Book Reviews

Overall Thoughts & Summary I have huge admiration for the work Palantir does and a ton of respect for Alex Karp, but I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone. This is the sort of book you’re likely to pick up only if you already align with the author’s views and the company’s culture. I got about a quarter of the way through and would have much rather read a Blinkist-style summary and listened to a podcast with Alex Karp instead. ...

How to Make a Few Billion Dollars Phenomenal book with lots of insights ranging from personal introspection, practical anecdotes, relatable situations and meta concepts. Planning to suggest it to all of my entrepreneur and founder friends when they ask for recommendations. My favorite part was on the topic of “rewiring your mind”. A chapter I’ll re-read again. From the M&A anecdotes, you can tell the author is a very seasoned executive. I’m glad I read the book, but since I’m writing this review a few months later, I have only maintained a “vibe” of the content. When the time is right, I’ll read those parts ...

Summary Key Takeaways & Reflections On Branding Brand Types: Premium, Luxury & Exclusivity Cultivating and Embodying Brand Meaning Building Brand Loyalty Favorite Moments, Fun Facts, Anecdotes and Food for Thought Halo Effect AirBnB Asian culture as an example of adapting brand to regionality Advice Column as a Lens into building brand strategy Iron & Gold Jewelry America: Where the rich & the poor are one in the same The Edelman Trust Barometer Facebook & Google Adidas and puma Brand Positioning: Literal & Figurative Favorite quotes Summary I wish I had read it earlier in my engineering career and entrepreneurial journey. ...

This is one of my book reviews which you can subscribe to via RSS using this feed. If you’re interested in some of my original writing, check out my substack! Summary - A Must Read for Entrepreneurs Uri’s Entrepreneurship Journey - Not very sexy but realistic The Apple Connection - Wozniak’s Prologue Finding Product Market Fit User Feedback - Never let it go to waste Waze Anecdotes - GPS Nerds & Antarctica Cultivating Failure - Critical to success but has to be done right Hiring - Hiring, Firing, Managing and Reflecting Founder Mistakes - A few notes & takeaways Presentations - The first & last slides are the most important Acquisitions - A bit long-winded but great for if (when 🤞) the time comes Global Markets & International Expansion Raising money & Managing Investor Expectations Favorite Quotes Summary - A Must Read for Entrepreneurs It’s a bit ironic to fall in love with a book that provides a solution to falling in love with the problem. ...

Summary - A Must Read for Entrepreneurs It’s a bit ironic to fall in love with a book that provides a solution to falling in love with the problem. Uri, best known for founding Waze, drops bombs of experience and knowledge every 5 minutes. Though the second half is a bit slower, THE FIRST HALF IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST READ for anyone who even has a small strand of entrepreneurship in their genes. ...

Overall Noah’s Backstory My key takeaways on how do succeed? Actionable Advice Taking Photos Favorite quotes Creator’s Courage Entrepreneurship - Experimenter Entrepreneurship - Loneliness Entrepreneurship - What is it? Why is it so hard? Overall Practical, fun, real and to the point. I plan to recommend this as a MUST READ and a FIRST READ for anyone who ever asks me on “how to start a business.” I enjoy my current “day job”, and though I’m not a co-founder, I very much see myself as one here. Going into this book, my goal was not to escape it, but to learn new tips and reinforce existing ones to be as successful in it as I can day-to-day. ...

tl;dr Introduction Chapter 17 “Myths” Memorable Phrases & Moments Everything related to fat, glucose, insulin, etc TIL - Secret Terms & Ingredients Exercise & Muscle Quotes Please note that like my other book reviews, they’re very “stream of consciousness” and as well crafted as my blog posts. tl;dr I plan to use this book as the one thing they should read if they'll only read one thing related to everything along the lines of diet, exercised, lifespan, healthspan, longevity, etc. This is the key to proactive medicine, not just preventative medicine. ...

Overall Overall I made it 20% through the book and do not plan to finish it. I personally believe that anyone who has been exposed to academia in any way, even if just through films, would not get much out of this book. I do not recommend it to anyone. The message delivered by the author is informed important. However, it is delivered in an un-engaging, long-winded, repetitive, conceptual way. I feel that this book would be much more impactful if it were simply be a 20 minute TED talk, focused on the numbers, graphs and charts.

An honest, direct and informative look into how an experienced lawyer approaches the day-to-day when fighting against a behemoth like DuPont. I found it intriguing, learnt a few things, but overall it was a bit too long and repetitive for my taste. I paused the book at 60% deciding I had taken away everything it could teach me, and would have much rather preferred watching a 5 episode Netflix special instead. ...

Overall Gory Beginnings Plaintiff vs Defense Lawyers Chemistry & History DuPont vs Google: Don’t be evil? Overall An honest, direct and informative look into how an experienced lawyer approaches the day-to-day when fighting against a behemoth like DuPont. I found it intriguing, learnt a few things, but overall it was a bit too long and repetitive for my taste. I paused the book at 60% deciding I had taken away everything it could teach me, and would have much rather preferred watching a 5 episode Netflix special instead. ...

Overall The Four Principles The Five Whys Outdated Long-term stock exchange The boring The product lifecycle Experience vs Expertise Management vs Entrepreneurship Notable Quotes Other Takeaways Overall A fun read that I’d qualify as a classic and would recommend to some, but not everyone. As someone who has spent a fair number of years at a startup himself, it’s inspirational in parts, a little too obvious in others, occasionally outdated, and often re-states “that thing” you needed to hear more often than once. ...

