Recent Reads
Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday
January, 2022
Atomic Habits
January, 2022
Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke
December, 2021
This is How You Lose the Time Way by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
November 2021
The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday
October 2021
The Authentic Adam Smith by James Buchan
September 2021
Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant
August, 2021
Setting the Table by Danny Meyers
July 10, 2021
How to Take Smart Notes by Sonke Ahrens
June 10, 2021
It’s Not Luck by Eliyahu Goldratt
May 27, 2021
Second time through this book (first since college). Some key themes come through around defining value from customer’s perspective and solving customer’s core needs with products / services as ways to gain competitive advantage and differentiate in the market. Book relies heavily on numerous “Thinking Processes” (Current Reality Tree, Future Reality Tree, etc). While examples abound in the book of characters leveraging these models from which one can interpolate “how-to”, it lacks sufficient detail to implement these frameworks on your own.
The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt
May 19, 2021
Fourth time through this book (high school, college, early career) and it continues to provide valuable insights and framework. The writing style is refreshing for a business book and adding the first-person narrative and storyline doesn’t diminish the signal but enhances the readability. While the book itself is set in a manufacturing setting, the concepts can easily be mapped onto any interdependent set of processes. Concepts of challenging status quo thinking/metrics, focusing on the Goal of an organization, and aligning resources with meaningful metrics around throughput (what is being achieved), inventory (how much are we trying to do at once), and operational expense (how costly is our end product/service) continue to find their way into daily actions and thoughts.
Finding the Space to Lead by Janice Marturano
May 14, 2021
The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
May 2, 2021
Game Theory: A Nontechnical Introduction by Morton Davis
April 14, 2021
Hands-On Machine Learning with Microsoft Excel 2019 by Julio Cesar Martino
April 28, 2021
Thought provoking overview of Machine Learning that dispels many myths and pre-conceived notion around machine learning. Book offers accessible and navigate examples in Excel using downloadable data sets and provides reasonably complete step-by-step overview. Achieves a good balance of theory, mathematical formulas, and practical examples. I found myself wanting additional practical use cases of how machine learning, but has made the topic feel accessible and provided foundational knowledge that can be expanded upon with further learning. Using machine learning to create predictive algorithms could prove to be critical in my pursuit of more leading indicators and predictive analytics.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
April 24, 2021
Wonderfully creative book I read aloud to Sybil.
The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre
March 26, 2021
Extraordinary non-fiction story of Oleg Gordievsky (wiki), a KGB Colonel who spent years as a double agent for the British Secret Intelligence Service. The book provides vivid detail of life in the USSR during the cold war, the intricacies of espionage, and a unique vantage into critical events including Margaret Thatcher’s visit to the USSR for Yuri Andropov’s funeral, and Mikhail Gorbachev’s visit to Britain. Well written and a true page turner, especially the last few chapters describing his exfiltration.
Blockchain Basics by Daniel Drescher
March 19, 2021
Comprehensive primer on the purpose and structure of blockchain without delving into specific applications or getting overly technical. Very approachable book that is heavy on analogies and repetition of key themes. Each chapter offers a preview, analogy, core content, and summary. By the end of the book the content feels redundant, but the reader emerges with good understanding of blockchain technology.
Mindset by Carol Dweck
February 22, 2021
Enlightening overview of Fixed v Growth Mindsets with strong examples and summaries of each in a variety of arenas (personal and professional). I found myself immediately reviewing recent examples where I had either a fixed or growth mindset as well as instances where I used language to emphasized one or the other.
How to Stop Losing Your Sh*t with Your Kids by Carla Naumburg
February 10, 2021
Aptly titled and very accessible summarizing mindfulness tactics for daily parenting. The book draws heavily from the author’s personal as well as professional experience. Dr. Naumburg advocates self-awareness, care, and compassion, to prevent toxic confrontations by managing personal “triggers” and “buttons.” The proffered "notice, pause, and do literally anything else” model, while simplistic is a telling culmination of the author’s recommendation and personal parenting experiences. The book contains limited scientific commentary other than high-level overview of prefrontal cortex and limbic systems of the brain and how they operate and develop in adults and kids.
Range by David Epstein
February 4, 2021
Compelling counter-argument to the dogma of start early and practice with complete focus. Differentiating kind v wicked learning domains helps identify what is likely applicable in a given situation. The ability to bring external perspective to a situation via separate experience is interesting as well. Very encouraging book for anyone who feels they have lost an opportunity due to lack of pure focus or life-long pursuit of singular objective.
The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger
January 19, 2021
Compelling overview of Robert Iger’s leadership philosophy and business acumen. His vignettes of acquiring and integrating Pixar and Marvel while stewarding extraordinary growth and transformational innovation are woven together in a compelling narrative. Mr. Iger’s focus on the importance of culture to sustain an empire built on creativity and consumer experience is at the core of this book.
Mistakes Were Made (but not by me) by Carol Tavris & Elliot Aronson
January 6, 2021
The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert
January 4, 2021