101–110 of 111 posts
Non Fiction - A Time of Gifts/Between the Woods and the Water/The Broken Road by Patrick Leigh Fermor. Recounting a trip from Holland to Constantinople by foot in the 1930's when he was a teenager. A trilogy of books written when he was in his 60's and 70's. An erudite raconteur.
"Soul of a New Machine" - Tracy Kidder. I read it while in engineering school, and it's the first time it kind of clicked with me of what an engineer actually "does"
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The lead character of the TV series "Doc Martin" is totally unsympathetic as the series unfolds. Then, a few episodes in, you meet his parents.
Never seen it, worth a watch? I do like Martin Clunes
At first.
It's far more than your typical fish-out-of-water setup.
This Pulitzer prize winning book proves the adage "Truth is stranger than fiction". Surprisingly, you don't need to know any math or much of physics / chemistry to read this one.
It is the story of one of the most amazing achievements of human kind and its more engaging than all the Dan Brown novels put together. This is no exaggeration - the book will entertain, educate and enlighten you like no other book you have ever read.
About this book, David Eisenberg wrote thus on his blog...
> The Making of the Atomic Bomb is not only the best and most comprehensive treatment of the [Manhattan] project and its antecedents (and I’ve read a number of them), it is also possibly the single best history or non-fiction book that I have ever read, and that’s a lot of books.
> Of course, it is not for everyone. If you don’t like history or science (don’t panic, no math necessary), World War II stories, daring commando raids, hair raising escapes, behind the scene politics, mysterious conversations, intellectual battles between the world's greatest scientists, between scientists and soldiers, scientists and politicians, the interpersonal relationships of the great men of this century, incomparable drama, massive death, powerful explosions, personal sacrifice and “a ripping good yarn” as they used to say, then don’t read it. If you are interested, I promise you that there will be no disappointment.
Iván Repila - "The Boy Who Stole Attila’s Horse": short intense novel about 2 boys who are trapped in a well
Margaret Atwood - "The handmaid's tale"
Khaled Hosseini - "The kite runner"
Agatha Christie - "The murder of Roger Ackroyd" (very surprising plot)
Andy Weir - "The Martian"
Charles Dickens - "David Copperfield"
Clare Mackintosh - "I let you go"
Carlos Ruiz Zafón - "The Shadow of the Wind"
M.R. Carey - "The girl with all the gifts"
Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss I am not a fantasy fan in general, but this is my favorite story of all time. The story within a story within a story, characters, world just about perfect. Daemon - Daniel Suarez So little of the SciFi I read is memorable. This book explores SO many topics in memorable ways that I am blown away.
The sequel to Daemon was even better imo... Freedom TM
Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss I am not a fantasy fan in general, but this is my favorite story of all time. The story within a story within a story, characters, world just about perfect. Daemon - Daniel Suarez So little of the SciFi I read is memorable. This book explores SO many topics in memorable ways that I am blown away.
Enders Shadow Series by Orson Scott Card - I loved the majority of the Ender's Game series was disappointed when it was over. Throughout those books, Bean was always my favorite character and it was a great day when I discovered the Ender's Shadow series which chronicles Bean's life over several books. The thing I loved most about Bean were his powers of analysis and he taught me to think more about scenario outcomes and think about multiple ways of achieving my goals.
Dune - A pattern is emerging here. I love the books where the hero CHOOSES to ascend and works to get there. Paul Atredies starts out a boy against harsh conditions and rises to the challenge.
The Stand by Stephen King - I read this book when I was 14 or 15 on summer break in a week. I fell in from the start and read for entire days until it was done and when it was over I was in awe at the size (1000+ pages) and scope of what King accomplished.
The Alpha Strategy by John Pugsley - Its an interesting book and look at economics and wealth preservation in layman's terms. Its funny because this book was written in the 80s and when I read it, it was immediately applicable. I grew up in a pretty liberal household and this book made me start to pay attention to what liberals and conservatives were saying and form my own opinions.
Atlas Shrugged - I read this right after the book above and the two in combination really caused a mindeset shift for me. It wasn't so much that everyone is out to get me or against me, but more I am responsible for my outcomes and I need to invest in myself.
E-Myth Revisited By Michael Gerber - Piqued my interest in systems and where I started to learn the value of systems and making success repeatable.
Working the System By Sam Carpenter - More of the "how-to" book E-Myth Revisited should have been.
Daemon Series - This one has been mentioned and while it didn't have the impact on my that the other books did, I did enjoy the world the author created.
Thieves Emporium by Max Hernandez - This was a quick read and appealed to my love of technical fiction. Similar to Daemon, its use of technology in the story is interesting and not that far off from the real world at this point. [WARNING: GRAPHIC SCENES]
I was unambitious and coasted through life until after college, and it wasn't until I was in my late 20s that I started really reading books like these. Over the past few years, I've become almost a completely different person. I read a tremendous amount and can say its had a huge impact on my "mental models" and how I approach life.
Books I'm interested in reading next include: - Meditations - Works on mental models - Elon Musk biography (the amount he's able to accomplish quickly is staggering)
I don't read as much fiction as I used to, instead choosing to focus on technical books, but fiction has definitely had an impact on my development as well.