Ask IH: What are you reading this month?
I am almost finished reading the 2001 version of Getting Things Done.
I may not implement 100% of the method, but I will use some aspects of it to get the open loops off my mind.
At the office I am working through the book Writing Great Specification by Nicieja. Learning how to write concrete use cases using the gherkin business language is my biggest take away. I am working on an executive summary to train various directors across the company on how to write concise requirements.
What are you reading this month and what is your biggest takeaway?
I've been reading Meditations, the journal of Marcus Aurelius, one of the ancient emperors of Rome. He never knew that anyone would read it (since it was just his personal journal). This quote stuck out to me:
Keeps me going when I get discouraged. :)
That kind of self-confidence is incredibly useful and practical. I've found that if I know (or believe) something to be possible, I'm a lot more effective in getting there. I'll keep trying new things, over and over. However, if I'm not sure something is possible, I'll only try one or two things before I declare my progress "good enough." Reminds me of how everyone started running 4-minute miles once one guy proved it was possible.
big up roger bannister!
Same here, Courtland. I often wonder what invisible barriers we've placed on ourselves over time.
I have only made it a few pages into Meditations. That is a fantastic quote
There are some really dense translations out there! The one by Gregory Hays was by far the easiest to read, even poetic at times: amazon.com/Meditations-New-Translation-Marcus-Aurelius/dp/0812968255
For anyone interested in reading the book, the first chapter is a little abstract. You might want to start with Chapter 2.
I have the Dover thrift edition. I agree that the translation makes the world of difference. I experienced this reading Plato
Why Nations Fail
gotta say it's one of the most important books I've read in a long time to help me cultivate world view and really dive deep into some important parts of history and economics. Can't recommend it highly enough. The main take away is that political institutions define economic institutions which define the opportunities available to the population and political institutions which exclude people create economic institutions that exclude people and they extract the wealth out of the population and funnel it toward themselves, while inclusive political institutions create inclusive economic institutions and opportunities for the population to prosper. It goes into a fantastic amount of detail citing many historical examples. Very important book.
Thanks, added to my reading list.
This sounds incredible. Going to buy this soon!
I am going to put this on my list. Have you read any similar books to this?
I'm reading Road To Ruin at the moment... that is similar in nature though it has a different purpose. He dives into the plan for the next impending financial crises with a look at history+behavioural economics. It's a pretty shocking read though what he says does seem to check out. It's written by the guy who apparently helped negotiate the bailout of banks in 2008, so he's certainly in the right circles to be very knowledgeable about this stuff. It sometimes (in fact often) feels like it borders on conspiracy theory but, after reading Why Nations Fail I have a better understanding of human beings and the ways in which they really do and have conspired throughout the last 12,000 years of history, so I'm viewing what he is saying through that filter. It's definitely food for thought.
The other book that I'm reading at the moment that is absolutely phenomenal is Ray Dalio's Principles! Not at all related but holy shit. That dude literally cracked the code on life.
Oh my God, Ray Dalio's Principles was SO good! I had to stop taking notes on it because I realized I was just copying down most of the book.
Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson - was recommended by Naval Ravikant many times.
I got so tired of non-fiction and constant optimising that I decided to actually enjoy the book this time...
I think that's a really good point about non-fiction. I think I fell into the same trap and probably had not read any fiction for a few years. It triggers such other parts of you that it's funny how both are merely words on a page.
Snowcrash is a great read. I also liked his Cryptonomicon
The Diamond Age was fun too.
Snow Crash is a classic though. Such a ride!
I'm currently reading The Entrepreneur's Guide to Keeping Your Sh*t Together. Don't have any big takeaways yet but four or five weeks ago was feeling a bit overwhelmed so hoping this helps me avoid that going forward.
Just finished the last of the Hyperion books. This one was a little more work to get through than the other three.
