Ask IH: What are you reading this month?
I just started Antifragile by Taleb. Very interesting take on fragility and how it relates to organisms, the economy, and life.
I just finished The Million Dollar One Person business. It has some great examples of using Amazon’s FBA service.
What are you reading this month?
Rework by jason fried & dhh from basecamp.
loved that one!
yup,one of best book ever i read.
Business: Start small, Stay small
Fun: The Rama series by Arthur C. Clark, and Naked Statistics
Faith: Gospel fluency
Rama is awesome, one of my favorite fiction book. The game related is also really good and I enjoyed a lot (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rama_(video_game)).
I'm going to be getting wealth of nations as my next book.
Have you read 'Why Nations Fail'? That was a huge book for me.
What did you like most about it?
The whole thing. It's just ridiculous interesting. The central thesis of the book is basically that political institutions determine economic institutions which determines the general well-being of the population and level of opportunities available to them. But the depth they go into over the whole course of recorded history since the Neolithic Revolution is astounding. I think the most interesting parts were where they showcase actually how the current state of the western world is actually highly unusual (democracy) and the conditions necessary for it to come about. Equally fascinating and scary were examples throughout history where actually things were improving for people and then good, robust political systems that provided people opportunities were co-opted by the very people who got an opportunity a long time ago and made their way to the top.
The whole thing is just an stunningly deep look into human nature at scale.
I’m with you. I often think about how we got to where we are as a species. It’s fascinating.
One thing specifically - the other day my niece started junior high school. Her mom is still driving her to school. I mentioned that she should take the bus and she said “no way it’s no safe out there”
(I understand, that’s the typical mom response I’m sure).
But it made me think deeper about her statement as a whole. It’s amazing how safe we actually are statistically.
Compared to when I was walking 2 miles to junior high in 2002. Society is becoming more and more safe.
I guess my point is, it’s fascinating how things are evolving and it seems so slow but in reality it’s so fast. I know that sounds like an oxymoron but when you look at it from birds eye view...
I’m going to buy that book sooner than later. I like topics like this.
Yeah I think about that all the time. It's mental. Especially when you think about what's actually real. You're born and it's just you and your tribe in the grass, there's no where to sleep, you're hungry as shit and everything is dangerous. That's where we come from. Everything else is something we've made up over time. Compared to that, life now is a walk in the park. Yet people complain about 9 to 5... It blows my mind.
Yes! Exactly! You get me.
For the most part if life was like that now, 99% of people wouldn't survive. Correlation to the 1% of the wealthy? Interesting...
Also - speaking of which. That'd be a really cool experience to give people. Like a 30 day retreat - Where you literally have to hunt your own food, build your own fires, build your own shelters etc.
Kind of like survivor (the tv show). But for anyone who wants to partake & unlike the show. You start with nothing. Want a knife? Make one.
hmmm. Makes me want to do it.
Not yet, But it's on my list!
Nonfiction: Just wrapped of Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch and now reading Antifragile by Nassim Taleb (surprising amount of startup lessons in this one!)
Fiction: Robert Heinlein stuff and trying to get into Iain Banks
lots more book recos here: https://tristan.readwise.io :P
Deep Work by Cal Newport, about half way done and can't wait to implement some new work habits!
Next on the list for me is Soft Skills: The software developer's life manual
I might read a fiction book along side that one too
I think that's one of the best books ever written for those in or who aspire to be in the creative class.
I liked some ideas from Deep work. But sometimes the way he tries to prove his point is just ridiculous, especially if it has to do with social media. But it's just my impression.
Traction I think, I suck at marketing etc. anyone recommendations?
I've heard Influence is good for marketing. Haven't actually read it yet though...
Influence is better for sales than marketing IMO.
It's good! I wish he would give case studies of each channel though haha!
isn't that what the book is full of?
Ah good to hear, I have seen the name pop up here so I figured it would be a solid starting point.
I'm currently reading Sapiens. Very interesting to get the big picture of how everything of our history and what we've build today is tied together.
