What RamP's Reading: Nov'20

 

  

Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder
Antifragile is a standalone book in Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s landmark Incerto series, an investigation of opacity, luck, uncertainty, probability, human error, risk, and decision-making in a world we don’t understand.

A Tour of C++
In A Tour of C++, Second Edition, Bjarne Stroustrup, the creator of C++, describes what constitutes modern C++. This concise, self-contained guide covers most major language features and the major standard-library components—not, of course, in great depth, but to a level that gives programmers a meaningful overview of the language, some key examples, and practical help in getting started.

"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character
Richard P. Feynman, winner of the Nobel Prize in physics, thrived on outrageous adventures. In this lively work, Feynman recounts his experiences trading ideas on atomic physics with Einstein and cracking the uncrackable safes guarding the most deeply held nuclear secrets―and much more of an eyebrow-raising nature. In his stories, Feynman’s life shines through in all its eccentric glory―a combustible mixture of high intelligence, unlimited curiosity, and raging chutzpah.

Think on These Things - Jiddu Krishnamurthy
Thing on These Things was chosen by Parabola magazine as one the 100 best spiritual books of the 20th century. This is an excellent introduction to Krishnamurtis teachings for the young and the old. Consisting of Krishnamurtis talks and discussions with students, teachers and parents, these talks touch upon areas such as education, ambition, love, creativity, ambition, beauty, conflict, relationship, God, learning etc

What RamP's reading: Oct'20

The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness

Naval Ravikant is an entrepreneur, philosopher, and investor who has captivated the world with his principles for building wealth and creating long-term happiness. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant is a collection of Naval’s wisdom and experience from the last ten years, shared as a curation of his most insightful interviews and poignant reflections. This isn’t a how-to book, or a step-by-step gimmick. Instead, through Naval’s own words, you will learn how to walk your own unique path toward a happier, wealthier life.

The Most Important Thing : Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor
The Most Important Thing explains the keys to successful investment and the pitfalls that can destroy capital or ruin a career. Utilizing passages from his memos to illustrate his ideas, Marks teaches by example, detailing the development of an investment philosophy that fully acknowledges the complexities of investing and the perils of the financial world. Brilliantly applying insight to today's volatile markets, Marks offers a volume that is part memoir, part creed, with a number of broad takeaways.

The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business
True leaders aren't made by business schools-they make themselves, seeking out the knowledge, skills, and experience they need to succeed. Read this book and you will learn the principles it takes most business professionals a lifetime of trial and error to master.

Ramen Profitable

As a budding and a small-time Angel Investor I often get to hear passionate founders of start-ups. Their energy, conviction and optimism rubs on anyone around and I'm no exception. 

This week I saw a tweet from Paul Graham of Y-Combinator, in which he had shared an old mail from the founders of AirBnB, when they became Ramen Profitable. Ramen Profitable means the start-up is making just enough money to pay founder's living expenses as Paul describes in his essay.

A flurry of thought entered my mind as I read the tweet, the original essay, and things I had read about AirBnB in the book Upstarts. It just means laser focus, continuous tinkering till you get it right, not getting distracted and keeping it lean and mean. For investors, it cannot get any better and what a joy to work with such founders and both help and learn from them.

It also brought back memories of my failed investments. As an Angel one should expect and be ready to lose entire investment. But then there are a few founders who fought and fought to keep it afloat and some wound-up without any fight after squandering investor's money. The first will have no trouble raising monies again when they move on as their integrity remained intact and their demonstrated grit made them even more valuable in the eyes of investors. The latter might have burnt all the goodwill and likely to struggle raise monies again - they are well advised to internalise being Ramen Profitable. 

What RamP's Reading: Sep'20

Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur

When Derek Sivers started CD Baby, he wasn’t planning on building a major business. He was a successful independent musician who just wanted to sell his CDs online. When no one would help him do it, he set out on his own and built an online store from scratch. Sivers didn’t need a business plan, and neither do you. You don’t need to think big; in fact, it’s better if you don’t. Start with what you have, care about your customers more than yourself, and run your business like you don’t need the money.

How to change your mind - Michael Pollan (reco'd by Naval)
A unique and elegant blend of science, memoir, travel writing, history, and medicine, How to Change Your Mind is a triumph of participatory journalism. By turns dazzling and edifying, it is the gripping account of a journey to an exciting and unexpected new frontier in our understanding of the mind, the self, and our place in the world. The true subject of Pollan's "mental travelogue" is not just psychedelic drugs but also the eternal puzzle of human consciousness and how, in a world that offers us both suffering and joy, we can do our best to be fully present and find meaning in our lives.

Stumbling on happiness
In this fascinating and often hilarious work – winner of the Royal Society of Science Prize 2007 – pre-eminent psychologist Daniel Gilbert shows how – and why – the majority of us have no idea how to make ourselves happy.
We all want to be happy, but do we know how? When it comes to improving tomorrow at the expense of today, we're terrible at predicting how to please our future selves.

