A list of books I've read ever since I started keeping track.

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Currently reading
  • Influence by Robert Cialdini

Quick links:
Next books I'd like to read
Books I'm considering

2021

  • The Product Led Organization by Todd Olson
    • I bought this book mainly because it was written by the CEO of one of Raleigh's latest unicorns, Pendo, and I could add it to my collection of Raleigh CEO "The ______ Organization" books (see Jim Whitehurst's book on this list from 2015). However, as a product-focused machine learning engineer I'm also really interested in continuing to build my product development chops. The book turned out to be pretty standard product advice: empathize with your users, drive towards simplicity, instrument your product to measure engagement, and run experiments.
  • Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
    • As a self-proclaimed productivity geek, the author talks about his journey trying to "do it all" by optimizing his productivity through various common strategies and techniques (Pomodoro timers, Getting Things Done, etc.) before realizing that you can't "do it all" and life requires us to prioritize and choose where we want to spend our time. While I feel like this book may have been more insightful if I hadn't also already gone through a similar journey during my college years, it was still an enjoyable read overall and I appreciated the variety of philosophical perspectives that Burkeman introduces.
  • The Minimalist Entrepreneur: How Great Founders Do More With Less by Sahil Lavingia
    • Sahil details his journey building Gumroad and attempts to present a blueprint for people interested in starting bootstrapped software companies.

2020

  • Measure What Matters by John Doerr
    • John Doerr presents his management system (OKRs - objectives and key results) for aligning organizations and effectively tracking progress.
  • The Innovator's Solution by Clayton M. Christensen
    • This is a follow-on book to The Innovator's Dilemma, which I read last year. In this book, Christensen details his management theory regarding the differences in how you should lead and allocate resources to a project, depending on whether the project presents an opportunity for sustaining or disruptive innovation.
  • Atomic Habits by James Clear
    • This book took me a while to get through, but I really enjoyed it. The author deconstructs how habits are formed (through the four steps of cue, craving, response, and reward) and presents practical advice for both building healthy habits and eliminating unhealthy habits. He advocates for a systems-based approach for behavior change (rather than a goal oriented approach), arguing that "when you fall in love with the process rather than the product, you don’t have to wait to give yourself permission to be happy."
  • Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
    • This book didn't turn out to be the most exciting read, but I think this is likely due to the fact that I've been interested in minimalism for a long time and have already worked to integrate these concepts into my life. If you're new to the concept then it's a nice introduction.
  • Never Split The Difference by Chris Voss
    • Negotiation relies on active listening to understand and probe what the other person wants. Chris provides a number of techniques to bring out the counterparty's latent desires, summarized in this cheat sheet.
  • Building Machine Learning Powered Applications by Emmanuel Ameisen

2019

  • The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen
    • Why do market leaders fall by the wayside, disrupted by up and coming startups? This book distiguishes technological innovations as sustaining innovation and disruptive innovation. The former includes product improvements that drive value to existing customers, while the latter involves the integration of components in entirely new ways that result in the creation of new markets. Effective management strategies for sustaining innovation can ultimately squander disruptive innovation efforts.
  • Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport
    • This was a really productive read for me. I've slowly started feeling the boiling frog syndrome effects with respect to my digital exposure and this book provides a practical approach towards living an intentional life in our increasingly digital world. For a more in-depth synopsis of the book, check out this book summary.
  • The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins
    • This book originally started as a series of letter to the author's daughter, laying out a simple, fool-proof plan for slowly building wealth. It has become my go-to recommended resource for people looking to get more involved in managing their personal finances.
Previous Years - Books I've Read

2018 (completed)

