Books I’ve read
Reading is a big part of my life and I love sharing what I’ve read/learned with others. Circle back here periodically if you’re curious about what I’ve been reading and please (seriously!) reach out if you’ve read any of these and want to discuss or just have a recommendation. I love books and am always game to talk about them. :-)
Also, please forgive any grammatical errors. I wrote these notes on the fly and the point is to share what I’ve read, not write a flawless overview of each book!
Last updated on 2/28/2021.
2021
On Grand Strategy by John Lewis Gaddis -
New Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins -
The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership -
Parting the Waters: American in the King Years, ,1954-63 by Taylor Branch -
The Biggest Bluff by Maria Konnikova -
Billion Dollar Loser by Reeves Wiedeman -
The Price You Pay For College by Ron Lieberman -
2020
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford - Before I read this, the only thing I thought I knew about Genghis Khan was the anecdote people often say about how he was a serial rapist and that his bloodline
The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s by Andy Greene - This oral history is a must-read for every fan of The Office. It was an absolute joy to read about how the show came to be, stories from cast and everything else. This might be the most fun book you’ll ever read.
Tribe by Sebastian Junger -
A Promised Land by Barack Obama - Like many people, I read this in the midst of the 2020 election cycle. Whether or not you like Obama, I think anyone can appreciate what an incredible writer he is and the behind-the-scenes look at some of the major events of his presidency. It’s easy to forget how challenging it is to pass massive legislation like universal healthcare and this book really gets in the weeds (in the best way possible) of what it took to make it happen.
Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz - If you’re a dog lover, you’ll probably love this book. It can be a bit tedious at points but it was a lot of fun to listen to while walking my dog Banjo. If you’re not a dog lover, skip it.
FDR by Jean Edward Smith - After reading (and loving) the Teddy Roosevelt biography earlier in the year, I was psyched to dig into this biography of FDR. It was a great overview but I would have loved to go deeper given the insane breadth of accomplishment throughout his presidency. This got me excited to learn more about FDR so I’d strongly recommend it to anyone interested and then you can choose your own adventure for which parts of his life you want to learn more about from there.
The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival by John Vaillant - Like most people, I was totally enthralled in the Tiger King documentary on Netflix when it came out. This book was an interesting extension of watching that doc because it chronicles a particularly peculiar set of incidents in a remote part of eastern Russia where a tiger seemed to be intentionally hunting and murdering individual humans based on previous interactions. It’s a bit slow at times, but it’s a wild story that makes you really give some serious thought to how humanity has related to the world around it. Not a book for everyone, but I found it to be an interesting read.
Unacceptable by Melissa Korn & Jennifer Levitz - Back when the college admissions scandal broke in 2019, I paid very little attention to it but I found this book to be fascinating. The book tells the story of Rick Singer and the web of deceit he created that essentially got students of hyper-wealthy people into elite schools through fraud. Ryan Holiday recommended this through his newsletter and I agreed about his point that the book could have been improved with a deeper examination of why this happened in the first place. It’s a fascinating peak into the psychology of over-achieving parents and how most of the cheated admissions seemed to be more about the parents than the students themselves. Great read.
Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday - This was reread for me and it felt like a book I needed to revisit to remind myself of its lessons. The basic premise is that everyone struggles with battling their ego and there are three core stages to contextualize where you are at in life. You’re either aspiring to achieve something, you’ve succeeded at something or you’ve failed at something. This cycle repeats over and over. Like all of Ryan Holiday’s book, it is filled with great stories from history. Anyone would benefit from reading this one.
The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking by Edward Burger & Michael Starbird - I found this book to be incredibly helpful in working through some challenging projects at work. You can cheat this one by reading the recap at the end, but the entire book is worth reading. Here are the five elements of effective thinking:
Ground Your Thinking - Understand Deeply: If you don’t truly understand a problem, it’s going to be hard to solve it. Rushing into things can be a huge waste of time and resources.
Ignite Insights Through Mistakes - Fail to Succeed: You learn by iterating on solutions. The faster you do this (after you’ve understood the problem, of course), the faster you’ll succeed.
Be Your Own Socrates: Ask good questions and don’t assume you know the answers. Be curious and always try to zoom out to understand the real question you’re trying to answer.
See the Flow of Ideas by Looking Backwards and Forward: Understand the history and context of the problems your trying to solve. This ties back to understanding the problem.
Engage Change - Transform Yourself: Iterate on all of these levels continuously to grow.
Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed - This short collection of essays is one of the most human books I’ve read in a long time. Each chapter is a response to someone’s questions about life, love or relationships. You will inevitably find a few that really resonate with you personally and you’ll have a deeper empathy for others after reading the others. Go read this one.
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah - After hearing about this book for years, I finally listened to the audio book after a coworker recommended it to me. I actually don’t know anything about Trevor Noah beyond knowing who he is, but I loved this book. It taught me a lot about apartheid, which again, I knew very little about. This book is packed with great stories about his relationship with his mom, growing up in South Africa and about the challenges of not fitting in. Fun read.
Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky - Who would’ve thought that a single species of fish could make such an impact on the trajectory of the world? This book takes the reader on a wild ride through the history of nations and the role cod played in their rise. You’ll learn a ton reading this book.
How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff - I remember taking statistics classes in both high school and college and absolutely hating both of them, but I really loved this book. It’s short, direct and a joy to read. The world is filled with completely garbage statistics in politics, marketing, the news and much more and this book will help you be a more informed consumer of information. You can get through this in a weekend and it will change the way you look at the world around you for the better.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson - I’ve read quite a few books that start with “a short history of” and I’m coming to love this style of writing. A coworker recommended this to me and I absolutely loved it. If you’re interested in history and science, this is the book for you. I’m not scientifically inclined at all, but I really loved learning a bit about each discipline. Strong recommend on checking this one out.
Man’s Search for Meaning - by Viktor Frankl - What an impactful book! Frankl was a jewish psychiatrist that was forced into Nazi prison camps during World War 2 and this book is partially autobiographical through recollections of his time in the camps but also an explanation of the school of a meaning-centered psychiatry called logotherapy that he created based on his experiences. You will be incredibly thankful for everything in your life after reading this book.
White Fragility by Robin Diangelo - Like many people, I’ve been wrestling to better understand the Black Lives Matter movement and how I fit into the larger systemic issues that are being protested. I think this book does a great job of illustrating how white people, mostly unknowingly I think, benefit from a world that overwhelmingly favors them over people of color. If you’ve found yourself trying to better understand race, this book is a great place to start. Personally, it made me quite uncomfortable at times but in a very productive way. My final thought that I’ll leave here is that I really wished the book offered more solutions to the issues presented in the book. The final chapter is called “Where do we go from" here?” and I think the conclusion fell flat. If you felt differently or have any of your own takeaways you’d like to share that differ from my own, please reach out!
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith - This is the first straight-up business book I’ve read in quite awhile. It’s a good book, but reading some notes will tell you everything you need to know about the book. The gist is that in order to continue advancing in your career you need to develop enough self-awareness to identify and fix your personal flaws. It’s worth reading if you’re working on career advancement.
Why Liberalism Failed by Patrick Deneen - Communism, Fascism and Liberalism were the three dominate political ideologies of the last hundred years. I honestly couldn’t have even told you that much before reading this book. It was a fairly challenging to wrap my head around at times, but it really challenged me to think about politics in a new way. If you’re interested in politics, I highly recommend reading this but would recommend reading up on each of the ideologies first to help establish a baseline of where the book’s core arguments are coming from.
A Short History of Europe by Simon Jenkins - I’ve been getting much more interested in history in recent years and can honestly say that I knew almost nothing about European history before reading this. Now I know a tiny bit about the timeline of events thanks to this book. This is a great jumping off point to introduce you to the high level events of European history.
Colonel Roosevelt by Edmund Morris - If the first two volumes didn’t confirm that Theodore Roosevelt was a bad-ass, this one sure did. Even after his time in office, he had an insanely full life that included safaris, expeditions, founding new political parties and more. After completing this trilogy, I think one of coolest things is that his presidency was far from the most interesting part of his life. Strong recommend on this one.
Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg - About a month after Tiny Habits came out, I got to see BJ Fogg speak about the book. Since reading this, I got my fitness and health back on track using his method of breaking down habit change into tiny actions that you can do every day. I’ve lost about 20lbs by simply weighing myself every morning, building up to tracking all of my meals and booking my gym classes for a week ahead of time. It’s been amazingly helpful and it one of the best books on habit-building that I’ve read.
The $12 Million Stuffed Shark by Don Thompson - If you’ve ever wondered how paintings or other works of art selling for tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars, this is the book for you. Written by an economics professors, this book takes a deep dive into every aspect of the art market. Really fascinating read!
A-List Angels by Zack O’Malley Greenburg - I like Zack’s other books, but I found this one be quite dull. The whole thing could’ve been boiled down to a single story in Forbes, but if you’re particularly interested in how celebrities have leveraged their influence to get involved in tech investing then you would likely enjoy this one.
