Reading List

What I’m reading now

• The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
• Sum by David Eagleman
• The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh

2025

• Breath by James Nestor (B- things everyone should know about breathing which, like the gut, is an easily overlooked cornerstone of health. Basic takeaways: always breathe through your nose, most people breathe too much. 5.5 breaths per minute at 5.5s inhale and exhale. Chewing important for opening the airways. Increasing CO2 tolerance is key for athletic performance. Some parts feel like borderline pseudoscience however, and the book has too much story and narrative that not relevant to the content)

• The Coddling of the American Mind by Jonathan Haidt (B – some alternative titles could be "Why Gen Z is so fucked up (social media)" or "How the political left went off the deep end". I skimmed most of it since the ideas it proposed have been widely accepted and disseminated by other podcasters/authors like Mark Manson. The best part is the 3 great untruths which explain a lot of the social media fueled craziness that started happening in Western democracies in the mid 2010s which I definitely felt while living in SF and ultimate pushed me to be more centrist and anti-political. Also one if the reasons it was a relief to move to Southeast Asia where the mind virus hadn't taken hold.)

• The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel (C - an amalgamation of modern personal finance advice and human psychology. If you've read Daniel Kahneman and Ramit Sethi, you've already got the gist of how these two topics intersect. Enjoyable read but didn't learn anything new.)

• Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman (A — Humanity's futile relationship with time and misunderstanding of it as being a resource we have. We "are" time. Failure to use our time well is rooted in fear of confronting our limitations/our death. Distractions give us a way out. They are not the cause, just where we go. Nowadays distractions are readily available via technology, but urge to avoid reality is universal human nature. Commitment as a strategy to spend time on what matters. Industrial revolution changed our relationship with time. Everything serves work from which we derive all life meaning. Leisure redefined to serve the purpose of improving work productivity. Everything redefined as serving some future goal instead of living in the moment. Hobbies with no end goal are purest form of leisure because it's done for its own sake. Solving problems is life's meaning. Take the time, don't rush to a solution. Originality lies on the far side of unoriginality, stay on the bus. Having time and freedom is meaningless if not synchronized with other people. Loneliness of the digital nomad. Cosmic Insignificance Therapy. Overvaluing your existence sets the bar too high. Nothing we do matters on a cosmic scale. Nobody cares what you do with your life other than you.)

• Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (B – The source of a lot of modern day wisdom and philosophy. Nice to read before bed.)

• Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (B – Fun at times, but unfulfilling at the end.)

• The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson (A – Ravikant is a great thinker across disciplines. I love that he recommends reading original science texts like Adam Smith, Charles Darwin.)

• The Wealth Ladder by Nick Magguilli (A – defines the 6 levels of wealth and how to get from one to next, why the strategy that works to climb from e.g. L3 to L4 doesn't work for getting from L4 to L5. High income jobs never get you past L4. L5, L6 requires equity in a busines. Pairs well with How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis)

• Fossil Future by Alex Epstein (A+ — completely changed my mind about fossil fuels and man-made climate change by helping me realize the absurdity of the anti-impact moral framework, when we should instead be operating on the human flourishing framework. Everyone should read this book.)

• The Dip by Seth Godin (A — excellent call to action re: quitting, when to do and when not to. Ignores question of what success means however, also I think lacks a benefit-risk analysis in terms of personal wealth i.e. rich people can afford to take more shots)

• The Road Less Traveled by Scott Peck (A — the first sections about self-discipline and love are brilliant, subsequent sections on religion etc. less developed and outdated)

• Modern Poker Theory by Michael Acevedo (Didn't finish, interesting but too technical)

• The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker (Didn't finish, not bad just no longer groundbreaking ideas as the world has already adopted this viewpoint about human nature, and Pinker's arguments are long and exhausting)

• Happy Money by Ken Honda (Didn't finish, not interesting)

• Awareness by Anthony De Mello (A+)

• Things Become Other Things by Craig Mod (A-)

• Train Dreams by Denis Johnson (B)

• Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard (Didn't finish, not my style)

• Atomic Habits by James Clear (A)

• You Can Negotiate Anything by Herb Cohen (C — too many anecdotes, kind of outdated)

• The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt (B+)

• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (A)

2024

• Salt, Acid, Fat, Heat by Samin Nosrat (A)
• How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis (A+)
• Wool by Hugh Howey (Didn’t finish)
• Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert (A)
• A Billion Wicked Thoughts by Ogi Ogas, Sai Gaddam (A)
• Your Brain on Porn by Gary Wilson (C)
• The Algebra of Wealth by Scott Galloway (A)
• Four Hour Body by Tim Ferriss (B)
• Models by Mark Manson (re-read)
• Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder (A)
• Die With Zero by Bill Perkins (A)
• Starry Messenger by Niel deGrasse Tyson (A)

2023

• Dilla Time by Dan Charnas (B)
• The 2-Hour Cocktail Party by Nick Gray (B)
• The Carbon Alamanac (B)
• The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin (B+)

2022

• The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss (B)
• On Writing by Stephen King (A+)
• The Ethical Slut by Dossie Easton and Janet Hardy (B+)
• Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order by Ray Dalio (C)
• Dance of Death: The Life of John Fahey by Steve Lowenthal (B+)
• The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker (A)
• Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond (B+)

2021

• The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell
• Carrie by Stephen King
• The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
• Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
• Nudge by Richard H. Thaler

2020

• Thinking Fast & Slow by Daniel Kahneman (A+)
• Fiber Fueled by Will Bulsiewicz (B+ sums up why microbiome is cornerstone of health, and therefore eat more fiber with maximum diversity. Unfortunately also argues for complete veganism based on more flimsy evidence)

2019

• Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
• Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
• Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
• Everything Is F*cked by Mark Manson

2018

• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson
• Vacationland by John Hodgman
• Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

2017

• Models by Mark Manson
• Post Office by Charles Bukowski

Long, long ago…

• Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink
• Tribal Leadership by Dave Logan, et al
• A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
• The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis
• Powers of Two by Joshua Wolf Shenk
• The Quiet American by Graham Greene
• The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman
• Wilderness Essays by Jon Muir
• The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre by H. P Lovecraft
• I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
• Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
• Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
• God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut
• Breakfast of Champion by Kurt Vonnegut
• Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut
• Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut
• Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut
• You Suck by Christopher Moore
• Coyote Blue by Christopher Moore
• Lamb by Christopher Moore
• The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore
• Fluke by Christopher Moore
• A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore