My 2017 Reading/Listening List: The Year of Learning
My 2016 list was titled “The Year of Productivity” because my reading heavily tilted towards productivity books. So what was the verdict? Did they help me become more productive?
As a student of Economics, I’m wary of concluding causation where only correlation dwells (hence, I cannot say if it necessarily made me more productive). However, I can say I certainly was way more productive than last year. My 2017 book list is an example of how much more productive I was this year. This year, I read 3 times the number of books I read last year (42 books this year compared to 14 last year). If up to 20 people express interest (by highlighting this sentence) in knowing how I was able to get through these number of books, I’ll write up a follow-up post(Here). I also completed my Masters in Economics from some school in New Haven, learnt how to illustrate in HTML/CSS, learnt how to code in SQL, Python & R, learnt Tableau, and stepped up my game in data visualisation. Sooo…..not a bad year for productivity, I guess. 😅
Oh, one clarification I need to make. This list isn’t a ‘Best Books to Read’ list. It’s just the books I read because they resonated with my goals, curiosity, or mood. Hopefully, you find a book on the list that interests you.
I’ve titled this year’s list the ‘Year of Learning’ because…duh…I wanted to learn a whole bunch of new stuff this year about life, data, design, entrepreneurship, productivity, web development, consulting, etc. I’ve (imperfectly) grouped the books this way, so if one group doesn’t interest you, skip it! Looking back at this year, I’m quite satisfied with what I’ve achieved on my goal to be a jack of some trades, master of all.
NB: The lines in italics are quotes from the books. Alright! Onto my list.
Life
Man’s Search for Meaning — Viktor E. Frankl
I’d heard so much about this book, but never got around to reading it. Well, I’m quite glad I did. Viktor E. Frankl weaves a riveting tale around profound insights from his life in the concentration camps. From his wretched experience, he discovers that meaning is quite essential to our existence. Moreover, no matter how dire the situation, one can choose to make meaning out of it. This is certainly one book I wouldn’t mind reading a second time.
“No man should judge unless he asks himself in absolute honesty whether in a similar situation he might not have done the same.”
“Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear with almost any ‘how’.”
“Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation. You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can always control what you will feel and do about what happens to you.”
“Our greatest freedom is the freedom to choose our attitude.”
When Breath Becomes Air — Paul Kalanithi
I laughed when my friend strongly recommended this book, saying she cried when she was done…then I cried when I was done. When Breath Becomes Air is a non-fiction autobiographical book written by Paul Kalanithi as he battled stage IV metastatic lung cancer. I was pleased to find the same notion of the importance of meaning in one’s life, as Paul searches for his during that period.
As Bill Gates puts it in his review, the book has “interesting juxtapositions — life and death, patient and doctor, son and father, work and family, faith and reason.” Those juxtapositions were my most highlighted. I LOVED them and I’m glad he found the strength to write such an impactful book before he passed away.
“At those critical junctures, the question is not simply whether to live or die but what kind of life is worth living.”
“The fact of death is unsettling. Yet there is no other way to live.”
“Getting too deeply into statistics is like trying to quench a thirst with salty water.”
Born a Crime — Trevor Noah
I was low-key skeptical of Trevor Noah until I *listened* to this book. Key emphasis — listen. Reading the hardcopy doesn’t do the experience as much justice as hearing Trevor Noah narrate it himself! He talks about his life growing up as a ‘crime’ in Apartheid South Africa where mixed kids were forbidden. Great humor combined with solid nuggets of wisdom. I found myself walking down the streets of New Haven randomly cracking up. His stories about his relationship with his mother and her experience had tears rolling down my cheeks once I was done. Definitely re-listening to it in 2018!
#PepperDemGang: A few weeks later, I got to attend a live recording of the Daily Show and watch Trevor Noah work his comedic magic for FREE! 😱
Pro-Tip-worth-reading-this-long-ass-review: If you’re ever in New York when the Daily Show is in session, simply get down to the Daily Show studio around 3pm, make sure you’re amongst the first 20 in line, wait 2 hours (relax and make friends), and you’ll certainly get into the Daily Show studio for free. 👌🏾
“We tell people to follow their dreams, but you can only dream of what you can imagine, and, depending on where you come from, your imagination can be quite limited.”
