is something that I think everyone can relate to in some part (or at least acknowledge its powerful, inescapable conclusions) regarding the cyclical nature of parenting, i.e. how we unintentionally reproduce/internalize behaviors (often undesirable) in our own children. Most importantly, she offers us the tidbit from her own decades of experience as a psychologist that the only solution for individuals tormented by their childhood - which is basically everyone, in some way or another — is much-needed but much-avoided internal dialogue. |
19961100000000 November 1996 |
20190100000000 January 2019 |
| Double Entry |
Jane G-White |
⭐️⭐️ |
The story of double-entry accounting and how it 'changed' the world. It's told as an interesting story, and this part is done well. Funny to think how separating accounts into two separate tables revolutionized finance. |
20131000000000 October 2013 |
20150500000000 May 2015 |
| Earning the Rockies |
Robert Kaplan |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
This book redeems itself in the second half wherein Kaplan (partially) derives America's modern hegemonic status to its geographic position, e.g. it was the only modern country that came out of WW2 without surviving significant domestic damage; its waterways 'unite' rather than divide; its monolithic continental shape promotes unity; it was colonized water-rich-east to west, thus allowing for liberal governance. Also talks about the "warrior culture" of non-coastal Americans. |
20170100000000 January 2017 |
20170500000000 May 2015 |
| Ego Is the Enemy |
Ryan Holiday |
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
Equally short and powerful. Herein, Holiday makes a simple argument well: hard work and humility are the keys to success. However, they're also often the first victims of ego. So make ego public enemy number 1 if you ever wish to enjoy continued success. |
20160600000000 June 2016 |
20171000000000 October 2017 |
| The End of Alchemy |
Mervyn King |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
The former governor of the Bank of England, King offers a nuanced understanding of finance and what he terms financial alchemy. He offers an alternative central banking model that appears very promising: the idea of a pawnbroker for all seasons (vs. lender of last resort) that would reduce moral hazard. |
20160300000000 March 2016 |
20160900000000 September 2016 |
| The End of Average |
Todd Rose |
⭐️⭐️ |
Offers an interesting historical perspective of why the modern educational system is shaped the way it is (read: factories and Frederick Taylor) and why it's no longer suitable today and thus needs replacement. Does what few books do successfully, however, and that is to suggest good improvements / alternatives e.g. (1) grant credentials not diplomas, (2) replace grades with competency, (3) let students determine their educational pathway |
20160100000000 January 2016 |
20160300000000 March 2016 |
| Escape from Balance Sheet Recession and the QE Trap |
Richard Koo |
⭐️⭐️ |
I found this book in the footnotes of Turner's book. It's a relatively stale but not too technical read that does a good job of explaining the situation we're in today post-2008, i.e. a BSR where firms minimize debt at the expense of maximising profits (thereby contravening classical economic theory). |
20141000000000 October 2014 |
20160800000000 August 2016 |
| The Everything Store |
Brad Stone |
⭐️⭐️ |
Stone had unpredecented access to Bezos and employees of Amazon to write this, and in it he offers readers a look under the hood of Amazon's corporate policies such as "top grading", bias for action, and the eschewing of PowerPoints and presentations. He doesn't offer a very rosy picture of Bezos as a character, and Bezos' wife wrote an (unsubstantiated) rebuttal to Stone's portrayal. Pretty interesting. |
20150300000000 March 2015 |
20151100000000 November 2015 |
| The Fifth Risk |
Michael Lewis |
⭐️⭐️ |
Lewis uncovers some of the hidden complexities of the US government in this book, taking examples from the Department of Energy (half of whose budget goes towards maintaining the nuclear arsenal, namely waste), the Department of Commerce (which is misnamed, it should really be the Department of Data — all of weather data comes from sub-department NOAA), and the Department of Agriculture (whose $200B bank funds rural development). Basically, the book is about short-termism and through reading it one uncovers how Trump might be the epitome (both indirectly (lack of preparation) and directly (continued ignorance)) of it. Honestly, terrifying. |
20181000000000 October 2018 |
20190100000000 January 2019 |
| Flash Boys |
Michael Lewis |
⭐️⭐️ |
Lewis fashions an enjoyable story out of high-frequency trading (HFT) industry, which he strongly argues do more harm than good. Although they are touted to improve market efficiency thanks to the liquidity they provide, this very same liquidity dries up when it's needed most -- in spikes / collapses: in crashes: 85% of inventory is held by HFT firms. |
20160100000000 January 2016 |
20160300000000 March 2016 |
| The Formula |
Albert Barabasi |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
Written by a physicist best known for his work in network theory, The Formula starts with a lofty mission of quantifying the science of human accomplishment and codifying this complex phenomenon into universal laws, but it succeeds in a way that his previous books, criticized for being too repetitive or self-aggrandizing, did not.
