The aspiration here is simple. After I read Principles by Ray Dalio, I thought his idea of having published principles would be excellent for both corporate and political leaders. I agree with this, and I am currently working on my principles.
However, this idea could be taken a step further. If a leader shares in real-time everything they have read, with the help of some “simple” AI large language models, it would be easy to contrast that with what you have read. They enable people to identify and share world views and understand distant people and their gaps in learned knowledge and experience. Hypothetically, if this was done at a nation-state scale, one could objectively identify when a world leader is objectively out of touch with the populace.
I have listed the books I read this year with some initial thoughts. If a book was a re-read, I marked it as such. I recently started reading academic journals on my Kindle Scribe and love the experience. Thus, academic journals read in the month are also listed.
This is my humble little attempt at the radical transparency I have proposed. It also served as a way to keep me accountable and to read tremendously more than I otherwise would have. As the year went on, I attempted to read more than I ever had in previous years.
I hope this provides insight into my mind and inspires you to read more. Or, at the very least, aid you with suggestions for what books to read in the new year.
January
Books
The Network State by Balaji Srinivasan
I agree with much in this book—such unique ideas here, which I have not seen anywhere else. The concept of a network state is not only logical but in a humanist way; it is also beautiful. This book could be to future countries what John Locke’s On Liberty was to the United States’ founding fathers.
Great idea and very compelling. If you are like me and would describe yourself as politically homeless, this book could give you hope and direction.
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris
A biographical masterpiece. World-class. A must-read. Teddy is my hero. GET ACTION! BE THE MAN IN THE ARENA!
The World After Capital by Albert Wenger
It is slightly odd when a Venture Capitalist writes about how the world needs to go beyond money. But that’s precisely what has happened here.
I’d seen similar ideas before, but this time compiled all into one book. The idea is simple: a post-scarcity world needs a new economic model; capitalism will not do.
The unique model was the idea of the three ages humanity has lived through. Agriculture (where the predominant power came from people who could amass large volumes of people, i.e., the state, emperors, and kings), but then, with the Industrial Revolution, the limiting factor was not food but capital allocation. The next is a knowledge age, where we have a knowledge loop instead of a jobs loop. This makes tremendous sense to me; there are no limited resources in the universe, and the only limited resources humans have are our attention and time. Currently, capitalism does not optimize for the best use of human time.
The world eventually created three new systems, Capitalism, Fascism, and Communism, as ways to allocate capital; we fought a world war, millions died, and finally, only one was left standing.
Albert is not in the traditional neoliberal End of History camp. Instead, he thinks we need a new political and economic organization. Only a tiny portion of the population works in agriculture. Eventually, a similarly small portion of society will work for capital in the current traditional sense.
Great ideas, but a little light on execution or concrete organization. Yet, if one is unfamiliar with the continual diminishing marginal cost of everything from computing to energy and how that changes everything, this book would be an excellent place to start.
The Prince by Nicollo Machiavelli
I wanted something shorter after the three long books. I’m slightly embarrassed that I haven’t read this cover-to-cover earlier. One must give the devil his due.
whiskey words & a shovel III by r.h. Sin
The poetry book of the month. There are some good nuggets here, but sadly, much of it comes across as repetitive. It did make me do more free verse, though.
The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking by Saifedean Ammous
Call January 2023 a crypto reading month. I agree with much in this book.
The main takeaway from the book, which I think is missed in much crypto enthusiasm, is the Bitcoin network can not scale for global transactions. We will not pay for things in Bitcoin but save for things in Bitcoin. It will become a type of digital gold used by banks like Gold used to be used. This will have all of the benefits of a Gold standard, with none of the drawbacks of the Gold standard, like verification. How much digital gold does a bank have? Easy check the ledger.
Regardless, in my view, Bitcoin is far from worthless. It will fundamentally change global finance forever. However, will Blockchains be applied to everything? Probably less than people think. Unless, of course, the cost of marginal energy and computing goes near zero. Then, of course, all of this thinking goes out the window.
Academic Journals
Thomas More in America by Annett M. Magid - Utopian Studies (2016)
Canadian Parties Matter More Than You Think: Party and Leader Ratings Moderate Part Cue Effects by Eric Guntermann & Erick Lachapelle - Canadian Journal of Political Science (2020)
Thinking of a Utopian Future: Fourierism in Nineteenth-Century Spain by Juan Pro - Utopian Studies (2015)
Alexander Hamilton’s Economic Policies After Two Centuries by Donald F. Swanson & Andrew P. Trout - New York History (1991)
The Side Effects of Central Bank Independence by Michael Aklin & Andreas Kern - American Journal of Political Science (2020)
February
Books
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
After reading The Prince, I thought I would read the other half. Great advice that sounds amazing and is relatively simple. All of the hard stuff is in how it is implemented. Probably one of the best parable books I have ever read. This should go on my list of books I re-read often (like The Great Gatsby).