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris - This is the first biography in a trilogy about Roosevelt’s life. He was born a sickly child and, through a kind of brute force, grew up to be prodigious in a myriad of physical and intellectual pursuits. His political accomplishments are only a small part of what makes him a fascinating character. It’s funny, I happen to live a couple of blocks away from the Natural History Museum that he founded here in NYC and I never appreciated Roosevelt fully until reading this.
Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris - This volume of the Roosevelt trilogy covers Roosevelt’s time as president and all of the accomplishments that came along with that. It was interesting time in history with the development of Navy departments across the world, breaking trusts of monopolistic business empires and conversation of natural lands. I give this one a strong recommendation but would encourage anyone interested to start from the beginning of the trilogy.
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho - This is a fairly short and simple work about the journey of a young man searching for treasure in life and what he learns along the way. It’s an easy read and I totally get why it has such a dedicated following since its publication.
Priceless by Robert Wittman - After reading the $12 Million Stuffed Shark, I was interested to learn more about the art world and found this autobiography of the FBI who founded the art crime division within the FBI. It’s filled with fascinating stories about the underground world of stolen artwork and how these cultural treasures are hunted down and reclaimed. There’s a fair amount of fluff in the book, but overall I found the stories to be an interesting read.
The Secret Race by Tyler Hamilton - Like most people, I remember hearing about all of the doping scandals associated with Lance Armstrong back in the early 2000’s. This book is an autobiography of sorts by one of this teammates and goes into extreme detail about how performance enhancing drugs became common place in cycling and how that changed the sport. I know nothing about cycling and had very little interest in the sport before reading this, but I loved this book.
Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi - Wow. What a well-written, yet disturbing book. The author was the prosecutor for the Mason murder cases so this is essentially a first-hand telling of every aspect of the crime, legal proceeding and aftermath. It’s not an uplifting read but it’s a fascinating story.
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin - This was my first presidential biography or 2020 and it set the bar high for all other biographies I’ll read this year. Everyone knows that Lincoln was a great president, but this book dives deep into what made his time in office so impactful. In short, it all boils down to his ability to put aside his own ego and create a cabinet of his political rivals because he knew its what was going to be best for the country throughout the tumultuous years of the Civil War. This book was fairly dry at points but it’s an essential reading for anyone interested in being a stronger leader.
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande - I’ve thought about this book a lot since I finished reading it. The entire book is about what matters to people in the end of their lives and it will completely change the way you think about loved ones. This is a really impactful read that had me tearing up on an NYC subway more than once.
How to Make Millions WIth Your Ideas by Dan Kennedy - Anyone that aspires to think like an entrepreneur should read this book. It’s literally jam packed with business ideas which makes it fun to read. If you’ve ever thought being an entrepreneur means working in tech, read this book.
The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman - After reading Things I Wished I’d Known Before Getting Married, I decided to give this one a read. It’s easy to see why this has been such a smash hit due to the simplicity and impactfulness of the message. I didn’t totally agree with how rigid it felt to be just one of the languages, but it did help my girlfriend and I have some really helpful conversations about how to better communicate with each other.
2019 (39 total)
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein - If you pursue many interests and have felt like you were “behind” in your career due to lack of specialization, this one’s for you. I’ve been there and still feel like I’m in that place sometimes. This book makes a great case for why breadth is just as good, if not better, than depth.
Words Without Music: A Memoir by Philip Glass - Any fan of Philip Glass should read this memoir. Glass’s story is the kind you never hear about musicians of his caliber because, even after he “made it”, he was still hustling incredibly hard just to make a living. For example, after his big break with Einstein on the Beach at the Metropolitan Opera, he was over $100K in debt and working full-time as a taxi driver. This is just one of many things I learned from devouring this book.
Party Like a Professional by Nick Gray - I was a beta reader for this book so it hasn’t actually been published yet, but this is one of the most practical books I’ve ever read about meeting new people. Using Nick’s party hosting formula, I hosted two cocktail parties and met tons of new people as a result. These cocktail parties are one of my favorite social activities and this book showed me exactly how to host them. Follow Nick’s blog for updates on the book!
The End is Always Near by Dan Carlin - Fans of the Hardcore History podcast will love this one! Dan Carlin is a master storyteller and this book focuses on the threats to various civilizations throughout history from plagues, famines, wars and eventually culminates in a deep analysis of the history of nuclear warfare. If you’re interested in history, I highly recommend this book.