“I don’t regret anything I’ve ever done in life, any choice that I’ve made. But I’m consumed with regret for the things I didn’t do, the choices I didn’t make, the things I didn’t say. We spend so much time being afraid of failure, afraid of rejection. But regret is the thing we should fear most. Failure is an answer. Rejection is an answer. Regret is an eternal question you will never have the answer to. “What if…” “If only…” “I wonder what would have…” You will never, never know, and it will haunt you for the rest of your days.”
Modern Romance: An Investigation — Aziz Ansari
This isn’t really life as much as its romance, but then they say who you marry might be the biggest decision of your life, so…I’ve put this under the life category. Here’s another book that’s better as an audiobook because Aziz reads it himself. With the existence of social media and apps like Tinder, modern romance has presented us with a lot more mate choices, but it has also become a lot more complicated. He tries to make it as research-based as possible, which I admire. The verdict on its research strength is a bit iffy, but the book is hilarious and informative. Quite an enjoyable read/listen if you find yourself trying to make sense of modern romance.
“In a sense we are all like a Flo Rida song: The more time you spend with us, the more you see how special we are. Social scientists refer to this as the Flo Rida Theory of Acquired Likability Through Repetition.”
“There’s not a dating service on this planet that can do what the human brain can do in terms of finding the right person.”
“While we may think we know what we want, we’re often wrong.”
“Your most casual encounter could lead to something bigger, so treat those interactions with that level of respect.”
Professional
Power: Why Some People Have It — and Others Don’t — Jeffrey Pfeffer
A friend on Twitter randomly emailed this book to me and insisted I read it. I didn’t for months. My loss. My major takeaways were to be visible at work and emphasise the aspects you’re good at. Cal Newport ‘s ‘So Good They Cannot Ignore You’ (I reviewed this book last year ) makes a similar point.
Quotes:
“It’s amazing to me that people, in ways little and big, voluntarily give up their power, preemptively surrendering in the competition for status and influence. The process often begins with how you feel about yourself. If you feel powerful, you will act and project power and others will respond accordingly. If you feel powerless, your behaviour will be similarly self-confirming.”
Act like a leader, think like a leader — Herminia Ibarra
Similar lessons as the previous book, but focuses on growing into a new position of leadership. She advocates for the Outsight Principle, which involves redefining your job and shifting from daily technical and operational demands towards strategic concerns. Great read if you’re ready to step up to a higher leadership role.
Quotes:
“In times of uncertainty, thinking and introspection should follow action and experimentation and not vice versa.”
“No one pigeonholes us better than we ourselves do.”
Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It — Chris Voss
A pretty good book on negotiation and getting out of tricky situations. Great timing too, as my company got into a project with a client that could’ve ended bitterly. Instead, we were able to apply the advice and ended up upselling the client (making more money essentially) and successfully closing the project. The same techniques happened with another client months later! Oh! It also teaches you how to stop saying yes, even when you mean no! So…yeah, pretty good book.
Quotes:
“He who has learned to disagree without being disagreeable has discovered the most valuable secret of negotiation.”
“Negotiate in their world. Persuasion is not about how bright or smooth or forceful you are. It’s about the other party convincing themselves that the solution you want is their own idea. So don’t beat them with logic or brute force. Ask them questions that open paths to your goals. It’s not about you.”
“Research shows that the best way to deal with negativity is to observe it, without reaction and without judgment. Then consciously label each negative feeling and replace it with positive, compassionate, and solution-based thoughts.”
Economics
Poor Economics — Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo
I read this yeaaaarrrrsss ago in my undergrad and it blew my mind. Completely changed how I perceived efforts at solving poverty. Using case studies from their work at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) -a global research centre working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence — they show how the strategy of randomised evaluations can lead to insights on what works and what doesn’t in the battle against poverty. This is a solid recommended read. Oh, it’s also non-technical, so anyone can read it!
Bonus: The book has a site packed full of interactive data http://www.pooreconomics.com
More than Good Intentions — Dean Karlan and Jacob M. Appel
So full disclosure with this review, I worked for Karlan at the non-profit, Impact Matters this year and he was my Prof for a class. That out of the way, this is another solid book for those interested in Development Economics. How are you sure your donations are effective? Karlan delves into how his team used randomized control trials (RCTs) to determine what intervention had an impact. The part about the effectiveness of microfinance is pretty interesting. Def worth a read.
Quotes:
“Find individual programs that work, and support them. Find programs that don’t work, and stop doing them.”
Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation and Deception — George Akerlof and Robert J. Shiller
Yes, they are both Nobel-winning economists. Random-brag-fact - Shiller was another Prof of mine. In this book, they reveal the ways with which the free market dogma has allowed corporations take customers for a — sometimes deadly — ride. It is surprisingly non-technical and veers towards the other end of over-simplification. There’ll be nothing fundamentally new for any well-read student of Economics, but it makes for a relaxed — largely historical — reading.
Complement this book with a few episodes from the Adam Ruins Everything Youtube channel and you’re on your way to full-blown paranoia about markets.
Quotes:
“Free markets do not just produce what we really want; they also produce what we want according to our monkey-on-the-shoulder tastes.”
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable — Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Given my obsession with probabilities, randomness, data, and real life consequences, I. loved. this. book…which is ironic because Taleb loathes economists. I was pleasantly surprised to find that two ideas I had uniquely explored were covered in his book. (Here and here) One caveat, Taleb is ridiculously pompous and verbose in this book, but darn, he knows his stuff.
Quotes:
“Missing a train is only painful if you run after it! Likewise, not matching the idea of success others expect from you is only painful if that’s what you are seeking.”
“The problem with experts is that they do not know what they do not know”
“Prediction, not narration, is the real test of our understanding of the world.”
The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail — But Some Don’t — Nate Silver
Those who know Nate Silver know Nate Silver, so I was clearly excited to dig into his book. The overarching theme is that as data proliferates and systems become more complex, we have a hard time delineating what’s important from what’s just noise. I’ll leave the interesting bits to those interested in reading the book. Tip: Read this alongside Black Swan if possible.
Quotes:
“Distinguishing the signal from the noise requires both scientific knowledge and self-knowledge: the serenity to accept the things we cannot predict, the courage to predict the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
“We need to stop, and admit it: we have a prediction problem. We love to predict things — and we aren’t very good at it.”
The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds — Lewis Michael
The Undoing Project is a non-fiction book that explores the close partnership between Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. These were the psychologists who introduced an amazing array of cognitive biases to the world and have transformed the way decisions are made — from Economics to Medicine. To call their relationship a close partnership is an understatement. The bromance was unreal. Loved reading it so much I felt the ending was abrupt.
Entrepreneurship
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers — Ben Horowitz
Undoubtedly my top entrepreneurship book of the year. Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz drops amazing pearls of wisdom on founding and running a startup. A brilliant read for anyone running a company and navigating the murky waters of management. I love that he pays attention to the messy, but important areas most books written about startups ignore — how founders handle layoffs, a failing company, managing talents, etc. Running a company ain’t no walk in the park and this book does a great job of providing some light for the arduous path.
Quotes:
“Hard things are hard because there are no easy answers or recipes. They are hard because your emotions are at odds with your logic. They are hard because you don’t know the answer and you cannot ask for help without showing weakness.”
“Build a culture that rewards — not punishes — people for getting problems into the open where they can be solved.”
“TAKE CARE OF THE PEOPLE, THE PRODUCTS, AND THE PROFITS — IN THAT ORDER”
“The most important lesson in entrepreneurship: Embrace the struggle.”
Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration — Amy Wallace and Edwin Catmull
How does Pixar consistently put out creative hits and how does one manage such creativity? These are questions I’ve asked since I — partially — put down the economic analyst hat and donned one of a design consultant. Tracing the growth of Pixar in stages, Ed Catmull delivers insightful lessons on culture and preserving creativity as a company grows.
Quotes:
“If you give a good idea to a mediocre team, they will screw it up. If you give a mediocre idea to a brilliant team, they will either fix it or throw it away and come up with something better.”
“You are not your idea, and if you identify too closely with your ideas, you will take offense when they are challenged.”
“If you aren’t experiencing failure, then you are making a far worse mistake: You are being driven by the desire to avoid it.”
Remote: Office Not Required — David Heinemeier Hansson, Jason Fried
My company, Akanka, has been completely remote since inception, with team members scattered from the US to Nigeria and Kenya. We’re a tiny team, and if a company like Basecamp can work effectively using a remote model, we wanted to know what they’re doing right. I discovered that the book was more a rebuttal to companies that found the idea of remote work ridiculous. If your company already engages in remote work, it’s largely an alright read, but don’t expect to find a depth of illuminating takeaways. On the other hand, this book is written for Lagos companies that put their workers through the stress of traffic even when they don’t need to show up to deliver good work. Hoping they read it.
Quotes:
“If you can’t let your employees work from home out of fear they’ll slack off without your supervision, you’re a babysitter, not a manager. Remote work is very likely the least of your problems.”