Customer Success by Nick Mehta, Dan Steinman & Lincoln Murphy
I try to read a Customer Success book every year. Consider it professional development. I have read many others: The Startup’s Guide to Customer Success, Chief Customer Office 2.0, Onboarding Matters, Farm Don’t Hunt, and I suppose you could also put The Sales Acceleration Formula in there.
The first half was meh, but the back half was good. It is a great book to start with.
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
It’s a great little book. I found it in a beautiful bookstore in Granville Island.
Timothy is an expert in the history of fascism, Nazism, and communism. The points he brings forward are not discussed in the founding of America. Modern tyranny looks dramatically different and acquires power much differently than in 1776.
Mentions of Trump in the book are valid. However, Timothy misses some great opportunities to highlight how the far left uses similar tactics—especially post-COVID. Tyrannical tactics must be put down and stood up against, especially if they happen within our preferred political party.
How to be a Creative Thinker by Roya A. Azadi
It’s a quick book with beautifully designed quotes and surprisingly insightful and beneficial creativity practices. As AI consumes mundane tasks, creativity will soon become a significant differentiator. This book would be helpful no matter the medium you are pursuing.
Lying by Sam Harris
It’s a Sam Harris classic. It made me come to terms with and understand Kant better. This is a must-read and, because of its brevity, should have been on my short books list as the best post. Slightly embarrassed I have only read it now.
Academic Journals
Climate Change: The Ultimate Challenge for Economics by William Nordhaus - American Economic Review (2019)
March
Books
On the Shortness of Life by Lucius Annaeus Seneca
I listened to an audiobook version during the commute to work—nothing like the sound of Seneca first thing in the morning.
There is a difference between being alive and having lived. The busy man often hurriedly runs to the last days of their life as if it is an aimless race, then when face to face with death, suddenly alarmed and perplexed as to where their time had fleeted. It is not that our lives are so short; we waste so much of our time. Best to be mindful, stoic, and brave to make the most of every day.
I loved the idea of the “Disease of the Greek Mind,” where one learns much trivial information. I love trivia as much as the other guy. However, there can also be a sense of trivialness in much of our education system. We remember facts and dates, especially when laced with rhymes (when did Columbus sail the ocean blue?). Yet, we often fail to understand concepts and frameworks to understand the past, present, and future better (what were the driving forces for Columbus to sail the ocean, to begin with?). It is best to beware of the ancient Greek mind and the trivialness of education, which has become rampant with education’s standardization. Not only will one fail to understand the world, but Seneca concludes that you are more likely to fall into the trap of the busy man, become face to face with death, and ask yourself: what was this all for?
Building Product for the Enterprise by Blair Reeves & Benjamin Gaines
Professional development. There are some great insights on how Product Development in traditional SaaS products does not translate into the Enterprise realm, specifically around road mapping and planning. The authors argue for a more streamlined and, at first glance, waterfall-like approach instead of the more popular agile software development approach.
It is relatively short for an O’Reilly book and could be read for a few days. It made me think about how Customer Success is different for the Enterprise. Most Customer Success books I’ve read have been older (by technology standards), and some B2B and B2C examples they use do not work for Enterprises. I suppose someone will have to write that Customer Success for Enterprise book in the future.
From Impossible to Inevitable: How Hypergrowth Companies Create Predictable Revenue by Aaron Ross & Jason Lemkin
Standard reading for anyone in SaaS. It’s a great way to get up to speed, but not much is new for someone who has spent much time in space.
Governing the World without World Government by Roberto Mangabeira Unger
It’s a quick but dense read. These are some of the most concise political paragraphs I have read in a long time.
It has some great solutions, and the nation-states may not be outdated yet! As states in America provide mini experiments in democracies and public policies, so do the nation-states worldwide. We solve global problems not through a global government but by coalitions of willing nation-states!
Product-Led Onboarding by Ramil John with Wes Bush
A substantial book outlining how to do product-led onboarding correctly.
Standard reading for anyone in product and SaaS!
The Great Mental Models Volume 1: General Thinking Concepts by Rhiannon Beaubien & Shane Parrish
It is a fantastic book that shows the problem I have always had with the education-industrial complex.
For most of the models I already knew about, however, the reminders were good, and the examples were excellent. These are elements that are missed in an educational setting. We should teach people mental models that enable them to improve their thinking and problem-solving, and then, in addition, best practices, tactics, and strategies to increase their ability to find and make new mental models in the future. This is astonishingly relatively easy to accomplish but sadly never done.
Schools of all sizes and stages in a Western democratic society have no positive net benefit to the community it inhabits. If you desire to learn, do not go to school; go to the library and read better books instead.
