Book: Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. It’s a good book. There are some good insights, some things that only work for a particular context, and some others that I disagree. I have to highlight one item of my notes: “Even working remotely should be avoided because misalignment can creep in whenever colleagues aren’t together full-time, in the same place, every day”

It’s May, and it’s time for metrics! 📊 Books Two books read this month, but both received a 3 stars review: Wait, What?: And Life’s Other Essential Questions: Exactly what the author says in the beginning: It’s a lecture that became a book. Not bad, but OK-ish. Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work: More political views than I was expecting and the pacing is not so good.

Book: Wait, What?: And Life’s Other Essential Questions by James E. Ryan. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️. I bought this book as an Audible daily deal. For the price and size of the book, it was ok. The book is exactly what the author says in the beginning: It’s a lecture that became a book. It can be summarized in less than 10 lines. Please read the other reviews and you will know the whole book.

Book: Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work by Matthew B. Crawford. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️. I was between 3 and 4 stars for this review but decided to stick with 3. The book has some interesting insights and the whole motorcycle thing resonates a lot with me, but in general, I found myself bored by the pacing and abstraction. Here are my raw notes about the book:

It’s time for April metrics! 📊 Books Note: I write a review for each book I read. You can find them on my Goodreads account. Again, just one book this month, and again, a 5 stars one! A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy. This book was on my reading list for many months now. After reading it, I realized I’m practicing a fraction of Stoicism for many years.

Book: A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William B. Irvine. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Great book if you’re curious about stoicism and its practices. After reading this I found that I’m practicing many techniques of stoicism for many years without knowing it. The book starts with the history of stoicism, the first stoics, and the context of their time. The beginning is not pragmatic as I was expecting but when I finished the book, I decided it was a good thing.

March is gone, and it’s time for metrics! 📊 Books Note: I write a review for each book I read. You can find them on my Goodreads account. Just one book this month, but a 5 stars one: When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing. This book is about optimization based on time and energy. What is the best time to do some action based on statistics? I found it to be amazing and could confirm many of the assumptions with my data.

February time! Let’s see what we can get from my metrics. 😀 Books Note: I write a review for each book I read. You can find them on my Goodreads account. I’m quite satisfied with my reading list for this month: Five books read in a month and a 4.6 average rating. That’s what I call a good reading month. The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence.

Book: The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence by Josh Waitzkin. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Nice book. I first heard of Josh when listening to Tim Ferriss show and then I got a recommendation (tks, Amir!). The author is the guy from “Searching for Bobby Fischer” movie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108065/). He was a chess prodigy as a kid and a Tai Chi Chuan champion as an adult. The links between the learning of martial arts and chess are really interesting.

Book: The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason. Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️. I just read “rich dad poor dad” before reading this one and I think it ruined my experience. After reading that book first, this one looks like a puzzle you already know the answer. This book is a series of parables of the “richest man in Babylon” (as you expect) and you need to read the parables understand the context and translate it to your life if you want to get something useful from it.