Tristan's Bookshelf
One hundred and seventy-five books that I've read. Created with Readwise.
Reviewed Books
Oathbringer
the rest of the series is also amazing, but this is maybe my favorite fiction book ever
The Beginning of Infinity
The best book I've ever read.
How to Get Rich
Ignore the scammyness of the title. This book is one of the best things I've read on entrepreneurship and Dennis (RIP) is a phenomenally honest & entertaining guide to the ins and outs of starting your own company.
Snow Crash
Written in the 90s, but predicts Google, Twitter, AR, widespread LTE, AR, and pretty much everything we use today. Beyond that, super entertaining and suggests quite a few things (e.g city-state franchises) that don't exist (yet).
Man's Search for Meaning
Whenever I think about complaining how hard my life is, I think about this book and those complaints are replaced with gratitude. Also introduced the fascinating idea of paradoxical intention to me, which seems to come up every day in my life.
Zero to One
One of the few popular business books that really lives up to the hype. Say what you want about Thiel, the man understands startups incredibly deeply.
The Art of Doing Science and Engineering
Maybe it's because he belonged to a different generation of Computer Scientists, but Hamming had a perspective on science, engineering, and computing that I've never seen anywhere else. Lots of gems in this compilation of lectures, including his most well-known "You and Your Research".
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
Holy crap, where has this sci-fi book been my entire life? Sentient AI, society on the moon (with its own uniquely charming and unorthodox culture), anarchy, political coups, and revolution. Mike the supercomputer might be my favorite character from any book ever. I finished the first 100 pages in my first sitting... If anyone knows of more books like this, PLEASE let me know!
Significant Digits
Followup to HPMoR -- different, but amazing in its own way. http://www.anarchyishyperbole.com/p/significant-digits.html
Fooled by Randomness
Explores the hidden role of randomness in life -- especially focused on Taleb's (long and fascinating) profession as a trader.
"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!"
Does this count as a biography? If so, the best one I've ever read. A first-person look into one of the 20th century's best thinkers' mind. Plus, his stories are hilarious and entertaining.
A Deepness in the Sky
Couldn't get into Vinge's other books, but damn this amazing. Strong reco for sci-fi lovers...
Hackers & Painters
A collection of Paul Graham's older essays -- what's not to love? Wish he'd publish a book of the ones after 2004 :P
7 Powers
The Fabric of Reality
Use of Weapons
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
WFIO, and what to do about it.
Make It Stick
The bible on human memory -- one of the inspiratory forces behind Readwise.
Masters of Doom
Super entertaining overview of John Romero and John Carmack's wild ride, wherein they largely created the PC game market.
Also goes to show just how much an inexperienced startup team can get wrong (but get away with!) as long as they have a product that their users truly love.
Hooked
If you work on a product that has recurring users, this book will almost certainly help you make it better.
The War of Art
How procrastination actually works
Time Enough for Love
Heinlein is WEIRD man, but overall quite entertaining, and plenty of chunks of wisdom thrown in your face.
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
Harry Potter retold as if Harry was a very intelligent rationalist, facing the mysteries of the wizarding world with nothing but the power of science and rational thinking. Manages to be furiously entertaining (though suuuper nerdy) while simultaneously inducting you into Eliezer's school of rationality.
Somehow, along the ~120 chapters, it changed the way I think permanently (and for the better). You will either love this (as I did) or hate it. I recommend listening to it in podcast/audiobook form at hpmorpodcast.com
(8 years out didn't age super well tbh.. was originally a 9 or 10 but lowering to an 8)
Cryptonomicon
Great -- I've never read a book like this. Very long. Each chapter almost felt like an episode in a TV show, in the best sense possible.
Lying
Good, brief case against ever lying
Anything You Want
Derek is a great writer and gets his ideas about entrepreneurship across fabulously.
Use of Weapons
Best Culture novel I've read
The 48 Laws of Power
A bit too zero-sum in many respects, but nonetheless a riveting look at power and its lessons throughout history.
Ego Is the Enemy
The Messy Middle
The Bed of Procrustes
Dealers of Lightning
The Black Swan
Deep Work
Foundation's Edge
"What Do You Care What Other People Think?"
The End of Jobs
Principles
The Player of Games
Traction
The Black Swan
Tunnel in the Sky
Mastery
Excession
Do the Work
How procrastination actually works part 2
Shoe Dog
Candid (at least candid-sounding) overview of Nike and Phil's history. My biggest take away: for the first decade, Nike was never not near the brink of failure!
The Now Habit
Skin in the Game
The Inevitable
Distress
The Motivation Hacker
Vagabonding
Don't Make Me Think, Revisited
I thought the core principles of the book were great, but likely better suited for a long blog post than an entire book. Because of this, there seemed to be a lot of unnecessary fluff around mobile (just do what's obvious) and the specifics of UI patterns that you're probably not interested in.
The above being said, I don't regret reading this as some of the core tenants influence my everyday product thinking. I've heard the 2nd edition (non-revisited) is much less verbose, so maybe try that?
Pitch Anything
The Everything Store
Stranger in a Strange Land
Methuselah's Children
Tribe of Mentors
The Charisma Myth
Consider Phlebas
Rainbows End
Other Books