“If you run your ship with the conviction that everyone’s a slacker, your employees will put all their ingenuity into proving you right.”
Contagious: Why Things Catch On — Jonah Berger
‘Why are some products and ideas talked about more than others? Why do some articles make the most emailed list? Why do some YouTube videos go viral?’ Berger presents 6 principles that make any product or idea contagious. Love the practical insights & interesting stories. I’ll be giving this another read.
Quotes:
“People don’t think in terms of information. They think in terms of narratives. But while people focus on the story itself, information comes along for the ride.”
“We need to design products and ideas that are frequently triggered by the environment and create new triggers by linking our products and ideas to prevalent cues in that environment. Top of mind leads to tip of tongue.”
Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products — Nir Eyal
Informative book if you’re interested in integrating habit formation into product design. My only complaint — it’s a tad bit long.
Quotes:
“Many innovations fail because consumers irrationally overvalue the old while companies irrationally overvalue the new.”
“New products can’t just be better, they must be nine times better. Why such a high bar? Because old habits die hard. ”
“To change behavior, products must ensure the user feels in control. People must want to use the service, not feel they have to.”
Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies — James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras
The authors’ main finding from analytically studying a number of companies they deemed visionary is that such companies have a sense of purpose. They also dispel a couple of myths. For example, it turns out you don’t need a particularly amazing product or idea at the inception of your company. Smart ones go through a trial and error process. Hmm…I’m chronically wary of drawing lessons or patterns from the past and the statistician in me worries this might be a classic case of unseen events, but I’d say it’s worth a read.
Quotes:
“Visionary companies make some of their best moves by experimentation, trial and error, opportunism, and — quite literally — accident. What looks in retrospect like brilliant foresight and preplanning was often the result of “Let’s just try a lot of stuff and keep what works.”
“Visionary companies pursue a cluster of objectives, of which making money is only one — and not necessarily the primary one.”
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t — James C. Collins
Based on a 5-year research project exploring how good companies become great companies. No magic formulae, but good concepts to mull over. Love the book’s concept of the flywheel & success being an incremental buildup of good decisions made over time. Also love the insight on how technology does not make companies great, it only facilitates the process to greatness for companies on track.
Quotes:
“Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great. We don’t have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don’t have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life.”
“The moment you feel the need to tightly manage someone, you’ve made a hiring mistake. The best people don’t need to be managed. Guided, taught, led — yes. But not tightly managed.”
Biographies
Elon Musk: Inventing the Future — Ashlee Vance
The story of a daring, brilliant — and more importantly — determined man. The lesson of focus and resilience. Do not aspire to be like Elon Musk until you’re ready to bet everything — wealth and relationships included — on achieving almost-impossible dreams. Should be paired with “The Hard Thing About Hard Things.”
Quotes:
“To the extent that the world still doubts Elon, I think it’s a reflection on the insanity of the world and not on the supposed insanity of Elon.”
“What’s fascinating is that Musk remains willing to lose it all.”
“I don’t want to be the person who ever has to compete with Elon. You might as well leave the business and find something else fun to do. He will outmaneuver you, outthink you, and out-execute you.”
Steve Jobs — Walter Isaacson
The biography of Steve Jobs written by Walter Isaacson does a great job revealing the complex personality (yes, he was a complete and utter tool) and undoubtable genius of Jobs. Like Musk, he demanded the seemingly-impossible and got it.
Quotes:
“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”
“If you act like you can do something, then it will work.”
“You should never start a company with the goal of getting rich. Your goal should be making something you believe in and making a company that will last.”
The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution -Walter Isaacson
Not exactly a biography, but let’s wedge it in this group. Walter Isaacson traces the history of computing and the digital revolution. This is a book the Nigerian tech ecosystem needs to read. Why? He makes the case that the innovations in the digital revolution were only possible due to collaboration between brilliant minds. Looonggg, but highly informative book.
Quotes:
“Progress comes not only in great leaps but also from hundreds of small steps.”
“But the main lesson to draw from the birth of computers is that innovation is usually a group effort, involving collaboration between visionaries and engineers, and that creativity comes from drawing on many sources. Only in storybooks do inventions come like a thunderbolt, or a lightbulb popping out of the head of a lone individual in a basement or garret or garage.”
Data, Blockchain, Buzzword Tings
Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy — Cathy O’Neil
Revealing read on how big data & faulty algorithms have dire consequences — from college admission & hiring practices to credit evaluations. Fascinating to read this book and see more recent cases of algorithms screw up.