|
20181100000000 November 2018 |
20190800000000 August 2019 |
| The Four |
Scott Galloway |
⭐️⭐️ |
Galloway, a marketing professor at NYU Stern, mounts a reasoned attack on the tech companies (Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Amazon) that are increasingly ruling our lives these days. An important read for this age. |
20171000000000 October 2016 |
20180100000000 January 2018 |
| The Greatest Empire |
Emily Wilson |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
A thoughtful reflection on the writings of Seneca, a prominent Roman politician and stoic philosopher in Nero's court, Wilson's writings expose the contradictions between Seneca's teachings and his lived actions. There is much we might learn from his life, indeed the greatest empire is to 'conquer oneself.' |
20141000000000 October 2014 |
20180300000000 March 2018 |
| Hillbilly Elegy |
James Vance |
⭐️⭐️ |
“You will not read a more important book about America this year.” – The Economist. Hillbilly Elegy is about that part of America that elected Trump and that we don't really hear much about: white working-class America, also the most dually pessimistic and proud demographic. Something something about learned helplessness. Should be read with 'Earning the Rockies' (notes available). |
20160600000000 June 2016 |
20170100000000 January 2017 |
| Hopes and Prospects |
Noam Chomsky |
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
Chomsky is the most cited living author in the world -- and for good reason. Sadly, I never finished my notes on this book, but maybe that's a good thing because you should read it in its entirety. In 'Hopes and Prospects', Chomsky offers trenchant criticism of American foreign policy and shows us how the US became #1, and how South America's modern independence (from NA) movements represent humanity's hopes and prospects. |
20100600000000 June 2010 |
20151100000000 November 2015 |
| In Defense of a Liberal Education |
Fareed Zakaria |
⭐️⭐️ |
Argues that a liberal education is the only thing that can prepare you for constant change, also the importance of writing. |
20150300000000 March 2015 |
20180400000000 April 2018 |
| Incerto Trilogy |
Nassim Taleb |
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
This is a trilogy for which I've written notes / commentary that work best as a reading companion. I was drawn to this by Taleb's famous book 'The Black Swan' and Incerto can be considered a guide to being a more well-informed, less-biased member of society. Can be read with Gigerenzer's book (notes available). |
20010100000000 2001-2012 |
20160100000000 2016 |
| Insane Mode |
Hamish McKenzie |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
3 challenges Tesla faced: fires, range anxiety, and its dealership model; charts the global rise of EVs, especially in China where former Western teams are being enticed (e.g. team behind BMW i8); most startling is fact that batteries will soon (2020+ at current rate of economization) be cheap enough for EV cost-parity. |
20181100000000 November 2018 |
20181200000000 December 2018 |
| King of Capital |
Carey & Morris |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
This book is (1) About finance, specifically, about Private Equity (PE), Stephen Schwarzman (SS), and Blackstone (BX, which is named after him and his cofounder (Peter Peterson): combining the English equivalents of schwarz, Yiddish for black, and peter, Greek for stone), (2) God-damned fun to read: blow-by-block story telling of major financial deals that reads like sports coverage, maybe only to me, (3) Well-researched: references run around 20% of the book and many are based on personal interviews that give access to the characters we only see gracing magazine covers, (4) Somehow coherent: dealing with complex timelines and deals, the story is weaved into a coherent crisscrossing narrative; it takes a while to fully comprehend the "Blackstone diaspora," (5) but also really long… was quite the slog to get through — fascinating notwithstanding. |
20120200000000 February 2012 |
20190600000000 June 2019 |
| Lab Rats |
Dan Lyons |
⭐️⭐️ |
How Silicon Valley is making work miserable: money, job insecurity, change, dehumanization (via automation). Good case studies of successful + good culture firms (Basecamp). |
20181000000000 October 2018 |
20181200000000 December 2018 |
| Lifelong Kindergarten |
Mitchel Resnick |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
Resnick, developer of Scratch and the Clubhouse Network, writes on the importance of creativity and how we might remedy today's educational system to help children develop it as a lifelong skill. Strong thesis grounded in principles of iteration and intrinsic motivation. Timely, salient material with the coming advent of ubiquitous, high-quality, personalized education. |
20170800000000 August 2017 |
20171100000000 November 2017 |
| Love: A History |
Simon May |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
May offers us rare insight into the Western concept of love. He traces the many philsophers who've contributed to this concept, and along the way refutes many myths. Ultimately, he argues that love is conditional, ephemeral, and selfish. |
