Recovering Investment Banker
Currently building and reading
Tracking my reading progress here, read along...
tl;dr: Remember the things that really matter
tl;dr: The many sacrifice for the few in the name of patriotism
tl;dr: Don't wait until your deathbed to consider whether you're living the right life
tl;dr: See title
tl;dr: Witty biography of the libertarian founding father
tl;dr: The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao
tl;dr: In a world without purpose or meaning, does death matter?
tl;dr: Founding a company and running a company are very different things, hard things
tl;dr: Discussion on the meaning of love - the attainment of the good, eternally
tl;dr: Focus everything, including depression, into productive ventures and work like hell
tl;dr: Scathing review of America's most prolific war criminal
tl;dr: Can war ever be moral if we innovate beyond the need for collateral damage?
tl;dr: Zen advise from Japan's greatest swordsman
tl;dr: Inspiring guidance to create in spiritual form
tl;dr: What is takes to escape the most repressive country in the world
tl;dr: Musings and confessions of a lost intellectual over drinks in Amsterdam
tl;dr: America's other founding father as told by one of the best
tl;dr: Hilarious fake memoir during the Second World War missing the humor
tl;dr: Hustling to turn a bad idea into a successful platform
tl;dr: The search for the meaning of life, with questionable humor
tl;dr: Personal view into the psychotic drive and work ethic required to succeed
tl;dr: Cute memoir of the Tuna Crispy Rice king
tl;dr: Psychological roadmap to the Old Testament
tl;dr: The story and teachings of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ
tl;dr: Musings on love and existentialism during the winter in Moscow - read Dream of a Ridiculous Man
tl;dr: Beautiful story of following your sense of purpose and adventure wherever it leads
tl;dr: Memories are the most important human quality
tl;dr: Make the most out of every day, a surprise event can cut your life short, regardless of how well you take care of it
tl;dr: Successful entrepreneurs just start building, most won't even start
tl;dr: Story of FTX - Entrusting billions to an idealistic man-child turned out to not work out
tl;dr: If an all-knowing sage descended from a mountain, how would we treat them?
tl;dr: Lessons on success from the Governator - don't be a girlie man
tl;dr: In Russia, police run from you
tl;dr: Small memories grow more important with time, especially in a non-exceptional life
tl;dr: People respond in unique ways to tragedy and misfortune, interesting read after 2019
tl;dr: Maintaining belief is the most important aspect of reaching a goal, if you believe you can do it you probably will
tl;dr: The market doesn't care how smart you are
tl;dr: You can build great wealth with great charisma and the ability to get people to believe in you
tl;dr: The sole desire to beat quarterly earnings will destroy even the best businesses
tl;dr: Love can be just as devastating as war
tl;dr: The hangover of a dream past is a dark place
tl;dr: Consider both your adersaries' and your allies' bias - to be a Hedgehog or a Fox, that is the question
tl;dr: Asymmetric information about people and situations naturally lead to human conflict
tl;dr: Start small, save a sizeable amount of capital from work, and invest most of it in business and real assets
tl;dr: Best practices are great, until they stifle innovation - look at old problems with new eyes to find better solutions
tl;dr: Remember you will die, and the world will keep on - have a drink with friends and a lover in the meantime
tl;dr: Advice on approaching our end with dignity and clarity
tl;dr: When narcissism is taken to its extreme and what we're willing to do to achieve it
tl;dr: Select speeches on being kinder and respectful to all
tl;dr: Basic economics and its drivers broken down by the man who steered Greece through Grexit
tl;dr: Che Guevara's personal diary and letters home from his founding road trip around South America
tl;dr: Dangers of communism explained through farm animal drama
tl;dr: Personal correspondence between damaged author and authoritative father
tl;dr: Most personal and striking view of modern society ever written
tl;dr: Fighting to appeal to people that don't care about us
tl;dr: Guidebook on traveling full time, on a budget
tl;dr: Scariest book I've read - basically a nightmare of bureaucratic horror
tl;dr: Stuck during the bombing of Dresden in WWII, one turns to space to escape
tl;dr: Striving to reach an inaccessible goal in a hostile world
tl;dr: Stumbling through a mediocre life, one catastrophy at a time
tl;dr: Love story of a hopeless romantic way out of his depth in rural Colombia
tl;dr: Hilarious inside look into busy kitchens and the creatures that run them
tl;dr: Memoir of the original Rock & Roll chef & Gordon Ramsay's mentor
tl;dr: Quantitative trading and its shadowy, potentially illegal, underbelly
tl;dr: What if you woke up one day as a bug?
tl;dr: A conversations between a Prince and God in the middle of a battle
tl;dr: What if killer robot cop dogs were a thing
tl;dr: Implementing Japanese sensibility into our every day life
tl;dr: Harrowing account of survival and the humanity of the Holocaust
tl;dr: Having and maintaining meaning in life will carry us through any catastrophy
tl;dr: Building a successful and fun business
tl;dr: When people succeed, is it because they're better than us?
