personal-development - Book Reviews

Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams

One of the scarier books I've read lately. Not regularly getting 8 hours of sleep a night? Prepare for cancer, Alzheimers, traffic fatalities, and more! UC Berkeley prof Matthew Walker is basically the Malcom Gladwell of sleep.

3-stars

12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

I don't get what all the fuss is about. Peterson's book is a ultimately just a grab-bag of old-school self-help advice. He tries to do too much and in too short of a book, but his ideas are not particularly radical.

5-stars

Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson

Albom has created a masterpiece of the "sad-book-about-dying" genre (way better than the more recent "When Breath Becomes Air") and this short book is certainly worth a read for anyone thinking about the big picture.

1-star

Solve for Happy: Engineer Your Path to Joy

"Solve for Happy" is a condescending and lazy self-help book. While the premature death of his son is undeniably tragic, Gawdat loses my sympathy with his faux insights and patronizing tone. "Going back to one of my childhood interests, the theory of relativity..." gag It might

4-stars

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

Manson's book is a profane and frequently hilarious crash-course in pragmatic modern Stoicism. How can I not love a book called "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck"? I've given talks where my last slide literally says, "Life is hard and then, almost immediately, you

2-stars

What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars

I have mixed feelings about giving "What I Learned Losing A Million Dollars" a 2 star rating. One one hand, it's full of (admittedly entertaining) cavalier boasting and rambling. On the other, my return-on-investment from reading this book could be huge if I follow his advice and don't

4-stars

Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

I wish I had been diligent enough to write down my mental models of the world and publish them in book form. Luckily, in "Designing Your Life", Burnett and Evans have already done all the hard work for me! The nuggets-to-fluff ratio is pretty high and they hit

4-stars

Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger

"Poor Charlie's Almanack" got on my list because Drew Houston of Dropbox said it was one of the best books he had ever read. After blasting through it... I can understand why he said so, but I’m not sure I agree with him. This is a book

2-stars

The Choose Yourself Guide To Wealth

Here's the thing about "The Choose Yourself Guide To Wealth": it's a poorly written rant... but it has some gems in it. Now, you can decide on your own whether you want to take life/business advice from someone who has fluctuated between millionaire and broke (multiple times!

winning

The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists

"The Game" is a surprising and irreverent look at pickup artists and how they operate. Sometimes it was hard to tell whether this was BS or not - but a few of my friends have had pretty good results! There are a bunch of tactics in here like