Over the course of the pandemic, I have nurtured a habit of reading 1-2 hours per day before bed.
As the Frankfurter Allgemeine, a German national newspaper, advertised “Freiheit beginnt im Kopf” .(“Freedom begins with the mind”).
Reading regularly allows the mind to travel far and unbounded.
Today I want to share with you the 5 books that in some way have been able to alter the way I think and give me new perspectives.
How did I pick them out of the other books I have read?
If the the book provokes thoughts that lingers in my mind, I consider them having impact on my current thinking and are valuable to my learning.
The books are listed alphabetically, I hope you enjoy the pick.
1. Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder (Taleb, 2012)
“ Things that benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors and love adventure, risk, and uncertainty”.
–Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Antifragile
Antifragile is the exact opposite of fragile.
In the book Antifragile, the world can be divided into two categories: the fragile and the antifragile.
“Things that are defined as antifragile are beyond resilience or robustness; unlike the resilient that resists shocks or uncertainties and stays the same, the antifragile gets better through crisis and disorder.”
-Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Antifragile
The concept was analysed and discussed broadly and in depth across different domains: politics, biology, business, phycology, history, and more. So the reader can have a comprehensive and multi-dimensional understanding of the author’s point of view.
2. An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth (Hadfield, 2013)
“ I think one reason people like hearing about these sorts of things is that it helps them see the world slightly differently, perhaps even with a sense of wonder…People like being reminded that the impossible really is possible, I think, and I was happy to be able to remind them.”
– Chris Hadfield
An autobiography from Chris Hadfield, one of the world’s most accomplished astronauts who had spent decades training and nearly 4,000 hours in space.
This is a really exciting read as the author talks about his career path from a pilot to an astronaut, describes the feeling of being on a spaceship and the International Space Station, and shares his philosophy of dealing with fear and the unknown.
Not to mention the insights of how NASA selects candidates and conducts trainings for space exploration, the long-lived NASA traditions, and the team work dynamics among other craft members in such a critical environment- the space.
It turned out, just as life on earth with any profession,
“ No matter how competent or how seasoned, every astronaut is essentially a perpetual student, forever cramming for the next test ”.
– Chris Hadfield, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth
3. Good Strategy Bad Strategy (Rumelt, 2011)
“ The most basic idea of strategy is the application of strength against weakness. Or, if you prefer, strength applied to the most promising opportunity.”
– Richard Rumelt
This is so far the most impressive book about strategy that I have come across.
As a former business school student and a an analyst at present, I agree with the statement that,
“ The gap between good strategy and the jumble of things people label “strategy” has grown over the years ” .
– Richard Rumelt, Good Strategy Bad Strategy
It is not difficult to find that many large and well-known companies often state their strategy as “ to become the global leader in the market ”, “ to improve profitability” , “ to reduce cost” or something along the line.
The confusion created by equating strategy with success or ambition often blinds us from differentiating the real and good strategies from the bad ones.
This book has undoubtedly helped me develop a better eye for “good strategies” in life and in work.
4. The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable (Taleb, 2007)
“ Living on our planet, today, requires a lot more imagination than we are made to have…Our world is dominated by the extreme, the unknown, and the very improbable- and all the while we spend our time focussing on the known, and the repeated.”
– Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Another book written by Taleb which discusses, among other things, uncertainties, flaws of statistical methods, the inapplicability of the bell-curve, Mediocristan versus Extremisten, and the how, why and even when the black swan happens.
Despite the chapters could sometimes get a little technical, especially towards statistics and probability, the central message of this book is close to our daily life and have definitely help me see things differently.
“I am often taken aback by how people can have a miserable day or get angry because they feel cheated by a bad meal, cold coffee, a social rebuff, or a rude reception…We are quick to forget that just being alive is an extraordinary piece of good luck, a remote event, a chance occurrence of monstrous proportions. ”
-Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan
5. The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter and How to Make the Most of Them Now (Jay, 2016)
“ No, life is not over at thirty or even forty, nor is it ever too late to claim your life. But if, as William James said, intention is the result of attention and choice, it is never too early to start paying attention either.”
– Meg Jay
Just before typing these words that you are now reading, I have re-read The Defining Decade for about 2 hours trying to come up with a great idea for this paragraph. But I stopped and started writing my post again after reading the line:
“ The best is the enemy of the good ”, describing some of our tendencies to “ search for glory, when, somehow we learn more about what is ideal than about what is real. ”
–The Defining Decade, Meg Jay
Now in my late twenties, when I look back and examine some of the ideas written in The Defining Decade, I agree more often than disagree.
I realize that the paths I have paved to who I am and what I do today are mostly attributable to the decisions I have made and the actions I have taken than those I have not.
Despite not all decisions and actions have led me to where I wanted to be, but they have helped me get closer to it by revealing the real properties of those goals and my true potential in obtaining them.
“ We think that by avoiding decisions now, we keep all our options open for later- but not making choices is a choice all the same. ”
– The Defining Decade, Meg Jay
I cannot quote more from this book and would encourage you to have a read at it, no matter which age range you are currently in.
Essentially, every day, year and decade deserves to be lived intentionally, purposefully and with explorative, bold and thoughtful decision-making.
Conclusion
While writing this post, I re-visited the 5 books above and found myself feeling inspired again despite having already read them before.
Perhaps, just as Taleb’s definition of complexity:
“ A complex domain has a great degree of interdependence between its elements…As a result of this interdependence, mechanisms are subjected to positive, reinforcing feedback loops. ”
-Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan
knowledge, learning, and memory are within the jurisdiction of the complex domain which interdepend and interact with one another constantly as our thinkings expand and advance.
I am looking forward to the next series of books that I would recommend to you.
I hope you enjoy the post and are inspired to pick up any of the books mentioned above for a good read!