I read almost exclusively non-fiction.
Favorites
★★★★★
- The Untethered Soul. A deep, probing book about spirituality with concise, readable chapters. The book progressively explores the nature of our mind. It starts simple, exploring the analogy that your mind is like an annoying roommate, with its incessant chatter and worrying. It goes further into thought experiments that challenge you to explore your psyche, and understand why you are the way you are. It gets somewhat repetitive and harder to follow as it goes on, but its density of perspective shifts per page is hard to beat. I haven't fully understood it and suspect I'll be re-reading this one multiple times.
- Shoe Dog. A fun coming-of-age story where Nike and its founder grow up together over the course of the 1960s and 70s. The early days of both the company and its creator tare relatable. A 20-something Oregon graduate imports a few hundred shoes from Japan and sells them from the trunk of his car. But powered by a relentlessness and fear of losing that grows every year, both Phil Knight and his company grow into iconic American brands.
- Open. Andre Agassi's emotionally-charged journey from tennis phenom to drug-fueled depression then back up to World No. 1. I'm a tennis fan, but I suspect this story has appeal even to those with no interest in sports.
- Atomic Habits by James Clear. An excellent pairing of foundational psychology experiments with concrete tips and tactics to build better habits by leveraging our innate tendencies. A bit verbose, so skim aggressively or listen to the audiobook while doing something else.
Want to Read
- The Beginning of Infinity
- Thinking Fast and Slow