Books that I have particularly enjoyed or found useful
Shoe Dog - Phil Knight Phil Knight’s Memoir building the Nike brand from an idea he had in his MBA class, to one of the most iconic brands in the world. I wrote about the takeaways in more detail here. This is the book that got me into business.
The Last Question - Issac Asimov Written in 1956, the premise is basically different humans over the span of generations asking a gradually improving supercomputer: “How do you reverse entropy?”
Automate the Boring Stuff with Python - Al Sweigart Gave me a crash course for Python - catalyst to my programming journey. Doesn’t delve into object-oriented stuff but goes through the basics + standard library.
The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew - Lee Kuan Yew Had no idea who he was prior to reading this book. This chronicles LKY’s life from his birth (around the time of the Japanese occupation) to around 1965, right after they split from Malaysia. From separating from a colonial power, confrontation and defeat of the communists, handling of political rivals, and navigating interracial politics (Singapore is 40% Malay, 40% Chinese, 20% other minorities), he was able to execute on ideas that worked. “You begin your journey not knowing where it will take you. You have plans, you have dreams, but every now and again you have to take uncharted roads, face impassable mountains, cross treacherous rivers, be blocked by landslides and earthquakes. That’s the way my life has been.”
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa - EB Sledge I watched the Pacific TV series before reading the book, but the book was poetic, horrifying, and beautiful. Sometimes I think I have things to complain about. Then I think about what Sledge had to deal with. War stories are often written with a certain level of lucidity - this book is no exception.
The Wednesday Wars - Gary D. Schmidt My favorite book, and has always been since my first time reading it in 7th grade. He is put into tons of precarious situations, but finds motivation in the most unexpected places and musters up courage to face his problems.
The Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoevsky A philosophy book disguised as a novel. “Above all, don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.”
Stories of Your Life and others - Ted Chiang Collection of sci-fi short stories by Ted Chiang. If you’ve ever watched the movie “Arrival”, that’s based on one of the short stories in this book. Every story is creative, deals with a bit of hard science, and makes you imagine/see the world differently.
Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami My first Murakami book. A fiction that is strange but is consciousness-expanding and very enjoyable to read.
The Making of Prince of Persia: Journals 1985 - 1993 - Jordan Mechner Journal Entries from Jordan Mechner when he was creating and programming Apple II computer game all by himself. A story on the highs and lows of a creative’s journey in the formerly nascent world of video games
Zero to One - Peter Thiel Thiel shares his contrarian views on startups and technological progress in this book. Changed the way I thought about competition, optimism, and uniqueness. Escape competition by being unique and providing something no one else can. Be definite in your optimism. Instead of going from 1 to n, go from 0 to 1.
American Born Chinese - Gene Luen Yang Growing up in the midwest with very few Asian people, this is the most relatable story I’ve read. Illustrations are beautiful. Tensions between the American side and Asian side are too real. Seeing these tensions verbalized and illustrated is eye-opening and precious.
Buddha (I - VIII) - Osamu Tezuka Read this back in high school when I was flipping around the comic book section. Beautiful artwork from the creator of Astro Boy. Dark and eventually redeeming story of Buddha’s life.
The Three-Body Problem - Cixin Liu A really wonderful Chinese sci-fi novel that starts during the cultural revolution and turns into a story of humanity working together against a larger alien force. Translated well, and recommended by both Zuckerberg and Obama.
Musashi - Eiji Yoshikawa Japanese epic novel on the most famous Samurai, Miyamoto Musashi. Despite it’s length, I finished it within a week. Provides a vivid picture of 1600s Japan, and a man consumed by his goal to become the greatest swordsman.
A Man for All Markets - Ed Thorp A story of a mathematician who applied math to everything. From the casinos to financial markets. He actually discovered the Black-Scholes options pricing model prior to Black-Scholes.
Am I being too subtle? - Sam Zell Despite the title, it’s a really good book. Many of real estate private equity’s secondary market multifamily strategies and distressed strategies are influenced by him. He’s very practical and is willing to invest in many different types of vehicles. He hates convention.
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness Naval is kind of like the yoda of Silicon Valley. As a successful company builder and VC, he provides a perspective of how you should approach your job in the age of infinite leverage. I don’t agree with how lax he keeps his schedule, but I do agree with the way he sees personal leverage (code, writing, being unique) and how fundamental it is to maximize this leverage as soon as possible. “Forty hour workweeks are a relic of the Industrial Age. Knowledge workers function like athletes — train and sprint, then rest and reassess.”
The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro “But then, I suppose, when with the benefit of hindsight one begins to search one’s past for such ‘turning points’, one is apt to start seeing them everywhere.”
Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business Danny Meyer is an incredible restauranteur. I found his journey inspiring, from making 6 figures right out of college, to quitting to study and work in restaurants all across Europe before deciding to open up Union Square Cafe.
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game “The inability to envision a certain kind of person doing a certain kind of thing because you’ve never seen someone who looks like him do it before is not just a vice. It’s a luxury. What begins as a failure of the imagination ends as a market inefficiency: when you rule out an entire class of people from doing a job simply by their appearance, you are less likely to find the best person for the job.”