Viktor E. Frankl · ★★★★☆ · 165 pages · 1946
Victor Frankl lived through the holocaust and in this book he explains how he found meaning through it all. He wants us to find a meaning in our own lives which we can call our meaning of life. Each person needs
Stephen R. Covey · ★★★☆☆ · 372 pages · 1989
Though I heard a lot of people recommend this book I feel that only the first three habits were actually useful. The others are more of stuff that you'd read about in How to Make Friends and Influence People. Basically the gist of the first three habits since those were what I found useful are to make a plan sort of a personal consitution which doesn't change and lead your life and goals according to that plan.
Don Tapscott · ★★★☆☆ · 432 pages · 2010
A book about what the new sharing economy is made of. It combines a lot of different examples of different companies in the sharing economy and how they are expanding. It was good but sort of dragged on. Didn't finish the book but the general idea was there.
Gabriel García Márquez · 115 pages · 2004
Steven Pressfield · ★★★★☆ · 165 pages · 2002
A quick read which reads a lot like the Art of War, not coincidentally. The book is basically a call to action for the artist which is stuck in the getting started phase. Its message is to basically do what your heart tells you as it already knows what it wants to do. It gives warnings of all the things the mind does to keep going forward. How you get stuck. The author talks about Resistance as a major force to overcome. And Resistance is known whenever we fear something. If we have fear then that is Resistance working against us. So we must get started and practice everyday. If you don't practice then it makes it harder to keep going.
Atul Gawande · ★★★★☆ · 208 pages · 2009
In the book Atul Gawande discusses how the humble checklist provided for a significant change in surgery rooms. The checklist provided a way for a team to work together by delineating power. Whereas before the surgeon was seen as the maestro of the operating room with their power unchecked the checklist spreads the power dynamic. The checklist helps go through the mundane things not because they are something out of the ordinary but because they are ordinary and people forget. Overall a good book which can be used elsewhere. Also have it as an idea for things such as a service deployments, checklist for marking a project as done.
Eric Schmidt · ★★☆☆☆ · 315 pages · 2013
Read a lot like a congressional report more than anything else. Got bored half way and quit reading it.
Scott Rosenberg · ★★★★☆ · 416 pages · 2007
One of the things the author gets into is that Kappor's employees did not have the following:
Andy Greenberg · ★★★★★ · 384 pages · 2012
A history of WikiLeaks and the cypherpunks movement it chronicles the development over time of the movement. It starts in the 70s to the development of cypherpunk and then gets into WikiLeaks and the current reissance of the WikiLeaks movement. It basically shows the acceleration the last few years of development in the anarchic utopia vision of the original cyberpunks. I enjoyed it as it provided a very journalistic assessment of the movement and where it is going.
Daniel H. Pink · ★★★☆☆ · 275 pages · 2004
Pink's argument is that we in the developed world have reached a point where rational thinking by itself won't give us an advantage anymore. He points out that such mechanical thinking of the left brain is done cheaper by counties like China and India. What he argues for is that right brain thinking is where we should put more focus.
Epictetus · ★★★★☆ · 64 pages · 125
Jim Collins · ★★★★☆ · 300 pages · 2001
Tony Hsieh · ★★★★☆ · 246 pages · 2000
Delivering happiness is a book about Tony Hsieh and his journey building Zappos. It is a book about how he decided to build Zappos. The idea that by WOWing people that you can build loyalty. How business can be quirky, how to instill a corporate culture and how to get people to follow what could be a difficult journey.
Paramahansa Yogananda · ★★★★☆ · 503 pages · 1946
This is an interesting book because it reads as part scientific inquiry and part religious search. I picked it up because in the Steve Jobs Biography it mentions that this was a book that Jobs read every year. And I can sort of grasp why. The yogis way to telecommunicating with each other can be seen akin to cell phones. The way of following the path and taking the journey no matter the ups and downs and the people that counteract you is also there. If anything the book shows a middle path in the way Yogananda combines the teachings of the East and the West, but I feel that he is trying to push the views of the East to a Western group. Overall I am glad I read it as it has inspired a sense of trying to promote my own spirituality.
Albert Camus · ★★★★★ · 212 pages · 1942
Camus addresses what he believes in the ultimate philosophical question which is "Should I commit suicide or not." He comes to the conclusion that in the end it is not. That to give in to suicide is to give in to the absurd.
Roy F. Baumeister · ★★★★★ · 291 pages · 2011
This book focuses on the abstract concept of willpower. Willpower is the act of being in self-control. For example, drinking beer when there is beer all around you. According to the authors the act of using ones willpower actually leads to willpower depletion. The more we use self-control the less we have over time. The more that we tell ourselves that we will not have a drink the stronger the next urge becomes to have a drink.
Malcolm Gladwell · ★★★★★ · 309 pages · 2008
I waited a long time to read this book but Gladwell does make a lot of sense. Introspecting I find a lot of what he said about the nature of success, having the opportunity to be better have been presented to me.
Robert Bringhurst · ★★★★★ · 352 pages · 1992
The Elements of Typographic Style is a great way to learn the whys of typography. How to use typefaces correctly and how to use them in a manner which is most pleasing to the reader. Everyone should read it to understand how to use fonts correctly. I am by no means an expert after reading this book but I have a better idea of what to think about when looking at a typeface.
Eric Ries · ★★★★★ · 299 pages · 2011
Use the scientific method for management and innovation. This allows you to not waste energy building stuff no one wants and you can start with a clear goal in mind. It is a much better way of running a startup or running an idea instead of groping in the dark to figure out how to accomplish things.
Charles Duhigg · ★★★★☆ · 375 pages · 2012
Duhigg covers the notion of a habit. How they are created. How you can change them and different examples from individuals to companies changing their behavior. The goal is to note that to change a habit is to recognize the trigger and do something else which leads you to the same reward as if you were doing the negative habit. Overall a great read but largely for the first part of the book.