20130100000000 January 2013 |
20180900000000 September 2018 |
| Make Time |
Knapp & Zeratsky |
⭐️⭐️ |
My highlights aren’t as helpful here, but I would recommend this book as a useful reference. It’s a collection of 87 tips from ex-Googlers who've worked on addictive products (YouTube, Gmail) and therefore know first-hand how hard it is to find the time to do the things we really want to do, i.e. mistaking urgency for importance. |
20180900000000 September 2018 |
20190500000000 May 2019 |
| My Twentieth Century |
Kazuo Ishiguro |
⭐️⭐️ |
Kazuo Ishiguro’s acceptance speech for his 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature (transcript). Explains the thought-process and chronology behind his books, especially interesting if you've read Remains of the Day and/or The Buried Giant. |
20171200000000 December 2017 |
20190100000000 January 2019 |
| New Confessions of an Economic Hitman |
John Perkins |
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
In 'New Confessions', Perkins updates his earlier 2004 novel in which he explains how the US government / corporatocracy collude to deceive, abuse, and economically exploit economically developing nations. E.g. offer loans to insolvent governments with kickbacks for corrupt officials in order to take over national assets. This book works well with prior readings of Ha-Joon Chang's work such as 'Kicking Away the Ladder', which goes into how the IMF / World Bank are also complicit in this. Also should be read with 'The Wikileaks Files' (notes available). |
20160200000000 February 2016 |
20161200000000 December 2016 |
| Neuroteach |
Whitman, & Kelleher |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
Informed by the latest research in neuroscience, the authors draw out the relevance of these advances to the field of education. Fun activity: look at the list of "worst pedagogical methods" at the bottom and see how many you experienced while in school. |
20160600000000 June 2016 |
20171000000000 October 2017 |
| Oil |
Vaclav Smil |
⭐️⭐️ |
The 2nd, revised, edition of Smil's useful primer to understanding (one of) the most consequential industries today. Bill Gates writes: "There is no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil." |
20180100000000 January 2018 |
20180400000000 April 2018 |
| One World Schoolhouse |
Salman Khan |
⭐️⭐️ |
Salman Khan of Khan Academy writes a short, readable (and sadly common) critique of modern education, as well as the story of how the Khan Academy came to be. Personally, each deserves its own book and should be separated in such a way. Also unforunate is that because of the publishing date, Khan's new physical school initiative isn't written about. |
20121000000000 October 2012 |
20170800000000 August 2017 |
| The Power of the Other |
Henry Cloud |
⭐️⭐️ |
In a nutshell: we are walking summations of our past experiences, but many of our decisions are influenced by the thoughts and values of those closest to us, and these in turn are impacted by the quality of our relationships with these people. Great book. However, the studies quoted lack sources, which is a huge problem — an exercise for the future if I can find the time! |
20150300000000 March 2015 |
20160400000000 April 2016 |
| Range |
David Epstein |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
As a self-described generalist / jack-of-all-trades, this was very motivating and relieving to read. Epstein does a great job of explaining why we might believe hyper-specialization / 10,000 hours is the key to success, when in actual fact, flexibility + range might be the key to long-term success, especially when the world's complexity only continues to grow. |
20190500000000 May 2019 |
20191100000000 November 2019 |
| The Real Estate Game |
William Poorvu |
⭐️ |
Good for first time homebuyers and potential RE investors, I guess. No notebook, since it’s a little dated. But really simple/clear explanations, will try and tackle his casebook at some point. |
19990900000000 September 1999 |
20190300000000 March 2019 |
| Rediscovering Travel |
Seth Kugel |
⭐️⭐️ |
Written by NYT's Frugal Traveler, his personal blog Kugel's reflections on travelling around the world are fascinating to read — especially when you are travelling! I read this while touristing my way to Spain only to find out that mainstream (comfortable) tourism is inversely related to having a truly memorable, authentic experience. Kugel's Law rewords this sentiment thus: "The number of visitors a place receives is inversely related to how nice locals are to those visitors." |
20181100000000 November 2018 |
20190300000000 March 2019 |
| Risky Savvy |
Gerd Gigerenzer |
⭐️⭐️ |
Full title: 'Risky Savvy: How to Make Good Decisions', interesting case studies, similar in concept to Taleb's Incerto series. Notes in reading companion version. |
20150300000000 March 2015 |
20160400000000 April 2016 |
| The Road To Character |
David Brooks |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