Overall The Elon Musk Formula Favorite Quotes Elon’s Personality Traits Elon’s Key Life Decisions Relationships & Interactions Work Ethic & Management Style Anecdotes & Personal Stories Overall An eye-opening book that gives an inside glimpse of Elon’s brilliant, Asperger’s-afflicted mind, teeming with original ideas yet occasionally temperamental, a driven visionary who’s often impatient, an innovative businessman who can be a challenging friend, and a relentless force for humanity’s advancement while often seeming indifferent to those outside his close-knit circle. ...

Summary History Bing Favorite Moments Qualities of a leader Building a team Artificial Intelligence Taking the Lead Partnership vs Acquisition? Values & Trust Favorite Quotes Summary “To be a leader in this company, your job is to find the rose petals in a field of shit.” - Satya Nadella Prior to reading this book, I considered Satya as one of the greatest CEOs of our time. Reading it only reaffirmed my prior beliefs but gave invaluable insight as to how he achieved it. It’s not just about putting together a talented & experienced team that works hard to build impactful products for users, but it’s about being an empathetic leader that manages to focus, balance, prioritize a myriad of things depending on the cicuramnce. ...

General Key Takeaway Quick Background Favorite Quotes Favorite Moments The Importance of Teachers The Importance of Rest The Mind Body Connection Fear as a Master Mindset Follow Ups General Eye-opening and insightful, this book has profoundly changed how I view learning. Although I felt that I had the seeds and inklings of what Josh presented, his decades of experience will help guide my own approach to learning. His experience and views hit home at the right time, with the right words, and with the right framing for what I personally needed. ...

Wait But Why - Tim Urban This book captures precisely what I’ve been thinking, feeling and discussing in private for many years. It presents my political and other views, often seen as condescending and inappropriate. For some people, like myself, this book might help organize and validate one’s view of the world, but I also believe that many others would be offended by the overall message delivered. Throughout the book, I felt seen and validated but also uncomfortable, confused and questioned my beliefs. ...

A 2-hour listen that made me realize I don’t need to read or listen to “Good to Great.” This monograph by Jim Collins is worth listening to because it’s not a big-time investment and will let you know if “Good to great” is worth your time - for me, it wasn’t. The monograph is full of interesting examples, but it feels a bit outdated and very few people are in the position of leading companies that are doing “Good” and having trouble how to make them “Great.” ...

This book changed my entire view of life, history, identity and everything around me. It felt like a real-life Davinchi Code and was eye-opening beyond imagination. It took me 6 months to get myself to write the review and organize my thoughts. Though the “honey-moon” phase of needing to tell everyone about how great this book is is gone, it doesn’t detract from the fact that it is life-changing and will contribute to my “personal bible” as someone who identifies as spiritual but agnostic. Most of the notes below were written while I was reading the book, and while it’s far from complete, I wanted to jot a few things down. ...

I’ve been following Fred Wilson’s newsletter for a little while now and have had a growing interest in blockchain technology. I was really excited about this book to learn about all its intricacies and applications, but was sorely disappointed. There are very few books I don’t finish, and this is one of them… The writing is wordy, superfluous, and draws analogies from a lot of different historical characters and events for no apparent reason. Sometimes I feel like the author did so just to showcase the breadth of his knowledge. It was extremely repetitive, and could easily be shortened by at least half. ...

Solid book. Overall, it felt a little repetitive and outdated. I’d personally be interested in hearing more about the case studies over the past 10 years. That being studied, I’m a big believer that even though history doesn’t repeat itself, it does rhyme, so there are a lot of useful takeaways from the case studies explored in the book. My guess is that the book’s thesis was a lot more “original” in the 90s where entrepreneurship, VC investments, spinoffs, and startups were just getting started; or at least far from how popular they are today. However, the thesis holds 100% true: the only way to innovate is to tackle small markets with a startup mindset. It’s no secret that a startup trying to apply a waterfall approach to a market that doesn’t exist probably won’t succeed…

If you know anything about node, this book would be a waste of your time. However, if you’ve never worked with it before and are trying to figure out how to structure your code, then I would highly recommend it.

As Ender’s story continues, this book really gets you thinking outside the box. One world transforms into another. The laws of science break down and make you imagine what’s possible, simultaneously challenging a lot of political and social standards from our world as well.

Overall Key Concepts Company & People Profiles Tips & Lessons Overall Parts of the books are timeless while others feel outdated before the end of the year the book was published in. Parts of the book were inspirational, while others felt very “echo chambery” if you spent some time in the Bay-Area. Parts of the book felt like an action movie, while others felt like a monotone teacher giving a history lesson. Overall, if you’re interested in the history, with some specific anecdotes, of how Venture Capital came to be, I’d recommend this book. If your goal is to understand what’s happening in the world today, podcasts similar to “All-In” do a much better job. ...

This book did not age well… Do not recommend. Andy grove talks about how he didn’t realize Intel was no longer a startup after 30 years, talked about the concept of an “inflection point” as if it’s a novel concept, and discussed how Intel transitioned from being B2C to D2C. I only made it a chapter and a half in… It may have been novel and original in the 90s, but there are many better books, movies, shows, and podcasts nowadays.

tl;dr, in 2022: 10% is a must-read that people will look back on as the recipes of modern life (first two chapters) 10% is a timeless reference that I can see myself listening back to periodically every few years (last two chapters) 80% is a good reference but will likely be outdated or superseded by better text in the next 1-2 decades (everything else) The fact that Tony Robbins fixed his rotator cuff with stem cells in 3 days without surgery and rehab is hard to believe, but I guess it’s where things are going and we’ll see with time. ...