  • Principles by Ray Dalio
    • Ray Dalio writes about his journey creating Bridgewater Associates (one of the world's largest hedge funds today), the lessons he learned along the way, and how he learned from his mistakes to formalize a decision-making framework in order to safeguard himself from repeating those same mistakes in the future.
  • Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
    • This book is a fascinating account of how humans make decisions and the ways in which we can make irrational decisions. In fact, Kahneman actually argues that we're not acting irrationally, but our set of operating values differ from the assumed values of a "rational" actor. This dissonance introduces the need to bring psychology into the field of economics in order to build more accurate models of how humans make decisions. This includes concepts such as loss aversion, how humans react to "risky" scenarios, and the various ways our minds are biased toward certain heuristics. This book is fascinating, but it's worth mentioning you should read it with a grain of salt.
  • Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
    • Jason and David offer their level-headed, no bullshit approach towards starting and growing a company. They challenge much of the status quo (in the world of tech) and offer easily digestible advice for how to build a sustainable business.
  • Deep Work by Cal Newport
    • This book covers both the motivation and practical advice for designing your life to allow for "deep work". Building this practice of uninterrupted, highly-focused work allows for you to consistently enter a state of flow and acheive a high level of productive output. Unfortunately, the modern world is filled with temptations and distractions which will prevent you from entering a state of deep work unless you make a conscious effort to control your environment.
  • Remote: Office Not Required by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
    • Jason and David share their advice for running effective remote teams and discuss the advantages of doing so. As someone who has done a fair amount of remote work in the past (and currently), this book was filled with useful advice on enjoying the perks of working remote while staying sane and keeping a separation between my work and my life.
  • Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts by Annie Duke
    • A former poker player talks about poker wisdom and how it relates to making intelligent bets in life. A central theme presents how great decisions don't always lead to great outcomes and bad decisions don't always lead to bad outcomes. Thus, the habit of "resulting" (drawing conclusions and evaluating your decisions based on their results) can be detrimental to your development.
  • Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
    • Ancient Taoist wisdom. A quick, somewhat cryptic read.
  • Dancing With the Analysts by David A. Mallach
    • This is the first fiction book I've read in a long time. My grandfather read the book and loved it so he gifted a copy to all of his grandchildren. The book is a financial thriller about a young man who inheriets a small fortune but must invest and grow the fortune by a certain amount in order to withdrawl the amount.
  • Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard Feynman
    • A peek into the fascinating life of Richard Feynman. It's incredible what a light-hearted jokester he was!
  • What Do You Care What Other People Think? by Richard Feynman
    • The last book was so entertaining I read another of Feynman's books. This one was equally entertaining.
  • Algorithms to Live By by Brian Christian
    • A look at computer science algorithms and how we can apply those same principled approachs to other problems we encounter in our lives. This book discusses everything from optimal stopping criterion to process scheduling.

