“There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter — the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something."

“It can destroy an individual, or it can fulfill him, depending a good deal on luck. No one should come to New York to live unless he is willing to be lucky.”

Here is New York

A read that's at worst scary, and at best intimidating.

"Imbedded in a cosmos where everything was immortal, mortality became the hallmark of human existence. Men are "the mortals," the only mortal things in existence, because unlike animals they do not exist only as members of a species whose immortal life is guaranteed through procreastion. The mortality of men lies in the fact that individual life, with a recognizable life-story from birth to death, risese out of biological life... This mortality: to move along a rectinlinear line in a universe where everything, if it moves at all, moves in a cyclical order. The task and potential greatness of mortals lies in their ability to produce things.. which would deserve to be and... are at home in everlastingness, so that through them mortals could find their place in a cosmos where everything is immortal except themselves."

The Human Condition

One of my new favorite books. McCarthy does an amazing job of building a mental image of the American and Mexican landscape. The characters are multi dimensional and complicated. Judge Holden may be the best antagonist ever. Highly recommend - will certainly reread myself.

"That which exists without my knowledge exists without my consent"

“For let it go how it will, he said, God speaks in the least of creatures. The kid thought him to mean birds or things that crawl but the expriest, watching, his head slightly cocked, said: No man is give leave of that voice. The kid spat into the fire and bent to his work. I aint heard no voice, he said. When it stops, said Tobin, you’ll know you’ve heard it all your life."

Blood Meridian

People with fixed mindsets believe the qualities that determine their success are predetermined. People with growth mindsets believe these qualities can be developed through their own intentional direction and effort. Carol Dweck explores the outcomes of people with each mindset in-terms of personal success, sports, business, and relationships and shows the importance of adopting a growth mindset.

This book was far better than I expected, in part because I underestimated how critical the growth mindset is. After reading, I'm reminded that this mindset is not just a useful, but a necessary ingredient for all sustainable forms of success. Its also the root of the most antifragile approach to personal growth in anything, which involves constant action, observation, and iteration.

Mindset

The entire history of the semiconductor industry. Covers the stories of all the famous founders & scientists involved, the important technical breakthroughs, the developments in the manufacturing value chain, and the geopolitical forces that have shaped and been shaped by this technology.

Interesting to learn about the dynamics of how economic incentives have made this the most rapidly innovating industry in human history. Also made me appreciate the urgency of the United States vs. China conflict over who controls the chip manufacturing supply chain.

Chip War

One of Warren Buffet's two favorite books on investing. The guide to the most effective and proven strategy for retail investors.

Fisher advocates for a long-term approach where you ignore short-term price action, and focus on identifying a small number of very high quality companies with great management and large growth opportunities, buying them while under-valued, and then never selling.

He shows you how this strategy has always offered the opportunity to make massive returns, and he breaks down the specifics of how to identify great companies and what mistakes to avoid.

Beyond stocks, this book offers timeless insight on investing as a whole and is essential reading for everyone.

Common Stocks & Uncommon Profits

One of the 3 books Jeff Bezos requires all executives at Amazon to read. Also the most painstakingly boring book I've finished in a long time (only finished because I was reading it with a friend).

The book attempts to explain Eliyahu Goldratt's _Theory of Constraints_ philosophy through the fictional story of Alex Rogo, the operator of a failing factory who has three months to turn his business around.

The philosophy itself, which teaches the importance of operational excellence and focusing on bottlenecks, permanently changed managament 30 years ago. However, it's now decades out-dated as its long been the default approach to management.

The narrative is also dragged out far longer than it needs to be, with an irrelevant side plot about the factory owners failing marriage, and every sentence of insight taking several chapters of predictable dialogue to be revealed.

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement

An introduction to the immune system written by the founder of Kurzgesagt that far exceeded by expectations. Philipp Dettmer breaks down this traditionally unapproachable subject so well that it feels simple and intuitive.

He's done a great job sharing his appreciation for the beauty & elegance of the defense systems our bodies have somehow developed through natural selection. He also constantly uses useful analogies and interjects with his own entertaining commentary, making the book highly readable.

Immune

Are we better off fighting with reality to bring our desires into existence, or letting go of our desires and allowing our will to be directed by the same forces of reality that created the perfection of the universe?

Michael Singer dedicated his life to answering this question. This book is about his unexpected journey to creating a multi-billion dollar company through complete surrender.

His story highlights the surprising unpredictability of life and challenges the consensus views on how to live. His lifestyle synthesizes the wisdom of eastern philosophy with youthful ambition and the will to create.

It has changed my perspective on embracing uncertainty and opened my mind to the possibilities of achievement aligned with inner tranquility and the beauty of following the flow of life.

#

The Surrender Experiment

A guide to UI design, written by the creators of Tailwind CSS. I was hoping for insight on the first-principles of great web design along with more tactical tips. Instead, this book focuses entirely on tactics.

It leaves you with many useful suggestions to improve the visual appeal of web interfaces, but not much around how to think like a designer.

Refactoring UI

The defining work on the principles and pscyhology of achievement. This book is famous, but still underrated. It isn't about becoming rich - it's about achieving anything you desire. The philosophy can be applied to building wealth and everything else worthwhile.

It guides you through the thirteen steps to achievement, starting with creating a burning desire for a well-defined future. Each one is an insightful and unintuitive lesson demanding reflection.

Everyone should read and reference this book as many times as necessary for its principles to be fully adopted and applied - they're that critical to success.

If you feel like you're drifting through life without direction, spending your time working toward the dreams of others without your own dream, and you don't want to remain that way, you especially have to read this.

Think And Grow Rich

A short and highly readable book about how to hone your craft as an artist. Similar to "How to Do Good Work" by Paul Graham, but with more targeted advice and a more creative format.

Good insights on the importance of taking inspiration from other places, curating your taste, staying creative & consistent, and sharing your work with the world.

Steal Like An Artist

Life is made up of decisions. Most of these decisions can be evaluated using ordinary decision making frameworks using specific optimization functions.

But some of these decisions - like deciding where to live, who to marry, and what to do with your life - force you to make life-defining choices with incomplete information to questions with no obvious answers.

This book is about how to deal with these "wild problems." It offers great counter-intuitive frameworks on how to make these decisions and what to optimize for to maximize flourishing.

I read it after making a big decision in my life, and all the advice resonated in hindsight. I wish I had read it sooner so I could have made the decision with more confidence.

Wild Problems

A deep dive on exceptional groups and what unifies them all. Covers the stories of the original group at Disney that created _Snow White and the Seven Dwarves_, Xerox PARC, the 1992 Bill Clinton campaign, Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works, the school for artists at Black Mountain, and the Manhattan project.

Reading the stories of these groups helps to develop your own intuitions, although I wish the stories were told in more detail. The list of insights at the end about the commonalities between great groups could have used more development.

Organizing Genius

The defining work on business strategy. This book contains an exhaustive list of the business strategies that yield long-term value, framed in the context of benefits offered to incumbents and barriers to competitors.

Beyond it's exploration of strategy, it provides a high-level map of building companies that's often missing in the way startup common knowledge is communicated, and is critical to understanding the big picture.

The examples in this book are concise and strictly add to the main points, which is refreshing compared with the standard unnecessary use of stories in many books.

Here is New York

The Human Condition

Blood Meridian

Mindset

Chip War

Common Stocks & Uncommon Profits

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement

Immune

The Surrender Experiment

Refactoring UI

Think And Grow Rich

Steal Like An Artist

Wild Problems

Organizing Genius

7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy

The Surrender Experiment