Reading List
Here’s a list of all the books I’ve read since 2017. Bolded books have had a notable impact on my life, or were amazing reads.
Self Help
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Thinking Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman
- Kahneman describes how our conscious and unconscious minds influence our behavior. This is the most comprehensive book I’ve read on how our mind works. There’s a lot of research cited in this book. It touches on everything from cognitive biases to how conscious thinking affects your mood.
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You are Not So Smart - David McRaney
- This book is a one stop shop for cognitive biases. You get a high level overview of selection bias, Texas sharpshooter fallacy, and sunk cost fallacy to name a few.
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How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie
- The title sounds like you’ll learn a bag of underhanded tricks. What you’ll actually learn is the importance of empathizing with others and making them feel heard. A lot of practical tips too, like the importance of remembering names.
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The Gifts of Imperfection - Brené Brown
- Helps you learn to embrace your imperfections and accept who you are. Has practical tips, including the AEIOUY journal that I still do daily (A: what I abstained from, E: did I exercise, I: what did I do for myself, O: what did I do for others, U: do I have unexpressed emotions, Y: what’s something good that happened).
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The Defining Decade - Meg Jay
- Raises awareness about using your time wisely in your twenties. Enjoy your time but ensure you’re setting yourself up for success.
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The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey
- Explores timeless principles that help you build yourself and others around you. A little fluffy, but a comprehensive book on managing yourself and your relationships.
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The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck - Mark Manson
- You can only care deeply about so many things. Choose which are important to you and be ok with others slipping. Learn to move on. Easy read - reads as if Manson is talking to you.
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Deep Work - Cal Newport
- The importance of focused work in todays increasingly distraction filled world. Deep work helps you achieve more and provides a sense of fulfillment. This is the concept of the flow state in psychology.
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Atomic Habits - James Clear
- Habits are the backbone of your success. Clear details practical tips to reduce friction and stay consistent so that you can reach your goals step by step.
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Skin in the Game - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Things go better and you get more out of them the more invested you are. Taleb argues this commitment helps you understand the world and is important for social justice.
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Modern Romance - Aziz Ansari
- A survey on romance across various cultures in modern times. A key point is the paradox of choice - more options makes it harder to choose.
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Models - Mark Manson
- This is a dating advice book. It explores topics like vulnerability and facing your insecurities. Though it’s aimed at men, anyone can benefit from reading this.
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Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle
- A look into Tolle’s spiritual take on life. He argues that the now is the only thing that exists and that we should fully embrace that. This was the most spiritual take on this concept that I’ve read about.
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The Courage to be Disliked - Fumitake Koga and Ichiro Kishimi
- An exploration of Adlerian psychology. The key points are to focus only on what you can control, to not impede on other’s tasks, to strive for a sense of contribution, and to have unconditional confidence in others.
Business Success
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The Black Swan - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- The impact of rare, unpredictable events on society. How to maximize your exposure to such events through certain portfolios and business strategies.
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Originals - Adam Grant
- How to smartly non-conform. Tips on recognizing good ideas and mobilizing yourself and others to make them a reality.
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Effective Engineer - Edmond Lau
- Focus on high leverage work. Prioritize before execution.
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Hacking Growth - Sean Ellis
- A playbook on how to evaluate your business model and maximize its chance at success with hyper growth strategies.
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Traction - Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares
- An exploration of 19 important growth channels for any business and tips on how to leverage them.
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The Mom Test - Rob Fitzpatrick
- How to vet your business idea in its early stages. Playbook on having valuable and insightful customer conversations.
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Blitzscaling - Reid Hoffman
- Blitzscaling is a framework for growing a startup in a market where speed is the most important thing. Hoffman argues you should optimize for iteration speed and learning even at the cost of efficiency.
SciFi
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The Man in the High Castle - Phillip K. Dick
- An alternative history novel chronicling a post WW2 world ruled by Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany. The world building was top notch.
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Dune - Frank Herbert
- A riveting story following a chosen child prodigy navigating his role in a political power struggle. The world building and different cultures explored were captivating.
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Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
- A story touching on the themes of death, time, and free will. The narrative has a unique structure due to the element of time travel.
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I, Robot - Isaac Asimov
- A compilation of short stories in a world with advanced robots. Though this book was written in 1950, it poses questions about artifical intelligence that are more than relevant today.
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Enders Game - Orson Scott Card
- The story of a child prodigy being trained to lead humanity against alien invaders.
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Stories of Your Life and Others - Ted Chiang
- Compilation of short stories. Touches on themes like free will and faith. Includes the short story that was adapted into the movie Arrival.
Fiction
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The Paper Menagerie - Ken Liu
- A collection of short stories. Genres range from fantasy to scifi to magical realism. Touching read and gave me an appreciation for the short story format.
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The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
- A story about following your dreams, or your “personal legend.”
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Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
- A series of notes from a person undergoing trials to increase his intelligence. Gives perspective on how percieved intelligence affects how you are treated.
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Fahreinheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
- A dystopian novel commenting on the dangers of censorship and anti-intellectualism.
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Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami
- A coming of age story of a youth in Japan. Explores loss, sexuality, and mental illness.
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Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
- Explores love, family, betrayal, and life in general. Tolstoy deeply explores the perspectives of multiple characters. Their inner monologues and raw thoughts make this book relatable to anyone. My philosophy professor said this is the one book you should read before you die.
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On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong
- Written in the form of a letter from a Vietnamese American son to his mother. Vuong is a poet first, so the writing style here is unique and beautiful.
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A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
- Follows the struggles of two women of different generations in Afghanistan. Emotional read touching on gender roles, family, and love.
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Pachinko - Min Jin Lee
- Emotional read following multiple generations of a Korean family living in Japan spanning 1920s-1990s. The depth of each character and insight into generational shifts in perspective paint a very human struggle.
Philosophy
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Meditations - Marcus Aurelius
- The personal writings of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. Insight into Stoic philosophy.
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The Prince - Niccolò Machiavelli
- A rulebook for princes and royals. A Machiavellian outlook on things - glory and survival can justify the use of immoral means.
Nonfiction
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The Doors of Perception - Aldous Huxley
- Chronicles Huxley’s experience with the psychedelic mescaline.
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Educated - Tara Westover
- A memoir detailing Westover’s upbringing in a strict Mormon family. Follows her struggle to get to and succeed in college. Emphasizes the importance of education.
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Autobiography of Malcolm X - Malcolm X
- The gritty look into one of the most controversial and important figures to the civil rights movement. Chronicles his struggles with rage, faith, and injustice.
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Minor Feelings - Cathy Park Hong
- Explores how it feels to be an Asian American. Touches on the model minority myth among other concepts.
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The Case Against Education - Bryan Caplan
- Explores why our education system is flawed - it focues more on signalling than skill acquisition. A lot of research cited in this book.
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Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari
- Chronicles the rise of mankind. Explores why we are the way we are and the impact technological progress has had on us. Ends with riveting postulating on where we’re headed and artifical intelligence.
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AI Superpowers - Kai Fu Lee
- Lee argues that artifical intelligence (AI) is the next big advancement in human society, up there with steam engines, electricity, and the internet. He details the rise of the tech scene in China and argues they are posed to lead the AI race. He ends by touching on policy changes that will help society cope with and grow from job losses caused by AI.