Atomic Habits by James Clear - This easily the most tactically useful book I’ve read about how to build better habits. Many great talk about habit change but this one shows you how to actually do it. Another thing I appreciated about this book it wasn’t filled with fluff like many other pop-psych books.
American Prison by Shane Bauer - The author went under cover working as a correctional officer at a for-profit prison. While this isn’t the most uplifting read, it was extremely informative on a topic that I knew almost nothing about.
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport - If you feel like a slave to your devices and screens, this book is for you. I'm still working towards implementing all of the learning from this read, but it helped me dramatically reduce the time spent on my phone. It's a little filled with fluff at points, but the message of how to make technology improve the quality of your life is one that more people need to hear.
Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow - I read this as a continuation of my journey towards reading a book about each American president and absolutely loved it. This blurb isn't the place to elaborate much, but this book weaves a wonderful narrative of a reluctant leader that almost always put the common good before himself. Everyone knows Washington was a massively influential figure in American history but this book gave me a more concrete understanding of the scope of his impact.
Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber by Mike Isaac - These investigative books about startups are so fascinating. Uber is really the story of what can happen when a leader is relentlessly focused on growing a company at any cost. There was a time where I really wanted to get a job with Uber and this book made me really glad that I never got hired.
Essentialism by Greg Mckeown - "Less, but better" sums up the entire book. It's a great message, but I thought the book was way too long. It helped me re-evaluate some commitments in my life and simplify my calendar so it was worth the read.
Naturally Tan: A Memoir by Tan France - I love Queer Eye and read this autobiography for something light after reading the Truman biography. Tan's got a great story and it's filled with fun stories about his life as well as many life lessons. There's not much depth here, but it's a fun read.
Over The Top: A Raw Journey to Self Love by Jonathan Van Ness - I enjoyed the Tan autobiography so I figured this one would be fun too. JVN's story is absolutely wild and I applaud him for sharing, what I found to be, some shocking personal stories of his struggles with addiction, mental health and more. It's a short read and anyone that enjoys Queer Eye will love it.
Truman by David McCullough - After reading the Hamilton biography, I realized how little I knew about American history and decided that I'd like to read a book about each president. Truman was a veteran and first gained national prominence on a senate committee to reduce wasteful spending within the military. He became Vice President under FDR and very quickly was thrust into the presidency when FDR passed away. From the shadow of such a huge national figure, he ended up using the atom bomb, pushing for stronger alliances abroad and introducing legislation to remove segregation within the military. It's a long book, but I really enjoyed it.
Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell - I appreciated the production quality of the audio book more than I enjoyed the book itself. The entire premise of the book is based around how we interact with people we don't know. If you like Malcolm Gladwell's books or podcast (such as myself!), you will enjoy this book but I didn't think it was his strongest work.
Meet me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011 by Lizzy Goodman - This oral history and tells the story of the music world in NYC in the early 2000's. It wasn't what I expected, but I really enjoyed the narrative created by tying together all of the first-hand accounts of the events covered in the book. I would give this one a strong recommendation to anyone interested in NYC and music from the early 2000's.
Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of Blackberry by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff - I loved this book. The subtitle says it all, but I'll just add that this a fascinating story of a company that defined a new market and then lost sight of their competitors.
The Last Pirate of New York by Rich Cohen - Rich Cohen writes one hell of a narrative. This book basically tells the story of the last days of piracy around NYC before organized crime transitioned into the more contemporary gangster-style crime of today. My favorite part was all of the interesting bits of history about New York City from that era. For example, there is a tree still standing today in Washington Square Park that is said to be the site of public hangings in the city.
The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness by Andy Puddicombe - I really love the idea of meditation but admittedly have not made it a regular part of my life. This book by the founder Headspace is part meditation guide and part autobiography. It's a great read and he's got an amazing voice if you listen to the audiobook.
Educated by Tara Westover - This book is an amazing reminder of all the things many of us take for granted. Tara grew up in a survivalist family in rural Idaho and had no access to the school, proper healthcare, etc. Her memoir takes you on her journey from having no education to attending elite institutions and how that change has impacted her life and relationships to those around her. It's a great read.
Working by Robert Caro - I love Robert Caro's work. If you've read any of his biographies of Robert Moses or Lyndon Johnson, you know he is an insanely detailed researcher. This short autobiography pulls the curtain back on how he has approached the research and writing his books. Fun fact: I got to meet him in Philadelphia when this book was released at a book talk. He answered my question during the Q&A and signed my book.