Brooks argues that we, as a society, have lost our moral vocabulary, and this leads to pernicious consequences for us as individuals. Struggle, Brooks maintains, is crucial to moral development. Fortunately for the reader, by exploring the complex and often painful lives of figures who've gone down in the history books, Brooks hopes to offer transferable advice. |
20160900000000 September 2016 |
20180300000000 March 2018 |
| Secrets of Sand Hill Road |
Scott Kupor |
⭐️⭐️ |
Employee #3 at a16z and recruited by Andreessen to work at his startup Opsware (formerly Loudcloud, the one after Netscape), Kupor would really be the guy to know the “secrets” of Sand Hill Road! Sadly, making a deep, yet approachable primer to venture capital isn’t an easy task to do in 250-pages, and certainly for the benefit of the mass audience, Kupor focuses more on the latter… which is his aim— “Possibly for the first time in history, we’re talent-constrained instead of capital-constrained,” and Kupor’s hope is that this book might reduce that constraint. Think of this as VC 201. |
20190600000000 June 2019 |
20200300000000 March 2020 |
| The Seventh Sense |
Joshua Cooper Ramo |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
An important book for today's networked world. "An entrepreneur with the Seventh Sense looks at a spare bedroom and sees the possibility of a network to unseat hotels" |
20160600000000 June 2016 |
20171100000000 November 2017 |
| The Shallows |
Nicholas Carr |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
This is a book (Pulitzer Prize finalist) about how the Internet is rewiring our brains, and most likely for the worse. It should be essential reading for anyone of this generation. Learn about how you should be reading more books and less Internet junk -- because your brain is really plastic!! |
20110600000000 June 2011 |
20160200000000 February 2016 |
| Skin in the Game |
Nassim Taleb |
⭐️⭐️ |
Having read his Incerto trilogy, I felt rather compelled to read this Taleb’s latest. It was kind of repetitive and not particularly coherent; basically, people learn best through direct experience and work best when they have something at stake. Interestingly the latter is something that was codified in ancient societies (Hammurabi’s Law and even the Bible’s lex talonis), but that we’ve lost since… Taleb’s favorite example: Bob Rubin. |
20180200000000 February 2018 |
20180900000000 September 2018 |
| The Square and the Tower |
Niall Ferguson |
⭐️⭐️ |
Ferguson tries to rewrite the historiological paradigm that has understated the power of networks in explaining history, i.e. ascribing too much agency/influence to individuals. Too much? |
20180100000000 January 2018 |
20180500000000 May 2018 |
| Superforecasting |
Philip Tetlock |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
Superforecasting is another book in the long series of decision-making-related books I've now read. It is, however, one of the better ones. Tetlock discusses the need for accountability in prediction-making and the common traits that superforecasters share. |
20160900000000 September 2016 |
20170900000000 September 2017 |
| Utopia For Realists |
Rutger Bregman |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
Bregman makes great cases for giving money to the poor, implementing a UBI, reducing the work week, and more. His TED talk on poverty is quite moving and well-worth watching. |
20170300000000 March 2017 |
20170700000000 July 2017 |
| ValueWeb |
Chris Skinner |
⭐️⭐️ |
Debunks some FinTech myths such as that the big banks today aren't moving or that they even need to move. (Correctly) paints the future as belonging to Blockchain and mobile. |
20160400000000 April 2016 |
20160500000000 May 2016 |
| The War on Normal People |
Andrew Yang |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
Basically Yang's fully fleshed out campaign manifesto, or the rationale behind it (oh yeah, he's running for President 2020). The best part is that it's more data-driven than anecdotal, and the anecdotes that he does include come from his experience as an entrepreneur — he started Venture for America, but realized it wouldn't create enough jobs. Perhaps tech-pessimist in terms of the conclusions he comes to, Yang's tone is nevertheless pragmatic. Indeed, this is the startling, clarion call to overhaul the US that the country needs, not irrational backlash against threats unknown. I was a proponent of UBI before, and now even more so... glad a mainstream US political candidate is taking it up now before it's too late. Consider how 7 million jobs (fast food and trucking) are in danger, and tell how AI is going to create 7 million jobs for these "normal people" who'd be displaced, hint: they're not going to be software engineers. |
20180400000000 April 2018 |
20190600000000 June 2019 |
| When |
Daniel Pink |
⭐️⭐️ |
Pink, of Drive (one of the first and most well-known behavioral economics airport books) fame broaches an interesting topic in When, namely that while most self-help books can be classified as “how-to” books, When is of a new genre of “when-to.” And having digested “more than seven hundred studies,” the conclusions he reaches are both significant and not obvious.