The Republic of the Future by Anna Bowman Dodd
Initially published in 1887, this is a series of letters from a traveler visiting America in 2050, corresponding to a friend back home in Sweden. I thought it appropriate to reconsider as 2050 is only 27 years away, five times closer than when the book was published. This short book shows how hard it is to predict the future. It is betting against God.
The things it got right: veganism, bland architecture, male and female clothing converging and looking the same, rampant automation (a self-check-in hotel), dreary uninterested civil servants, electric cars, decreasing religiosity.
The things it got wrong: socialism is the best societal organization for technological advancement, underwater tunnel travel across the Atlantic takes only 10 hours, I would not call Henry George a Socialist, the elimination of politicians, people working less (only until 11:00 in the morning) and of course no computers or internet.
The things it got quite right: home cooking completely vanishes, the social dynamic of the sexes, the decay of art, voting away liberty, the decay of the nuclear family.
This may be one of the first dystopian novels. It is one of the most fascinating books I have read this year. Depending on one’s political biases, you may find ideas you like, ones that shock you for their accuracy, and some absurd. Do you think America will transform into a socialist “utopia” by 2050?
The Practice: Shipping Creative Work By Seth Godin
This was the creativity book for the month. It is a great read; however, The Dip remains my favorite Seth Godin book.
With some intriguing stories and advice around “the practice” near the end, I concluded that the advice given applies not only to typical creative work; however, much of this could also be used successfully in traditionally non-creative works, such as sports or business. In short, it is an excellent book to read to get better at a craft.
The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald (Re-Read)
I attempt to read Gatsby every year. It is one of my favorite novels. I put it on my list of short books.
I lament that Fitzgerald could not wholly finish The Last Tycoon as this would have turned into another Gatsby. Fitzgerald was always best when he engaged in hero worship.
This time, I listened to an audiobook—a LibriVox recording performed fantastically by Adrian J. Wilson.
Gatsby turned out alright in the end.
The Customer Success Professionals Handbook by Rubin Rabago & Ashvin Vaidyanathan (Re-Read)
Another personal development book. It is more comprehensive than Customer Success, which I read last month.
I learned the most in the back half when the authors left the theoretical and moved into the practical, especially by organizing a CSM team and separating the promotion of people who wish to be individual contributors and managers.
I was shocked how some of the best places I’ve worked as a CSM blatantly stole concepts and even hiring & promotion rubrics. They did work, so why reinvent the wheel? As the Picasso line goes, good artists copy, and great artists steal.
I had never sat down and purposefully read every Shakespeare sonnet from front to back. Thus, I thought this would be the year to do it.
I enjoy what Amazon is doing with Amazon Classics; it is a great way to make great literature and poetry available to the masses.
However, upon completion, I still contend that my favorite sonnet remains 130.
The difference between my sonnets and Shakespeare’s sonnets is straightforward. I will never beat Shakespeare in quality, but god-damn-it I will beat him in quantity!
Academic Journals
No Academic Journals this month. I was too busy reading books.
April
Books
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant, Edited by Eric Jorgenson
This was a slow and methodical read. Fantastic in so many ways. It is a giant amount of knowledge. It is well worth the read, and I will continue to read it often.
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
I see similar tones in The Republic of the Future. What took me was how H.G. Wells made time traveling so frightening. Time Travel is often done successfully or whimsically, like in Back to the Future. Even Rick and Morty makes fun of the Lovecraftian horror elements, which are reduced to satire and cheap laughs. H.G. Wells does not do that.
The question: if Time Travel is possible, then where are the Time Travelers? It is a common one. Stephen Hawking famously held a party for Time Travellers. This question fails to appreciate history’s brutality and stark differences with a dose of hubris. Are we so important or interesting? If Time Travellers arrived, they would be incredibly different; we would treat them violently. A successful time traveler must be an improbable confluence of other scientific fields, maths, and physics. To successfully return from far travels, a linguist, anthropologist, and survivalist.
It is well worth the read, and finally, the short novel showcases how revolutionary the idea of relativity was.
Jazz Poems edited by Kevin Young
The poetry book of the month. Some fantastic ones in here. It was a gift from a darling very close to my heart.
Academic Journals
Tesla Master Plan Part 3 - Technically, it is not an Academic Journal, but it is a must-read nonetheless. A truly and fully green economy is within reach and also much cheaper than people think.
GPT-4 Safety Card - Great read. GPT stands for something but may also be General Purpose Technology. All should understand and use it; there is no hope of holding it back or banning it.
May
Books
The Customer Success Economy by Nick Mehta and Allison Pickens
Personal development. Trying to read more Customer Success books this year and learn from the best, Gainsight is the industry standard for all things Customer Success.
