Apr 10, 2017

Books read Q1 2017

Books I finished in the first quarter of 2017:

  1. Chaos Monkeys by Antonio Garcia Martinez (audiobook)
    Insider's take on getting acquihired by Facebook. Fun, though the protagonist gets annoying.

  2. Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday
    I read this late last year, and read it again in January as part of my annual review process. It's really good.

  3. Two Arms and a Head by Clayton Atreus
    Memoir / philosophical treatise / suicide note by a paraplegic who lost use of his body under the nipple-line in a motorcycle accident. Really powerful, really sad.

  4. A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace
    Hilarious DFW essays.

  5. High Output Management by Andrew Grove
    Good, common-sense management advice from an early CEO of Intel.

  6. Titan by Ron Chernow (audiobook)
    (Very long) biography of John D. Rockefeller. See Gwern's review for more.

  7. On the Genealogy of Morality by Friedrich Nietzsche
    Nietzsche is shockingly good. I thought that Nietzsche would be a pessimistic, anti-Christian, woe-is-us nihilist. Turns out Nietzsche is a grateful, anti-Christian, life-affirming optimist. And a good writer.

  8. Ecce Homo by Friedrich Nietzsche
    See (7). He does a little off the rails towards the end, though.

  9. Average Is Over by Tyler Cowen (audiobook)
    Pretty good, but too much generalization about the future of work from freestyle chess examples to feel really grounded.

  10. Models: Attract Women Through Honesty by Mark Manson
    The best "how to pick up women" book I've read. Contains advice that actually aligns with my worldview, which is astounding. See Ozy's review for more.

  11. Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself by David Lipsky
    The interview that The End of the Tour is based on. Good, but the movie is better.

  12. Evicted by Matthew Desmond (audiobook)
    Takes American poverty seriously; something I don't get enough of in my usual circles. Really good, sad.

  13. Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh (audiobook)
    Memoir + history of Zappos, written & read by Zappos' CEO. The first third is too self-indulgent, and Hsieh's relentlessly naïve optimism can grate, but overall worthwhile.

[rereads: 1, edits: tightened up phrasing, fixed some links]