2017

  • Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer
    • An interesting read on techniques for improving your memory. Essentially Joshua and others argue that our minds are much better at remembering visual images than names, facts, or numbers, so in order to improve your memory you must construct your own images to store information more effectively. Techniques are often applied to a very narrow set of activities (ie. tricks for memorizing a deck of cards won't necessarily help you remember birthdays better) and this book definitely won't teach you to instantly have a photographic memory, but it is interesting to read about how people use memory techniques to accomplish remarkable feats (such as memorizing a deck of cards in 30 seconds).
  • Triggers by Marshall Goldsmith
    • Marshall's book, Triggers, is all about changing behavior - namely, why it's so hard for adults to change behaviors. Through a series of entertaining stories, he provides the lessons he's learned about changing behaviors as an executive coach.
  • The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely
    • A really, really interesting book looking at irrational behaviors in humans and how these tendencies can benefit us. Topics include: how to get "buy in" on an idea by sharing ownership, the IKEA effect, understanding revenge, hedonic adaptation and its implications, the identifiable victim effect, and more. It's a wide variety of interesting topics and I'd highly recommend this book!
  • Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
    • Viktor Frankl details his account as a Holocaust survivor and engages in a discussion of how the survivors could live through such terrible conditions. In reality, no one should have survived given the conditions they were living in, but Frankl noticed that those who did were people who had found a reason to keep pushing. Whether or not it was "So I can see my wife and kids again" or "So I can publish my unfinished manuscript", those who survived had a reason to live. He states, "Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'." He then spends the second half of the book talking about his theory known as logotherapy - a belief that human nature is motivated by the search for a life purpose.
  • Mastery by Robert Greene
    • If there was one book which I had to recommend as a general guidebook to life, this would be the one. Robert Greene details countless stories of masters in their respective fields and provides a generalized framework for one's own mastery of their natural inclination. If you don't have time to read the book, watch this talk.
  • Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman by Yvon Chouinard
    • Chouinard tells his story about possibly the strangest path to leading a company, having spent much of his lifetime out climbing in nature and sleeping in the wilderness. His story is one full of doing things his own way in a manner that makes sense to him, and he presents a new standard of corporate citizenship. If you don't have time to read the book, watch this talk. (Interesting tidbit: Chouinard calls himself an 80%er; whenever he learns a new skill he likes to reach 80% mastery and then naturally moves on to chase some new interest, not too interested in the time it takes to master that last 20%. Having many interests myself, this is something I can relate to. While I like to think I'm a 100%er, always wanting to master everything, realistically I'm probably an 80%er too.)
  • The Five Love Languages for Singles by Gary Chapman
    • I've already read Chapman's original book, The Five Love Languages, but when a friend offered to lend me this book, I decided to see what else I could learn from a new perspective on the topic.
  • Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight
    • A fascinating read about Phil Knight's life building and growing Nike. Knight is a wonderful and engaging story-teller, offering many tidbits of wisdom throughout the book.
  • The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz
    • “Hard things are hard because there are no easy answers or recipes. They are hard because your emotions are at odds with your logic. They are hard because you don’t know the answer and you cannot ask for help without showing weakness.” Ben tells the story of his experiences as CEO of Loudcloud (which evolved into Opsware). He definitely does not glamorize the life as a CEO, which I appreciate. You need to know what you're getting yourself into and what to expect coming down the pipeline. This book was a great read filled with practical guidance on running a startup.
  • Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans
    • How to apply design thinking principles as a guiding framework for life. To get an idea for what the book covers, watch this talk. I have an in-depth post about this book in my drafts, I'll update this description with a link when I finish it.
  • The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down by Haemin Sunim
    • A collection of short essays and Zen wisdom on life, love, relationships, work, passion, and other subjects. I found this book after hearing this NPR story on the radio one day.
  • The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail - But Some Don't by Nate Silver
    • Nate Silver's practical advice, experience, and critique on methods for interpreting data. With a focus on finding the ground truth among the vast sea of information, he presents lessons for finding the true signal among the noise.

2016

  • Getting Things Done by David Allen
    • A book detailing David Allen's methodology for getting shit done. Honestly, I'd just watch the TED Talk and only read the book if you really want to learn more. The talk covers 80% of the material in 5% of the time it takes to read the book.
  • The Rise of Superman by Steven Kotler
    • Really interesting book on flow states, looking at adventure sport athletes as a case study for how humans get "in the zone" and how these athletes have mastered the process of "getting in the zone."
  • Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
    • Read the book front to back in four days. Really interesting read on Elon's life.
  • Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth, and Impact the World by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler
    • A practical guide to thinking big for your next venture and how to execute on grand visions. Kotler talks about establishing a "line of supercredibility" and comments on how crowdfunding has changed the way we pursue large endeavors.
  • The Shark's Paintbrush: Biomimicry and How Nature is Inspiring Innovation by Jay Harman
    • An interesting book examining the use of biomimicry as a tool for businesses to stay innovative.
  • The Creator's Code: The Six Essential Skills of Extraordinary Entrepreneurs by Amy Wilkinson
    • The title is pretty self-explanatory, I found this to be an interesting read.
  • The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts by Gary D. Chapman
    • An eye-opening book on relationships. Chapman argues that not everyone speaks the same love language, and many relationship problems arise from speaking your love language rather than your partner's. The five love languages he has identified are: acts of service, quality time, words of affirmation, physical touch, and receiving gifts.
  • Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter
    • How the "rich" teach their kids about money versus how the "poor" teach their kids about money. Biggest takeaway: focus on buying assets, not paying expenses. Buy assets that generate (usually passive) income to cover expenses; if you pay your expenses first you don't have money to buy assets.
  • Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
    • Thin slicing and other ways our minds are able to make judgements without thinking, also covers the dangers of such judgements.
  • Outliers: The Secrets of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
    • An interesting collection of stories of success, highlighting the often forgotten details in the stereotypical "rags to riches" story.
  • Winning with Data by Tomasz Tunguz
    • Today's most successful companies (ex. Airbnb, Uber, Netflix, Amazon, Warby Parker) are gaining a competitive edge by operating on data-driven principles. This book gives an inside view on how these companies operate and succeed.
  • Zero to One by Peter Thiel
    • Peter Thiel's advice on startups.
  • The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism by Olivia Fox Cabane
    • Often regarded as an innate quality, Oliva argues that there's a science to charisma and offers tips, tricks, and practices to improve your personal magnetism. How do you accept a compliment? What's the best way to communicate presence? I found this book after listening to her talk at Google and it sounded interesting, so I gave it a read! It's a book I'd recommend to anyone looking to improve interpersonal interactions.