The Fall of Arthur by J.R.R Tolkien
Poetry book of the month. It appears to have gotten me back into reading epic poetry. It was interesting to see Tolkien’s take on Arthur and his poetic ability to write in ancient epic verse—some gorgeous lines. If you are a fan of Tolkien, I think this is a must-read. The Christopher Tolkien analysis in the book’s back end is also a must-read.
The Strenuous Life by Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt is my favorite president. My father would tell me stories about him as a child. Ken Burns’s documentary series The Roosevelts is often re-watched. If there is a single family that shaped modern America, which we know today, it is this family.
The Edmund Morris masterpiece, which I finished in January, showcases clearly how much of a polymath Theodore Roosevelt was. His essays in The Strenuous Life, in particular, illustrate the philosophy that accompanied him throughout his life. One’s existence must be strenuous; one must be in the arena and not a spectator; one must toil, cry, and bleed for a chance of achievement. To do otherwise is not to live at all.
Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney (re-read)
After reading The Fall of Arthur, I was reminded of Beowulf, which I first read when I was twelve. Considering I did not have a poetry book to read before bed, I thought re-reading the epic poem would make the most sense. It proved to be an excellent idea.
Heaney’s translation is fantastic and makes the epic poem extremely accessible. It was great to reread such incredible language.
Academic Journals
The Myth of the Dark Ages by Alaric the Barbarian, The Dissident Review Vol. 1 2023
General William Walker: Greatness and the Revisitation of Antiquated Ideals by Anthony Bavaria, The Dissident Review Vol. 1 2023
History is Ever in a Flux by Tozara Ayomikun, The Dissident Review Vol. 1 2023
On the Ancient Origins of the Irish Nation and the Poverty of Nationalist Modernism by Michael O’Donnell, The Dissident Review Vol. 1 2023
An Empire of Magick: Occultism & the British Empire by Justin Geoffrey, The Dissident Review Vol. 1 2023
Socialism, Syncretism: Political Eschatology East and West by Andrew Cuff, The Dissident Review Vol. 1 2023
Alexander Hamilton’s Place in the Founding of the Nation by John A. Krout, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society Vol. 102 No. 2 1958
June
Books
Radical Candor by Kim Scott
Some professional development. This was a good reminder that I perhaps need to read more HR books.
This is one of those highly misunderstood. It is one of those books which can be summed up in a small paragraph and highly quoted. Then, the information in the source document gets slightly misused. This book requires nuance because managing a team is, by definition, highly nuanced. Read the whole thing, cover to cover.
Academic Journals
In Defense of the Fence Sitters: What the West Gets Wrong About Hedging by Matias Spektor. Foreign Affairs, May/June 2023 Volume 102, 2023
The Upside of Rivalry: India’s Great-Power Opportunity by Nirupama Rao. Foreign Affairs, May/June 2023 Volume 102, 2023
How to Survive a Great-Power Competition: Southeast Asia’s Precarious Balancing Act by Huong Le Thu. Foreign Affairs, May/June 2023 Volume 102, 2023
The World Beyond Ukraine: The Survival of the West and the Demands of the Rest by David Miliband. Foreign Affairs, May/June 2023 Volume 102, 2023
Blundering on the Brink: The Secret History and Unlearned Lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis by Sergey Radchenko and Vladislav Zubok. Foreign Affairs, May/June 2023 Volume 102, 2023
The Myth of Multipolarity: American Power’s Staying Power by Stephen G. Brooks and William C. Wohlforth. Foreign Affairs, May/June 2023 Volume 102, 2023
The Perils of the New Industrial Policy: How to Stop a Global Race to the Bottom by David Kamin and Rebecca Kysar. Foreign Affairs, May/June 2023 Volume 102, 2023
The Age of Energy Insecurity: How the Fight for Resources Is Upending Geopolitics by Jason Bordoff and Meghan L. O’Sullivan. Foreign Affairs, May/June 2023 Volume 102, 2023
Iraq and the Pathologies of Primacy: The Flawed Logic That Produced the War is Alive and Well by Stephen Wertheim. Foreign Affairs, May/June 2023 Volume 102, 2023
The Reckoning That Wasn’t: Why America Remains Trapped by False Dreams of Hegemony by Andrew J. Bacevich. Foreign Affairs, March/April 2023 Volume 102, 2023
How Democracy Can Win: The Right Way to Counter Autocracy by Samantha Power. Foreign Affairs, March/April 2023 Volume 102, 2023
Innovation Power: Why Technology Will Define the Future of Geopolitics by Eric Schmidt. Foreign Affairs, March/April 2023 Volume 102, 2023
China’s Hidden Tech Revolution: How Beijing Threatens U.S. Dominance by Dan Wang. Foreign Affairs, March/April 2023 Volume 102, 2023
The Limits of the No-Limits Partnership: China and Russia Can’t Be Split, but They Can Be Thwarted by Patricia M. Kim. Foreign Affairs, March/April 2023 Volume 102, 2023
Asia’s Third Way: How ASEAN Survives— and Thrives— Amid Great-Power Competition by Kishore Mahbubani. Foreign Affairs, March/April 2023 Volume 102, 2023
The Structure of China’s Changing Political Culture by Wang Huning. WHN Fudan Journal 1988.