The War of Art: Winning the Creative Battle
Bestselling novelist Steven Pressfield identifies the enemy that every one of us must face, outlines a battle plan to conquer this internal foe, then pinpoints just how to achieve the greatest success. The War of Art emphasizes the resolve needed to recognize and overcome the obstacles of ambition and then effectively shows how to reach the highest level of creative discipline. Think of it as tough love . . . for yourself.

Naval's Jewels

I found myself frequently referring people to works of Naval Ravikant. I thought I will put all my recommendations in a post here.

Twitter: 

• @naval (https://twitter.com/naval), 
  
• @NavalBot (https://twitter.com/NavalBot). (maintained by a fan)
  

Web sites: 

• https://nav.al (Naval's new web site, all his content is getting consolidated here)
  
• https://theangelphilosopher.com (has lot of his thoughts, don't know who maintains it)
  
• Angel List: India US  (democraticizing angel investing)
• Books recommended by Naval 
• Almanack of Naval Ravikant (This (free) book collects and curates Naval’s wisdom from Twitter, Podcasts, and Essays over the past decade).

Popular podcasts and fireside chats: 

• With Tim Ferris  (nominated for best podcast of the year)
  
• With Joe Rogan
  
• With Farnam street
  
• With Nassem Taleb
• With Marco Angelo (On Investing, Happiness and Meaning of Life)
• Naval on Meditation
• Naval on Getting Wealthy (giant episode - collection of all interviews on "How to get rich without getting lucky")
• Naval - "Taming your desires makes you unbeatable"
• .... and many more at nav.al

Interesting articles:

• Navalisms - quotes and perceptions
• Naval Ravikant - 15 timeless thoughts
• Naval - How to get rich without getting lucky

Shameless plug-in: My post on my 60d meditation streak (interesting more for copy-paste of Naval's tweetstorm on meditation)

What RamP's Reading: Aug'20

    

The Time Paradox by Philip Zimbarado (reco'd by Derek Severs)
In The Time Paradox, Drs. Zimbardo and Boyd draw on thirty years of pioneering research to reveal, for the first time, how your individual time perspective shapes your life and is shaped by the world around you. Further, they demonstrate that your and every other individual's time zones interact to create national cultures, economics, and personal destinies.

Anti Fragile - Taleb
Antifragile is a standalone book in Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s landmark Incerto series, an investigation of opacity, luck, uncertainty, probability, human error, risk, and decision-making in a world we don’t understand. What Taleb has identified and calls “antifragile” is that category of things that not only gain from chaos but need it in order to survive and flourish.

Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want
In this illuminating book, leading social psychologist Nicholas Epley introduces us to what scientists have learned about our ability to understand the most complicated puzzle on the planet—other people—and the surprising mistakes we so routinely make. Mindwise will not turn others into open books, but it will give you the wisdom to revolutionize how you think about them—and yourself.

Winning Bigly - Scott Adams
Win Bigly is a field guide for persuading others in any situation—or resisting the tactics of emotional persuasion when they’re used on you. Adams goes beyond politics to look at persuasion tools that can work in any setting—the same ones Adams saw in Steve Jobs when he invested in Apple decades ago.

What RamP's Reading: Jul'20

  

Building Evolutionary Architectures: Support Constant Change
The software development ecosystem is constantly changing, providing a constant stream of new tools, frameworks, techniques, and paradigms. Over the past few years, incremental developments in core engineering practices for software development have created the foundations for rethinking how architecture changes over time, along with ways to protect important architectural characteristics as it evolves. This practical guide ties those parts together with a new way to think about architecture and time. (Reco'd by Nagashree MV)


The Motivation Manifesto: 9 Declarations to Claim Your Personal Power
The march to Personal Freedom, Burchard argues, can be won only by declaring our intent and independence, stepping into our personal power, and battling through self-doubt and the distractions of the day until full victory is won. Recalling the revolutionist voices of the past that chose freedom over tyranny, Burchard—at times poetic yet always fierce—motivates us to free ourselves from fear and take back our lives once and for all
The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself
Spiritual teacher Michael A. Singer explores the question of human identity and shows how the development of consciousness can enable us all to dwell in the present moment and achieve happiness and self-realization. (Reco'd by Naval)

The Dark Side of the Light Chasers: Reclaiming Your Power, Creativity, Brilliance, and Dreams
Through the stories and exercises in The Dark Side of the Light Chasers, Debbie Ford shows us not only how to recognize our hidden emotions, but also how to find the gifts they offer us.

Not everything need to be ATMish

Transactions at ATMs have been ridiculously made simple. You push a few buttons, the money will come out. No need to say "thank you" or "please". You need not smile, nod your head or exchange pleasantries. Its ultra efficient. Walk in, press buttons, get your money. Done. No more no less.

The rapid digitisation, automation, customer self-service etc., have all made life very quick, efficient and void of any emotion. Not everything, every transaction, every interaction needs to be like an ATM transaction. We deserve more empathy. Transactions can be more humane, real and personal.

Lets build bridges and not tear them down. Next time when you run into a routine transaction with a human, please see whether you are doing an ATM transaction or interacting with a human.