One of those books that I’m not going to finish since I just don’t think it’s a good use of my time given all the other podcasts I listen to discussing similar concepts. I know I (we?) have this problems, and confirmation bias without cutting edge discussions / solutions doesn’t help.

""" While Goggin’s book made me realize that there is no limit to what one can do, Itzler’s book forced me to take immediate action, get off my ass, and understand that it’s only me standing in my way of achieving what I want to want-to-do. """ There was no better follow-up to David Goggins’ “Can’t Hurt Me” than this book. If you listened to the audio version of Goggins’ book (which I recommend more than the book given its format) and loved it, this is an absolute must listen right afterwards. Provided that the second audiobook is only 5 hours long, there is no excuse not to do so. ...

I listened to this book over the course of 2 days while driving from Mountain View, CA to Seatle, WA and absolutely LOVED it. Given the format of the audiobook where there is discussion in between chapters, I really do believe this is one of those books that you should listen to rather than read. This warrants a much longer (in progress) article where I detail out the challenges listed out and how I plan to tackle them, so stay tuned for that.

A very well written and applicable book to anyone who works in a multicultural organization. A must read for anyone works in tech in my opinion. It was very relatable and full of fun and informative anecdotes rather than just introducing high level concepts. As someone who grew up moving from one country to another, I’m very impressed that someone who was born and raised in Missouri was able to gain so much insight in cross-cultural differenceces. ...

I knew I would love this book even before I started. It still exceeded all my expectations! I didn’t take notes the first time because I very much plan to listen to it a second time and take notes then.

Eliyahu provides an actionable approach, with real-life examples on how to build a business. He lays everything out clearly, concisely, and I love the Israeli chutzpah to present things as they are without beating around the bush. Absolutely loved it, and is one of the few books I plan to relisten to within the next year. Full review coming soon!

Amazin book. Full review coming soon!

This book is useful and full of insightful conversations but doesn’t introduce anything new if you’ve been immersed in the tech industry for a while. Reading articles by the likes of Paul Graham or Marc Andressen, listening to podcasts or working at large tech companies exposes you to all the concepts introduced in this book. I MAY pick up this book again when I need to raise money, but not something I’m interested in finishing right now.

I threw in the towel on this book after making it approximately a quarter of the way through. It is very bloated, repetitive, and has a bad mix of providing uninteresting details and a poor holistic perspective. The reason I gave this book 2 stars rather than 1 is because I could see myself potentially coming back to it in the future when I am at a different point in my life. ...

Nothing profound, but a great read for anyone who liked “A man for all markets” by Edward Thorpe or Claude Shannon’s biography “A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age”. Full review coming soon!

Not going to finish this one. A lot of good information, and something I’d like to be knowledgeable on in theory, but it is very dense and didn’t quite draw me in.

Having finished “Educated” recently I was really craving another memoir. I’m extremely glad that this is the one I picked up. I never cared or thought too much of the Nike brand, but my appreciation for it has ten folded. This book covers an unexpected founding story, gives a glimpse into what it was like to do a startup before Venture Capital was commonplace, and documents several fascinating interpersonal and work relationships. ...

I first heard of this book when Bill Gates reviewed it a few years back. It has been recommended to me by several people but I’ve been hesitant to pick it up since I thought I wouldn’t enjoy it. I didn’t find the first half of the book either relatable or intriguing, but it set the necessary backstory for the second half to be so much more impactful. I’m not sure how to review or reflect on a memoir, but am extremely impressed and motivated by Tara’s story. I really hope this shows that everyone can preserver regardless of the environment they grew up in. ...

A concise read with actionable advice, supported by both research and concrete examples, which changed my day-to-day life! I read this book at a time when I was struggling to achieve a deep state of work and am extremely grateful to have come across it. The book provides various techniques to achieve deep work, allowing the reader to “build their own” solution based on their lifestyle and needs. Similar to “Why We Sleep” by Matthew Walker, I would classify this as a must read. ...

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/black-swan Overall, I’m sorely disappointed by the first Nassim Taleb book I’ve read. The major points made by the book are insightful, but not very cohesive. Interesting examples and anecdotes are interspersed through the book, but most of it feels repetitive and mundane. The only reason I did not stop halfway through is due to the book’s pop culture status, and Taleb’s overall social clout. In retrospect, I believe that some sort of book summary service (i.e. Blinkst) would have served sufficiently well as a replacement for reading this whole book. ...

Moonwalking with Einstein Quote of the book: “One book, printed in the Heart’s own wax is worth a thousand in the stack’s” ― Jan Luyken Second quote of the book: “Monotony collapses time while novelty expands it. […]. That’s why it’s so important to change routines regularly, and take vacations to exotic locales, and have as many new experiences as possible that can serve to anchor our memories” — Joshua Foer ...