The Forty-Year War: How America Lost the Middle East by Lisa Anderson Foreign Affairs, May/June 2023 Volume 102, 2023
Keeping the World at Bay: Does Globalism Subvert Democracy — or Strengthen It? by Mark Mazower Foreign Affairs, May/June 2023 Volume 102, 2023
Is India’s Rise Inevitable? The Roots of New Delhi’s Dysfunction by Milan Vaishnav Foreign Affairs, May/June 2023 Volume 102, 2023
July
Books
The Lean Start-Up by Eric Ries (Re-Read)
The quintessential start-up Bible. First, I read it at University and remembered quite a bit from it. The new thing I took away from it was the impact of small batches from a project management view; it was timely advice.
Academic Journals
Don’t Count the Dictators Out: The Underappreciated Resilience of Today’s Autocracies by Lucan Ahmad Way Foreign Affairs, July/August 2023 Volume 102, 2023
Can India Become a Green Superpower: The Stakes of the World’s Most Important Energy Transition by Arunabha Ghosh, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2023 Volume 102, 2023
The Treacherous Path to a Better Russia: Ukraine’s Future and Putin’s Fate by Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Erica Frantz, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2023 Volume 102, 2023
The Real Origins of the Border Crisis: How a Broken Asylum System Warped American Immigration by Julia Preston, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2023 Volume 102, 2023
China Is Ready for a World of Disorder: America is Not by Mark Leonard, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2023 Volume 102, 2023
Europe’s Real Test Is Yet to Come: Will the Continent Ever Get Serious About Its Own Security? by Radek Sikorski, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2023 Volume 102, 2023
An Unwinnable War: Washington Needs an Endgame in Ukraine by Samuel Charap, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2023 Volume 102, 2023
The Korea Model: Why an Armistice Offers the Best Hope for Peace in Ukraine by Carter Malkasian, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2023 Volume 102, 2023
How Wars Don’t End: Ukraine, Russia, and the Lessons of World War I by Margaret MacMillan, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2023 Volume 102, 2023
The Great Convergence: Global Equality and Its Discontents by Branko Milanovic, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2023 Volume 102, 2023
Why the World Still Needs Trade: The Case for Reimagining — Not Abandoning — Globalization by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2023 Volume 102, 2023
India as It Is: Washington and New Delhi Share Interests, Not Values by Daniel Markey, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2023 Volume 102, 2023
August
Books
The Road Not Taken and Other Poems by Robert Frost
The poetry book of the month. I’ve been reading this slowly ever since I finished Beowulf this year.
It is excellent to dive deep into more structured prose again—one of America’s best poets to ever do it.
Favorites are The Exposed Nest, Putting in the Seed, The Road Not Taken, The Housekeeper, A Servant to Servants, The Black Cottage, The Tuft Flowers
The World Behind the World: Consciousness, Free Will, and the Limits of Science by Erik Hoel
I am a big fan of Erik Hoel’s Substack, The Intrinsic Perspective; that is how I came across his novel (which I read last year and would also recommend). His first non-fiction book follows the same theme as his novel: is there a unifying theory of consciousness?
This book is relatively thin by pop-science standards, but it is not easy. This is not due to Hoel being a lousy writer; he is not, but due to the nature of the material. The content becomes abstract very quickly, and philosophical questioning about causation abounds.
It is a great read and one which has opened my eyes. If you crave a scientific book that argues for Free Will, this one will provide proof that Free Will exists. A unified theory of consciousness does not exist in the pages (my secret hope). Still, the acknowledgment that we may require “new math” to derive a unified theory of consciousness really made my head spin. In a good way. Would recommend.
Maxims and Reflections of Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, edited and Introduced by Peter Hutchinson, translated by Elisabeth Stopp.
These could be retrofitted into Tweets. They would be the best Tweets I have ever read if they were. Nietzsche claimed that Goethe was an Ubermensch, and after reading his Maxims, he is most certainly correct.
La Rochefoucauld Collected Maxims and Other Reflections
After reading the Maxims of Reflections of Goethe, I went down a Maxim rabbit hole and discovered La Rochefoucauld.
This is a must-read. It is a wealth of wisdom. Good artists copy, and great artists steal; thus, I will be stealing a lot from this book.
