Three Buckets of Books and Information Diet
Your physical nutrition is important to figure out and have a plan for. Having a healthy informational diet is also important. I find myself unable to recall where I got a lot of my news and information from last year or two years ago, so I thought I'd make a quick post to mark what I consume today on January 10, 2023. And also I've listed a strategy for how I read books.
The goal is to read ~2 hours every day, averaging out to hopefully 10 hours of reading books per week.
3 books simultaneously, classified by 3 buckets.
(1) Business: [business, culture, strategy, industry analysis, etc].
Probably for the middle of the day or the morning.
(2) Random curiosity & non-work related: [philosophy, international relations, history, memoirs]
Maybe spend less time on this category because the hours I spend on classes will satisfy this free time.
(3) Novels to read for fun with a focus on prose and plot: [scifi, fantasy, thriller, etc]
I prefer to go to bed reading these books. Its light and fun -- no need to challenge myself to get through the pages. Maybe this semester i'll swap this out with more TV/movie time too.
I'm still trying to figure out what the best way to consume these books is. I like to take notes to be able to recall important things but I often find that it hinders my ability to read efficiently. I'm also very scattered between Apple Notes and Evernotes. Sometimes I take too many books (when it's super informational) and other times I read through the whole thing without doing anything and feeling regret. Reflection is just as important as consumption, which is the overarching purpose of this blog.
To understand why do I read?
--> Notes On Reading by Henry Elkus
--> How I Read Books by Robert Martin
Information Diet:
News:
The Diff from Byrne Hobart
Financial Times
PYMTS
Fintech Brain Food by Simon Taylor
Digital Native by Rex Woodbury
BIG by Matt Stoller
The Pudding
Podcasts:
Founders from (summaries of biographies of great founders)
Making Sense with Sam Harris
Philosophize This! (summaries of the ideas of great philosophers)
New ones: Throughline, Business Breakdowns,
Current booklist in no particular order. I sort of randomly pick up books from this list.
(1) Business
A Fine Mess: A Global Quest for a Simpler, Fairer, and More Efficient Tax System by T. R. Reid
Catastrophic Care: Why Everything We Think We Know About Health Care is Wrong by David Goldhill
Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises by Ray Dalio
The Cold Start Problem by Andrew Chen
What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture by Ben Horowitz
Zero to One: Notes on Startup, Or How To Build The Future by Peter Thiel
More Money Than God by Sebastian Mallaby
The Power Law by Sebastian Mallaby
Autobiography of a Restless Mind (Vol 1 and 2) by Dee Hock
The Polyester Prince: The rise of Dhirubhai Ambani by Hamis McDonald
(2) Curiosity
Islamic Fundamentalism by David M. Haugen
Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy by Henry Kissinger
Confession of an Economic HitMan by John Perkins
Omoiyari: The Japanese Art of Compassion by Erin Nilmi Longhurst
Liberalism and it's Discontents by Francis Fukuyama
A Guide for the Perplexed by E.F. Schumacher
India: From Midnight to the Millennium by Shashi Tharoor
China's Asian Dream by Tom Miller
Microtrends Squared: The New Small Forces Driving The Big Disruptions Today by Mark Penn
(3) Novels
Theory of Shadows by Paolo Maurensig
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life: A Memoir by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Tales of Horror and Suspense by Edgar Allan Poe
Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami
Wampeters, Foma, & Granfalloons by Kurt Vonnegut