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson - This book is the wild story of 1893's World Fair in Chicago and a serial killer that was murdering people through his pharmacy during the same time period. I also appreciated the background of the infrastructure needed to grow a city like Chicago. Fun read.
A Short History of Progress by Ronald Wright - Progress is generally viewed as a positive thing but this book will make you reconsider that. This book is a story of how various civilizations have manufactured their own demise through technological progress. It’s a fascinating read.
The Greatest Minds and Ideas of All Time by Will Durant - Will Durant (along with his wife Ariel) is best known for his massive, multi-volume work called The Story of Civilization. I've not read it, but I love his shorter works like this one that is a collection of essays on topics like the greatest philosophers, the best books to read for an education and more. If you're interested in history but get intimidated by dense volumes, pick up this book.
Stillness is the Key by Ryan Holiday - This is the final work in Ryan's trilogy of books on stoic philosophy. If you struggle slowing things down in life, this book will give you some great actionable insights on how to cultivate stillness in your life. He breaks it down into three core section: Mind, Spirit and Body. If you've read a lot of Ryan's articles a lot of this won't be news to you, but I do think this is an excellent book and made many highlights for my own reference.
The Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan Kennedy - Read this book if you want to become a more persuasive writer. Copywriting is one of the most valuable and universally relevant skills for anyone in marketing and this book is filled with many strategies to systematically improve your ability to sell through the written word.
Things I Wish I'd Known Before We Got Married by Gary Chapman - "Many couples give far more attention to plans for the wedding than making plans for marriage." I'm not married, but I loved this book. If you are in a serious relationship, this book is a must-read when it comes to things like resolving arguments in a healthy, planning for a future, and how to relate to each other in all parts of your life. I promise you will take something valuable away from this book if you're bold enough to challenge yourself to implement its lessons with your partner.
Mastermind Dinners by Jayson Gaignard - I'll admit that I have not actually held a full on "mastermind dinner" as of yet, but I loved this book. I've implemented many of Jayson's lessons and strategies in many areas of my social and professional life. You can read this book in an afternoon and be equipped to exponentially grow your network if you choose to implement even and handful of the lessons.
Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad by Austin Kleon - I'm a huge fan of Austin's work and actually got to meet him at a book event in Philadelphia right after it was released. It can be hard to continue making progress on a project when things aren't going right. In a single afternoon you can read this book and have a whole new set of strategies keep going on any project.
I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi - This is easily the books I've recommended most to friends. I read the original version in 2013 and it completely changed my life. Using Ramit's automated system, I paid off over $30K in student loans, set up automated saving and investing accounts and have gone on several free trips using credit card points. If you don't feel like you have a strong grasp on your financial situation, go buy this book right now. I never thought I would rave about a personal finance book, but this book is seriously amazing.
Becoming by Michelle Obama - This was a fun autobiography to read and had lots of interesting stories about what goes on in the life of the presidency. I didn't find it to be overly profound in anyway, but I did really enjoy reading it.
Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age by Paul Graham - This collections of essays is a very enjoyable read because it gives interesting perspectives on a whole smattering of topics from building wealth to the influence of technology in the larger culture. Some of the topics are a bit dated at this point (it was originally published in 2010), but it's still fun to read predictions from a brilliant guy.
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou - Of all the narrative books on scandals in the business world, this is easily one of my favorites. My understanding is that pretty much every podcast, documentary, or anything else you know about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos stemmed from Carreyrou's reporting. I loved this book.
Billion Dollar Whale by Bradley Hope and Tom Wright - I had never heard of Jho Low before reading this book and I've honestly heard very little about him since. This book is basically the story of how a Malaysian businessman conned governments and banks like Goldman Sachs out of billions of dollars. All of this was done while partying with A-list celebrities and other social elites. He even was responsible for funding the production of Wolf of Wall Street. This story is insane and the wildest part is that he hasn't actually been officially prosecuted for anything.
HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business by Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff - Here's a fresh look at entrepreneurship in an age of enormous hype around the startup world. This book from Harvard Business School challenges aspiring entrepreneurs to consider purchasing existing companies vs. starting new ones. I learned a ton about an MBA program would teach and analyze a business and its profitability. It's a fairly dry read, but if you're interested in owning a business someday, it's a fascinating read and got me excited about potentially pursuing this path in the future.