Academic Journals
The End of Democratic Capitalism? How Inequality and Insecurity Fueled a Crisis in the West by Daron Acemoglu, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2023 Volume 102, 2023
The Antiliberal Revolution: Reading the Philosophers of the New Right by Charles King, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2023 Volume 102, 2023
China’s Rewritten Past: How the Communist Party Weaponizes History by Mary Gallagher, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2023 Volume 102, 2023
September
Books
Stolen Focus by Johann Hari
Upon entering the airport in line and going through security at the beginning of my European vacation, I realized that I had accidentally left my phone at home. This caused, at first, some concern; I bought the book at a Relay waiting to board my plane. This lapse in judgment proved to be a blessing in disguise!
It’s a lovely expansion if you enjoyed or were terrified by The Social Dilemma documentary. The book does a great job of showcasing how our eroding attention is not solely the result of technology. Still, it is a complex confluence of reinforcing incentives, both social, psychological, technological, commercial, and biological. In short, everyone with a smartphone should read this book. This book changed my relationship with my phone upon my return from my vacation.
Hari has a non-fiction writing style, which I do not enjoy. I understand its popularity, driven mainly by Malcolm Gladwell’s incredible success, yet this is merely a derivative. Regardless, Hari’s content, analysis, and good faith critiques enabled me to get past it and enjoy the book immensely.
Paris in our View poems selected by Shakespeare and Company
Bought this in the legendary Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris.
Beautiful poems. I would wager that visiting Paris and falling in love with the city, as I did, makes the poems even more attractive.
Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
There are a small number of writers whom I wish to read all of their published works. Fitzgerald is one of these writers. I am getting close after finishing Tender is the Night, with only one novel remaining.
I (like the reviews at the time) am mixed in my thoughts regarding the novel. Reading it in the modern day shows how far the field of psychiatry has gone, as well as sexual consent.
Dick Diver is not an overly inspiring or likable character, which may be the issue for me. I have re-read The Great Gatsby multiple times (nearly every year), and his unfinished novel The Last Tycoon is excellent in the same way. Fitzgerald is his best when he is writing about hero worship. This Side Paradis does not follow the same hero worship, but it is so fun to read, and it is better knowing that Scott wrote that novel while in University.
The best parts of the book contain the Rosemary. Thus, the flashback in the middle of the novel dragged for me due to the absence of this character.
Hemingway said this book gets better and better the more you read it, claiming that only then does one see it as the masterpiece it is. I will have to see if that is true (Hemingway has lied to me before). But before I can do that, I must read The Beautiful and The Damned; once completed, it will mean I have read every Fitzgerald Novel.
Academic Journals
In Defense of the Age of Exploration by Alaric the Barbarian, The Dissident Review Vol. 2, 2023
The Inevitability of Conquest by Peter Iversen, The Dissident Review Vol. 2, 2023
The Furthest German by Anthony Bavaria, The Dissident Review Vol. 2, 2023
William Shakespeare: American Founder by Banished Kent, The Dissident Review Vol. 2, 2023
Veni, Vidi, Vici by Mathew of Clermont, The Dissident Review Vol. 2, 2023
Ethnogenesis and the American Longrifle by L.V., The Dissident Review Vol. 2, 2023
October
Books
Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson
This is the true successor to Steve Jobs. Elon is the most important person on the planet. He must succeed in his endeavors for the sake of humanity, in that I am a true believer.
I will be honest: I am an Elon fanboy. That is usually where the conversation stops at dinner parties. Nobody has asked me why I am an Elon fanboy. I am a fan of Elon for the same reasons I am a fan of Alexander, Napoleon, Robert Smalls, Theodore Roosevelt, Nelson Mandela, and even Taylor Swift. These people show in their unique way that no matter what happens to you, the antidote is always the same: relentless action. Whether it be heartbreak, commercial or critical failure, betrayal, poverty, depression, defeat, abuse, racism, imprisonment, slavery, burying your children, or staring down the most powerful empire in the world, the solution is the same: take bold, relentless action.
I came to a rather inspiring conclusion when finishing this book. Nothing is more robust in the universe than the concentrated will of determined individuals.
Maxims for Revolutionists by George Bernard Shaw
It’s a shorter Maxim book but from one of the greats. I forgot about some great one-liners that came from him.
$100M Offers by Alex Hormozi
This was a professional development book I read to help the company I was with refine and edit our sales offer.
There is some sound wisdom and practical step-by-step in this one. If someone is a small business owner, they should probably read this book or, at the very least, go through the free online course Alex offers.
Academic Journals
Delusions of Detente: Why America and China Will be Enduring Rivals by Michael Beckley, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2023, Volume 102, Number 5.
The AI Power Paradox: Can States Learn to Govern Artificial Intelligence — Before It’s Too Late? by Ian Bremmer & Mustafa Suleyman, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2023, Volume 102, Number 5.
Putin’s Age of Chaos: The Dangers of Russian Disorder by Tatiana Stanovaya, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2023, Volume 102, Number 5.
The End of the Russian Idea: What it Will Take to Break Putinism’s Grip by Andrei Kolesnikov, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2023, Volume 102, Number 5.
