BR 188: The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias
BR 187: The Expectant Father by Armin Brott and Jennifer Ash
Category: 3 – SHELF it (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)
Comments: If you are enroute to becoming a dad, I would recommend this book. It strikes the balance between man-language and science very nicely and strikes a really good tone. The first parts are all about understanding what your partner is going through during pregnancy. The second half brings a lot of checklists – while I haven’t tested them out yet, I found them useful. I also think the understanding of all the medical procedures involved puts you more at ease when you visit the doctor as an expectant father.
Top 3 Learnings:
1. The expectant father’s most important role is being of help to the expectant mother. As the month’s progress, your partner’s discomfort will increase with time. Do your best to make sure she eats healthy, exercises and feels supported.
2. Understand all the procedures and tests so you can help her make decisions. At the end of the day, the decisions will be led by your partner until delivery. Know what they all entail, provide good counsel and be supportive.
3. Plan for the birth and time after birth. You will need to plan financially (leave some extra buffer) and also have a home, furniture, etc., that will be ready for the baby. Refer the book’s checklists when that happens.
Book notes here.
BR 186: The Third Wave by Steve Case
Category: 4 – SOMEDAY it (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)
Comments: This book read as part autobiography, part technology book, part political change manifesto. It was an interesting read until a point after which I felt it got a bit repetitive. I definitely agreed with his thesis that working with the government will become critical for the next generation/”third wave” of entrepreneurs. I also enjoyed Steve Case talking about his time at AOL as this was a part of internet history I didn’t experience.
Top 3 Learnings:
1. The first wave was the start of the internet. The second was the social wave and was about communication and social media. The third wave will be the internet of everything.
2. As entrepreneurs attempt to disrupt large industries, they will need to partner more with incumbents and the governments. It will not be possible to disrupt industries like infrastructure and energy from the outside like in the second wave. Regulatory nous will be key as there will be plenty of government interaction in the third wave.
3. Entrepreneurs often slam the government as holding them back. However, the internet wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for government programs. Build bridges instead of burning them.
BR 185: The Jobs To Be Done Handbook by Bob Moesta and Chris Spiek
Category: 3 – SHELF it (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)
Comments: Practical how-to guide on conducting “jobs to be done” interviews. I had attended a Bob Moesta presentation in person once and this book just felt like the extended version of that. Lots of tips and tricks.
Top 3 Learnings:
1. With jobs to be done, it is all about finding the “why” behind customer decisions and then figuring out ways to meet the unmet need
2. To hire a product, you must fire another product. Every customer has only so much space in their lives to use products. So, if you are trying to get them to change behavior, they will need to let go of a product that isn’t doing the job so well.
3. Good jobs to be done interviewing does not connect the dots for the interviewee. Be ignorant, make no assumptions and keep asking them questions. Again, in the live presentation, Bob Moesta conducted a demo interviewed and showcased this beautifully – that will stay with me. :)
Book notes here.
BR 184: Persuadable by Al Pitampalli
Category: 3 – SHELF it (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)
Comments: A really good book. I didn’t find it as new simply because it involves broadening Jeff Bezos’ philosophy about people who are right a lot continually changing their mind. In Persuadable, Al helps us understand how to think about being persuadable and shares a compelling rationale for being so.
Top 3 Learnings:
1. Two of my favorite business tales – Jeff Bezos on being right a lot and Ray Dalio’s investment approach.
In 1981, Dalio was sure US was on the brink of a recession because he felt the government was too leveraged. He began publicizing it. But, to Dalio’s surprise, the stock market surged and led to a tremendous embarrassment and loss of fortune.
So kept detailed records of every trade he made and began noting what happened with every investment – learning from both his success and painful losses. Pain + success = progress. Kept finding “rules” for the market and kept improving it.
2. Thanks to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s writings which normally emphasize leadership bravado and single-mindedness, we focus a lot on consistency. So much so that whole political campaigns are won the moment a candidate switches views on a topic. While the rationale for this is because political candidates are often guilty of changing views based on when it suits them, we also end up punishing those who’re changing it because of better data.