A light and insightful into the life of Bog Iger that provides a very business focused perspective on the operations and goals of Disney as a company. My favorite part is how complimentary it is so Pixar’s story even after having read both “Creativity Inc” and “The Pixar Touch”. I’m a lot more familiar with the career paths of well known individuals in STEM related fields (Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Ray Dalio, Edward Thorpe, Ed Catmul, etc…), who start of being scrappy in a garage, with a big vision, facing a ton of financial and emotional hardships along the way and then somehow skyrocketing to success and fame when an inflection point occurs. Though Walt Disney’s story may have been similar, Bob Iger is a lot more “slow and steady” wins the race kind of individual, in an admirable way. He was very focused and worked hard throughout his whole career, always focusing on the task at hand while thinking about what’s next, but not letting his goals and ambitions take precedence of the here and now. In some sense, he is a “career media mogul”, where he slowly moved up the ranks, first at ABC and later at Disney. He never rushed anything and seems to have deserved all the success he has gained. When he became number two at ABC, he only had sports and the olympics under his belt. Though he didn’t have that much experience yet, people trusted his gut because he was pleasant to work with. ...

An easy listening fun book that provides a lot of context into how the Virtual Reality revolution was re-triggered in the early 2010s with the founding of Oculus. As someone who works in the industry, I still learnt a whole lot and was surprised by how many different key players were involved in its founding. The first half of the book is an exciting and motivating startup story that I couldn’t stop listening to, while the second half was ridden with large company politics and bureaucracy which, unfortunately, cannot be avoided when an organization exceeds a certain size. ...

Phenomenal and mind-bending! This book is definitely In my top 3 favorite sci-fi book of all time alongside Hyperion and 1Q84. There’s nothing I can say to do this book justice: If you’re only going to read one sci-fi book in your life, this should be it. I love how the story progressed and evolved. It started concentrating solely on political and scientific tensions in China. Then the author started sprinkling in bits of sci-fi and Fantasy to intrigue the reader. This was followed by several fascinating trips into the world of the Three Body Problem, which is very appropriate given the advent of VR around the time this book was written and released. With a slow and steady crescendo, the author reels you in, simultaneously teaching you new scientific concepts but also making you question reality. When the book introduced the Sophons, my mind was simply blown. ...

The author delivers an important and powerful message, but I don’t think you need a whole book to explain it. The book makes it clear that taking the effort to make certain moments standout for our “mundane” day-to-day lives has a positive ROI. There is a missed opportunity to influence our opinions by simply taking a little bit of extra effort to make a great moment an outstanding one. More specifically, having an overall high quality experience is not as memorable as having an average quality experience interspersed with magical moments. I learnt a very important lesson from reading this book, but I only made it about 70% through because it got extremely boring and repetitive. While I haven’t used a service like blinkist myself, I believe this book could be summarized into 15-20 minutes and one would not miss out on much. ...

A short and concise read about Andrew Yang’s upbringing, work experience, life philosophy and political views. In my personal opinion, the book shows that Andrew is a down to earth, intelligent, kind, self-made entrepreneur who truly understands how our economy and society function. He puts politics and bullshit aside, tries to avoid making false promises, and is solely interested in making the US, and indirectly the rest of the world, a better place for future generations. He is the only candidate who understands how big tech works, and who truly understands the day-to-day problems millennials and gen-Zs are facing. ...

An absolute must read for everyone!!! This book made me realize how little awareness there is on the importance of sleep. School curriculums cover a variety of topics including sex education, health & fitness, drug use, etc…. However, I don’t know of any country that covers sleep, a fundamental component of our daily routine, comprising almost a third of our entire lives, in their educational curriculum. This book is the best source of information I’ve encountered on the topic of sleep. It is extremely well balanced between scientific information, actionable advice, and ongoing empirical evidence from recent studies. Unlike other books I’ve tried to read related to neuroscience, this one is neither too scientifically terse, nor too “hand-wavy”. ...

An extremely dense, well organized book, full of interesting facts, but is not targeted at the average reader in my opinion. I have decide to stop reading this book about 20% in. It reminds me of “Thinking Fast and Slow”, which is another book I never finished. While the content is useful and interesting, it is very dense difficult for me to absorb and retain information from. The only way I managed to remember what I read was by reviewing my notes afterwards. It is worth mentioning that the first time I tried reading Sapiens I also could not finish it, but I absolutely loved it the second time. ...

A short book that I did not enjoy very much but forced myself to finish as per the recommendation of a friend. The book really brings to light how powerful institutional white racism is still to this day, and does a great job at discerning between racism, ignorance to racism, activism and “color blindness”. I used to think that I should try to avoid seeing race altogether, but this book tipped me very slightly on the side of affirmative action. That being said, a lot of the examples used throughout the book are dated, since a lot has changed in the past 30 years, which weakened the author’s argument in some cases. ...

A fun and light read covering the Sonic Vs Mario (Sega vs Nintendo) battle in the late 80s and early 90s. As opposed to just being a historical recap of the events that took place during Sega’s rise and fall, the story was told in a very captivating manner. The author definitely intended, or had hoped, that it would be converted into a movie. Surprisingly, the news that a limited series is going to be developed was announced on August 1st 2019, only a couple weeks after I finished reading it! I personally think that this book is better consumed through audio rather than text because the different voices and accents in the audible make a big difference. ...

AIQ Review A short and educational read explaining how Artificial Intelligence is nothing more than statistics with a ton of data on steroids. The book does a great job at raising the curtains that make AI seem so magical and mysterious. It also grounds all the misconceptions and hype around a Skynet type general AI. Computers are much better than humans at remembering things, processing large amounts of data, and doing repetitive tasks very quickly. Similarly, a hammer is much better than humans at hitting things without being hurt or damaged. Both of these are tools that benefit humans, and the fear of being taken over by the tools we built is overhyped science fiction. ...