Xi’s Age of Stagnation: The Great Walling-Off of China by Ian Johnson, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2023, Volume 102, Number 5.
The End of China’s Economic Miracle: How Beijing’s Struggles Could be an Opportunity for Washington by Adam S. Posen, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2023, Volume 102, Number 5.
The Price of Fragmentation: Why the Global Economy Isn’t Ready for the Shocks Ahead by Kristalina Georgieva, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2023, Volume 102, Number 5.
China’s Road to Ruin: The Real Toll of Beijing’s Belt and Road by Michael Bennon & Francis Fukuyama, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2023, Volume 102, Number 5.
Back in the Trenches: Why New Technology Hasn’t Revolutionized Warfare in Ukraine by Stephen Biddle, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2023, Volume 102, Number 5.
Europe’s Geoeconomic Revolution: How the EU Learned to Wield It’s Real Power by Matthias Matthijs & Sophie Meunier, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2023, Volume 102, Number 5.
Erdogan the Survivor: Washington Needs a New Approach to Turkey’s Improviser in Chief by Henri J. Barkey, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2023, Volume 102, Number 5.
Innovation and Its Discontents: Societies Get the Technology They Deserve by Diane Coyle, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2023, Volume 102, Number 5.
Born in the Bloodlands: Ukraine and the Future of the European Project by Michael Kimmage, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2023, Volume 102, Number 5.
The Merchants Leviathan: How the East India Company Made the Modern World by Caroline Elkins, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2023, Volume 102, Number 5.
Justice and Force in the Frontier by Peter Iversen, The Dissident Review Vol. 2, 2023
Chuck Yeager by Warriors of Old, The Dissident Review Vol. 2, 2023
Cornstalk’s Curse by Justin Geoffrey, The Dissident Review Vol. 2, 2023
The Trauma of the Frontier by Rupert August, The Dissident Review Vol. 2, 2023
Pytheas The Greak by Lunkhead, The Dissident Review Vol. 3, 2023
The Greatest Man You’ve Never Heard of: St. Fernando III of Castile by Chivalry Guild, The Dissident Review Vol. 3, 2023
Adventure At All Costs: The Heroic Imagination of Merian C. Cooper by S.A. Clarke, The Dissident Review Vol. 3, 2023
King of the Visigoths: Alaric I, The Barbarian, by A Modern Interpreter, The Dissident Review Vol. 3, 2023
The Lion of Africa: Paul Von Lettow-Vorbeck & The Greatest Guerilla Campaign in History by Charles Fletcher, The Dissident Review Vol. 3, 2023
Not My Will But Yours Be Done: Pope Pius V & The Great Men Who Served by Pope Head, The Dissident Review Vol. 3, 2023
November
Books
Shakespeare and Company by Sylvia Beach
I bought this book in Paris after visiting the famous bookshop. It was a fascinating read, and I wanted to start a bookstore myself. I was always a fan of the movie Midnight in Paris, and this book showcases that vibe very well. It is also a great case study on how government censorship of popular things is an excellent signal that this art or speech is of societal significance.
My favorite part of the memoir was when Hemingway masterminded the plan to smuggle Ulysses into America.
Alexander the Great: Journey to the End of the Earth by Norman F. Cantor (Re-Read)
I read this for the first time a while back, and while I was organizing my bookshelf, I thought I would give it another crack at it.
Upon the second read, I was disappointed with how Cantor put Alexander in a modern light, how he would be seen as a cruel man by today’s moral standards. I thought it was unfair, dishonest, and abusive to humanity to do such a thing. Historical figures must only be judged by the standards of the time that they live. Otherwise, everyone is a scoundrel and worthy of hell. Notice that Cantor (recently deceased) never wants to mention in this book how he (we can all hope) fails to meet the moral standards of humanity four thousand years in the future. This type of analysis is a disease in the modern elite humanities.
I don’t know where this saying originated, but I like it. It goes like this: most people ask themselves WWJD - What would Jesus do? Only one man in Europe asked themselves WWAD: What would Alexander do? That man was Napoleon. Alexander is Great. So, too, is Napoleon.
After reading the book, I received an idea for a non-fiction book. My historical heroes are Alexander, Caesar, and Napoleon. Interestingly, the former inspired the latter, and the next added and improved what the others did before. For example, Caesar was more politically brilliant than Alexander was, and Napoleon was a much more successful political reformer than Caesar was with the Civil Code. Additionally, they are great examples of the pinnacle of pagan heroes. Even though Napoleon was born after Jesus, he is not Christlike. I think there is a danger to the establishment if the masses glorify leaders like these three too much. We see this in terrible movie adaptations and media hit pieces, most recently with Napoleon. It is a highly Nietzschean take that slave morality naturally diminishes the accomplishments of these Pagan Paragons as a means of self-preservation.
