3/5

If the wealthiest families from the past 100 years had spent a reasonable portion of their wealth, invested in the stock market, and passed their wealth down to their children, there would be tens of thousands of billionaires with inherited fortunes today - but there are none that fit that description on any rich list anywhere in the world. This is the core puzzle of The Missing Billionaires, and the authors make the case that this isn't the result of poor investment selections, but moreso poor investment sizing. This book introduced me to plenty of new ideas around portfolio theory, but is it going to change my investment behaviour? Probably not.

3/5

In the first of six essays, George Orwell muses on the cost of reading measured against other forms of entertainment, estimating that he spends substantially more on drinking and smoking each year than he does buying books. The other five essays are on completely unrelated topics. For me, the best part of reading anything Orwell is his descriptions of people, for example: "One of them, I remember, was a wretched drivelling little creature, almost an albino, peering upwards out of weak eyes, with a long nose at the end of which a dewdrop always seemed to be trembling."

4/5

An accessible look into how New Zealand's economy works, what has driven our GDP growth and what indicators are useful to look at for forecasting. Plenty of interesting tidbits throughout too - two examples: 1) New Zealand's per capita incomes were 40% higher than the US in 1880, the highest in the world alongside Australia, 2) up until 1967, most of our wages were decided by an Arbitration Court, which fell apart after they decided no one was getting a raise one year.

5/5

A 1967 classic on personal effectiveness, written by the man who invented the term "knowledge worker". This book is full of important ideas, and is quite clearly the trunk off of which the modern productivity genre has branched. Peter argues that an effective executive knows where their time goes, focuses on the output of their work rather than the work itself, builds on their strengths, concentrates on high-leverage activities, and makes effective decisions. This book is a how-to manual for each of these behaviours that has aged surprisingly well.

4/5

Writing is thinking on paper. Anyone who thinks clearly should be able to write clearly—about any subject at all. Moreover, any subject is accessible through clear writing. The author spends the first part of the book expanding on these two points, and the second part giving examples of quality writing from science, math, art, music, physics, chemistry and psychology. Zinsser is an excellent writer. If you want to emulate him, you're best to start with On Writing Well.

3/5

Dopamine is responsible for making us want things. Modern life gives us access to highly dopaminergic activities more easily than we've evolved to handle. The body works to achieve homeostasis, therefore too much weight on the 'pleasure' end of the see-saw leads to your body applying weight to the 'pain' side to balance things out. This also works in reverse. A good introduction to addiction and the science of motivation. Moralistic undertones.

4/5

Another money book, I can't help myself. Strong opinions on career planning, wealth building and what it means to have a good life. Some new ideas, some rehashed old ones, but all written very well. I like the author's tone of voice.

5/5

A collection of the idiosyncratic habits of famous creatives (artists, writers, philosophers, composers). Substance abuse and a strict routine seem to be the two requirements for consistent creative output. The joy for me was in the details. One of my favourite books of 2024 to date.

4/5

I was keen to know more about the context surrounding the signing of the Treaty, and the primary points of contention. This book is a thorough and well-balanced introduction which does a good job of explaining the situation without demonising either party. The second half of the book was pretty dry, so I ended up skimming through it, but the first half was solid.

3/5

Cal Newport is an author I'll happily break my 'no new books' rule for, but this one was a let down. The big ideas are good (do fewer things, work at a natural pace, obsess over quality), but there's not a lot new here if you've read his previous books. The examples he used throughout the book skewed heavily toward writers and musicians which while interesting, isn't super relatable.

4/5

A wonderfully cynical examination of bureaucracy, written by someone who sounds like he's had an absolute guts full. Written in 1957, but it holds up pretty well. The whole thing has a deliberately overdone scientific tone to it which adds to the appeal.

4/5

A short, practical guide to retaining employees. Focused on startups but broadly applicable to any type of company. The author has clearly been through the wringer when it comes to losing key people, which makes him a believable source of advice.

2/5

I like the FS blog and podcast so wanted to like this book too, but it ended up being washy. Still some good nuggets throughout about decision making, communication, leadership and ego.