The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene - Like all of Robert Greene's work, this book is broken into individual laws which he then dives deep into with biographies and stories to iterate his point. There are 18 laws in total, but here a few that I found most interesting:
Master You Emotional Self: The Law of Irrationality
See Through People's Mask: The Law of Role-Playing
Elevate Your Perspective: The Law of Shortsightedness
Soften People's Resistance by Confirming Their Self-opinion: The Law of Defensiveness
Advance with a Sense of Purpose: The Law of Aimlessness
Resist the Downward Pull of the Group: The Law of Conformity
Overall, I think I think this book has more depth than some of his others, which makes it one of his denser books but it will be something I refer back to many times throughout my life.
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow - After reading this book, I realized how embarrassingly clueless I am (I'm working on it though!) about American history. Hamilton was an insanely productive and inspiring founding father whose work still impacts the country every single day hundreds of years later. This book inspired me to read a book about each American president to help fill in my knowledge gaps of US history.
The Power Broker by Robert Caro - This is easily one of the most impactful books I've read so I revisited it this year after originally reading it in 2014. It's a monumental book and the audio book clocks in around 66hrs but it's totally worth it. Robert Caro's biography of Robert Moses who, outside of New Yorkers, almost nobody has ever heard of but whose work and accomplishments influence millions of people's lives everyday in New York City alone. Robert Moses was never elected to public office but wielded enormous amounts of power that literally shaped NYC through countless parks, bridges, highways and more. Just read the introduction and the scale of his influence will astound you. If you ever want to get me fired up about a topic, bring this up to me in person and I'll talk your ear off for hours.
The Lessons of History by Will & Ariel Durant - I'm a big fan of books that are a compilation of essays because they're so easy to read. This particular book is comprised of short essays on huge variety of topics in the context of history such as race, government, war, economics and more. If you're interested in learning more about history, this is a great place to start.
Power Moves by Adam Grant - This came out as a short Audible original and looking back on it, I honestly can't remember a single takeaway from it. I've enjoyed Adam Grant's work and talks in the past but this one was very forgettable.
2018 (28 Total)
The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis - I'm a big Michael Lewis fan, but I found this book to be a bit clunky. That being said, I did enjoy the deep dive into various departments of the US government that I honestly knew nothing about. If you're interested in politics, you'll likely enjoy this one.
The Coming Storm by Michael Lewis - This is basically an Audible excerpt of the The Fifth Risk. No need to listen to this one if you read that already.
21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari - The 21 lessons cover topics like politics, technology, social issues and others. If you enjoyed Harari's other works you will likely enjoy this one.
The Messy Middle by Scott Belsky - I got to attend an event with the other author after this book came out and really enjoyed hearing him speak. There's a ton of hype around the beginning and end of companies but this book focuses on how to push through middle of things. It's most applicable to entrepreneurs, but I think there's a lot to be gained for anyone that works on long-term projects.
On Power by Robert Caro - Somehow Audible scored a deal with publishers to release samples of books in advance in the form of short audio books. This "Audible Original" is basically a portion of Robert Caro's autobiography called Working. If you're a fan of his work, skip this and read the full book.
Lean Customer Development by Cindy Alvarez - This is a must-read for anyone that needs to better understand their customers. It's a great crash-course in how to interview, survey and pull insights on what their customers really care about. If you work in a product or marketing role, read this book.
How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams - Scott Adams has had a wild life and outlines the lessons he's learned along the way in this book. He is a trained hypnotist, created Dilbert, and has written many books. No matter where you are in your career/life, you'll probably get something of value from this book.
How to Write a Book by David Kadavy - Another short read from my buddy, David! David has published many books (traditional and self-publishing) and breaks down his process in this quick read. If you've ever thought "I wish I could write a book", buy this book right now. He will walk you through everything you need to know to get started.
Make Money Writing on the STEEM Blockchain by David Kadavy - I'm not a cryptocurrency whiz, but this book changed the way I thought about the potential that blockchain has to impact the way individual creators get paid online. If you're a solopreneur or writer, I'd recommend checking out this short read.
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson - I knew nothing about physics when I picked up this book and won't pretend to know much more since reading it, but I did enjoy the book. If you're interested to learn a little more about physics and how crazy the universe is, check this one out.
Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss - Excellent book on negotiation that is filled with plenty of tactics you can implement. If you're a total novice, you'll get a lot from this one. 10/10 recommendation if you do any kind of negotiations.
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond - Poverty is a tough cycle to break out of if it is all you've ever known. This book does a great job of breaking down the housing aspect of poverty and how that instability bleeds into every aspect of life.
Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson - Fun read about the discovery of a German warship from the second world war and what it took a pair of divers to find it. Like all of his books, Kurson tells a great adventure story.
Pirate Hunters by Robert Kurson - Yep, another one from Kurson. After discovering the German warship in Shadow Divers, this story picks up on another adventure where the scuba divers are hunting for a lost pirate ship. Really fascinating story.