The Creative Act a Way of Being by Rick Rubin
This month I finally finished this sage of a book. I got it as soon as I finished what is, hands down, my favorite podcast of the year.
I was primarily looking at this book through the lens of a writer, but when I got halfway through, I realized that this book could even apply to businesses. At a high level, there should be creativity in everything you do. Otherwise, you are merely on an assembly line.
The thing that will stick with me forever is the claim that the audience comes last with all pieces of art. Whatever art you are making, listen to your soul and make the best art that you can because this is an offer to God.
I will be coming back to this book periodically. It is a keeper.
I have been picking away at this for the past year, reading a fable or two every other week. This book was available for free from Kindle. I am pleased with how Amazon attempts to push the reading of classics via this app. Some great books in the public domain should honestly be read tremendously more.
Academic Journals
The Dysfunctional Superpower: Can a Divided America Deter China and Russia? by Robert M. Gates, Foreign Affairs, November/December 2023, Volume 102, Number 6
The Return of Nuclear Escalation: How America’s Adversaries Have Hijacked Its Old Deterrence Strategy by Keir A. Lieber and Daryl G. Press, Foreign Affairs, November/December 2023, Volume 102, Number 6
The Real Washington Consensus: Modernization Theory and the Delusions of American Strategy by Charles King, Foreign Affairs, November/December 2023, Volume 102, Number 6
December
Books
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
I wish I read this book when I was younger. The fact that personal finance is not commonplace and commonly taught in education is a dramatic disservice to the young (so is the unreal government spending, but that is beside the point).
I always thought that a lack of personal finance acumen or financial distress had to do with one lack of analytical financial knowledge (that is only partly true); the more true thing is if you are wealthy, the odds that you have a psychological disposition that enables you to be rich.
We see this when people win the lottery and lose all their money after a few years. They do this because the people who buy lottery tickets are poor of mind.
This is an excellent book about money mindset that everyone should read. The younger, the better.
Nomad Capitalist by Andrew Henderson
This has been on my list for a while. I like all of the content Henderson and his company put out. I have mentally concluded that I am done with Canada. We will leave the country. It is only a matter of when and doing it properly.
This is the natural evolution of globalization. We can all admit that it makes both practical and economic sense for certain products to be made in different places. Goods and materials travel all over the world for optimization. But what about people? Depending on the lifestyle you want to live and the line of work you want to do, the odds that you are born and raised in the perfect place to do that are laughably small. You will have to pick up your feet and move to the opportunity. Or, as Henderson says, go to where you are treated best.
As the internet gets fully distributed and AI after that, work will look dramatically different. There will be two classes of people in the Western world: those who can go where they are treated best and those who can’t and will have to grin and bear whatever is placed on them. I plan and aspire to be in the former rather than the latter. I think this trend will be nasty at first, but in time, the more comprehensive competition will make countries better off; they will have to treat their citizens with as much respect and reverence as bondholders.
I have an article that is perpetually in draft and never finished; who knows, maybe I will finally release it next year, but it is titled Canada is Broken. I believe that. Canada is done. It won’t get better; it will only get worse, and the opportunity that my parents had in their lifetime will not exist for me. It would be morally irresponsible for me and my potential future child to stay here. The question is just a matter of timing and proper sequencing of steps. This book helped in the sequencing part.
Good Strategy Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt
Another professional development book. Our CEO recommended it. I liked it; some were new stories for me. What did drive me a bit bonkers was how long some of the Bad Strategy stories were; at times, it was like watching a car wreck, but not in a good way. That would be my only criticism; this book could have been shorter, and the stories used could have been more condensed.
Atomic Habits by James Clear
I finally got around to reading this one. It has been on my list for quite some time. This is one of the fastest non-fiction books I’ve ever read. There is very little fluff (not none, but less than most non-fiction books these days), and it is perfectly formatted with great spacing and graphics. The chapter summary that Clear does should be copied by every non-fiction writer, especially self-help ones.
I have heard many of these concepts online before, but receiving the entire context was good.
It was legit a fantastic book to read right before the new year.
Academic Journals
None this month.
Why Read?
This year, I finished 49 books totaling around 12,768 pages and 76 academic journals totaling around 1,230 pages. On top of that, I have continued to be a religious reader of The Economist every week. This is much more than the average person, who reads around 12 books annually.
Writing is often the closest thing to attaining immortality. Alexander Hamilton died over 200 years ago, but I can still read The Federalist Papers and see what he thought about things. That is not the only reason one should write; there are more.
If immortality is to writing, then necromancy is to reading. Specifically, I want to communicate with the wise but long dead to learn about the future. That is what reading is: communicating with the dead.
There is tremendous wisdom in the past; having it all go to the grave would be a shame. So, it’s best to pick up a book.
Stay Curious,
Michael Tastad