2015

  • Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products by Leander Kahney
  • The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman
    • A great introduction to design thinking, one of my all-time favorite books.
  • Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler
    • This book provides tools and tips for communicating in high-stakes environments. It has helped me speak up in difficult situations where I used to remain silent.
  • Leadership and Self-Deception by Arbinger Institute
  • The Open Organization by Jim Whitehurst
    • A book discussing Red Hat's open culture and how it provides the company with a competitive edge. The ideas discussed in this book really resonated with me, so much that I actually sought out an internship at Red Hat to experience the culture firsthand.
  • The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
    • Common reading material for anyone trying to start a business.
  • The 4 Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
    • I found this book to be interesting and gained some value from reading it, but I don't necessarily think that Tim's 4-hour workweek built on outsourcing and relying on other people is a sustainable job. If everyone outsourced to someone else we'd have infinite cost and zero output.
  • How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
  • The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor

Next books I'd like to read
  • Sandworm by Andy Greenberg
  • High Output Management by Andrew Grove
  • Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life by Nir Eyal
  • Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by Anders Ericsson
  • The Unicorn Project: A Novel about Developers, Digital Disruption, and Thriving in the Age of Data by Gene Kim
  • Things That Make Us Smart: Defending Human Attributes in the Age of the Machine by Donald A. Norman
  • Human Compatible by Stuart Russell
  • The Book of Why by Judea Pearl
  • An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Eng Management by Will Larson
  • The Enigma of Reason by Dan Sperber and Hugo Mercier
  • Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
  • Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
  • Deviate: The Science of Seeing Differently by Beau Lotto
  • The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life by Kevin Simler
  • How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer by Debbie Millman
  • Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't by James C. Collins
  • Simple Wealth, Inevitable Wealth by Nick Murray
  • How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds by Alan Jacobs
  • The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits by Zeynep Ton
  • The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Books I'm considering
  • The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
  • Peak Mind: Find Your Focus, Own Your Attention, Invest 12 Minutes a Day by Amishi P. Jha
  • Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World by Bob Goff
  • The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution by Gregory Zuckerman
  • Set for Life: Dominate Life, Money, and the American Dream by Scott Trench
  • Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
  • Teaching and Learning STEM: A Practical Guide by Dr. Richard Felder
  • Tools of Titans by Timothy Ferriss
  • Reductionism in Art and Brain Science: Bridging the Two Cultures by Eric Kandel
  • Switch by Chip and Dan Heath
  • Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means for Business, Science, and Everyday Life by Albert-laszlo Barabasi
  • The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
  • What Doesn't Kill Us by Scott Carney
  • Infomocracy: A Novel by Malka Older
  • The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene
  • The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
  • Average is Over by Tyler Cowen
  • Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount
  • SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham
  • Writing Without Bullshit by Josh Bernoff
  • Modern Romance: An Investigation by Aziz Ansari and Eric Klinenberg
  • Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days by Braden Kowitz, Jake Knapp, and John Zeratsky
  • Modern Monopolies: What It Takes to Dominate the 21st Century Economy by Alex Moazed and Nicholas L. Johnson
  • A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming: Mastering the Art of Oneironautics by Dylan Tuccillo, Jared Zeizel, and Thomas Peisel
  • The Art of War by Sun Tzu
  • Design in Nature: How the Constructal Law Governs Evolution in Biology, Physics, Technology, and Social Organizations by Adrian Bejan
  • Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software by Steven Johnson
  • Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation by Steve Johnson
    • Reminder: watch this first to evaluate.
  • Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
  • The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High-Tech World by Adam Gazzaley
  • On Growth and Form by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson
  • The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell
  • Maverick by Ricardo Semler
  • The Book by Alan Watts