Rocket Men by Robert Kurson - It's easy to take for granted what an unbelievable scientific accomplishment space exploration is. Set in the peak of tumult of the 60's, this book tells the story the Apollo 8 mission.
How to Turn Down a Billion Dollars: The Snapchat Story by Billy Gallagher - I'm not a Snapchatter and, in general, not a big social media fan, but I really enjoyed this book. If you're interested in startup stories, this is a great read.
Conspiracy by Ryan Holiday - This is a huge departure from Ryan Holiday's typical books and I thought he did an amazing job telling the story of Gawker's fall. It raises some interesting moral questions about how power and influence relate to the media.
3 Kings: Diddy, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, and Hip-Hop's Multibillion-Dollar Rise by Zack O'Malley Greenburg - Music industry enthusiasts or professionals have to read this book. It chronicles the rise of hip-hop through the story of the most financially successful stars.
Tiger Woods by Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian - While I'm not much of a sports fan, I absolutely loved this book. Tiger Woods is a complex character and I really enjoyed learning more about how he cam to absolutely dominate the world of golf in his prime.
Triumph of the City by Edward Glaeser - Like basically every other book about urban planning, the premise of this book is that cities are great and suburbs are bad. The book is fairly forgettable, but if you're interested in city planning, policy, and other topics that surround cities, you'll probably enjoy it.
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood - I watched the show and then read the book. It's an engaging read about dystopian world and one of the few fiction books I've read all the way through in the last couple of years.
Animal Farm by George Orwell - I appreciated this book much more than I did in high school. It's fun to revisit books like this with a fresh perspective on the world.
Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio - This book is long and fairly dense, but filled with great concepts to help shape the way you think about life and work. It's great a book to read through and grab principles as needed, but it makes for a fairly difficult read to go straight through.
The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve by G. Edward Griffin - If you can't tell from the title, this is a very critical look at the Federal Reserve and its history. I'm not a whiz on this topic, but there were many compelling arguments about how certain members of society benefit from its existence and structure.
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King - Even if you're not a writer of any kind, this book is a delightful read that is packed with fun anecdotes and useful tips. No matter what your area of expertise is, you'll find some applicable tips about mastering a craft.
Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff - This book felt like it was written to further polarize readers that already held a very strong opinion. If you follow the headlines, you don't need to bother reading this.
Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz - Anyone that is interested in a career that involves data would benefit from reading this book. It's not terribly useful for anyone with a baseline understanding of how to pull and interpret data, but I found it to be an enjoyable book regardless.
The Opposite of Spoiled by Ron Lieber - I'm not a parent, but I'm always interested in the psychology of money so I picked this one up. If you're a parent that wants to raise financially children, this is a great resource.
2017 (29 Total)
The Heart to Start by David Kadavy - Read this book if you have been wanting to start a project but haven't found the motivation to do so. David breaks it down in this very digestible approach to getting projects off the ground.
Tribe of Mentors by Tim Ferriss - Like Tools of Titans, this is more of an interesting reference than a cohesive narrative. It's packed with advice and recommendations from interesting people.
Win Bigly by Scott Adams - If you want to understand the appeal of Donald Trump and how he has gained such massive influence among his base, read this book. No matter your political opinions, this is an interesting read.
Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller - Excellent breakdown about how create a compelling story for any brand. It's fairly unique among the marketing books but I honestly wasn't sure how to tie it into my own work. Good read, overall.
Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins - Measure everything and focus on what is driving results. This book is a good reminder that fancy ad campaigns and clever copywriting don't mean anything if it's not effective. It's a short read and worthwhile for just about any marketer.
Hatching Twitter by Nick Bilton - I liked American Kingpin so much that I immediately read Bilton's history of Twitter. It's a well-researched account of the founding, growth and tumult of Twitter.
American Kingpin by Nick Bilton - This story is absolutely wild. In ridiculous detail, this book takes you on the journey of Ross Ulbricht who founded the first black market on the dark web. There is a lot of pushback on whether or not he was truly the one behind it all, but I liked it so much that I've listened to the audiobook multiple times.
Perennial Seller by Ryan Holiday - If you're an individual creator and want to better understand marketing, this is a must-read. I've seen many marketers I respect criticize this book, but I think it's a great primer for anyone that is looking to promote a product they created. If that's you, read this book. More advanced marketers can skip it.
