For those new to my blog revamp, I used to post every 12 to 18 months about the best books, articles, and podcasts I had recently consumed. Then I would ask for your own suggestions and amazing things would pour in. Even though I don’t always read them all, I very much appreciate every suggestion and do look into them. It is a cherished input into my “content vetting process”.
Whether we are conscious of it or not, we all fall into certain consumption patterns. As modern consumers of media we follow our favorite news outlets and newsletters, niche subreddits and twitter personalities, and listen to podcasts of our choosing. Through this endless buffet we are overwhelmed with things to consume. But generally we like what is served up because we sought it out from a preferred source. Better yet, maybe we had it fed to us by an algorithm that has our tastes perfectly tailored. And so the cycle continues. Why look elsewhere when I enjoy the content already appearing in my life?
By pooling a wide variety of people for their suggestions every year, I try to break my own little content bubble. Is it working? As you can see from my list below, possibly not. But the point is that I selfishly get to enjoy a Christmas-like experience of having trusted friends send me a few golden nuggets I get to go explore. What’s not to love?
Please text me with any of your recent favorite books, articles, reports, podcasts. Everything is fair game.
Thank you. Now on to the list!
Books
Fiction
The Three-Body Problem | Liu Cixin | 2006, translated 2014
Fantastic sci-fi book, first of a trilogy. Winner the 2014 Hugo Award (best sci-fi novel of the year). It is getting adapted soon into a Netflix show by the two guys who did Game of Thrones. Read now before the show drops sometime this year!
The Handmaid’s Tale | Margaret Atwood | 1985
Absolute classic. Needs no introduction. Surprised it took me this long to get to.
Nonfiction: Science
Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World | Jill Jonnes | 2003
An exploration into “the war of the currents” and how modern electricity came to be. These are my favorite types of biography books – it covers a time period, a few different characters, and how they all interacted with each other. I find these much easier to read than just a long biography on one person.
The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future | Gretchen Bakke | 2016
Empires of Light (above) explains how our electric grid started. This book explains how it works today and got so complex.
The Pope of Physics: Enrico Fermi and the Birth of the Atomic Age | Gino Segrè and Bettina Hoerlin | 2016
Narrative biography about famous physicist Enrico Fermi who, among many accomplishments, was the first to create a nuclear reactor. He then helped America in the Manhattan Project to develop the first atomic weapon. It is a great expose of scientific genius, the national race for the atom bomb against the Germans, and also the conflicting emotions that come with creating the world’s most dangerous weapon. (Thanks for the rec Sebastian).
Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming | Paul Hawken | 2017
This is a pretty nerdy decarbonization book and functions almost like a handbook for different energy transition technologies. It goes through them all and then quantifies how much carbon they could abate and how much it roughly would cost. It’s good if you want a pie in the sky, scientific attack plan for decarbonizing the planet in the most efficient way. Does not even attempt to talk about the policy to do so.
Nonfiction: Business and Finance
The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future | Sebastian Mallaby | 2022
I dipped my toe into VC this year and needed somewhere to start to understand the industry. Good primer on its history and it is done in a narrative fashion. Learn about Sand Hill Road, famous VCs through the years, and dramatic infighting at companies like Facebook and Uber. (Thanks for the rec “Venture Boys”).
The (Mis)Behavior of Markets | Benoit Mandelbrot and Richard Hudson | 1997
This is the nerdiest book on the list. Benoit Mandelbrot discovered the field of fractal geometry and made arguments on how he believes it applies to stock and commodity markets. He rails against the random walk theory of markets and uses his own algorithms to simulate market behaviors. He doesn’t leave the reader with a clear plan on how to make money using his models, since he himself does not know. He does believe however that most market analysis is complete shit (at least at the time of writing in ’97). If you like markets or math this is definitely an interesting read.
Nonfiction: World Affairs
Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World | Tim Marshall | 2015
“Everything” about the world is a stretch, but it sure does explain a lot. Published in 2015, I found it especially interesting to see the discussion around Russia and Ukraine years before the current conflict. I thought I knew a good amount about geography and world affairs and was just shocked at how much I learned here. Page for page, most impactful book of the year. (Thanks for the rec Joe).
Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice | Bill Browder | 2015
Fascinating story about an American financier who found himself in Russia right as they were privatizing their entire economy. He would buy portions of these newly privatized companies at incredible discounts because no one knew how to properly value them and because the whole process was done is such a haphazard way. He was making money hand over fist and led the largest investment fund in all of Russia. Then Putin took notice. (Thanks for the rec Prof. Karl).
Memoir
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running | Haruki Murakami | 2007
A short little book on a Japanese novelist who talks about his joy of running and how he finds it complementary to writing.
Articles
Saturn’s rings are disappearing. The James Webb Space Telescope may reveal how much time they have left | Space.com
The Most Important Piece of Career Advice You Probably Never Heard | Cal Newport
Why is China so Obsessed With Food Security? | The Upheaval (Substack)
So You Want To Turn and Office Building Into a Home? | New York Times
My 8 Best Techniques for Evaluating Character | The Honest Broker (Substack)
America’s new nuclear power industry has a Russian problem | Reuters
A day in the life of a honeybee trucker | Freight Waves
Watch and A.I. Learn to Write by Reading Nothing but Harry Potter | New York Times
Vizualizations
Visualizing U.S. Consumption of Fuel and Materials per Capita | Visual Capitalist
Reports / Presentations
Tesla Master Plan 3 – Sustainable Energy for all of Earth | Tesla | 41 pages
I’d suggest reading the exec summary and then skipping to what jumps out to you from the table of contents.
Podcasts
The Prince | The Economist | Sep 2022
An eight episode series on the rise of Xi Jingping in China. Details CCP corruption, censorship practices, Uyghur discrimination, and much more. (Thanks for the rec Stephon).
Mythos and Melodrama in the Philippines | Throughline by NPR | May 2023
The story of Ferdinand Marcos, former dictator of the Philippines. He died in 1989, exiled and disgraced. That was the end, until his son just won back the presidency in 2022. (Thanks for the rec Yaa).
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