PS: Inspired by a section titled "Building bridges and not burning them", from the beautiful book What to do when its your turn (and its always your turn), by one of my favourite authors Seth Godin. I usually copy-paste excerpts from the books that I read. However I recently read this post by Derek Sivers, who asks us to not quote, instead make it personal and tell our version. It sounds like an interesting idea and will try it. This was the first post.

What RamP's Reading: Jun'20

 

The Art of Meditation
Matthieu Ricard shows that practising meditation can change our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. He talks us through its theory, spirituality and practical aspects of deep contemplation and illustrates each stage of his teaching with examples.

The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence
The Little Big Things. In this age of economic recession and financial uncertainty, the patented Peters approach to business and management—no-nonsense, witty, down-to-earth, insightful—is more pertinent now than ever.

Measuring the User Experience
Measuring the User Experience provides the first single source of practical information to enable usability professionals and product developers to effectively measure the usability of any product by choosing the right metric, applying it, and effectively using the information it reveals. Authors Tullis and Albert organize dozens of metrics into six categories: performance, issues-based, self-reported, web navigation, derived, and behavioral/physiological.


Leadership the Hard Way: Why Leadership Can't Be Taught and How You Can Learn It Anyway
Leadership the Hard Way presents a method of living and working that can truly facilitate the learning of leadership. Their method shows how to go against the current, fight conventional wisdom, and embrace the unexpected. It is about trusting oneself and valuing intuition, principles, and imagination as much as hard skills and analysis. Frohman combines his counterintuitive ideas with experiences from his own background?from escaping the Nazis as a child to becoming a leading innovator in the semiconductor industry?to show how readers can build their own leadership abilities. A leader?s values and personality, he ultimately reveals, are the only sure source of stability in a world of continuous change.

6 Lessons from Tobi Lutke, CEO of Shopify

Twitterati @george__mack recently sent out a tweet storm summarising the lessons he learnt from listening to several podcasts of Tobe Lutke - CEO of Shopify. I'm copy-pasting them so that it is available readily.

LUTKE LEARNING 1 - OPERATE ON CROCKERS LAW

Crocker is a Wikipedia editor who asked people to NEVER apologise about editing his pages. He just wanted them to focus on making his pages BETTER.

He took 100% responsibility for his mental state. If he was offended, it's his fault.
"Just give me the raw feedback without all the shit sandwich around it." - Tobi

"Feedback is a gift. It clearly is. It’s not meant to hurt. It’s meant to move things forward, to demystify something for you. I want frank feedback from everyone." - Tobi
"If I'm insulted it's because my brain made a decision, to implant in my memory and thoughts the idea of being insulted by that person...

I did that under my own volition. It was my own choice. My brain has assigned the power to the other person" - Tobi referencing Aurelius

LUTKE LEARNING 2 - ALWAYS BE A STUDENT TO FIRST PRINCIPLES

Tobi's most consistent used mental model throughout his interviews is:

Global Maximum > Local Maximum

Local Maximum = Optimising a cog in the machine
Global Maximum = Optimising the machine itself
Tobi's favorite example of FIRST PRINCIPLES is a Truck driver.

His truck was sat still for 8 HOURS on THANKSGIVING waiting for his cargo to be unloaded when he realized... "Why not take the WHOLE trailer off the back of my ship rather than unloading + reloading each item?" This Truck driver was called Malcolm McLean

His first principles approach created the SHIPPING CONTAINER. The results?  Global shipping costs went from $6 a tonne to $0.16 a tonne 🤯

The most underrated entrepreneur of the last century AND the godfather of modern global trade.

Tobi seems to try to operate under the assumption that everything he is doing could be WRONG. "I think the best company (that exists right now) is a 6/10 on the scale to what is a perfect company" - Tobi

His goal is to get near a 6/10 and push towards a 7/10.  Humanity's most consistent fallacy is assuming the present moment has it figured out. We look back and laugh at our assumptions from 50 years ago. Whilst simultaneously forgetting that 50 years from now they be will be laughing at us. 

LUTKE LESSON 3 - THINK ABOUT THE LONG TERM

The media narrative is often a dichotomy of Shopify vs Amazon. Few talk about the similarity both CEO's have for LONG TERM thinking. Both consistently warn shareholders that they will sacrifice short term revenue for long term value.

Tobi states that almost EVERY DECISION your business makes can pivot on JUST one question:
"Are you optimizing for every individual transaction or the LIFETIME transaction?" - Tobi

Are you playing INFINITE games or FINITE games with your customers? Growth Marketers would tell Shopify to force "Powered By Shopify" branding on their Merchants stores. Everyone who then visits the stores would then know Shopify builds stores like these.

This is the sort of "Growth Loop" that VC's dream of. Shopify DIDN'T DO this.
“We want to make other people look good. We want to make merchants look good." - Tobi (2017 AMA)

Lutke calls this "LTV thinking" in his interview with @garyvee

On a long enough timeline, playing positive-sum games with your customers is the ultimate growth hack. It's hard to find a more positive-sum company. There are few (legal) highs that compete with the "1st Shopify Sale Moment". Every 60 SECONDS somebody makes their 1st sale on Shopify 🤯

They are trying to help reverse this graph by reducing the friction of entrepreneurship

LUTKE LEARNING 4 - EMBRACE TRANSFER LEARNING

"Video games are very distilled environments in which you can learn things." - Tobi
He believes that playing certain games can help your brain rehearse thousand of repetitions for situations that are scarce in the real world. In the business world, you might make a strategic bet every year.