|
20180100000000 January 2018 |
20190700000000 July 2019 |
| When To Rob A Bank |
Steven Levitt |
⭐️ |
A collection of blogposts from the Freakonomics guys. Though I didn’t really enjoy the originals (I read both) because I thought some of the hypotheses were tenuous at best, they were still entertaining to read. This is better — and best as an airplane book — because the stories are even shorter and the tone is more light-hearted… if you’re going to do pop-economics, don’t take yourself too seriously!
|
20160500000000 May 2016 |
20190500000000 May 2019 |
| The WikiLeaks Files: The World According to US Empire |
WikiLeaks |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
Great introduction by Julian Assange. This book defines an empire (a definition encompassing the US), describes the 4 phases of US foreign policy, and analyzes specific cables on WikiLeaks that offer an insight into how the US operates. E.g, the State Department enforcing a preference of Airbus over Boeing in Bahrain and the adoption of GMO in Europe. Issues such as the "Invade Hague Act", censorship, and America's current Dollar Wall-St and Virtual Senate system (expounded in Perkin's and Chomsky's books) are explored. |
20160900000000 September 2016 |
20170200000000 February 2017 |
| Winners Take All |
Anand Giridharadas |
⭐️⭐️ |
Explores how the rich (and especially philanthropists) have monopolized thought leadership and persuaded, most worryingly, the up and coming that public policy doesn't work; instead: PPPs with emphasis on the private. . |
20180800000000 August 2018 |
20190400000000 April 2019 |
| The Wisdom of Finance |
Mihir Desai |
⭐️⭐️ |
Explains basic financial concepts through various cultural references (history/lit/music/movies) in order to humanize it. The ideas of living life with or without leverage (comparing Jeff Koons' and Orwell's approaches), and seeing the principal-agent problem in parenting, were particularly thought-provoking. |
20170500000000 May 2017 |
20190100000000 January 2019 |
| World Without Mind |
Franklin Foer |
⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
Foer writes presciently on the subject of 'bad tech,'and how good intentions on behalf of Silicon Valley to reduce the burden of 'thinking' poses an existential threat to our humanity. |
20170900000000 September 2017 |
20180100000000 January 2018 |
| You Only Have to Be Right Once |
Randall Lane |
⭐️⭐️ |
A good airplane book that looks at 16 Silicon Valley success stories, e.g. DropBox, WhatsApp, Facebook, Palantir... more factual than insight. |
20160300000000 March 2016 |
20160500000000 May 2016 |
| Zucked |
Roger McNamee |
⭐️⭐️ |
an interesting perspective and narrative on Facebook (especially recent events, lol #privacy) from an ex-Facebook mentor, investor, user, and fan with serious Silicon Valley chops and good writing skills. The middle portion of the book, though long-winded, details a blow-by-blow account of the author’s attempt (along with others, including Tristan Harris, of Center for Humane Technology fame) to raise awareness of various issues to Facebook itself (which failed), as well as various stakeholders, particularly the government. The results of this work has yet to be seen, but Sen. Warner’s proposal for tech regulations may be the start of a movement in — what McNamee convinces us is — the right direction. |
20190200000000 February 2019 |
20190800000000 August 2019 |