Soon to come. EDIT: Someone recently asked me about my thoughts on this book, and I realize I never published a review. The set of notes below is what I jotted down in 2019 (unedited, with typos, etc.) and am posting here, for completeness, in 2022. I didn’t feel like I was Learning by listening to doomsday scenarios more than half of all global emissions in the last 30 decades ...

An easy, relatable and entertaining read for anyone who is interested or new to managing a team, or is simply seeing problems in their organization. As a relatively non-empathetic or emotional individual, who tries to reason through most problems from a logical perspective, this book was very eye opening. However, I can see how this book would fall into the category of “stating out the obvious” for many. It’ll probably be a very boring and frustrating read for people who are naturally good at supporting or sympathizing with others. For those who are not though, this book re-iterates that humans are emotional beings, and provides many anecdotes on how to build good culture, relate and bond with the team. ...

After reading Creativity Inc a few years ago, I have not been able to get it out of my mind and would classify it as one of all-time favorite all-time books. Having grown up watching Disney movies during one of their golden periods (between the late 80s and the late 90s), the introduction to Ed Catmull’s autobiography really resonated with me. As a Pixar film enthusiast, I fell in love with Pixar’s origin story and the process they follow to create new films. I’ve been wanting to read another book on Pixar for a while, but having been putting it off so I could get more joy out of it. The time has finally come about a month ago :) ...

Discretion: I only got about 30% into the book. My expectations going into this book were relatively high seeing how it is a classic, and I expected it to stand the test of time. Unfortunately, it did not… A friend of mine recommended it after saying that it changed her perspective to life, and how it impacted the decisions she makes on a day-to-day basis by analyzing her dreams. While there is some merit to the fact that dreams can be used to analyze one’s subconscious, I believe the idea is overdone and unnecessary for those who have a high degree of self-awareness. ...

================== First Attempt ================== Discretion: I only made my way through the first 5 chapters of this book. As a recent best seller that covers a topic that everyone is peculiar about at some point and even made it to the Gates Notes, I was really looking forward to reading this book. While it starts out strong and invigorating, it quickly divulges into a series of factoids that are difficult to comprehend. The story of humankind is complicated and non-linear. There were a lot of names, dates and controversies that were jumbled in my head. I found that there was very little knowledge I was retaining, and given how many books I want to read, this one simply wasn’t worth the time investment… ...

A phenomenally well written, educational, captivating, easy to understand book about the science, history and politics of Quantum Physics. This book requires no prior knowledge of anything related to physics. One could pick up this book not knowing who Einstein was, and gain a ton of value. One could also pick up this book after having to solve many problem sets involving Schrodinger Equations, and still gain a ton of value. The only audience who might not find this book interesting are those who study physics for a living and are most likely familiar with most of its contents. ...

Reading this book portrayed Claud Shannon as a lifelong learner, thinker, tinkerer and builder. He is not necessarily the most innovate Engineer of the 20th century, but is one of the most underrated ones. With work ranging across many different fields including information technology, genetics, electrical engineering, boolean algebra, cryptography, juggling, and more, he is the epitome of a modern polymath. Though he received a lot of fame and recognition in the academic world, he is little known by the non-academic engineering community or mainstream media. ...

I got through the first 2 hours of the audiobook and decided to stop there. They make fair statements, but the topics are discussed from too high of a level. Even though there are concrete examples occasionally being referred to, the concepts the book addresses are very grandiose. I was looking for something with more “substance”.

Bad blood feels like a long-form Business Insider piece that is so captivating and unbelievable that it was meant for the big screen. As Silicon Valley entrepreneurs become “modern day rockstars”, it’s difficult to believe the degree to which some individuals go to achieve success. Elizabeth Holmes’ life had the perfect backstory, characters and sequence of events where bright young individuals, with a passion to do good in the world get caught up in making the wrong decisions that spiral out of control. ...

Valley Of Genius My friend’s description of this book is quite accurate: “A collage of quotes of famous people”. It takes a bit of time to get used to the style of “writing” in this book, but eventually you get accustomed to it. It is targeted at individuals who enjoy listening to interviews of CEOs of various tech companies, but covers a lot more history and depth than you’d be able to get anywhere else. ...

This book has turned me into a devout follower of a new religion called Dataism. I’m still unsure whether I value intelligence over cognition, but it is something I’ve been consciously thinking about every day since I started reading this book. I was hesitant to pick up Homo Deus having found Sapiens slow and repetitive. However, I’m glad to say that this book exceeded my expectation in every single dimension! It is an extremely insightful read that provokes a lot of though and motion regarding the path humanity has followed and where it will lead. ...

I was never aware of Ben Horowitz’s involvement in the tech sector other than his position at a16z as a general partner. I had always assumed that he was an early employee at Netscape, and got along with Mark so well that they decided to start a VC firm. His story starting in early adulthood, through the rise of Netscape, and the treacherous years of Loudcloud/Opsware were extremely captivating. My respect and admiration of Ben has increased drastically after reading this book. The number of problems and hardships he experienced throughout his years as CEO must’ve been hard, and it is impressive how he always found a way out. ...