It may take you 10 years to get the experience of strategic 10 bets.In the poker world, you make a strategic bet every hand. It takes you less than one evening to get the experience of 10 strategic bets. "I'm a card-carrying member of the video games are really good club" - Tobi

"Every employee at Shopify can expense Factorio" - Tobi on one of his favorite games. He sees the mental effects of playing Factorio as a worthwhile business expense for his company

LUTKE LEARNING 5 - DECISION MAKING

"Every single time I got a decision wrong, I realised that the piece of information that was missing was actually in fact totally available to me." - Tobi

“We tend to underestimate how difficult it was to make a decision in hindsight” - Tobi
"If your job is to make decisions, it’s worth treating it like any other subject to get better at." - Tobi Whenever he makes a decision, he keeps a small log file with one paragraph explaining what information he used to make that decision. He reviews it every 6 months

Kasparov had a "SYSTEMS MINDSET" for analyzing his chess mistakes, e.g. Pawn to E4 lost the game

Outcome mindset = "Don't do Pawn to E4 again".

Systems mindset = "What was the mental routines that occurred before I made that decision? Don't do them again"

OUTCOME MINDSET prevents you from making that ONE mistake again.

SYSTEMS MINDSET prevents you from using the mental models that caused that mistake.

SYTEMS MINDSET prevents that one mistake AND 100's of other potential mistakes by addressing the root cause.

H/T @SafiBahcall

LUTKE LEARNING 6 - TALENT STACK LED BY CURIOSITY > MBA

He didn't have an MBA. He didn't grind 100-hour workweeks.

Instead, he played video games (which led to coding) and he snowboarded (which led to an online snowboarding store). This 'Talent Stack' led to Shopify.

"Following your genuine intellectual curiosity is a better foundation for a career than following whatever is making money right now." - @naval

Pursuing your unique talent stack and curiosity is often inversely correlated with appearing successful early on.

Stop caring.

TOBI'S FAVOURITE BOOKS:

- 'Courage To Be Disliked' by Kishimi

- 'High Output Management' by Grove

- 'The Box' by Levinson

- 'Thinking In Systems' by Meadows

- 'Meditations' by Aurelius

- 'Guide To The Good Life' by Irvine

(Don't forget Factorio and Starcraft!)

My 60d meditation streak

Inspired by Naval Ravikant's process for meditation, I undertook a 60day, 1-hour a day meditation streak that ended two days ago. Thoroughly enjoyed it and now aiming for 100day.

I'm copy-pasting Naval's thoughts on meditation from his latest twit storm:

Meditation - The Art of Doing Nothing: 

Meditation is your birthright. It's your natural state.
It requires no one, needs no thing, and has no technique.

If something requires a guru, a mantra, or a teaching, it isn't universal, and it won't free you. 

We say that we want peace of mind but what we really want is peace from mind. 

“No technique of the mind will free you from the mind.” 

All chases, whether flow, drugs, beauty, thrills, orgasm, or devotion, are attempts to escape from the mind. Meditation is the direct path. 

In an age of mental gluttony, meditation is fasting for the mind.Before paying a therapist to listen to you, listen to yourself. Before clearing your inbox, clear your mind. 

Just as the sky rains when the clouds are heavy, and the body sleeps when the limbs are tired, meditation arrives when the mind is calm. 

Prepare for meditation by sitting quietly in the morning, with eyes closed and back upright, in any comfortable position that will minimize movement. 

Sixty minutes are easier than thirty, as it takes time for the mind to settle down. Sixty consecutive days are needed, just as it takes time for the body to go from unfit to fit. 

Realize that at this moment, you are the only person in the world and there is no one to instruct you, praise you, or judge you. 

Make no effort for or against anything. Whatever happens, happens. Surrender to yourself in the moment. 

Resist nothing and reject nothing, including the urge to resist and reject. 

Meditation is not going through thoughts but rather letting thoughts go through you. The thought “I am meditating” is also a thought. 

Meditation isn’t holy or spiritual or magical. It’s literally nothing. 

No focus, no mantra, no dharma, no chakras, no Buddhas, no gurus, no gratitude, no scripture, no temple, no music, no gadgets, no apps are required.

Some may be helpful, but eventually all will have to be left behind. Start simply, because that's where this all ends. 

There are many meditation methods, but "no effort" is the universal method. Every creature at all times can choose to do nothing. 

There's no need to get up to record a thought. If the idea was good, it’ll come back. If it doesn’t come back, it wasn’t that good. 

Meditation is a single player game. There is no point in comparing to other meditators or to even your own previous meditations. 

If meditation was easy, you’d do nothing else. 

The point of meditation is not to become "a meditator" - in reality, there's no such thing. If it doesn’t bring lasting and effortless change, drop it, before it becomes another struggle and another chase. 

There is nothing to say and nothing on offer. No one is taking you anywhere, selling you anything, or making you promises. Reading or talking about meditation will do nothing for you. 

