The Wise Man’s Fear - Patrick Rothfuss
This is the second book in the King Killer Chronicles. The writing is excellent and so is the story telling. In fact, the story telling may be too much (for me). When I read the first back back in 2024 I wrote the following:
… Sometimes the book feels a little too wordy and the story could move along a bit faster…
Holy shit did book two bring this to a whole new level. What a long winded book. I found myself so bored sometimes that I only continued reading because I just knew there would be an amazing pay off for all the endless diatribe I read. I was wrong.
On top of that, it really reads like the author is writing out the sexual fantasies his teenage self had. Or maybe they’re from his current self; who knows. It’s not extremely graphic but it definitely feels like light smut in a lot of places. I’m no prude by any means but it just felt weird the way this 16 year old protagonist ends up bedding beautiful bodied and heavily busty women all over their realm. Oh, and also a sexy fairy or goddess of sorts. Oh yea, he really gave it to her for days on end in this book. I’m not joking.
All that said I have way too much invested in this series to not read the third book should it ever come out. I may hate myself for it but I have to know how this ends because book two was so disappointing.
Hatching Twitter - Nick Bilton
I remember when Twitter launched. At first I didn’t get it and eventually I jumped on the bandwagon and for years I enjoyed using it. I haven’t used it, really, for years now (even before Elon came along) in favor of the fediverse but still I really enjoyed this telling of the story.
I’d known a lot of the story already but had forgotten chunks of it and the reminder when reading the book was a nice jog of my memory. There was also quite a lot of other tidbits and even players that I didn’t know about. Mark Zuckerberg said about Twitter: “They Drove A Clown Car That Fell Into A Gold Mine”. Well, the book sure made it feel like that was the case.
No matter what, Twitter was obviously a huge change in the global culture and it’s impact on the world is undeniable. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the behind the scenes of a SF startup during this period.
Onassis - An Extravagant Life - Frank Brady
I loved this book. What a fascinating person Aristotle Onassis was. Truly a citizen of the world. From very privileged beginnings to living through the Turkish Holocaust to starting over in a whole new continent and finally becoming one of the worlds richest men is just a wild story.
He spoke 7 languages and had businesses all over the planet. He worked “remote” from his boat all over the world. This is before cell phones, internet, etc. He definitely wasn’t the best husband or father but I suppose he did the best he could for who he was.
How he died was pretty sad to read. Died of a broken heart basically. Losing a child is something I don’t even know how to understand. I couldn’t imagine it.
This book was written in the 70’s but it doesn’t feel dated (much). I felt like it was an interesting and informative read and covered the many sides of Onassis’s character. The good and the bad. I was bummed when the book ended because I had so much fun reading it.
Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire - James Wallace
Not a real surprise how hard Bill Gates worked to make Microsoft what it was. I guess a part of me always assumed it was luck and timing, which to a degree it always is. However his work ethic is second to none (according to this book). Since a young kid he would spend all his waking hours on a computer. Even staying at computer labs until the early morning hours and then walking home (what parents allow this???)
Even at a young age he was always looking for business angles and ways to make money. He usually succeeded. Of course there are plenty of other reasons to not envy his life during the first 10-15 years of MS but he there is no denying that at one point, Microsoft was the largest software company in the world.
He was also very shrewd, cunning, and well, ruthless in business deals. Like they say, “There are no good billionaires.” Still the stories told in this book don’t seem that bad imho. Sure it’s not very friendly but it’s just a businessman looking for his edge or using his position to give his company an edge. It’s like Bill said to a friend of his (she was also a much smaller competitor); “Heydi, please never tell me anything about your business that you don’t want me to use against you.” (this is paraphrased, I don’t remember the exact name or quote).
Useful Not True - Derek Sivers
Derek is one of my all time favorite authors. His books are short, easy to read, and very thought provoking. Useful Not True is no different. It’s such a good read and honestly feels like it’s perfectly timed or today’s political climate (world wide). The concepts aren’t brand new but the framing is definitely done in Derek’s style which for me made it easy to absorb.
The book basically describes the difference between actually true facts and beliefs. And when dealing with beliefs, which is most of the time, choose the one that is most useful to you now. The various examples used through the book are very clear and help visualize the concept he’s discussing at that moment.
The book is very short and I read it in about an hour. A long chapter in this book is two pages. Definitely get yourself a copy and read this book.
American Kingpin - Nick Bilton
The story of The Silk Road and Ross Ulbricht. I thought I knew most of the story already and basically that was true. I didn’t learn a ton in the book but the way the story was broken down and told was still fun to read.
I read Hatching Twitter by Nick Bolton earlier this year too. This was a good read in the same way the Twitter book was. A few things about Nick’s style sort of annoyed me (ie, repeating “three times” like 500 times in the book. Nick, we get it) but overall it was an interesting read.
Of course now we know that Ross was pardoned by the Orange Man himself, Donald Trump, so his story continues. I wonder what he will get up to next.
Digital Gold - Nathaniel Popper
Interesting history of Bitcoin (at least up until around late 2014) that included quite a few characters and stories that I hadn’t known. The global tech community, and others, that formed around the idea is pretty neat to read about. I have my feelings about crypto but the problems it tries to solve are very real and still exist. With Bitcoin rising to over 100K USD each at this point, I really wish I hadn’t sold my crypto so many years ago and just held on. Still the story is filled with innovators, grifters, liars, believers, and the financially motivated. Overall a fun read.
