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Question
What are you reading?
What books and/or long-form articles are you reading? What do you like and dislike about them?
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Recently finished reading:
Poor Charlie's Almanack
Recently re-published by Stripe. It's a collection of Charlie Munger's talks. Although it did get repetitive (many of his talks cover similar topics and ideas), I really enjoyed reading about his mental models. It's the last chapter.
Almanack of Naval Ravikant
Collection of Naval Ravikant's writings, tweets, etc. Talks about achieving happiness and wealth.
SaaS Playbook
Very practical book for SaaS founders. Contains all the fundamentals. Good read for most WIP members I think.
A Man for All Markets
Autobiography of Edward O. Thorpe who invented the first blackjack card counting system to beat the casinos. Later also beat the market with clever trading techniques. Really interesting person and book.
Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography
Everyone knows Benjamin Franklin. If not for being one of the USA founding fathers, you've seen him as the face of the $100 dollar bill. Other than that, I didn't know much about him. But after @oskarth recommending me his autobiography I've developed a lot of respect and intrigue into this businessman, politician, scientist, inventor and more.
Currently reading:
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
The autobiography was really interesting and left me for wanting more. So I'm now reading the biography written by Walter Isaacson.
Weird fun fact: When my psych stats professor made tenure, he taught us how to count cards in blackjack, since it's all statistics anyway.
I used that to pay off over $80,000 of my student loans, so it's easily the most valuable thing I learned in all 5 degrees. Anyway, I'm too chicken to drive to Vegas and count there since I'm pretty sure I'll end up in the desert 😆
Anyway, I'm currently reading "Gilgamesh in the 21st Century: A Personal Quest to Understand Mortality"
I prefer either long-form articles or long-form (3+ hours) video essays, and I've been binging content on Star Trek, world building, Dark Souls, game design, game mechanics, branding, and storytelling.
I almost exclusively consume long-form content, though.
Give that professor a raise!what an interesting story. Did you play in local leagues?
I think I listened to all Naval podcasts several times. I definitely need to buy myself an "Almanack of Naval Ravikant." He inspires me always.
Last one was Ten Years a Nomad by Matthew Kepnes. Someone gave it to me not knowing that I had already been to all of the destinations this guy traveled to, so it was a bit of a boring read having had similar experiences
I did get a good lol out of him saying that Khao San Rd was some sort of religious experience where he "found himself." It's probably the worst representation of Thailand besides Pattaya Walking Street and I don't know how anyone finds anything there other than hookers and drugs, but more power to him.
I'll have to check out SaaS Playbook 👀
"I don't know how anyone finds anything there other than hookers and drugs"
I cackled! 🤣🤣🤣 Thanks for that much-needed laugh.
Maybe he was there before it became one of the worst places in Thailand?
Like Bali 30 years ago 😂
If anything I think these places in Thailand have gotten more tame and less crazy over the years
Then again, I went to Khao San Rd not that long ago just to see if it changed and the answer is: no, no it has not haha
Immediately got harrassed to go see ping pong shows 🏓, strippers, order balloons full of nitrous oxide, etc
Yeah, had the exact same experience in 2018.
Currently Reading:
The Art and Business of Online Writing (80% done)
I picked this up out of frustration. I struggle with structuring content on my newsletters (e.g. coming up with good titles, writing intros that are not awkward, overthinking my content). It is one of the most valuable books I've read with practical frameworks on how to structure your writing. I've been testing them out on my newsletters and also on reddit posts, and I can tell the difference through the engagement they've had. Zero bad things to say about this book.
City of Light: The Making of Modern Paris (44% done)
Paris is a city I've always been fascinated with. Prompted by some recent trips I've done there, I wanted to find some good books about the city. I love this book because it unveils how the city became what it is known for today, and you realize that politics and the pursuit of a specific set of ideals by a small group of individuals, whether good or bad, lead to dramatic change. Optics and "Trickery", for lack of a better word, are two elements that I've extracted from this book as being critical concepts to be aware of and understand if you wish to make sense of everything that happens around you and to you.
The Rise of Rome: The Making of the World's Greatest Empire (32% done)
I picked up this book after conversing with my grandfather about great leaders from ancient history. One of the things that has always fascinated me about leaders, pre-internet and pre-mass-printing, is the scale and level of influence they have had. At the same time, I've been pondering a lot about the future of politics and power, and some of the things I want to understand is (1) what makes great political and societal models/ideals, (2) how things that were considered "great" at one time end up falling apart. While this book does not necessarily answer all of these things, it is a start, and I love ancient history. It can be a dry and lengthy read, but extremely detailed and well researched.
Books I've picked up recently but have not started, or barely started:
- Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson
- Buterin: Proof of Stake
- The Library: A Fragile History
- Les Catacombes: Histoires du Paris souterrain
- Memoires d'un Galerien du Roi-Soleil
- Picasso a Paris
- Bienvenu a L'Agence (Famille Kretz -- the people from the Parisian Agency on Netflix)
- Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
- and a couple of chess books 😅
PS. A book I am looking forward to read is King of Domains by Marc Kohlbrugge. Such an obscure space for me (domain acquisition), so definitely excited about that drop 🙏
Hello @alvivanco I am curious about The Art and Business of Online Writing does it apply for webpage/landing pages writing?
@davidalarse great question -- directly, it does not.
The book targets online writing from a perspective of socials/blog/newsletters; but it is 100% applicable to landing pages, especially if you think about building pages like 37Signals/Basecamp (basecamp.com)(https://once.com).
While it won't guide you on landing pages specifically, it would help you understand some of its most important components headlines, how to capture AND retain attention, and how to think about structuring length and format of your paragraphs. This is only about 20-30% of the book however. But I'd say, that part was the most impactful for me.