You cannot fail at meditation. 

Ignore all advice on meditation, including this thread.

“Meditation is good for nothing. That's why you do it.”
-@amirmotlagh 

The closer you get to the truth, the more silent you become inside. 

The ability to be content and at peace, by yourself, is freedom. 

What RamP's Reading: May'20

Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter
Win Bigly is a field guide for persuading others in any situation—or resisting the tactics of emotional persuasion when they’re used on you.

A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
Eckhart Tolle shows how transcending our ego-based state of consciousness is not only essential to personal happiness, but also the key to ending conflict and suffering throughout the world. Tolle describes how our attachment to the ego creates the dysfunction that leads to anger, jealousy, and unhappiness, and shows readers how to awaken to a new state of consciousness and follow the path to a truly fulfilling existence.

Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable
Direct, blunt, and brutally honest, Grover breaks down what it takes to be unstoppable: you keep going when everyone else is giving up, you thrive under pressure, you never let your emotions make you weak. In “The Relentless 13,” he details the essential traits shared by the most intense competitors and achievers in sports, business, and all walks of life.

Books That Had Major Impact on Me

I do get asked to recommend non-fiction books by friends and colleagues. I compiled a list of books, that has had major impact on me and those I regularly re-read and/or go back to get my bearings right. I've organised them by a few categories for quick access. My apologies if I've missed out your favourite book - chances are I might have not come across them - please do specify them in the comment section. 

Can't help but share this quote "The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.” ― Mark Twain

[Leadership | Strategy | Professional Development | Companies

People | Life Advice | Inspiration | Spirituality 

Software Development | Miscellaneous]

Leadership

• Building the Bridge as you Walk on it: A Guide for Leading Change (8 practices to engage in "fundamental state of leadership". Love the exercises that challenges you to assess yourself against each practice and to formulate a strategy for personal growth)
• Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within (A profound, self-awakening and a deeply introspective journey for finding our own internal leadership power)
• Leadership is an Art (My personal favourite. This is more a book of “why”, than “how” of leadership principles)
• Linchpin: Are you Indispensable? (Seth Godin, one of my favourite authors, explains how anyone can make a significant impact within their organization. He says "You have brilliance in you, your contribution is essential, and the art you create is precious. Only you can do it, and you must.")
• On Becoming a leader (Qualities that define leadership, people that exemplifies it and strategies to achieve these. Widely regarded as a timeless-classic on leadership)
• A Passion for Success: Practical, Inspirational and Spiritual Insight for Japan's Leading Entrepreneur (Kazuo Inamori-san founder of Kyocera corp, reflects on Ability; Effort; Attitude; Profit; Ambition; Sincerity; Strength; Innovation; Optimism; Never Giving Up)
• Principle Centered Leadership (Another classic from Stephen Covey. He asks us to develop a principle-centred core within ourselves and our organisations to lead under pressure)
• Servant Leadership: A Journey into Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness (The ideology of "servant-leader" has become a very popular concept. This book is deemed a classic work on this concept)
• The Effective Executive (A Peter Drucker classic, talks about developing the ability of get the right things done. He has identified 5 practices that needs to be mastered by an executive to become effective)
• The 5th Discipline: The art and practice of learning organization (A remarkable book that draws from science, spiritual values, psychology and Peter Senge's work with corporates and provides a searching personal experience and a dramatic professional shift of mind)

[Top | Leadership | Strategy | Professional Development | Companies | People  
Life Advice | Inspiration | Spirituality | Software Development | Miscellaneous]

Strategy

• Black Swan: The Impact of Highly Improbable (The genius Nassim Taleb has studied how we fool ourselves into thinking we know more than we actually do. Elegant, Entertaining, you'll start to see the world in a different way. Ideally one should read the remaining four books in Incerto series)
• Blue Ocean Strategy (Strategies to create untapped/new markets instead of fighting for market share)
• Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors (Porter introduces several frameworks to systematically asses competition, three generic strategies: lowest cost, differentiation and focus).
• Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products (Introduces the model Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority and Laggards and how to move across the chasm to mainstream)
• Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail (In this classic bestseller—one of the most influential business books of all time—innovation expert Clayton Christensen shows how even the most outstanding companies can do everything right—yet still lose market leadership)
• Profit From the Core (How a strong core is important for successful expansion)
• Product Strategy for High Tech Companies (Learn proven strategies like Core Strategic Vision (CSV) and Market Platform Plan (MPP) Frameworks used in high-tech companies)
• Strategy Safari: The Complete Guide Through the Wilds of Strategic Management (Learn the set-up, pros and cons of each of the ten schools of strategic management (my notes))
• The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything (Street smart advice on a plethora of topics as innovating, fund raising, branding etc., by Apple Evangelist and a well-known VC, Guy Kawasaki)
• The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More ("The Long Tail" is a powerful new force in our economy: the rise of the niche. As the cost of reaching consumers drops dramatically, our markets are shifting from a one-size-fits-all model of mass appeal to one of unlimited variety for unique tastes)

