These book notes were heavily influenced by Derek Sivers and Nat Eliason.
The Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant
Rating: 10/10Date Read: December 20, 2020
The Lessons of History is a fantastic book, the best one I read in 2020. It is undervalued. While people talk about recent bestsellers this gem is waiting to be read. Any person can gain valuable insight and knowledge from this book.
The Minimalist Entrepreneur by Sahil Lavingia
Rating: 9/10Date Read: May 8, 2021
This is my favorite book on the topic of entrepreneurhip. It doesn't matter what stage you are at, whether just trying to find an idea to work on, or already have a profitable company, you will surely learn something new from Sahil.
The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin
Rating: 9/10Date Read: September 15, 2021
In this book the reader is taken on a journey of learning, improving, and personal growth. Josh is an incredible human, who achieved great success in different fields all thanks to his ability to learn. In this book, we get to see stories from his life as he tells them and see what is it that makes a great learner.
How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens
Rating: 9/10Date Read: December 12, 2020
If you've heard the term 'Zettelkasten' flying around recently, then you might be wondering what is all the rage. Well, this book pretty much started this trend. Sönke Ahrens describes in great detail the note-taking process through which Niklas Luhmann was able to achieve phenomenal productivity in writing academic papers. Good news is that you can use this method too.
Economical Writing by Deirdre N. McCloskey
Rating: 9/10Date Read: December 25, 2020
Even though this book is titled and marketed as a book for economists, in reality, it can help anyone to improve their writing (especially, nonfiction writers).
The Way of Superior Man by David Deida
Rating: 8/10Date Read: March 7, 2021
David Deida explores the most important issues in men's lives—from career and family to women and intimacy to love and spirituality and relationships—to offer a practical guidebook for living a masculine life of integrity, authenticity, and freedom.
The Richest Man In Babylon by George S. Clason
Rating: 8/10Date Read: April 5, 2021
'The Richest Man In Babylon' is a collection of short and educational stories. These stories tell you about people living in ancient Babylon. Each story teaches you a small lesson on how to make progress towards financial stability.
The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco
Rating: 8/10Date Read: March 15, 2023
The Millionaire Fastlane is a highly motivational guide advocating entrepreneurship and smart money management. I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to improve their life financially.
Doing Content Right by Steph Smith
Rating: 8/10Date Read: December 2, 2021
Steph is taking you on a journey from figuring out what you can write about all the way to earning money from it.
Apology by Plato
Rating: 8/10Date Read: January 24, 2022
The Apology is Plato's record of the speech given by Socrates in court as he tries to defend himself in 399BCE against the accusations of 'corrupting the young, and by not believing in the gods in whom the city believes'.
The Great Conversation by Robert Hutchins
Rating: 7/10Date Read: January 17, 2021
This is an intro book to the Great Books of the Western World series. Authors do a great job of convincing you to invest your life in pursuing this series, that they refer to as Liberal Education.
Show Your Work by Austin Kleon
Rating: 7/10Date Read: May 14, 2020
This is a good, solid read. I wouldn't call it life changing for me, more life upkeeping. For some people it can be life changing though. In this book, Austin argues that we should all share our work. He will share a lot of useful advice for doing work in public. Austin is very convincing. If you never considered sharing your work, by the end of this books, you will be convinced.
Fluent Forever by Gabriel Wyner
Rating: 7/10Date Read: December 10, 2020
Gabriel shares his expeience and his research into the most effective ways of learning any foreign language. THe main idea of the book is to use an SRS like Anki. But there are a ton of other details that will help you excel in you journey of learning a language.
The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim
Rating: 6/10Date Read: February 1, 2023
Great book to listen to while doing chores. A lot of the principles have penetrated the tech industry, so you will be familiar with what this book has to offer. However, you should still give it a try, since there aren't many book like that one. A fictious story about DevOps practices. THat's pretty cool and unique.
Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte
Rating: 5/10Date Read: July 17, 2022
Building a Second Brain is a great PKM approach created by Tiago Forte. He has been teaching that course for a while now and has been publishing for many years at Forte Labs. This books is a collection of methods, techniques and ideas that he has formulated over those years. This book is perfect for someone who hasn't yet started collecting thoughts and ideas in a Second Brain.
Why Buddhism is True by Robert Wright
Rating: 4/10Date Read: April 25, 2021
Why Buddhism is True feels a little too watery, however I can't judge it fully since I haven't finished it. The reason I did was that after Chapter 7 I wasn't getting any new information, it felt like 7 chapters of the same thing.