Read it - It's a great book. Also started Homo Deus (His follow-up book to sapiens) - but actually put in down half way through.
Same here. In fact, I prefer to watch Yuval Noah lectures on Youtube rather than read his books.
Yeah - I haven't yet watched any of his talks. I felt Homo Deus was still steeped in too much history. Especially after reading Sapiens :).
I felt like he knew what he wanted to say, but felt it needed to be 400+ pages. Could've been a great book at 200 pages and kept attention all the way through.
One mans opinion though.
I love reading but it's been a while since I picked up last book.
I want to get back a reading. Suggest any book that can keep me hooked all night long.
Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World by Tim Ferriss
You should check our Neil Patel digital marketing blog...
Not directly related but very interesting.
Recommendation from @PVan -- Slicing Pie: Funding Your Company Without Funds https://g.co/kgs/Vym3mM
I just started "Rationality: from AI to Zombies". So far, it seems to offer good general advice that could easily be applied to start-ups.
All life is problem solving by Karl Popper.
Highly recommend for those also with an interest in Philosophy that would want to analyze their business at a higher level.
Reading The Creative Curve by Allen Gannett (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-Curve-Develop-Right-Idea/dp/0753548739)
He's the CEO of TrackMaven and he shares his thoughts on why creativity isn't just a spark but more of something to be developed.
Fascinating stuff - for those in the UK, I have connections with the book publisher to receive a discount (c £7 for a copy)
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
I'm reading How to Measure Everything.
It's very good to understand what really mean measuring things. It focus on measuring what is considered impossible to measure for a lot of companies.
Since I always wanted to reduce uncertainty and measure risk on a lot of questions ("does this side project will bring me any money?", "Is it the good moment to launch?") I hope this book can help me.
Otherwise it's still very interesting.
Think and grow rich, by Napoleon Hill
You know that guy was basically a fraudster with a lot of failed businesses. Then he wrote that book and it got famous. Based on his track record, I don't think the book deserves to be famous.
Code.
I'm reading:
Scaling Teams: Strategies for Building Successful Teams and Organizations
Principles: Life and Work
Finishing Mastering Bitcoin by Andreas M. Antonopoulos and started Start small, stay small by Rob Walling
I've just started The Hard Thing about the Hard Things. (I know I'm late).
Reading Subscribed by Tien Tzuo.
Really interesting read about how subscription models are incredibly profitable and how to implement one for your business. About 75% of the way through but highly enjoyable so far.
What a coincidence. I'm about halfway through Antifragile. The book feels a bit like Freakonomics. A lot of interesting insights and anecdotal evidence. But in the end, you're not sure what to think of it. If you are on this forum, you're probably already trying to be antifragile (or at the very least robust) anyway.
I'm reading $100 Startup from Chris Guillebeau.
How useful do you think it is?
Not finished yet, It's all about small bussiness creator's stories.
Not only internet entrepreneurs but also tells music teacher, bed seller etc.
I think that reading is good.
Godel Escher Bach by Douglas Hofstader. Not massively business-focused but super fun (and hard work sometimes!)
Nothing
Finally read Traction over the past two days. Really good foundational knowledge. I should have read it ages ago.
I'm halfway through reading Lean Customer Development. Not learning a great deal of new stuff from that but it's just a different person explaining the same things, so it's drilling the messages a little deeper.
I had thought the same thing after reading the Traction book...
I am reading information on GDRP which is a Legal requirement for websites with E.U viewers , its a little more complicated than I thought .
And the CEO HandBook , which is about case analysis of major CEO mistakes -
The most interesting one so far is about KFC opening in Japan - They planned their Japanese market expansion for years....When they finally opened , KFC couldn't figure out why their sales were so low- until someone did a yen to dollar exchange rate conversion - that's when they finally figured out that a bucket of KFC chicken cost $ 40.00 USD
lol that's so ridiculous. How come nobody did such a basic step? That's mind boggling. The funniest thing about KFC in Japan is that couples go to KFC on Christmas day. Like...that's a real thing.
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