[Top | Leadership | Strategy | Professional Development | Companies | People  
Life Advice | Inspiration | Spirituality | Software Development | Miscellaneous]

Professional Development

• 8 Steps to Innovation (Simple and practical guide to systematic, as opposed to incidental, ad-hoc innovation Innovation need not only be jugaad (author's blog))
• Crucial conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High (How to ace tough conversations)
• Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done (Authors show the importance of being deeply and passionately engaged in an organization and why robust dialogues about people, strategy, and operations result in a business based on intellectual honesty and realism.)
• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (GTD as it is popularly known, is a self-help classic for managing work-life balance in today's rapidly changing world.)
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Brilliantly explains the psychology of why people say yes. Must read. Period.)
• Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step (Practical explanation of how creativity works, this results-oriented bestseller trains listeners to move beyond a "vertical" mode of thought to tap the potential of lateral thinking.)
• Peak Performers: The New Heroes of American Business (Based on the author's research on outstanding achievers in industry, science, and entrepreneurship, this study identifies the qualities that characterize peak performers through profiles of these unusually productive individuals)
• Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Gary Reynolds show us there is a better way to reach your audience through simplicity and storytelling, Garr tackles the conventional wisdom of making presentations with slides and shares his approach to designing and delivering successful and provocative presentations.)
• Quality is Free (Whether you manage a large plant or run your own small business, applying this simple principle of quality control will boost your proffits and career)
• Re-Imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age (Uber Guru Tom Peters presents a thought-provoking, inspirational look at the changing world of twenty-first-century business that introduces innovative strategies for overcoming outdated company values and procesures to create an aggressive environment that empowers talented individuals)
• Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard (Using the Rider, Elephant and Shaping the path analogy, the authors explain how to make long-lasting change)
• The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO (IDEO founder Tom Kelley reveals his secrets for fostering a culture and process of continuous innovation)
• The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement (Written in a fast-paced thriller style, The Goal, a gripping novel, is a compulsive reading. It contains a serious message for all managers in industry and explains the ideas, which underline the Theory of Constraints (TOC), developed by Eli Goldratt)
• Thinker's Toolkit: 14 Skills for Making Smarter Decisions in Business and in Life (a collection of proven, practical methods for simplifying any problem and making faster, better decisions every time)
• Visual Representation of Quantitative Information (A classic book on statistical graphics, charts, tables. Theory and practice in the design of data graphics, 250 illustrations of the best (and a few of the worst) statistical graphics, with detailed analysis of how to display data for precise, effective, quick analysis)

[Top | Leadership | Strategy | Professional Development | Companies | People  
Life Advice | Inspiration | Spirituality | Software Development | Miscellaneous]

Companies

• Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business (Whole Foods Market cofounder John Mackey helps us better understand how best-known and most-successful companies use four specific tenets - higher purpose, stakeholder integration, conscious leadership, and conscious culture and management)
• Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose (The visionary CEO of Zappos explains how an emphasis on corporate culture can lead to unprecedented success)
• Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't (How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness?)
• In Search of Excellence (8 common attributes of excellence that is hallmark of successful companies)
• NUTS! Southwest's Airline's Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success (The secrets behind the greatest success story in commercial aviation. Read it and discover how to transfer the Southwest inspiration to your own business and personal life)
• Only the Paranoid Survive (Inside Intel!, the story of how Intel became such a dominant force)
• The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon (A definitive account to understand the the story of Amazon's rise and nearly a biography of Bezos)
• The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company (A lively chronicle of Pixar Animation Studios' history and evolution, and the fraternity of geeks who shaped it)
• The Upstarts: How Uber, Airbnb and the Killer Companies of the New Silicon Valley are Changing the World (The Upstarts is the definitive account of a dawning age of tenacity, creativity, conflict and wealth. In a riveting account of the most radical companies of the new Silicon Valley, we find out how it all started, and how the world is wildly different than it was ten years ago)

[Top | Leadership | Strategy | Professional Development | Companies | People  
Life Advice | Inspiration | Spirituality | Software Development | Miscellaneous]

People

• Einstein: His life and Universe (How did his mind work? What made him a genius? Isaacson’s biography shows how his scientific imagination sprang from the rebellious nature of his personality. His fascinating story is a testament to the connection between creativity and freedom)
• iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon (iWoz traces the life and times of a brilliant, gifted...individual whose contributions to the scientific, business and cultural realms are extensive)
• Leonard Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson (Based on thousands of pages from Leonardo da Vinci’s astonishing notebooks and new discoveries about his life and work, Walter Isaacson shows how Leonardo’s genius was based on skills we can improve in ourselves, such as passionate curiosity, careful observation, and an imagination so playful that it flirted with fantasy)
• Steve Jobs (Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing)
• The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (From printer's apprentice to internationally famous scientist, inventor, statesman, legislator, and diplomat, Benjamin Franklin led a most remarkable life. Seldom is history so well articulated by someone who was there)
• The Snowball: Warren Buffet and the Business of Life (In this startlingly frank account of Buffett's life, Schroeder, strips away the mystery that has long cloaked the word's richest man to reveal a life and fortune erected around lucid and inspired business vision and unimaginable personal complexity)

