Originally Posted by Wyman
Hey all, glad to see this thread exists. I'll share what I've been reading. It's pretty thematic - memoirs, business, and generally compelling nonfiction, including some science.
Have 'read' 8 (audio-)books last two months which might be some sort of personal adulthood best.
I'm currently reading A Promised Land (along with the rest of the country, it seems) - highly recommend the audiobook, as whatever you feel about Obama, he's an amazing orator.
2021:
13. A Brief History of Time, Hawking
12. Moonwalking with Einstein, Foer
11. Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, Epstein
10. This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly, Reinert and Rogoff [I found this dry and a really difficult audiobook to follow. I'm taking credit for the 'read' but I admittedly skipped around a lot.]
9. The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company, Iger
8. Grinding it Out: The Making of McDonalds, Kroc
7. The Gambler: How Penniless Dropout Kirk Kerkorian Became the Greatest Dealmaker in Capitalist History
6. The Caesars Palace Coup: How a Billionaire Brawl over the Famous Casino Exposed the Power and Greed of Wall Street, Frumes & Indap
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5. Iran Rising: The Survival and Future of the Islamic Republic, Saikal
4. American Kompromat, Unger
3. The Effective Executive, Drucker
2. Zero to One, Thiel
1. How to Win Friends and Influence People, Carnegie (started in ‘20)
2020:
1. Thinking Fast and Slow, Kahnemann
2. Outliers, Gladwell
3. Sapiens, Harari
4. The Fish Who Ate the Whale, Cohen
5. The Story of More, Jahren
6. Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco, Burrough
7. Debt: The First 5,000 Years, Graeber
8. Shoe Dog, Knight
9. The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Horowitz
10. Culture Warlords, Lavin
11. Lean In, Sandberg
12. Predictably Irrational, Ariely
I think nearly everyone would really like (1) 'The Fish Who Ate the Whale' about the life of Sam Zemurray and his life in the banana trade, and (2) 'Moonwalking with Einstein,' about a journalist who covers an international memory contest and begins 6mo of training for the US memory championship in order to understand and write about the techniques.
Also 'The Gambler' was a fascinating read about the incredible life of a Las Vegas icon who was particularly private but massively influential in the making of modern Las Vegas. The Caesars book was a total rollercoaster and while fairly detail-dense (finance-types and lawyers may enjoy the most) it was a good, if a bit biased, description of an absolutely insane time. Friend said the book made him want to claw his eyes out, in case you're wondering if the book evokes emotion.
I personally enjoyed Bob Iger's book quite a bit and think it would have broad appeal. I don't think it was earth-shattering but I've actually referenced passages in the book a few times in the last few months in business settings so maybe it's more informative than I came away thinking.
And if anyone has a suggestion for a (layman-ish) 30+ year update to "A Brief History of Time" I'm all ears...
Cheers.