Just bought this one too, I'm a big fan of Walling family so was waiting for the book to be released, and first 10% are totally what I was expecting. Talking about the foundation - WHY you go into entrepreneurship.
just read moneyball. the take home is:
people are such herd animals and full of bullshit that there is inefficiencies everywhere to be exploited.
That is a pretty decent idea to keep in mind
Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman
Mainly due to being at a stage with my consulting business, where I either implement more processes & hire more people or continue to be "ON" 24/7.
I have read a different book called Traction that covered marketing.
This one sounds like an operations/process type book. I am going to put it on my list to read.
Currently I'm reading The Old New Thing and The Wizard and the Prophet. Not sure how applicable either are, but the historical perspective both books offer is interesting.
I'm reading Tools of Titans by Tim Ferris.
The biggest takeaway so far is — the foundation, the starting point of everything is solid health, otherwise all other endeavours are meaningless.
I bought this recently, but haven't started reading it yet. Interesting you say that though because lately I have come to realise this and it's driven me so far to drop 12kg and my health is improving :)
Good to hear, although loosing weight is not quite enough, it certainly helps you to better manage your energy, but it's also important what diet you stick to — it's all written there, I'm not an expert.
If you like this one, you might also like Tribe of Mentors. Took so many notes from that book.
I have a few of Tim’s other books. I still enjoy his classic 4 Hour Work Week. Have you read anything else by him?
Not the original poster, but I feel the same way. I've read 4HWW, Tools of Titans, and Tribe of Mentors. 4HWW is still my favorite. I love the alternative approach to business.
The Art of Living by Epictetus and Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Just recently picked up reading again. Biggest takeaway is that books are such a good source for information and learning. So glad that I've started reading again, especially when the more natural thing to do nowadays is to instead read on Twitter, HN, Medium, etc.
Each serve their purposes, but none seem to be able to replace books.
big up nassim. he hates pinkerboy
Apprently the consensus is that Taleb went off the rails on that one.
any links?
i don't know much about it. i just dont like the sound of pinkerboy
https://www.quora.com/Is-Nassim-Talebs-criticism-of-Steven-Pinkers-work-fair#
I totally agree that you get so much more from books. I just saw Skin in The Game in the bookstore the other day. How is it so far?
R. Scott Bakker - The Aspect-Emperor trilogy.
Biggest takeaway: Nightmares :O
Serious answer: I'm slowly working through several "design for developers" books right now. Trying to get my design chops better. I've gone through Don't Make Me Think and the Non-Designer's Design Book. Now looking at Hello Web Design.
I have read Don’t Make Me Think. I have not heard of the others before. Which design book do you like the most so far?
I would say Don't Make Me Think and Non-Designer's Design Book are both good. I haven't read Hello Web Design yet.
Overall I feel like I have a much better understanding of things like spacing, and how to direct people's attention on a page, but when it comes to like, making a design from nothing (e.g. picking typography, a color scheme) I am still hopeless.
I also forgot to mention this one, which is pay-what-you-want: https://practicaltypography.com
I came across a few great design articles on Medium a few years back. For a non-designer, it was excellent in terms of dealing with colors, white space, font.
There was another great article on state which I have to find again. It covered how should your app or site behave when there are no results, one result, out of results etc
I used to read when commuting. Now I don't move too much around (that's a good thing), but it's hard to find a time to read when you think you always have something else to do.
So, you who commute every day, enjoy!
I have read almost all the interviews here in IH (not the newest ones, but I will) and I've noticed that, often, the interviewees share the books they read.
So this weekend I finally worked on that project that is to gather all these goods books and put them on one place.
Check that on https://indiehackersbooks.com
For now I link the books directly to the Amazon page 💰. I'm planning to make a page for each book with the author/description, ... but also the interviews where the book was mentioned. What do you think? And what would you love to see added?
I originally planned to Show IH this project tomorrow but when I saw this post I took the opportunity to write about it here.
This reminds me of something I saw on hackernews a few years back. Its a good idea
Dan Brown's new book 'Origin';) - have read almost all the books mentioned here already though ;)
Not very original but Thinking Fast and Slow.