[Top | Leadership | Strategy | Professional Development | Companies | People  
Life Advice | Inspiration | Spirituality | Software Development | Miscellaneous]

Life Advice

• Atomic Habits (How to set life changing habits and how to break negative habits)
• Brand You 50 (In 50 essential points, Tom Peters shows how to be committed to your craft, choose the right projects, how to improve networking, why you need to think fun is cool, and why it's important to piss some people off. He will enable you to turn yourself into an important and distinctive commodity. In short, he will show you how to turn yourself into . . . Brand You)
• Deep Work (How to do deep, focussed work free from all other distractions)
• Ego is the Enemy (Many of us insist the main impediment to a full, successful life is the outside world. In fact, the most common enemy lies within: our ego. The book shows how reach highest levels of power and success by con­quering our own egos)
• Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway: How to Turn Your Fear and Indecision into Confidence and Action (Offers insight and tools to vastly improve your ability to handle any given situation)
• Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance (Why success is less about IQ or inborn talent, but more about perseverance, passion and resilience (my excerpts))
• How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big (Blasting clichéd career advice, the contrarian pundit and creator of Dilbert recounts the humorous ups and downs of his career, revealing the outsized role of luck in our lives and how best to play the system. Adams shares the game plan he’s followed since he was a teen: invite failure in, embrace it, then pick its pocket)
• Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life (The father of the new science of positive psychology, draws on more than twenty years of clinical research to demonstrate how optimism enchances the quality of life, and how anyone can learn to practice it)
• Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment (Drawing on Zen philosophy and his expertise in the martial art of aikido, bestselling author George Leonard shows how the process of mastery can help us attain a higher level of excellence and a deeper sense of satisfaction and fulfillment in our daily lives)
• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (People with a fixed mindset—those who believe that abilities are fixed—are less likely to flourish than those with a growth mindset—those who believe that abilities can be developed. Mindset reveals how great parents, teachers, managers, and athletes can put this idea to use to foster outstanding accomplishment)
• The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business (At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, being more productive, and achieving success is understanding how habits work. As Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives)
• QBQ! The Question Before the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability at Work and in Life (Succinct, insightful, and practical, QBQ! The Question Behind the Question provides a method for putting personal accountability into daily action, which can bring astonishing result)
• Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity (You don't have to choose between being a pushover and a jerk. Using Radical Candor―avoiding the perils of Obnoxious Aggression, Manipulative Insincerity, and Ruinous Empathy―you can be kind and clear at the same time (my excerpts))
• Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! (The #1 Personal Finance book of all time - the book explodes the myth that you need to earn a high income to be rich and explains the difference between working for money and having your money work for you)
• Your Erroneous Zones (How you can take charge of yourself and manage how much you will let difficult times and people affect you)
• The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life (A set of breakthrough practices for creativity in all human enterprises. The Zanders' deceptively simple practices are based on two premises: that life is composed as a story ("it's all invented") and that, with new definitions, much more is possible than people ordinarily think)
• The Path fo Least Resistance : Learning to Become the Creative Force in Your Own Life (Discover the steps of creating; the importance of creating what you truly love, how to focus on the creative process to move from where you are to where you want to be, and much more)
• The Power of Your Subconscious Mind (In The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, Dr. Joseph Murphy gives you the tools you will need to unlock the awesome powers of your subconscious mind)
• The Richest Man in Babylon (Based on “Babylonian parables”, the book has been hailed as the greatest of all inspirational works on the subject of thrift, financial planning, and personal wealth. In simple language, these fascinating and informative stories set you on a sure path to prosperity and its accompanying joys)
• The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success (Once we understand our true nature and learn to live in harmony with natural law, a sense of well-being, good health, fulfilling relationships, energy and enthusiasm for life, and material abundance will spring forth easily and effortlessly)
• What to Say When You Talk to Yourself (Shad Helmstetter shows the reader how to erase and replace past mental programs with healthy, new programs that can be positively life-changing)
• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values (A narration of a summer motorcycle trip undertaken by a father and his son, the book becomes a personal and philosophical odyssey into fundamental questions of how to live."Is it hard? Not if you have the right attitudes. Its having the right attitudes thats hard." (More quotes here))

[Top | Leadership | Strategy | Professional Development | Companies | People  
Life Advice | Inspiration | Spirituality | Software Development | Miscellaneous]

Inspiration

• 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (needs no intro)
• As a Man Thinketh (An extraordinary book that shows how man is the creator and shaper of his destiny by the thoughts which he thinks. Its a very short book and I recommend reading it in one full sitting of  45-60mins and I bet you'd come out different in your thinking)
• Awaken the Giant Within (In his indomitable style, celebrate self-help Guru Tony Robbins forces you to conduct a reality check and take a hard look in the mirror and most importantly to take action) 
• Don't Sweat the Small Stuff (Extremely good company when you take yourself seriously and get stressed. Dr. Carlson with gentle and supportive suggestions reminds us almost everything is "small stuff" and helps not to make a big deal and remain sane and happy)
• Man's Search For Meaning (Viktor Frankl, a holocaust survivor and a psychiatrist argues man's deepest desire is to search for meaning and purpose. Touching, impactful and contemplative)
• Jonathan Livingston Seagull (A story of a bird determined to be more than ordinary. Its about seeking a higher purpose/vision, and learning the meaning of love and kindness)
• The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the story of a shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. The book teaches the wisdom of listening to our hearts and follow our dreams)
• The Law of Success (A timeless classic, Napoleon Hill's 16 lessons are obtained after interviewing dozens of successful individuals. Lessons are valuable even now. Read it and gift it to an young adult and make a difference in their life)
• The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari (The subtitle says "A fable about fulfilling your dreams and reaching your destiny". It comes pretty close to its promise. Presented in a fast paced way, it helps you get out slumber)

