Books I Read in 2018

Here’s my list from last year, roughly grouped by how much I enjoyed them (as I did in 2016 and 2017). I found some great ones, and compared to 2017, I read fewer baby books, despite having a new baby (none!).

Highly Recommend

  1. Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss: This was unlike any negotiation book I’ve read. Written by a former FBI hostage negotiator, it takes a practical real-world approach to successful negotiation, rather than the more common academic frameworks I experienced again and again across a range of classes in undergrad and business school. Not that those frameworks aren’t useful, they just aren’t always useful. This book fills the gaps, and then adds quite a bit. It was great. And the real world examples and anecdotes are entertaining in themselves.
  2. Principles by Ray Dalio: It starts with a bit of Dalio’s backstory, then lays out his principles for success. He takes a very methodical approach to living, viewing every situation that requires a decision as a pattern to be identified. Over decades he developed and documented a series of principles that he believes should guide decisions (or behaviors) associated with each pattern to maximize success in achieving life goals. Broken down this way, life is a bit of an algorithm: if this [situation] occurs, I determine from experience it is this [pattern], and I draw from these [principles] to conclude I should apply this [behavior] to successfully navigate it. It may not sound groundbreaking, but Ray has been uniquely intentional and consistent – and has gone to some strange extremes personally and at Bridgewater – in applying this approach to his own life. The book walks through his thought process, his principles, and examples of how he has applied them. He also has some extreme views on transparency that are worth considering. It’s a bit long, but Dalio’s an interesting guy who has consistently experienced outsized success in many areas. He’s clearly onto something.
  3. Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich by Normal Ohler: So it turns out Nazi Germany did a lot of drugs, and the author makes a compelling case that Hitler was likely an opiate addict for the better part of World War II. This book basically tells the history of World War II through that lens. It’s fascinating and appears to be very well researched. Apparently much of the German army was doing a LOT of crystal meth during the initial blitzkreig. I was previously unaware.
  4. Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back) by Jeff Tweedy: If you’re a huge Wilco fan, this is a must read. If you aren’t, don’t bother. As one might expect, it feels like it’s written by a thoughtful musician who’s never written a book before. But it’s full of fun and interesting anecdotes about Jeff Tweedy and Wilco, including lots of insight into Tweedy’s addiction years and how he managed to get to the other side. I finished this in about a day, and then went on a bit of a Wilco binge, as all the albums took on some new meaning with the context from this book.
  5. Red Notice by Bill Browder: My friend Ed described this one well – it’s an autobiography that reads a bit like an international espionage/crime thriller. Bill was an early and successful investor in post-Soviet Russia, and ended up making some powerful enemies in the process. It would be good if it were just fiction, but as a bonus I also learned quite a bit about Russia, and recent (pre-Trump) US-Russia foreign policy.

Recommend

  1. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson: There’s really not much I can say about this book without giving away too much. It’s a science fiction story. In the first sentence of the first page the moon unexpectedly blows up. The whole thing is a bit out there, and at times a stretch, but fun. The story line poses a number of interesting thought experiments I hadn’t previously considered. It was a bit slow to start, but once I was a third of the way in, I couldn’t put it down. It took me longer than I’d like to admit to figure out the meaning of the title.
  2. The Psychobiotic Revolution: Mood, Food, and the New Science of the Gut-Brain Connection by Scott Anderson: This is an interesting space in biology, and seems to have been an under-researched topic for some time. This book provides a summary of the latest research on the importance of, and how to maintain, healthy gut bacteria. It doesn’t go too far, and is clear in distinguishing between promising theories and proven research. It will also help you understand why you’re seeing tons of new food products advertised with probiotics, and better understand the role they play in your body and should, at least according to the author, play in your diet.
  3. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline: Much better than the movie, as they always are.
  4. Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World by Dalai Lama: It took me a while and was easy to put down. But the premise is simple and valuable: ethical frameworks do not need to be grounded in religion, as secular logic can be the basis for ethical practices that can be used by everyone.
  5. Lean Product Playbook by Dan Olsen: I spent a bit of time this year reading up on product (this book and the next one). This one is a bit basic, but does a good job laying out product management and innovation principles, and has some good examples from Olsen’s experience.
  6. Making it Right: Product Management For A Startup World by Rian van der Merwe: A friend who works in product management recommended this one. It’s a nice complement to the above, and while it covered many of the same topics, it was a bit more focused on how to be a good product manager and felt more cohesive.

It Depends

  1. Presence by Amy Cuddy: A friend recommended this. Cuddy’s thesis is basically: improving your non-verbal presence can improve self-confidence and how other people perceive you, and this leads to all sorts of beneficial outcomes in life. I believe it. She just didn’t need to whole book to lay it out and defend it. I would’ve preferred a short essay or long article. The book was based on Cuddy’s 2012 Ted Talk on the same topic. It felt as though she was encouraged to turn it into a book, and had to stretch a bit to fill the pages.
  2. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg: I saw this had great reviews and is on lots of must read lists, so I threw it into the mix. I found it underwhelming. Having read one too many many “business school books” this one blended in and didn’t seem to offer anything new, other than the theme of habit. I was hoping to walk away with some new tools or frameworks on forming more healthy habits, but instead got one too many case studies.
  3. Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant: I had high expectations for this one, and liked it, but was probably expecting too much. I had heard Adam Grant speak a few times, was impressed, and this was my first time reading one of his books. Similar to my comments above on ‘The Power of Habit’, I suspect I’ve just been introduced to many of Grant’s ideas in other places, likely even others summarizing his work. While he did a good job organizing the information, and it was all interesting and enjoyable, none of it seemed very groundbreaking.

Don’t Recommend

  1. The Plant Paradox by Steven Gundry: This was recommended to me by a former colleague. Gundry has radical views on which types of plants we should eat (and why) in order to lead healthy lives. Much of it was interesting, but there was enough questionable pseudo-science in here that I didn’t trust the rest. So I didn’t walk away with much. Probably should have researched this one more before picking it up.
  2. Fire & Fury by Michael Wolff: I was curious and shouldn’t have been. The headlines pretty much summed up the most relevant parts, and nine months later it feels outdated and incomplete if you want a view on the Trump White House.