Abraham Lincoln, for example, was a notorious flip flopper who changed his views on the civil rights movement as new data presented itself. even black scholar and activist W E B De Buy? who was often critical of Lincoln admired his always critical and flexible brand of leadership.
3. The overall point of the book is to view our approach to life and business as an evolving thesis. Seek new information, keep improving the thesis and get better.
Book notes here
BR 183: The Road Less Traveled by Scott Peck
Category: 2 – BUY it! (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)
Comments: This is a legendary psychology book for good reason. Some of the insights are truly profound. However, I found the first half of the book a LOT better than the second half. The second half starts delving into psychotherapy territory with Scott Peck’s thoughts on religion. I found this part less interesting.
All said and done, Scott Peck’s definition of love (below) has changed the way I think about it.
Top 3 Learnings:
1. “Love is the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth.”
To love, then, requires us to use our will to extend ourselves to grow and to enable the growth of others. It begins with learning to love ourselves. To love ourselves, we have to sign up for a journey toward continuous growth of the mind and spirit. In doing so, we expand our capacity to love others. But, to truly love others, we must be able to help them on their own journeys.
2. “The best decision-makers are those who are willing to suffer the most over their decisions but still retain their ability to be decisive.”
3. “Life is difficult.
This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult-once we truly understand and accept it-then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.”
Book notes here (not much more beyond these notes above)
BR 182: The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan
Category: 3 – SHELF it (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)
Comments: The One Thing was a pleasant read. It felt like a “starter” self help book. Lots of interesting ideas packaged in a “how to,” without much focus on “why.”
Top 3 Learnings: Just one learning – of course.
At any given time, it will feel like you have many things you need to make progress on.
Take a step back and ask yourself – what is the ONE thing you need to focus on?
Then, make progress on that.
(No other book notes :))
BR 181: Peak by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool
Category: 2 – BUY it! (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)
Comments: Peak is the culmination of the life’s work of a legendary researcher – Prof Anders Ericsson. Prof Ericsson has single handedly changed our understanding of performance and expertise. It is a lovely read – well written and flows beautifully. The only reason I have it as a category 2 is because author Geoff Colvin did a good job of bringing Prof Ericsson’s research to the mainstream with “Talent is Overrated.”
Top 3 Learnings:
1. There is absolutely no evidence for innate talent beyond a few physical advantages in certain sports. The dark side of this is denying kids the opportunity to get good with very little evidence (think Outliers).
While the average IQ of scientists is higher than the average person, there is no correlation between IQ and scientific productivity. Richard Feynman, one of the most brilliant physicists of all time wouldn’t make it to MENSA with his 126 IQ. Researchers have suggested that the minimum requirements for performing capably as a scientist are around 110 – beyond which there is little or no additional benefit. It is unclear if this requirement is one to succeed as a scientist or to do the writing and admission tests required to get a PhD.
Similarly, for some sports, one could speculate about some minimum talent requirements – e.g. some basic physical traits such as height and body size. Beyond that, however, practice trumps everything else.
We might be born with preference for music over sports, for example. But, that counts for little if we don’t practice it.
2. Our body literally changes with deliberate practice. The key difference between deliberate practice and purposeful practice is a teacher. Having a teacher who has been through what we’ve been through changes everything.
3. The focus when we perform deliberate practice is not on knowledge, but on skills. That will be key in making deliberate practice applicable in education.
Book notes here
BR 180: The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal
Category: 3 – SHELF it (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)
Comments: A super practical and applicable guide to willpower.
Top 3 Learnings:
1. There is no point beating yourself up for a willpower failure. We do better when we learn to be kind to ourselves.
2. Pay attention to your thoughts and accept them. Just remember that you don’t have to act on them. Resisting thoughts is a bad idea.
3. The best long term solution to willpower is mindfulness when you feel cravings. That’s how you learn to conquer them.
Book notes here.
BR 179: David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell
