Continue Reading: Books from 2023
There are two major benefits in writing a quick book recap, as I did in 2021 and 2022: first, it’s fun to look back and think about the content consumed and reflect on the learnings; second, it creates an environment where folks in my network feel comfortable suggesting new books for me to read - quite a few on the list this year come from such recommendations. Thank you! Please keep the recommendations coming. It’s a fantastic way to end each year.
As I’ve noted in the past: I don’t believe I’m smart enough or informed enough to provide a proper review of 2023 as a whole - I’ll leave that to those with the authority to do so. What I can say is that I’m a very lucky individual and 2023 was no exception. From a professional perspective, I continue to be surrounded by an incredible group of individuals, both inside and outside the business, that push me to be better every day; from a personal perspective, my wife (who is the f***ing best) and I welcomed another healthy baby boy into our growing tribe - for those keeping score, yes, we have a full forward line now. To have both health and loved ones around us are gifts unto themselves. Whether it be work or life, we’re trying to stay focused on what we can control and avoiding getting caught up in that which we cannot. What I can control is the variety of perspectives consumed and the openness to new information that I maintain.
Below is the list of most of the books consumed from January to December 2023, in the order they were originally completed. As usual, most were done via Audible and even though the links provided for each title is to Audible or Amazon, I encourage frequenting your local bookstore. A change that is being integrated in the document this year both for the usability of the reader and for the purposes of keeping my opinions from inadvertently seeping into the content: instead of writing a couple of somewhat directionless sentences on each title, I’ll answer why I selected the title in the first place and why I think you might enjoy it. NOTE: I try to avoid negative comments on art of any kind, given my viewpoint doesn’t encapsulate all consumers’ perspectives and I recognize that if I didn’t like something, I likely wasn’t the target audience and I should have looked harder for ways to learn from it - I only slipped up on this once below.
Happy 2024!
Before diving into the list, I want to call out a few books I read at least once per year to help with my mindset at a given time. I haven’t included them here because I’ve spoken of them in the past, but I pull “Greenlights” by Matthew McConaughey out any time I feel like I’m in a rut and need to get relative; I listen to “Infinite Game” by Simon Sinek anytime I notice I’m thinking too short term and not enough at the long game; and I open “Chaos Monkeys” by Antonio Garcia Martinez anytime I need to get creative ideas on how to handle the start-up world. If you’ve only read part of these titles, or listened to reviews that have pulled pages or quotes, I encourage you to read cover to cover, as there are some fantastic nuggets within.
Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base by Annie Jacobsen
Why I selected the title: I listened to Jacobsen on Joe Rogan’s Pod and her sober and informed manner of providing history on the US defence apparatus on the Pod made it clear that she was someone that could shed light on a place and time I knew very little about: Area 51 during the Cold War.
Why you might enjoy it: You’ll take something away from this book if you’re interested in learning a different angle on history from after WWII up until the 1990s and want to understand where all the Nazi scientists ended up or the real reason there are so many holes in the atmosphere? (Hint: it might have something to do with the thousands of nukes tested at high altitude literally ripping holes in the atmosphere? Or are the holes caused by your SUV emissions? Depends who you ask.).
1984 by George Orwell (Re-read)
Why I selected the title: I believe it’s healthy to be reminded that all persons of authority have an agenda and that we as individuals have the ability (and personal obligation) to generate our own thoughts and views on the world.
Why you might enjoy it: It’s an absolute classic title and it’s referenced directly or indirectly in so much of what we consume today - I believe anyone looking to deepen their thoughtfulness on the media/government partnership will take something from this book. Plus, it’s a good story.
Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World by Michael Lewis (Re-read)
Why I selected the title: The “smartest” folks in public finance around the world stated their issues following the banking crisis were that of liquidity, not solvency. It’s good to question the motives and expertise of “experts” and do our best to learn from the past.
Why you might enjoy it: If you like tying macro financial decision making to cultural norms and personal egos, this book will be of interest to you. I may have listened to it again yesterday after writing the original draft of this document because it’s such an interesting compilation of notes.
The End of the World Is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization by Peter Zeihan
Why I selected the title: It came as a recommendation from a couple folks I deeply respect as a way to broaden my understanding of how the cities and countries we know today came to be… and what would happen if it all fell apart tomorrow.
Why you might enjoy it: If you’re interested in geo-politics and macroeconomic issues, you’ll find many nuggets of interest in this highly researched output from Zeihan (who has a number of other spectacular titles). It’s intense but supremely satisfying in its macro and micro details.
Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant
Why I selected the title: I realized I had never read this start to finish and I figured I was missing out - so many good antidotes on mindset and the practices employed by innovators that can be leveraged in life and business.
Why you might enjoy it: If you’re interested in learning about the small details that helped others succeed, you’ll likely enjoy going through this exceptionally easy read. I plan to reference it again in the future, as the storytelling is so well done, as would only be expected from Grant.
How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going by Vaclav Smil
Why I selected the title: Someone considerably smarter than me told me that it would be difficult to understand much of our modern society and industry if I didn’t first understand more about the four core elements of our modern world (ammonia, plastics, steel, and concrete). As usual, he was right.
Why you might enjoy it: Smil is referenced in countless other publications (including some on this list) and has a knack for taking highly complex concepts and breaking them down into digestible chunks for us mortals. To better understand why certain geo-political decisions are being made, we must understand the underlying incentives and needs at play - this book uncovers some of that understanding.
Billion Dollar Start-Up: The True Story of How a Couple of 29-Year-Olds Turned $35,000 into a $1,000,000,000 Cannabis Company by Adam Miron, Sébastien St-Louis, Julie Beun
Why I selected the title: Being in the cannabis space, I couldn’t not read the book by founders that selected this title for themselves: in spite of their incredible efforts and successes up until 2019, this title was a little arrogant for my taste and I had to better understand the content. Especially since the company became insolvent not long after the book came out.
Why you might enjoy it: Amid the self promoting and bragging, Adam and Julie (who clearly did the majority of the writing) actually did a great job of summarizing the time leading up to recreational cannabis legalizaiton in Canada. There are a lot of interesting learnings about growth in an emerging market baked into this book (sometimes, inadvertent lessons).
When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management by Roger Lowenstein
Why I selected the title: We all talk about the equity market because we can all feel it moving and have the ability to partake in it, should we choose. We don’t all have a sense of the colossal impact the bond market actually has on our lives - I wanted to learn more about one of the key figures from “Liar’s Poker” and learn how even the brightest minds can make catastrophic errors, if left unchecked.
Why you might enjoy it: You may be like me in that you were in school when the financial crisis of 2008 really hit its stride, thus you’ve likely consumed a lot of detail on that crisis since. This book predates that crisis and helps lay the foundation for how a system like the one that failed came into being in the first place. It provides a lot of context for what we take for granted today.
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
Why I selected the title: This title and “Originals” (above) were two books I had referenced in the past but hadn’t ever gone through start to finish. Given I pull out “Infinite Game” and other works from Sinek fairly often, it seemed a big miss that I hadn’t read his fundamental work. As expected, it was great and I can’t wait to read it again.
Why you might enjoy it: Sinek is a master at distilling complex human motivations into relatively easy to understand pieces. The themes of this book are found in so much of what we consume today online and in print. The stories are both enjoyable and fruitful.
When McKinsey Comes to Town: The Hidden Influence of the World's Most Powerful Consulting Firm by Walt Bogdanich, Michael Forsythe
Why I selected the title: McKinsey is everywhere. I had read “The Firm” last year and found the history of this notoriously tight-lipped organization to be fascinating and wanted to learn more about the work they did. The media made it sound like these authors had been informed by internal folks and were going to shed new light on McKinsey’s secret sauce.
Why you might enjoy it: Honestly, you likely won’t enjoy it - if interested in McKinsey, read “The Firm”. Biggest let down of my 2023 reading. It was high level, vaguely sourced, and came across as a way for past employees to complain about their time in extremely high paying roles.
The Human Element: Overcoming the Resistance That Awaits New Ideas by Loran Nordgren, David Schonthal
Why I selected the title: We were contemplating a new product and weren’t sure how it would fit into a crowded market with multi-national competitors. A friend suggested this title and it was helpful for detailing the steps needed to distil naysaying from good feedback.
Why you might enjoy it: It was a breeze to rip through and I feel it’s more of a reference book when bringing a product or brand to life than it is a book to read for random enjoyment - read it with a purpose or product in mind and I believe there will be some useful outputs from the pages.