Black Edge by Sheelah Kolhatkar - There are better books on white collar crime out there, but this one was a good read. This book follows the story of SAC Capital founder, Steven Cohen, and the insane culture of greed and competition within his company.
The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs - I first read parts of this book in college but honestly didn't even think twice about the importance of this book. After reading Happy City, I decided to dig back into this one and read the entire thing. I loved it and would recommend it to anyone interested in cities.
Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson - This biography is amazing. I've read quite a few of Walter Isaacson's books over the years and I think this one might have overtaken his biography of Steve Jobs as my favorite. Da Vinci was the epitome of someone who relentlessly pursued many interests and used those intersections of his interests to be insanely innovative.
Home Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Harari - Sapiens is about the history of mankind and this book is about our future. It's a fascinating (if not a little scary) book and ends with this question to the reader:
"What will happen to society, politics and daily life when non-conscious but highly intelligent algorithms know us better than we know ourselves?"
Antifragile by Nassim Taleb - Stressors are good because they make systems stronger. This book really changed the way I thought about complex systems like the human body or the economy. I found it to be fairly dense, but very thought provoking.
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman - If you want to read one book to better understand psychology, make it this one. It's not my personal favorite , but it's an excellent overview of many counter-intuitive psychological principles.
Money Ball by Michael Lewis - Like many books, this one is way better than the movie. I read it quite a few years after it came out, but it's a fascinating story and a fairly early example of new and interesting ways that data analysis has shifted so many industries.
The Inevitable by Kevin Kelly - Technological change and disruption isn’t slowing down and this book outlines some ways that Kevin Kelly sees its evolution moving forward. This will be a fascinating book to look back through in a few years.
Nevertheless: A Memoir by Alec Baldwin - I’m not necessarily a huge Alec Baldwin fan, but I really enjoyed this memoir. There weren’t any major takeaways, but it is a really good glimpse into the life of someone who has experienced the highs and lows of being in the public eye. Also, I wasn’t aware of what a huge advocate he is for live symphonic music so that was a nice surprise.
Sapiens by Yuval Harari - This book is wildly popular for good reason. It's a fascinating look at the history of humanity and the factors that have influenced the runaway success of homo sapiens in history of biology. I don’t need to sell this one much since it’s such a smash hit, but I definitely would recommend it to anyone interested in history and science.
Michael Jordan: The Life by Roland Lazenby - If you look at any exceptionally successful person closely (especially athletes), you’re bound to discover how deeply complex they are. Like everyone else, I basically only knew of Michael Jordan as a basketball player. This book goes much deeper into the other aspects of his life that don’t make the headlines as much which I thought was absolutely fascinating.
The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis - The concept of this book is a lot interesting to me than the actual book was. This book examines the relationship of behavioral psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman and how they became such a massive force in psychological research. If you’ve read Thinking Fast and Slow, you’re familiar with their work. Again, it’s an interesting concept but I didn’t find the book to be very engaging.
The Big Short by Michael Lewis - I have read a ton of Michael Lewis's work, but this remains my favorite. If you're not sure what exactly happened in the 2008 financial crisis, this is THE book to read. The movie is amazing too.
Flash Boys by Michael Lewis - I had never even heard of the term "high frequency trading” before reading this book but I will never think about Wall Street the same after reading this book. Michael Lewis is a master of distilling infinitely complex topics into gripping narratives that make you want to keep leaning in even though you’re reading about the creation of a stock exchange.
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid - If you haven't noticed, I read very little fiction. Even though novels aren't usually where I spend much of my reading time, I loved this book! It's part satire and part self-help but I thought it was a particularly interesting take on what "success" really means.
Happy City by Charles Montgomery - Where you live makes a huge impact on your day-to-day well-being. I loved this book and it got me interested to dive deeper into understanding urban design. Strong recommend!
Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries - Phenomenal read about positioning a product. if you’re a marketer or entrepreneur trying to figure out how to create a product that will resonate with people, this is a must-read.
Reinvent Yourself by James Altucher - Skip this one. If you’re going to read a James Altucher book, I like Choose Yourself. This one is basically a collection of "“what I learn from X” posts from his blog with no strong theme to hold it all together.
Hacking Fatherhood by Nate Dallas - I don't have kids, but I read this because I actually helped Nate with some of the marketing for the book launch. It's filled with some great recommendations on preparing for kids and how to approach things like medical bills. Definitely recommend checking it out if you're a father-to-be.
The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al Ries - Another great marketing book from Al Ries. This spin-off of 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing dives into the more abstract world of branding. Like everything else I’ve read from Ries, I would give this a strong recommendation to anyone interested in marketing.