[Top | Leadership | Strategy | Professional Development | Companies | People  
Life Advice | Inspiration | Spirituality | Software Development | Miscellaneous]

Spirituality

• A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose (Eckhart Tolle describes how our attachment to the ego creates the dysfunction that leads to anger, jealousy, and unhappiness, and shows readers how to awaken to a new state of consciousness and follow the path to a truly fulfilling existence)
• Autobiography of a Yogi (A dynamic and inspirational story of Paramahansa Yogananda, that many consider a masterpiece of spiritual literature. I can't explain the feelings I go through whenever I read this book).
• Freedom from the Known (Usually it needs a few re-reads to understand JK but his books are gem. In this book he talks about living the life without fear and anxiety) 
• I'm That (This book is a collection of Nisargadatta Maharaj's speeches on Advaita Vedanta. Deep, Meaningful and beautiful - not an easy read though)
• Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi (An awesome collection of the conversations with the great sage. Self-enquiry shines through every page of this book)
• The Art of Meditation (Matthieu Ricard shows that practicing meditation can change our understanding of ourselves. Great book for anyone trying to understand what meditation is, how it is done and what it can achieve)
• The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living (HH Dalai Lama tells happiness is the purpose of life and the very motion of our life is toward happiness and guides us to defeat anxiety, stress, anger etc.,)
• The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlighenment (Simple and profound. Life transforming teachings on ego-based state of consciousness, how being present in the Now changes one's life dramatically)
• Walden and Civil Disobedience (Thoreau's chronicles during his isolation in the woods - makes you stop and reflect, slow down and appreciate the universe)
• Wherever you Go, There you Are  (Great introduction to mindfulness with practical exercises and good examples)
• Zen Mind, Beginners Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice ("In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few". So begins a classic, thought provoking and enigmatic book with full of insights)

[Top | Leadership | Strategy | Professional Development | Companies | People  
Life Advice | Inspiration | Spirituality | Software Development | Miscellaneous]

Software Development

• Clean Architecture: A Craftsman's Guide to Software Structure and Design (SOLID rules of s/w architecture to dramatically improve developer productivity. Toss every other book on architecture)
• Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship (Even bad code can function. But if code isn’t clean, it can bring a development organization to its knees. Every year, countless hours and significant resources are lost because of poorly written code. But it doesn’t have to be that way)
• Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction (Widely considered one of the best practical guides to programming, no matter what your experience level, development environment, or project size, this book will inform and stimulate your thinking—and help you build the highest quality code)
• Design Patterns: Elements of Re-usable OO S/w (Catalog of simple and succint solutions to commonly occurring design problems)
• Introduction to Algorithms (A timeless classic, bread and butter for computer scientists, this book covers a broad range of algorithms in depth, rigor and comprehensively)
• Mythical Man Month (Thought provoking essays on software project management. Must read if you are managing large/complex software projects)
• Programming Pearls (A programmers handbook for pure pleasure and wisdom, though you continue to gain new insights into programming each time you read this)
• Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code (Goldmine of useful techniques to help keep code in the best shape possible)
• Tour of C++ (Concise, self-contained guide for modern C++ from the creator of C++ himself. Not for beginners though)

[Top | Leadership | Strategy | Professional Development | Companies | People  
Life Advice | Inspiration | Spirituality | Software Development | Miscellaneous]

Miscellaneous

• Born to Run: A Hidden tribe, Superathletes and the Greatest Race the World has Never Seen (Runner or a non-runner? Read this book for knowledge, inspiration and entertainment. It simply makes you want to run!)
• Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within All of Us (Each one can tap into our hidden creative genius)
• Design of Everyday Things (Why some products delight and others frustrate. Mostly an introductory one, not for experts in design)
• How to Talk to Kids So They Listen and Listen So They Talk (Excellent advice on talking/listening to anyone, not just the kids)
• Run Less, Run Faster (Excellent resource whether you are starting from couch or planning to run the Boston marathon)
• Surely You Are Joking Mr. Feynman (Biography of an extraordinary man told in an extraordinary way)
• The Inmates are Running the Asylum (Understand the challenges of designing user friendly interactions for normal users and how to not make them feel them stupid)
• Vagabonding: An Un-common Guide to the Art of Long Term World Travel (Read this if you are planning to take time-off for months to discover the world)

[Top | Leadership | Strategy | Professional Development | Companies | People  
Life Advice | Inspiration | Spirituality | Software Development | Miscellaneous]