Henry Miller · ★★★☆☆ · 287 pages · 1934
I honestly don't know what to think about this book. It had debauchery, philosophical musings, rampant racism, and indulgence. I almost feel like it is a book espousing white male privilege which makes me dislike it. But it does have a stream of consciousness style that I enjoy.
Steven Pressfield · ★★★☆☆ · 526 pages · 1998
It was a great fictionalized account of the Battle of Thermopylae but
Ryan Holiday · ★★★★★ · 202 pages · 2014
Good book on condensing stoicism to modern view points.
Seth Godin · ★★★★☆ · 131 pages · 2008
Good book on motivating you to start leading. Sort of limited in details on how to actually do it though. Maybe that was the point?
Brent Schlender · ★★★★★ · 464 pages · 2015
It was a much more personal biography than the Isaacson one. The book contains a lot more personal anecdotes and references people that Jobs worked with. It also tried to cover the arch of his growth and that he wasn't completely an asshole by the end.
Erich Maria Remarque · ★★★★★ · 296 pages · 1928
The book shows the hells of war from the point of a German private in World War I. The toils of losing friends, being a youth and having to grow up quickly to see death, not knowing who you are when you come home. It is a touching book in many levels and shows how war's humanizing and dehumanizing aspects.
Burton G. Malkiel · ★★★★★ · 464 pages · 1973
This book covers most aspects of investment strategy. It covers the pitfalls of technical and fundamental analysis and what an appropriate strategy would be to get reasonable returns. He also covers a lot of issues with other methods of investing and gives a good list of index funds to choose from.
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. · ★★★★☆ · 303 pages · 1973
Pretty well written but I was a bit confused about the end...
Seth Godin · ★★★★☆ · 208 pages · 2005
Godin thesis is that marketing is telling a story that the consumer believes. We as consumers buy certain things not because there is an inherent need for that item but because we have been made to feel and believe a story that is being sold to us. When we buy an Apple item we believe the story of immaculate design and melting of technology and art, the story that Apple tells us, but we disregard the part where the conditions in which those items are made is subpar. We believe the a story when we go into a Starbucks, when we drink Coke over Pepsi, and even what kind of motor oil we buy. What Godin states is that a lot of these companies can charge a premium for their items because we as consumers have been foiled into their story and are willing to pay the price so we may have the experience.
Joseph Conrad · ★★★☆☆ · 188 pages · 1899
The book covers many themes including colonization and what it means to be civilized. But the book mostly dehumanizes Africa and Africans. Overall a dark view of colonization and its dehumanization of groups and their achievements because of the perceived superiority of the invading race. But the book is honest insofar as it acknowledges that the colonists agenda was to raid the continent with the undertone of civilizing them. Kurt then is the extreme colonist who is both able to get the most ivory but also able to "civilize" the people he comes in touch with but he does it in a burtal way. This extremity is perceived as bad by the other colonists.
William B. Irvine · ★★★★★ · 326 pages · 2008
Dan Norris · ★★★☆☆ · 206 pages · 2014
Seems a very light digest into how to do an actual startup. It should be more accurately labeled how to bootstrap quickly in 7 days or something similar.
Chris Guillebeau · ★★★★☆ · 268 pages · 2012
If there is a book to pump you up about going on your own this would be it with all the positive examples that are laced in the book. But that is the double edge sword of reading it, you get the motivation to start but you don't really hear about the failures.
Edmund Morris · ★★★★★ · 816 pages · 1979
If you feel depressed about how little you have achieved in your life reading this biography won't make it any better. The amount of things that Roosevelt did before he even became president is immense. From writing multiple books, being a colonel, governor, cattle rancher, etc., etc. the list goes on.
J.D. Roth · ★★★☆☆ · 334 pages · 2010
This book was mostly links to other references. It explained things at high levels but never felt like it dove into anything specific about personal finance. It is good as a reference for other things to read but if you looking at specific things to do it seems to fall short a bit. But I'd say it'd work as a book for someone trying to figure out personal finance for the first time.
Steven S. Skiena · ★★★★★ · 486 pages · 1997
Atul Gawande · ★★★★☆ · 288 pages · 2007
Quite a good read considering it has been about 10 years since the book has been published. I do wonder how things have changed in that time.
Allen Carr · ★★★★☆ · 224 pages · 2004
Jeffrey Pfeffer · ★★★★☆ · 288 pages · 2010
Power is an interesting subject because as group animals we partake in it and it is a part of any large institutions. This book distills how to influence power dynamics in various ways and the potential pitfalls of doing so. It seems that it is lonely at the top...
Philip K. Dick · ★★★☆☆ · 244 pages · 1968