This is the second book I’ve read by Jim Rickards, and I absolutely love it! My favorite way to study history is from an economic point of view, so Jim’s books are perfect. His deep knowledge of statistics, economics, physics and chaos theory, along with his experience in the private finance sector, as well as advising major political figures or the CIA is astounding. The way he disseminates his knowledge, shares life experiences, and analyzes the economic make this book educational, captivating and simply entertaining. There was never a dull moment, and I’m continuously amazed by how much Jim has and continues to achieve throughout his life. ...

There are only so many books that I read or listen to in a year that I often try to give up on books early if I don’t feel like I’m getting value out of them. “How Asia Works” was a little different because whenever I’d consider throwing in the towel, I would come across a very interesting concept and keep listening. However, it wasn’t captivating enough to prevent me from switching to my regular podcasts every now and then. ...

This book is absolutely remarkable. If you’re interested in finance, investing, macroeconomics, how to be a good person, how to be a productive individual or how to herald good company culture, this book is a MUST read. It has easily entered into my list of top 10 favorite books of all-time, and I see myself referencing it on a periodic basis throughout the rest of my life. The first half of the book is awe-inspiring as Ray Dalio shares his life story and principles. It reminded me of the need to take risk, in both life and the markets. It ignited a latent fire in me that has been cast aside. It motivated me to take on the world. Then, Dalio flipped everything upside down and showed how easily everything can come crashing down, making me fear the worst of the unknown. It was an emotional rollercoaster and I was very drawn by every word he said. His summary was very well put: you’re never going to achieve anything unless you take sufficient risk, but you might also lose everything if you take on too much. Calculated risk was the key takeaway. Reading about his life was fascinating, learning about his principles was a spiritual journey, and I will gladly do so again. ...

A well written easy to read book with a few interesting thoughts and anecdotes, but provides little value overall. In my opinion, this book could serve as an fine introduction for individuals who have not studied economic bubbles, blockchain economics or the mentality required in investing. For anyone familiar with these subjects, there are many alternatives I believe are worth reading instead. This book was published in 2004 and it’s amazing how applicable it is to everything blockchain related today. The book argues for the needs of “free” (decentralized?) prediction markets on different scales: small groups, institutions, industries and the public as a whole. The book also discusses various situations where decentralized groups of individuals managed to come to a consensus under very different circumstances. It’s a bit ironic how Surowiecki makes a lot of arguments in favor of decentralized governments while also explaining how illogical economic bubbles given the speculative state of cryptocurrencies today. ...

I listened to the audiobook and would rate the book a 3.5 / 5 (rounded down rather than up). The primary reason I enjoyed this book is due to the unique historical viewpoint it delivers which I’ve never heard before. It was a good long-term history lesson that concentrated on the last century, which is both the one I’m most interested in and the one I can relate to the most. ...

tl;dr I’m still not convinced about gold, but it was an extremely interesting and educational book that helped me understand what “money” really is. Disclosure: I did not read this book but rather listened to the audiobook. My opinion is that it’s the type of book one can listen to but requires a relatively high level of concentration. Even though the audiobook is about 10 hours long, I must have spent at least 14 hours listening to it because of how frequently I had swipe back through some sections. ...

A fun easy listen that reiterates the most fundamental concepts of long term investing until it’s etched into your brain. If you’ve been investing for some time, this book will probably not introduce any concepts you’re not already aware of. However, I would still recommend it because it reiterates and reminds you of basic concepts. In addition, it’s a very well known piece of literature in the investment community so it’s worth reading just to be well rounded. In fact, this would be a great book to read before picking up Deep Value by Tobias Carlisle. ...

An extremely captivating, interesting, inspiring, humbling and educational read. I can’t express how happy I am that The Investor’s Podcast interviewed Edward Thorp which led me to pick up this book. As he covers his work from black jack card counting to wearable tech for roulette, and eventually his involvement in equities, it’s refreshing to see a man driven not by profit, but by passion and interest to solve a problem. It’s extremely motivating and excites me to tackle the problems that are constantly looming through my mind. ...

This book was recommended to me by a few friends, has made it’s way to my social feeds numerous times and mentioned on several of the podcasts I listen to. Most importantly, it was praised by Charlie Munger in one of his recent articles which made me decided to finally give it a listen. This book has a lot of interesting historical information, a lot of good anecdotes, and is filled with a plethora of good lessons. However, like anything in life, there isn’t a one fits all solution. The author is delivers the philosophy in the book as if it’s only right approach to life. While I will incorporate a few of the lessons I learnt, I don’t think that following all of them on a day-to-day basis would jive with my personality. ...

Another fantastic book by Michael Lewis! He is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. In the same style as all his other books we follow several parallel plots at the same time, learn about all the individual’s backgrounds and experience, learn about the inner working of what happens on wall street, and have it delivered in a fun, easy to understand manner. Rather than reiterating what I learnt and what was said, I simply recommend that you read this book even if you only have the faintest interest in stock exchanges. Michael Lewis makes learning extremely enjoyable.

Another great book by Simon Singh (read this one immediately after Femart’s Last Theorem). I’m not sure whether this would apply to all of his readers, but Simon has this amazing ability to satisfy every criteria I’m looking for from a non-fiction book. He touches on all the topics I’m interested in; including cryptography during roman times, the dark ages, renaissance, the great wars and most recently during the growth of the internet. He describes concepts with sufficient brevity such that I’m never lost or bored, but with enough technical details such that my intellectual curiosity is satisfied; there’s always the appendix if the main text is not enough. His writing is very clear and conscience making it a very simple and fluid read, but I still feel as though I become a better reader and writer due to the discrepancy in our literary abilities. Overall, I just love reading his books. ...

An educational, captivating, and very well written book about the history of number theory that culminates in Andrew Wile’s solution to the age old problem: Fermat’s last theorem. I applaud the author for writing this book in such a manner that it is interesting for both technical and non-technical readers. As a software engineer with a decent background in mathematics, this book still managed to quench my thirst for some fun mathematical puzzles. I would always pause and think about the problems proposed as they came up throughout the text and have a lot of fun reading the Appendix to see how my solution, if I had one, compared. ...

An absolutely amazing book! For anyone who is a Michael Lewis fan, interested in economics, or has the faintest curiosity regarding what happened during the financial crisis, there is no better resource than this. I was fortunate enough and had the pleasure to read this book almost immediately after I read Liar’s poker. For books that were written almost two decades apart, I felt like there was almost no interruption, but just a short break, between two episodes of a single story that smoothly transitioned to a fast forwarded time frame. I felt as if I was immediately immersed back into the world of Wall Street with the help of Michael Lewis’ prologue, in a tone I’ve grown to admire, respect and trust. ...

The preface starts of really strong with a short background of Jake Knapp’s personal life and career. While I have to admit guilty to being very motivated, driven and impressed by people who’s success is of his caliber, it is the passion with which he delivers the purpose of the book that intrigues me. You can tell that he enjoys what he truly loves what he does, and for that reason I want to listen to what he has to say and learn from his breadth of experience. ...

Very good book, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is has any interest in stocks, investing, wall street, or just the impact of financial policy on the general economy. Michael Lewis is a great writer, of unique background, who found himself in very exciting circumstances, during very peculiar times. It was written in a very novel way, that varied between first person and third person writing styles, and it still amazes me that everything is based on true historical events. ...

This read has been long overdue, and it was definitely worth it! Unlike other science fiction books I’ve read, this one had a very “Scary Movie” type of feel. It was simple, jumped around quite a bit, has some overly absurd sections, and was funny enough to make me laugh out loud while reading it on the bus. It’s quite evident that the content of the book was more targeted at a podcast, or a theatrical screenplay rather than a novel, but everything is obvious in retrospect so I might be biased. ...

A short, great, motivational read about what creates a good company, the state of technology in the world, as well as the prime characteristics required from successful founders. It’s great to hear a successful entrepreneur’s perspective and impression of the world, directly from him, in what comes across as very candid and honest mindset. His writing is extremely succinct, so the book turns into a light and fast read that never gets boring or repetitive. ...

A very fun, easy, entertaining read that depicts a no so distant future with some dystopic elements entangled into the mix because why not? A small group of misfits find each other through a shared common goal, as they try to defeat the evil corporation that is set on taking over the world. The good guys win, a happy ending ensues, and the protagonist gets the girl. The only catch is that all (almost) the action takes place in the virtual world! ...

Wow… This book was a literary masterpiece that makes you appreciate one’s love while also making you feel very uneasy. It’s difficult to believe that Nabokov is not a native English speaker as the vocabulary used in this book was far superior to most books I’ve read, and seeing how versatile his abilities were with sentence formulation was simply inspiring. Jumping from a sequence of short, concise, direct sequences to extremely long winded stream-of-consciousness thoughts that were sometimes hard to follow but very appropriate for the book’s protagonist. Whether it was a simple anecdote, a dialogue, or a poem I didn’t comprehend the full meaning of, I was always impressed at how Nobokov chose to deliver various scenes in the book. ...

A quick and easy read that was relevant two years ago, but already begins to feel a little dated and will probably not stand the test of time. If you work in the tech industry, are a tech enthusiast, or at least try to keep up with how such innovative companies function, this book will not deliver any eye-opening messages. This was a more technical take on 1984 that referenced existing companies and thus felt more true to reality. However, only 2 years later, the concept of a self-driving car which was mentioned in the book is not that surprising at all anymore. ...

Another great read for any Buffet “disciples” who are interested in value investing and security analysis. Other than graham’s own books, it’s difficult to say that it was a quintessential read, but it packed a lot provided how short it was. Reiterating concepts of fundamental analysis including key ratios and discount cash flow, this book delivered the basics of value investing in a very concise manner. Aside from reviewing basic principles, and hearing the opinion of another experienced investor on this manner, there were two factors I that I appreciated in Klarman’s book: emphasis on net working and liquid capital, and his lack of disdain towards taking advantage of arbitrage opportunities. ...

I’m usually not a fan of people whose argument for reading a book or watching a movie resonates with something along the lines of “because it is a classic.” However, I’m going to be a hypocrite and say that it’s the only reason to read this book for someone who is at least semi-familiar with value investing. Benjamin Graham last edited this book in the early 1970s making a lot of the information in the text outdated. I strongly believe that the historical information discussed is extremely valuable. History always repeats itself, so knowing how the market behaved in the past provides great insight and similarities into how the market behaves now, and how it will behave in the future. People tend to get caught up in the ongoing bull / bear market, making it seem as if there had never been one like it before. Therefore, the insight Graham provides from his own viewpoint is invaluable. While it is very educational, Graham is not a very succinct writer, which is a quality I would have hoped he possess when writing a book that should also act as a reference. In addition, several of the topics (the names of which escape me now) discussed are either no longer relevant today or not relevant to 90% of the people reading this book: the general intelligent investor. Together, combining long-winded sentences with irrelevant topics, it was definitely a tough read. ...

The Fall of Hyperion is an enthralling work of art that could not have been done any better as a follow-up to the captivating world of Hyperion. Dan Simmons applies a myriad of science fiction concepts and ideas that will fulfill all of your sci-fi cravings. Intergalactic battles between humans and gods. Time travel. Resurrection. Abstract planes and dimensions. A varied and very finely molded set of characters that are solid, smart, quirky, empathetic and very complex. The characters learn, grow and flourish, losing or developing their earlier distinguishable characteristics, and the readers are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to join them on this journey. ...

I picked up this book because it’s an infamous classic which I felt I’d have to read sooner or later. The first couple chapters felt very dry, infused with unnecessary symbolism, and excessive prophetic meaning. But as you keep reading, you begin to see more of yourself in the main character as you follow his journey to realize his personal legend. The purpose of the book is not to tell the story of a young boy who overcame hardships to follow his dreams, but is written to show that it is never too late to follow your own. Don’t just blindly follow the crowd assuming your dreams are out of reach, and don’t just settle for a comfortable life because it’s easy. You must push yourself outside of your comfort zone. You must be willing to make sacrifices. You must be ready to fall down. But, most importantly, you must keep your eyes on the prize and simply keep on going. Persistence, candidness, fear, confidence are just a few of the qualities you need to achieve your dream, but are only second to realizing what you dreams really are. ...

It is difficult to judge this as a book, because it really is just a collection of Warren Buffet’s letters to the shareholders. There is a very nice introduction that sums up Buffet’s views, and is great for people who have not been exposed to, or are not very familiar with value investing. The books lacks flow, with the order that the letters are listed in sometime jumping back and forth by a decade and two without preparing the reader to make the appropriate context switch. Since these are letters to shareholders, there is also an underlying assumption that the reader has some knowledge/experience on the matter at hand, making it slightly more difficult to read. To some extent, it is analogous to picking up a newspaper from three decades ago. While it is an unbiased look into the past, showing that history does repeat itself, the book does a poor job at preparing the reader from entering the proper mindset. ...

Amazing book for beginners! This book was recommended to me by a colleague after I showed some interest in stock investing. Prior to reading this book, I knew practically nothing about businesses or the market at all. I had no clue what an index was, or what equity, assets or liabilities are. On my own time I would follow the stock price of some companies that were always under the highlight (apple, google, facebook, tesla) and imagine what would happen if I were to speculate and try to beat the market. Oh, how naive I was…. ...

A must read for anyone who has any interest in how or why the Universe around us is what it is. Don’t even bother picking this up if a question along the lines of “how did the Universe come to exist” does not cross your mind on a semi-regular basis, because I can assure you that you won’t make it even halfway through. This book gave me a real appreciation, and what I would say is an admirable high level understanding of general relativity and quantum physics. These concepts are underlined and reiterated so often, that by the end of the book, the classical newtonian physics we were taught in high school almost feels like a joke and a mockery to “real” Physics; though Newton’s Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica still stands as one of the most important scientific publication of all time. It provides enough context to sustain a conversation with a professional in the field of physics, to watch videos presented by today’s leaders in this field, or to even pursue a more technical reading if this book did not quench your hunger for knowledge. ...

Though this book was definitely no literally masterpiece, it was a fun and easy read made for the big screen. The relaxed writing style, in conjunction with the diary type format made Mark Watney very relatable, making the story feel more like a conversation with a friend rather than a novel documenting his survival experience. However, this was achieved at the cost of character depth which this book didn’t even come close to addressing. There was no more to the story than meets the eye; what you see is all there is. That being said, certain parts were very captivating because of the risk associated with Mark Watney’s survival, but it was quickly dissolved into the outer void. ...

Given the context of this book, it seems appropriate that Dick Costolo, the CEO of the company I worked at while reading this book, recommended it in one of our company’s all hands. I heard that it was written by the president of Pixar, and was aware that the infamous Steve Jobs played some role in founding it, but I really didn’t know much more than that. I had no idea what to expect from this book but I knew that I loved Pixar movies, so picking up this book couldn’t have been that bad of a decision. In fact, it was a great decision! ...

This is the first book I’ve read by Dan Simmons and I’ve got to say that it’s simply amazing! Horror, sci-fi, thriller, detective-fiction, and many other genres that I’m not even going to try and list are all contained and very well connected within this one book! Every chapter takes you on a new journey, an utter change of pace, as new characters are introduced for whom you sympathize, or whom you love, hate, respect or miss. So many different themes are covered that it would be blasphemous to generalize the message of this book without analyzing small subsections of every chapter. ...

Written in classic Murakami style, 1Q84 questions the boundary between dreams, reality and fantasy. It takes you on a long journey with two protagonists whose lives are entangled in the strangest ways. They are very simple from a superficial standpoint, but I imagine them to be more like a rose growing of a ground covered with snow. Very simple and elegant with little to their complexity, but very fragile, out of place and temporary. ...

Breakfast of Champions is Vonnegut’s somewhat cynical view and interpretation of American culture. However, more than that, this book was an inside look into Vonnegut’s character. With this book, he did what he wanted, he expressed what he thought, and wrote what he dreamed of. Though I wouldn’t say that it was one of his best pieces of writing, it was definitely a great read if you’re a fan of his other work. And so on.