The Wealthy Barber: Everyone’s Commonsense Guide to Becoming Financially Independent by David Chilton
Why I selected the title: My parents gave me this book in high school and like many kids in high school, I was far too smart to listen to my parents’ advice. Like the idiot I was, I didn’t read this and missed out on countless fantastic tips and tricks to personal finance almost 20 years ago.
Why you might enjoy it: Personal finance can be boring to read and difficult to relate to our own real situations. Chilton did a masterful job of creating a fictional story to communicate his non-fictional and extremely useful life lessons on personal finance. Better late than never!
Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All by Michael Shellenberger
Why I selected the title: Like any parent, I want to leave a better world for my children than how I found it. It can sometimes be difficult to know what “better” is with all the noise from various factions of media and corporations pushing their own “environmental” narratives. So listening to a world renowned environmental scientist who had mostly extracted himself from outside influence seemed a good place to start.
Why you might enjoy it: As with anything in life, if we want to understand the reason certain organizations or individuals are beating the drums of change in one way or another, the best place to start is following the money: who has the most to gain from such a change? Additionally, we evolve as a species as we learn: at one time, petroleum was seen as the greenest solution because it meant city streets wouldn’t have to be covered in horse manure and whales wouldn’t be hunted into oblivion for their oil. This is one of the best researched and detailed books I’ve ever read.
The Small Business Operator’s Manual by Brad Poulos
Why I selected the title: Running small businesses can be a lonely endeavour. Thankfully Poulos has been a sounding board for many in the past and he put some of his thoughts onto the page with this helpful text on profitably operating your small business.
Why you might enjoy it: If you run a small business, if you’re thinking of running a small business, or have run a small business in the past and want to better understand where you can improve with the next venture, there’s likely something of interest to you packed into these pages. It stays on the corner of my desk for reference.
Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson
Why I selected the title: It’s based on potentially the most interesting human of our generation and is written by the guy that wrote “Steve Jobs” and “Einstein”. Safe bet that I had pre-ordered this one.
Why you might enjoy it: I repeat: It’s based on potentially the most interesting human of our generation and is written by the guy that wrote “Steve Jobs” and “Einstein” - it’s electric. Isaacson had unprecedented access to Musk and his family for years in writing this biography and it gives a meaningful view into the way Musk was raised and why he is the way he is today.
Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts by Annie Duke
Why I selected the title: If it’s good enough to drive decision making for the Chairman himself, Chamath Palihapitiya, it’s certainly good enough for me. I bought the audio book while Chamath was speaking about it on stage at the All In Summit and it did not disappoint.
Why you might enjoy it: I think a lot of us go through the world thinking we’re either gamblers or not. We either make bets or we don’t. Duke, who took time away from working towards her PhD to become a professional poker player, shows how every decision we make is some form of bet one way or another, so we might as well learn to better calculate the expected outcomes.
Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life by Arnold Schwarzenegger
Why I selected the title: “Total Recall” is one of my top five favourite books of all time: Arnold sets goals and then runs through walls until he achieves those goals. This book is a framework for doing just that and I couldn’t wait for it to come out in November.
Why you might enjoy it: I believe Arnold is a genius in his own way. He’s supremely positive and has a mindset of ownership over outcomes, both good and bad. I have a hard time believing many people can read this title and not come out with tangible actions that can build their self confidence and resulting positive outcomes.
The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames by Kai Bird
Why I selected the title: Despite having done some studying (and even visited) the places in the Middle East where war is currently being waged, I still felt too uninformed to comment on the proceedings beyond condolences for the families being impacted - I feel for all those involved. I was looking for more context from the 1960s-1980s and a friend from the region recommended this title.
Why you might enjoy it: It’s a detailed read about difficult topics, but war is not easy. So “enjoy” may not be the operative word to use for this book, but if you wish to gain more context on what we now know as the parties involved in the conflict in the Middle East and how the current leaders came to power, this title is for you.
Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon by Michael Lewis
Why I selected the title: Lewis was with Sam Bankman-Fried in the Bahamas collecting details for a book when the FTX web started to unravel. He has a knack for being in the right place at the right time (or wrong time?). Odd timing aside, I was pumped to hear his take on the rise and fall of FTX.
Why you might enjoy it: If you want a basic understanding of how cryptocurrency exchanges operate, how Effective Altruism has flourished in Silicon Valley, or how inconsistencies in regulation around the world open up opportunities for those with the means to exploit, this will be an interesting read for you. Plus, Lewis is a stellar story teller.