Quotes:
“Big Data processes codify the past. They do not invent the future. Doing that requires moral imagination, and that’s something only humans can provide. We have to explicitly embed better values into our algorithms, creating Big Data models that follow our ethical lead. Sometimes that will mean putting fairness ahead of profit.”
Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin Is Changing Money, Business, and the World — Don Tapscott, Alex Tapscott
Blockchain Revolution comprehensively covers the technology, however, it’s not a short read & can be a tad bit preachy. Read this before this mental public obsession with the price of Bitcoin, and I find it amusing that none of the reasons listed for the predicted blockchain revolution has been responsible for the wider public interest. Quite a disappointing turn of events, but worth a read if you’re interested in knowing the potentials the tech holds.
Design
Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All — David M. Kelley and Tom Kelley
The title seemed a bit suspect, with the authors promising the ability to ‘unleash the creative potential within us all.’ Not sure it lives up to that title, but there’s a couple of gems in there. My top lessons came from the section on reframing problems and prototyping. Certainly helped my creativity.
Quotes:
“Noticing that something is broken is an essential prerequisite for coming up with a creative solution to fix”
“It’s hard to be “best” right away, so commit to rapid and continuous improvements.”
Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation
Tim Brown argues that design should not be limited to designers, but should permeate every level of business. Design Thinking is the key to this movement.
Quotes:
“Leaders should encourage experimentation and accept that there is nothing wrong with failure as long as it happens early and becomes a source of learning.”
Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days -Jake Knapp
If you’re a team with a product in need of process, structuring, and direction, this book is for you. Great manual. Not book, manual.
Designing Your Life: Build a Life that Works for You - William Burnett, Dave Evans
If you’re looking for a framework for thinking and working through major career changes, this offers that through design thinking.
Quotes:
“Many people operate under the dysfunctional belief that they just need to find out what they are passionate about. Once they know their passion, everything else will somehow magically fall into place. We hate this idea for one very good reason: most people don’t know their passion.”
Productivity
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life — Mark Manson
Ironically an anti-self help book, it felt like it veered towards one by the end. I disagree with his dismissive attitude towards important social issues, but still think his main point about being diligently aware of where one places one’s emotional attention is gold. Not especially revelatory if you’ve read books on focusing and being in the moment, but a good reminder never hurt anyone.
Quotes:
“Unhealthy love is based on two people trying to escape their problems through their emotions for each other — in other words, they’re using each other as an escape. Healthy love is based on two people acknowledging and addressing their own problems with each other’s support.”
“Maturity is what happens when one learns to only give a fuck about what’s truly fuckworthy. ”
Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time — Brian Tracy
Brian Tracy doesn’t say anything revolutionary about productivity but presents a pretty great summary. I found the summarised points useful and would suggest anyone dealing with procrastination (basically everyone) read this book once.
Quotes:
“One of the very worst uses of time is to do something very well that need not to be done at all.”
“Everyone procrastinates. The difference between high performers and low performers is largely determined by what they choose to procrastinate on.”
TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking — Chris J. Anderson
I plan to do a lot more public speaking in 2018, so…Written by the curator of the famous TED. Tips worth reading. Enough said.
Quotes:
“Presentation literacy isn’t an optional extra for the few. It’s a core skill for the twenty-first century.”
“Your number-one mission as a speaker is to take something that matters deeply to you and to rebuild it inside the minds of your listeners. We’ll call that something an idea.”
Maths
What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions — Randall Munroe
Munroe answers hypothetical science questions sent to him by readers of his popular webcomic, xkcd. Love the amount of scientific seriousness that goes into the absurd questions.
Dev
Learn Python the Hard Way — Zed Shaw
Glad I used this when I started learning Python because he gets into the ‘why’ better than a lot of resources that showed you how and left it at that. You get to the end and realise he wasn’t kidding about learning it the hard way. There’s a rapid change in the level of difficulty, which can be discouraging to many. Best to pair with another resource so you get a more holistic learning experience.
Learn CSS in one day and learn it well
This is a pretty good book. Not sure about the “one day” claim though…
There are a lot more books I read, but I’m sleep deprived, so we’ll close off with these ones. If you got to the end of this list (without skipping any section), you’re truly a champ and certainly ready to read more books next year. I’ll be reading more of the same, with more fiction this time. I hope you found this helpful. Feel free to let me know your thoughts/questions in the comment section.
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