I just wish I had read this book before I read American Kingpin because there is a lot of overlap in some chapters describing how important The Silk Road was to the early value rise of BTC. I found myself skipping a lot in those chapters because I knew the story of Ross Ulbricht already.
Play Nice but Win - Michael Dell
First heard about this book during an episode on the Founders Podcast. I hadn’t known much about the story behind Dell before the episode and was pretty impressed with the humble origins of the company. The book was a very good read. It essentially describes the process of taking Dell private after being a publicly traded company. It also goes back and forth telling the origins of the company, how it started, etc.
Michael Dell was a scrappy young man who literally beat out Compaq, and others, with a company started with $1000 out of his college dorm. The ingenuity he used to do this was out of necessity but in hind sight, completely genius. It’s a very good read and fun story to go through. The book was also written by Michael and the style is very much like he’s just telling a story to a friend. I enjoyed the book very much and would recommend it to those who want to start something but don’t know where to begin.
Sanctioned: The Inside Story of the Sale of Chelsea FC - Nick Purewal
I’m a huge Chelsea FC fan so this topic was very interesting to me. I vividly remember when the club was put up for sale after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The book started good as there were some details I hadn’t already known. However, the actual sale process felt like a lot of filler re-told. Yes, it was stressful, yes there was sanctions, yes money was held up, yes there were last minute surprises. I just felt like a lot of things were added that didn’t really need to be. Overall I’m glad I read it but I didn’t walk away with too much more than when I started. Except maybe more respect for Roman Abramovich.
Sanctioned: The Inside Story of the Sale of Chelsea FC
The Mafia and the Machine: The Story of the Kansas City Mob - Frank R. Hayde
I truly enjoyed this history. I had no idea about Kansas City’s role in Organized Crime. Their political machine even put President Truman in the white house. A deep rooted history of political organization, violence, gambling, and music really round up this story. Some of the characters in the book I’ve heard of before but I had never knew their stories. This book is a must read for any American crime buff.
L.A. Noir: the struggle for the soul of America’s most seductive city - John Buntin
Organized crime in the early 20th century had a grip on Los Angeles unlike most other cities in the country. In many ways LA was the most corrupt city (by that I mean, city hall and the police department) in the country. This is a fascinating book that focuses on people like Mickey Cohen, Bugsy Siegal, Jack Dragna, Johnny Roselli, and other famous mobsters who each played their part in the development of LA.
L.A. Noir: the struggle for the soul of America’s most seductive city
The Inner Game of Tennis - W. Timothy Gallwey
While this book uses the sport of Tennis as the vehicle, the actual focus of this book is self belief, muscle memory, quieting the inner critics, etc. All very important things to perform at a high level in any sport or work, school, etc. I thought I wouldn’t enjoy this book but I really did. It read easily, and it’s pretty short, and I felt like it’s message got across well. I’m glad I finally read this one.
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing - Al Ries and Jack Trout
This book has been recommended many times over the years and I finally got around to reading it. I had high expectations and it didn’t disappoint. The book is decades old so it was funny to see some of the things it got wrong in it’s predictions for companies like, for instance, Microsoft, but overall it was very well done. I liked the short and concise chapters. Not much fluff, just enough to get the point of each “law” across. From a high level, I can see why marketers always tout this as a must read.
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
Born to be Wired - John Malone
Cable Cowboys is one of my favorite business books and it’s the story of John Malone and his guiding of TCI into the largest cable provider in the US and branching out from there. Well John decided to write his own book which covers a lot of the same history but also a lot of whats happened since Cable Cowboys was released. I find John fascinating so I was happy to read the book. I won’t lie and say I enjoyed it as much as Cable Cowboys but it was a good catch up and interesting to see all the personal dynamics at play in some of the industry’s biggest deals. If you’re torn between the two, choose Cable Cowboys, but if you’re interested, then I definitely recommend this book as well.
The Time Machine - H.G. Wells
I’ve read this many times but it’s been a few years since I last read it and I have a small window before the final book of the Book of Dust trilogy by Phillip Pullman comes out. So this is a good short read to fill that time. Honestly this is one of my, if not my all time, favorite books. So creative and rich. Pretty cool to think it was written in the 1800’s. Also very short at around 100 pages so it’s an easy book to get through quickly.
The Rose Field (The Book of Dust trilogy) - Phillip Pullman
This was such a great read. I truly love the story and entire world created for this series of books. So well written and it’s very hard to put the book down. However… I am disappointed in it’s ending. There was such a huge build up and I feel like the way it ended didn’t make any actual sense. The entire series of events was frankly out of place for the rest of the story (spread out over the 5 previous books).
SPOILER: In the end, capitalism is to blame for the loss of our “daemons”. Also the final scenes with the death of a certain person made absolutely no sense. No final word either on what happened with the multinational military force built up just waiting outside for orders.
I mean, maybe I missed something but I was pretty let down by the ending. Still, I loved the book overall and the entire story that was told over 2 sets of trilogies.
Heat 2 - Michael Mann, Meg Gardiner
What a fantastic book. Honestly some parts felt a little overdone but overall I really enjoyed the story. The before, and after, of the movie Heat shows the characters and some of their origin story. I felt a few dialog pieces were a bit corny but it was very interesting and fun to play along. Prison thugs, high end criminals, international crime organizations, and special forces mercenaries. This book has it all. A fun read for sure!