The 38 Letters from J.D. Rockefeller to his son: Perspectives, Ideology, and Wisdom
- These short letters are so good. Too much to say, but they're a fascinating insight into the mind of the energy tycoon and probably never meant to be public.
Gamecraft: Modern History of the Video Game Business - Mitch Lasky and Blake Robbins
- not a book, but helpful insight into the games/entertainment industry and struggles of small and large studios. Indie game devs & indiehackers are of the same blood
- content innovations build studios; distribution innovations build enterprises
For the Love of Physics - Walter Lewin
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories - Ken Liu
- These short stories are great! Though a tear jerker.
Can't hurt me from Goggins and The Sovereign Individual (it's awesome)
I just finished reading:
The Quality Growth Investor - 2024 Edition
I'm currently reading:
1. The Singularity is Nearer by Ray Kurzweil
2. The Dice Man
Some of the books I want to read:
- The simple path to wealth
- Thinking fast and slow
- The 7 Habits of highly effective people
- Principles
- Quiet, the power of introverts
- The Holographic Universe
- Meditations, Marcus Aurelius
- The psychology of money
- A short history of nearly everything
- The creative act
- Outliers, the story of success
I really liked "The simple path to wealth" and "The psychology of money". Honestly, these are the only two books most people need to learn about money.
They need to be in schools, especially the second one.
Recently reading many books talking about copywritting:
The Adweek Copywriting Handbook
This book offers very good advice and was quite eye-opening. Although many parts don't directly apply to the web and current times, its main message remains highly valuable.
Copywriting Secrets
This book is much more applicable to today's world. It contains actionable content that helps you set up a solid foundation for writing effective copy.
The Halbert Copywriting Method Part III
I didn't enjoy this book as much. It focuses more on techniques for editing your copy after you've written it to make it more readable and engaging. This was not quite what I was looking for.
Some of the books I'm reading:
- Risk Savvy by Gerd Gigerenzer. Nassim Taleb mentions him in Antifragile. I've really liked the book so far. I'm amazed by how lousy we are at assessing risk under uncertainty. Now I started asking doctors "What would you do?" instead of asking for a recommendation.
- Behave by Robert Sapolsky. I love his other book "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers", and I'm loving this one as well. If you want to understand human nature, behavior, and where do our biases come from, this is the book.
- Pragmatic Self-Hosting (in progress). Reading my fellow Small Bettor Andrej Fresen's book to give him feedback before publishing. I've always been curious about this.
Coincidentally just started on Poor Charlie's Almanack, I'm just a few pages in. It was part of a gift box from Stripe :)
You're going to enjoy it!
"Building a Storybrand" to learn about how to sell. As a maker that loves to make, I find it difficult to sell what I build. These types of books are helpful, but I don't really connect with the type of selling (Ex: You transform your client's life, the hero has to guide...)
Next on my list is Buy Back your time by dan, Seems like a good book to learn to delegate tasks
I've been mostly reading fiction this year. I'm currently into Branden Sanderson's Fantasy series, The Stormlight Archive, and it's great. I am on the third book, Edgdancer.
I recently read "To Kill a Mockingbird," a great and classic book about racism in the US.
The last interesting non-fiction was "How to Shoot Video That Doesn't Suck". It's a fantastic book about making videos.
PS My Goodreads if anyone wants to connect: goodreads.com/dpashutskii
Sent you a request on GR; also a Brandon Sanderson fan 👍
I normally read two books at a time, mainly non-fiction and fiction. I'm a big fan of science fictions, so I read those a lot! Reading fictions helps with our storytelling ability. Put emotion into words, and all that.
Currently reading:
Non-Fiction: The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
Rick Rubin is a multi-award winning producer. So far, there is nothing awe-inspiring reading this book. Maybe it's just me, I've read a lot of similar books that is better than this (Derek Sivers comes to mind). It's kind of funny when he shared his moment teaching James Hetfield (Metallica) about mindfullness.
Science Fiction: Chaos Terminal by Mur Lafferty
Kind of forgettable. I rarely skip bad books, instead, I just skimmed through them. But I'm still at the early chapter, so I'll continue...
Finished reading:
Million-Dollar Weekend by Noah Kagan
I like this book. It's straightforward, and actionable. No big business technical jargon that most books have. No new ideas or concept, but a good refresher/reminder for those being stuck, like me.
I'm quite active on Goodreads (with reviews and all), if anyone want to follow.
www.goodreads.com/leiflatiff
Never Enough: From Barista to Billionaire (physical copy and audiobook)
I liked Andrew Wilkinson's podcast interviews and new podcast enough to pick up his book. I liked it, but don't buy it expecting it to be a business book. There are some good, how to not be a shitty person moments in it.
Django for Beginners, 5th Edition: Build Modern Web Applications with Python (physical copy)
A friend and business partner wrote it, so I bought a copy to properly review it. It's good if you want to learn Django or need a good
The 2-Hour Cocktail Party: How to Build Big Relationships with Small Gatherings (physical copy and audiobook)
This isn't written to be a business and marketing book, but it's honestly one of the better ones I have read. It will teach you how to host parties and network with old and new friends. It's also a damn good book about human psychology, and if you have customers, it will light up several lightbulb moments for you.
Poor Charlie's Almanac (audiobook)
I bought this audiobook, but I haven't gotten around to listening to it yet.
I've recently finished reading:
I'm currently reading A Gentleman in Moscow before watching the TV series; loving the writing so far.
Currently, I've been mixing in some easier reads with "Reading Plans"; 8 books in a theme, which give a balanced and comprehensive view of the topic.
I wrote about this type of reading in this post after watching "How to Design a Reading Plan" by Odysseas — highly recommended watch if you enjoy reading.
PS — my Goodreads profile if anyone would like to connect: goodreads.com/cdrev