What impactful book did you read recently? [February 2022]

The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt.

I read a lot and this is perhaps the best book I've read in the last 12 months. It's a history of a famous 15th-century book hunter who found the only extant copy of one of the most impactful books of antiquity: Lucretius’ ancient greek poem "On the Nature of Things," which basically laid out a mechanistic explanation of the entire universe — invoking atoms and empty space as the constituent parts of all things, and even positing a crude version of biological evolution.

Lucretius's work would go on to transform the world and expedite the enlightenment, but The Swerve itself is about the fascinating life of the book hunter who re-discovered Lucretius — Poggio Bracciolini — the former apostolic secretary of a disgraced and deposed pope.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Read it and thank me later.

I've been a little obsessed with Nassim Nicholas Taleb recently. Both The Black Swan and Antifragile have really changed the way I look at the world. Both have implications for entrepreneurship too!

There are a lot of powerful ideas in both books (and the entire Incerto series, of which these two books are the most well-known part).

Black Swan's primary focus is around uncertainty in general, and specifically the problems of applying statistical analysis (aka "inductive logic" or "induction") to many fields. This was pretty earth-shattering to me because I have always been a big believer in applying statistical analysis to pretty much anything!

Famously, Taleb talks about "The Turkey Problem". In this thought experiment, imagine you are a turkey on a farm. Every day, the farmer feeds you. On the first day, you might be a little wary of this strange human. By the 500th day, though, you know exactly what to expect. With each passing day, you are more sure that this person is a great friend of yours.

If you were a mathematically-inclined turkey, you could apply statistical analysis here. Based on the math, you'd have great confidence that this would go on forever. In fact, it does keep going. 800 days, then 900 days. On the 1000th day, you'd have so much evidence that you would be absolutely sure of what the next day would bring.

Unfortunately on the 1001st day, the farmer kills you to sell you for food.

So we can clearly see how statistical analysis cannot predict the future in all cases, only describe our limited sample of the past.

Suffice it to say that Taleb is not a fan of traditional economists.

My description here does not do justice to the book, but both Black Swan and Antifragile are pretty important books in my opinion. Would be glad to try and answer any other questions you have, if any!

My podcast is a bookclub. We read a book roughly every six weeks or so. The last one we read was The Alchemist. We read it after reading Will, the autobiography of Will Smith.

Both were a delight, and I recommend reading them in that way. You get a sense of how a mega star approaches the business of himself, the challenges that creates and the optimism needed to pursue that level of fame.

The Alchemist is the first book Will ever read front to back. It's a pretty timeless story. I can absolutely understand why it appealed to him, and many others.

Thanks for the topic!

Principles by Ray Dalio.

Great source of information on how to approach life and business.

UNIX: A History and a Memoir by Brian Kernighan. It's an account of the history, development, and people of Unix by one of the major contributors. It made me reflect on and appreciate even more the Unix philosophy, programming languages, and system design.

I've read a couple recently that were excellent.

• The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. This is a work of historical fiction that centers on the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War. This book is an astounding work of art and history. As do all books that detail the experience of war, it made me glad that I've never had to fight in one.

• Mythology by Edith Hamilton. This is a compendium of Greek, Roman, and a bit of Norse myths. Their conception of the gods was radically different from ours!