5/5

The main ideas from the world of product design applied to the process of writing a non-fiction book. Work in public, interview target users, aim for timeless appeal, design around a recommendation loop, optimise for value-per-page. Specific to 'useful' (problem-solver) books. The author practices what he preaches, this is a good book.

5/5

How to learn better using desirable difficulty, spaced repetition, generation and reflection. Practical advice for designing learning environments that prioritise actual learning outcomes rather than a comfortable experience for students. The passage from John McPhee was a particular highlight for me. Highly recommended.

2/5

I liked the sound of this book, but didn't really enjoy reading it. The author offers a ground-up explanation of pitch, scales, harmony, rhythm and beat which was interesting, but the examples were trite. A very short read however, so no huge loss.

3/5

Josef K. is arrested and must defend himself against a charge about which he can get no information. I thoroughly enjoyed The Metamorphosis and In The Penal Colony, but The Trial didn't hit as hard. Still a disturbing and disorientating read if that's your thing, but I'd read the other two first.

3/5

The story of the Kelly Criterion, potentially a dry topic, but the author does a great job of weaving the story together into a sort of true-crime page-turner. The story involves the Mafia, Bell Labs, Claude Shannon (the father of information theory), hedge funds and counting cards in Vegas. In some ways it's a good counterpart to The Little Book of Common Sense Investing.

3/5

Prior to reading my knowledge of the Russo-Ukranian war was limited to news snippets. This was a very accessible entry into how a modern war is fought, and how and why other countries have responded the way they have. Interesting look into the logistics of staging a war, an explanation of Classical vs. Total War, and a look at the Russian propaganda machine in action. The latter is particularly interesting after reading Once Upon A Time In Russia and Freezing Order.

5/5

An excellent introduction to project management. Aimed at the 'unofficial' project manager who has wound up doing it by accident—often without formal authority to back them up.

3/5

A short history of the five major (pre-human) extinction events, followed by an argument that the Anthropocene constitutes a sixth. This book introduced me to the concept of New Pangaea, whereby the ease of moving plants and animals around the world (on purpose and accidentally) has the same effect as reassembling Pangaea. Pairs well with Guns, Germs and Steel.

3/5

A PolyMatter video (linked in notes) on China's impending demographic collapse got me interested in the topic, and this is a good introduction through a New Zealand lens. Key areas of discussion here are immigration, housing intensification, elder care and welfare. Good for building a base of understanding, not good for familiarising yourself with any potential solutions as none are presented.

5/5

This is one of my favourite books. I'm a newbie when it comes to philosophy, and the form of this book makes it the perfect jargon-free introduction to the actual ideas rather than the various -isms that can make the topic seem impenetrable. The ideas presented are deliberately contradictory from one chapter to the next, so it's interesting to see what jumps out at you personally.

4/5

An absolutely cooked science fiction story from 1961. Shayol is a prison planet where criminals are sent to be punished eternally by being forced to grow extra organs and limbs which are then harvested. The story itself is good, but the descriptions of the 'herd' of prisoners is what will haunt you.

5/5

A good discussion of some pretty uncomfortable topics, written by one of my favourite writers. His main idea is reimagining the Left-Right political spectrum by adding a y-axis to account for higher- and lower-order thinking, and using this to explain the US's extreme political polarisation. An excellent read regardless of your political leaning.

4/5

I'm a sucker for a book on money, and this is a good one. No new ideas, but very well articulated by the author.

3/5

More information on citrus than I thought I'd ever need, but reading this while travelling Italy made it interesting. Seeing the Medici's weird citrus collection in the Boboli Gardens became an unexpected highlight for me on the trip.

5/5

A perfect example of gripping narrative non-fiction. Thoroughly enjoyable read that's hard to put down. The story gets to the point where the author is being used as a bargaining chip between Putin and Trump, truly outrageous stuff. Highly recommended. Pairs well with Once Upon A Time In Russia.

5/5

A sweeping overview of some influential ideas in philosophy, politics, economics, architecture and design. Written at least in part by Alain de Botton. I loved this book, it's served as a good jumping-off point for exploring the standout ideas in more detail.

4/5

This book examines some 'riddles' within different cultures, past and present, like Hindu cow worship, Native American potlatch ceremonies, and witch hunts. It was written in the mid-70s so some of the language is a bit dusty, but still an interesting read.