So far the biggest takeaway is that we have 2 systems of thinking, one quick and irrational which uses heuristics, that although very useful, sets us up to fall for irrationalities very frequently - the other slow and deliberate that takes up a larger cognitive load.
I have a copy, it is on my list to read. Human bias is a very interesting subject.
What are your takeaways so far?
22 Immutable Laws of Marketing has been one of those books where there's nuggets of good info on every page. I'm taking notes left and right. Some of the most prominent ones have been to become #1 in a category. If there are competitors, don't be better, be different, create a new category.
I'm just getting started in Seeking Wisdom but I think it's going to be a bit of a rehash of Poor Charlie's Almanack, which is potentially life-changing.
Is Poor Charlie's Almanack worth shelling out €100 for?
Hey I just emailed you the pdf of this book but I think I got waitlisted by your Earn stuff.
Thanks! Yes it did
Hard to say how much someone else will like the book. I probably would but I didn't because I found a pdf online and downloaded it for free.
I have heard good and bad things about the 22 Laws. I think I tried reading reviews on AMZN and decided not to read it. I would be curious to hear your thoughts when you finish it
What bad things have you heard about it?
Some of the reviews stated the methods were outdated
The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford - very interesting and thought provoking so far, theory is very well explained through real world examples.
Crime & Punishment by Dostoevsky, just started reading this a few days ago, mind blowing so far.
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs - have been grinding through this since last month and won't finish it this month but it's been very rewarding so far. Especially recommended for self taught programmers who want to improve their fundamentals.
What flavor of Lisp are you using to work through SICP?
Scheme, as in the book. Running code on repl.it.
I remember try out Racket years ago. If I recall it supported a particular version of Scheme
Reading THE 33 STRATEGIES OF WAR by Robert Green.
Excellent book like all his others. I love his style of writing. The points he makes are all backed up by events in history and the back stories behind them.
Half way through the book and the takeaway is build your teams like the great warrior leaders of the past ...Napoleon Bonaparte to name one.
There's a reason why these leaders succeeded in the past the their truths still hold true today.
I've been reading The Godfather, a classic. It shows how important is to have contacts, help people...
Thinking in Systems (Meadows) - it's a great primer to understand how systems interact and how you can build feedback loops.
I have another book An Introduction to General Systems Thinking that came out in 1975. I wonder how the two would compare
Nice I'll check it out !
A few of the books I've read in 2018 to date:
I just ordered Never Split the Difference early this week. Looking forward to reading it.
I'm rereading The Subtle Art of not Giving A Fck :)
The biggest takeaway is not to give a fck.
I have read a few chapters. I plan on finishing it eventually as it is a great read
I read Mark Manson's blog post on not giving a f*ck a few years ago. The one with the kitten walking away from an explosion. :)
I kinda want to buy the book now...
You'll love it, I promise!
I'm reading Enlightenment Now, Steven Pinker's new book. I'm actually going to see him give a talk in LA tonight! The book covers the different ways that the world has gotten better since the Enlightenment in meticulous detail, and analyzes the reasons why.
It's fascinating to see the contrast between how people today look at the world vs people from pre-Enlightenment periods. We take a lot of stuff for granted as natural that is really a learned behavior, e.g. our use of "reasoning" to justify and explain things.
It's also heartening to see the positive progress humanity has made. For example, I wasn't aware just how easily famine could strike, or how horrible it was. Pinker paints a very vivid picture of it. It's terrible beyond words. People the world over lived in constant fear of famine and plague, but today we don't think twice about it. It was once thought mathematically impossible to grow enough food to feed everyone, but today technology makes that trivial. And that's just one of over a dozen major ways that things are getting better.
Courtland, do you think he would come on the podcast?
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
Great book. Really recommend it to anyone with an interest in history.
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How do you sort the books?
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I usually use the fakespot site to analyze the reviews if I do not know much about the author