tl;dr: Tales throughout history of overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles
tl;dr: Heartleft memoir of a couple separated during the Chinese communist revolution
tl;dr: Rough roadmap of launching a business on a shoestring budget
tl;dr: Before worrying about what to do, or how to do it, figure out why you're doing it
tl;dr: Case study on creating a largely self-running business supporting your lifestyle
tl;dr: Literally how to be less unlikeable
tl;dr: Building Bloomberg after crashing out of Wall Street
tl;dr: Anecdotal stories for better understanding risk
tl;dr: Running a team means taking care of a team
tl;dr: idk, you tell me
tl;dr: The most powerful man in the Middle Ages was an obscure banker from Augsburg
tl;dr: Stories of success through non-conformity
tl;dr: Small daily decisions can compound to huge change
tl;dr: Running a successful business by focusing solely on customer satisfaction
tl;dr: Building and scaling a passion project and selling it to Facebook
tl;dr: Witty memoir of one of our greatest intellectuals
tl;dr: More advice on living a fulfilling life
tl;dr: Inside look on rigging LIBOR with a few of your buddies
tl;dr: Memoir of life after the billions hit the bank account
tl;dr: How Donny does business - loud and in your face
tl;dr: Building a company with zero care for obstacles - imagined and real
tl;dr: Living in Berlin during Hitler's rise
tl;dr: Misunderstood artist hyper-focused on perfection
tl;dr: Living and fearing through the London Blitz during WWII
tl;dr: Memoir of Bush's thoughts during his tumultuous years at the helm
tl;dr: Nauseating personal stories of leaders navigating the financial crisis
tl;dr: Building civilization from scratch towards a fleeting Utopia
tl;dr: Origins of species from a historical perspective
tl;dr: Advice to a ruler to be ruthlessly successful
tl;dr: Inside look into the dysfunctional and criminal start-up
tl;dr: In a meaningless world, should we give up or keep pushing?
tl;dr: Are we moral because we're good, or because it's easier to cope that way?
tl;dr: Preparing for world-changing events we cannot foresee
tl;dr: Long and dense, but wonderfully detailed overview of every major philosopher
tl;dr: To drive innovation, find the intersections between disciplines and viewpoints
tl;dr: Advice on how to be happier, basically make friends and have hobbies
tl;dr: Life advice from a successful street drug dealer turned obese rapper turned crazy fit rapper
tl;dr: Personal connections driving world economics between the World Wars
tl;dr: History of mankind from primate to finance bro
tl;dr: Story of college runner turned entrepreneur hustling to build a business
tl;dr: Daily one-page stoic quote and explanation guide *amazing*
tl;dr: Select musings and speeches from Dalai Lama to be kinder
tl;dr: Would the world be better if we removed all unpleasantness?
tl;dr: Would the world be better if we controlled every aspect of a population's life?
tl;dr: Beautiful story of a poor fisherman struggling to bring home his biggest catch
tl;dr: Behind every bad guy, there's a money man - not like I would know
tl;dr: Memoir of the early days of building Virgin from one record store
tl;dr: Story of building Blackstone - relatable... depends who you are
tl;dr: Stories from around the world highlighting the effects of globalization
tl;dr: Guidance for the upcoming century based on historical trends
tl;dr: Life advice for navigating life well
tl;dr: Party boy lifestyle of one of the world's greatest con men
tl;dr: Fascinating review of why the West rules, but dry as burnt toast
tl;dr: Inner-workings of secretive old client of mine
tl;dr: Day in the life of a junior investment banker, as told by an old colleague
tl;dr: Memoir of Obama's first term
tl;dr: Personal story of Apple's troubled founder and chief asshole
tl;dr: Musings on being unique from one of the best
tl;dr: Musings of a dying man, right up to the end
tl;dr: Notes from Thiel's Stanford class - stop thinking in 10x, think in 100x
tl;dr: Inflation destroys everything, buy hard assets yesterday
tl;dr: The rich exploit the poor, so the poor must rise up - see animal farm for pt. 2
tl;dr: Win the battle before it starts
tl;dr: Witty and insightful review of religions and their impact from a humanist perspective
tl;dr: Dramatic retelling of the birth of Blackstone and the era of massive LBOs
tl;dr: Inside look into SAC Capital and the world of insider trading
tl;dr: Day in the life of an investment banker in the 1980s
tl;dr: Incredible story of Mike Milken and the wild west of 1980s capitalism
tl;dr: Shorting the housing market ahead of 2008 was pretty sick
tl;dr: Be radically transparent and foster an environment for people to be their worst self in the best way
tl;dr: Personal diary of a Roman Emperor at the height of the empire
