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How to Write a Lot
Paul J Silvia shares his tips for writing a lot and in that he identifies the place that most people fall down in their writing, they dream of it without having any plan on how to do the damn work. If you’re looking for a short guide to kick you in the ass about not…
Rating: RecommendedStyle: Non-fictionAuthor: Paul J Silvia -
Powder Days
If you’ve idealized the life of a ski bum, or that friend that lives down by the river and kayaks every moment they can, this book takes a look at what the culture of being a dirtbag really means. It’s about risk, and self-medication with more risk or alcohol and drugs, and living a life…
Rating: MaybeStyle: Non-fictionAuthor: Heather Hansman -
A City on Mars
Is there any reality to the dreams of billionaires to set up civilizations on planets outside Earth? Nope. Kelly and Zach Weinersmith started out to write a book about how to create a civilization on another planet, and after meticulous research came to the conclusion that any attempt at this within multiple generations is not…
Rating: RecommendedStyle: Non-fiction -
Feel Good Productivity
Is productivity about grinding and hustle? Is there something else that can help you get your important tasks done? In this book Ali Abdaal looks at the field of Positive Psychology to see how it can help us be more productive. Purchase Feel Good Productivity on Amazon
Rating: MaybeGenre: ProductivityStyle: Non-fictionAuthor: Ali Abdaal -
Knowing What We Know
Simon Winchester examines information transmission through time. From oral traditions, to computers, how do we know what we know? One of the most interesting questions is that of digital amnesia, where information is easy to gather from the internet so it has little value to us and thus we forget it easily. We explored similar…
Rating: MaybeStyle: Non-fictionAuthor: Simon Winchester -
The Death of Expertise
Are there any experts anymore? If there are experts, do we even listen to them? How many experts take their domain-specific expertise and parlay that into getting to comment on fields that they know nothing about? In this excellent book Tom Nichols explores how we treat experts today. From ignoring them when we don’t like…
Rating: RecommendedStyle: Non-fictionAuthor: Tom Nichols -
The Bill Gates Problem
While we may think that Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation is a benevolent Billionaire philanthropist, it’s not quite so clear. This book shows how Gates has used his many dollars and foundations to avoid taxes and push a Big Tech capitalist mindset on assisting other countries. Yes your tax dollars pay for about 50%…
Rating: RecommendedStyle: Non-fictionAuthor: Tim Schwab -
Basic Income for Canadians
This is a long form look at many studies on basic income. Overall, people use the money to improve their lives and continue to work. They don’t get lazy, but employers may complain because it gets harder to find people willing to work for low wages as they now have more financial freedom and don’t…
Rating: RecommendedStyle: Non-fictionAuthor: Evelyn L Forget -
Project Hail Mary
Project Hail Mary is another excellent book by Andy Weir. This one follows an astronaut that wakes from a coma realizing that they have to figure out how to stop the “space algae” that is eating the energy of the Sun causing Earth to cool down which will have a dire affect on the climate, and…
Rating: RecommendedGenre: Science FictionStyle: FictionAuthor: Andy Weir -
Personal Knowledge Graphs
This is a fairly academic look at taking notes and what a personal knowledge graph is. The format of the book is a series of essays, that at times are helpful, but also spend entire chapters on defunct operating systems like Haiku. Yes Haiku runs still, but you’re never going to use it so telling…
Rating: Don’t ReadStyle: Non-fiction