Book Recommendations

My knowledge of Thomas Edison’s story and achievements was very limited before this book. I knew he had some relationship to “inventing electricity” and that our local electric utility ComEd is named after him. I also knew he had some sort of feud with Nikola Tesla (from an episode of Drunk History). This book didn’t mention Tesla at all, but it really clarified for me that Edison was a fairly big jerk. His inventor persona was largely overhyped, and he was a hapless businessman. (View on Amazon)

I don’t recall where, but somewhere I heard good things about Matt Ridley’s books. This one didn’t disappoint. He calls himself a Rational Optimist – meaning he’s optimistic about the future of humans and the prospect for our prosperity. There are plenty of things to quibble with, but a lot of validity to his arguments. His approach isn’t scientific in the sense of peer-reviewed research, but it is seemingly fact-based (without references, it’s hard to confirm though). There is, of course, the clear-as-day pattern of humankind seeing material improvements in lifespan and quality of life, despite the frequently fashionable pessimistic predictions of doom. The book could have been shorter without losing its substance, but thankfully I was able to listen to it at 1.25x. (View on Amazon)

Christopher McDougall tells the story of his travels to the remote Copper Canyon in northern Mexico, where the people know as the Tarahumara have lived a separate existence since long ago. They are a native tribal group who live a very old-fashioned lifestyle way off the grid. The Tarahumara are very athletic, and can specifically run for hundreds of miles seemingly without stressing or tiring. Throughout the story, McDougall splices in narratives of other great endurance athletes and running science. The culmination is a great race in the Mexican desert between the Tarahumara and a motley crew of American Ultramarathon runners. This is a great read! (View on Amazon)

Isaac Asimov’s famed work of science fiction has been cited by some of today’s most well-known technologists as inspiration for their life paths. I just had to read it to learn what all the hype was about. I found the story immensely interesting, maybe even more for the political commentary than the science fiction. (View on Amazon)

This is an eye-opening book that drills down into the history of (probably) every segment of the U.S. healthcare system. I think it’s common knowledge that the system is broken: out of control costs, decoupled from outcomes. The author explains why the business of healthcare has been incentivised toward this for years. The first thing I learned was that health insurers don’t actually have an incentive to keep costs down — in fact, quite the opposite. At the end the author lays out some optimistic strategies for turning this around, but they aren’t necessarily convincing. (View on Amazon)

I’ve grown up hearing and reading about Warren Buffett and his company Berkshire Hathaway. I hope I’ll be forgiven for never realizing the full scope of his rise to become one of the wealthiest men in the world. His story is an example of what driven people can accomplish when they get lucky with the right resources  (and I don’t mean being born rich – he wasn’t). He has been accumulating money and investing almost forever. His success is heavily influenced by his being a lifelong student of business – he has never stopped reading and learning. (View on Amazon)

If you’re acquainted with finance or investing, you’ve probably heard of Benjamin Graham’s concept of value investing. It’s also made famous by its very successful application by Warren Buffet. The content of the book can be a little dry in some sections where it gets into the metrics of securities analysis. Still, its content is a much-needed breath of fresh air (or cold shower) whenever seemingly crazy market prices are all around. (View on Amazon)

There is so much interesting history behind the Nike brand and it’s predecessor Blue Ribbon Sports, and I had no idea! Knight explains the efforts to build the business, starting with selling shoes out of the trunk of his car. It’s also a great window to the culture he worked to build for his company, including the executive team that called themselves the Buttheads. As usual for memoirs of very successful people, you’ll have to pardon the couple chapters of self-congratulation – it’s earned. (View on Amazon)

I almost didn’t know which of my “categories” this fell into, because there for sure isn’t a self-help section. Tim Ferris uses the term lifestyle design, so I’ll consider this a topical deep-dive into that process. First, I hate the title. I hate that this book is an example of him practicing what he preaches (half the book is links to apps/services) by selling information. But, I do love some of the core concepts Ferris evangelises: don’t wait until the end of your life to retire, automate everything, and apply the pareto principle ruthlessly. (View on Amazon)