I like to read, and there’s something special about reading a book.
Compared to reading on a screen that is. Even if the screens are really good today, there is still something about reading on paper that I like more.
I do read fiction from time to time, but I also really enjoy reading books that go under the popular science genre. Books about business, logic, people, and technology in general. Think about it like this, if it could be a cover story in Wired Magazine it probably fits the genre.
I'm also a big fan of reading books about everything related to web technology. Below is an updated list of some of the books that I've read lately, it's the ones I think is good enough to recommend to others.
Books about business
Build
– An Unorthrodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making
A book about making products, teams and a career. Fadell gives his view of how to make things that matters for you via his own career from starting small companies and joining a funded startup to being employed by big ones as Philips and Apple before starting Nest.
Anything you want
– 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur
The story of Derek Sivers and his CD Baby business that took independent music artists to the online stores in the early days of e-commerce.
Company of One
– Why Staying Small Is the Next Big Thing for Business
A book about starting a small company and not always pushing for growth. A small, calm company can be the perfect thing too.
It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work
Sort of a follow up to "Rework" and a guide on how to structure a company to get rid of most of the stress and crazy hours what seems to have become the norm in certain companies.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
– A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
A different book on self help and personal growth where the focus is on not avoiding all problems but putting yourself in a position where you deal with better problems and focus on the things that really matter.
The Mom Test
A book about "[h]ow to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you" and a good introduction to customer conversation.
Rework
David and Jason describes their approach for an alternative way to run a business and to get work done. Probably more controversial in an American business landscape, but still a lot of good points and thought provoking ideas.
Interesting things
An Ugly Truth
– Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination
The book’s sub title is "Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination" and this is a critical look into how Facebook has been handling things during the last few years based upon hundreds of interviews done by the New York Times reporters Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang. Interesting and intimidating.
The Biggest Bluff
– How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win
We get to follow along on Maria’s journey into the world of poker, from a complete novice to a professional poker player. Beside her she has one of the greatest poker players of all time, Erik Seidel. Her angle is to find out how much we can change the odds in life when certain parts always are based on pure chance. Or, as she puts it on her web page, "[c]an we learn to play our best game even in the face of mounting odds?"
Permanent Record
Edward Snowden’s autobiography from 2019 where he describes his childhood, education and his work in the intelligence industry and what led up to when he leaked a lot of classified information about digital surveillance on nation state levels.
Atomic Habits
– An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
How to change your habits, one step at a time. And how to make change that lasts.
Free
– The Future of a Radical Price
This book is the follow-up to the book The Long Tail written in 2006.
The Undercover Economist
Who really makes money from fair trade coffee? Why is it impossible to buy a decent second hand car? How do the Mafia make money from laundries when street gangs pushing drugs don’t? Who really benefits from immigration?
The Long Tail
– Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More
It has been around a few years by now, the book The Long Tail, written by Chris Anderson as an expansion of his 2004 article The Long Tail in the magazine Wired.
Still interesting and a valid point of view in the digital era.
The Tipping Point
– How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
Interesting book about why some things trends and takes off and why others, even better ideas, do not.
