141–150 of 227 posts
It's the result of years of his research on the process a human goes through to achieve mastery in a field. It breaks the process down to key components and stages and examines masters of various disciplines that exemplify these concepts. The subjects were pretty varied, from Leonardo to Darwin to PG!
In short this book is everything I had originally hoped for in Outliers.
I first heard about it in Michael Lewis' Vanity Fair profile on Obama (Obama was reading it - http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/10/michael-lewis-pro...), and then my cofounder Omar mentioned it as an engrossing book whilst he was reading it, specifically because of the topic it handles: the malleability of our memories.
Anyway, it was a pleasure to read, captivating, and the imagery jumping out of the pages was brilliant. I frequently had to stop and re-read parts. It also made me laugh.
A personal favourite sentence:
"History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation."
It won the Man Booker prize last year.
More: http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/15657664-the-sense-of-a...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sense_of_an_Ending
On the non-fiction side, probably "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Kahneman, though I haven't quite finished it. It's dense, but filled with insight after insight.
Few books from this year: The New Solution Selling -- The first sales book I ever read and extremely enlightening. It demystified much of the sales process for me. The Intelligent Investor -- Timeless ideas on investing. Steve Jobs -- I had no intention of reading this book but found it incredibly interesting. Very insightful. The Intelligent Entrepreneur -- This book followed 3 HBS grads from pre-HBS to entrepreneur…
- Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days
http://www.amazon.com/Founders-Work-Stories-Startups-Problem...
Excellent book covering interviews with founders of companies that became really big. I thought this book was really insightful and inspirational.
- Coders at Work: Reflections on the Craft of Programming
http://www.amazon.com/Coders-Work-Reflections-Craft-Programm...
I just started this book, but already like it - the format is the same as the Founders at Work book but on the developer side of things.
- World Changers: 25 Entrepreneurs Who Changed Business as We Knew It
http://www.amazon.com/World-Changers-Entrepreneurs-Changed-B...
It was a good book, but not as inspirational as the Founders at Work book. Some of the stories are good, but since the majority of the people are not in my sector, the book just wasn't as interesting to me.
- Ready Player One
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/03078...
An excellent story that really made me nostalgic to my younger years - definitely recommend this one.
- The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death: A Novel
http://www.amazon.com/Mystic-Arts-Erasing-Signs-Death/dp/034...
I have a weak spot for Charlie Huston books - he's not the best author (sorry Charlie), but his books are really easy to approach. This is one of his best ones and is about crime scene cleaners - a nice departure from all the Joe Pitt vampire novels.
- World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
http://www.amazon.com/World-War-Oral-History-Zombie/dp/03073...
It's OK... I read it half way through and then once I got busy I just couldn't get myself to pick it up again. I will finish it eventually.. just not yet.
- Hyperion
http://www.amazon.com/Hyperion-Dan-Simmons/dp/0553283685
A friend recommended this book to me - I could not get past the first chapter.
Very Bad Poetry – Ross Petras, Kathryn Petras
Genghis: Birth of an Empire – Conn Iggulden
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: and other Clinical Tales – Oliver Sacks
A few highlights for me... Abundance - Peter H. Diamandis, Steven Kotler. Diamandis has an almost infectiously positive way of looking at the world. And a hope that's not just based on a philosophical belief but is backed up with hard data. Distrust That Particular Flavor - William Gibson. I never got into Gibson as a fiction writer, but this collection of essays, articles and talks immediately made me appreciate him…
Great list too. I'm an extrovert but I look forward to checking out Quiet.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Demon-Haunted-World-Science-Candle...
Mostly scifi and fantasy. I've never been much of a reader, so I'm trying to catch up on classics. * Hunger games 1-3 -- not bad, would probably recommend * Hitchiker's guide to the galaxy -- good, surprised how short it was. really liked the style of writing, fun to read. recommended * Stranger in a Strange Land -- currently reading this one, interesting, but nothing ground breaking. one character seems to dominate…
* or, for the pedantic out there, A Song of Ice and Fire.