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How to Choose What Books to Read

2021-01-04 by Roberto Zoia Leave a Comment

Picking what books to read is always challenging. Time is limited, and even the fastest reader can only read a handful of books in her lifetime. Through the years I’ve collected some criteria for choosing what I read, either by experience or by stealing from greater minds, which can help you in the process of choosing the right books.

  • Long-term value: will what you learn from this book be relevant in the long-term, say, in 10 years or more1?

    If you apply this rule, you’ll soon discover that most of what “everybody is reading” won’t make the cut.

    For books, time is like a test of quality. Trust book recommendations, but not too much. Most new books follow the “book-marketing manual”, paying the media to get attention, having their authors interviewed in popular podcasts, etc. Suddenly it seems that everybody is reading that new, shiny book. Meanwhile, Marcus Aurelius cannot rely on paid advertising to promote his outstanding Meditations, written almost 2,000 years ago.

  • Leverage: “Leverage is achieving results significantly greater than the force you put in2.” Will reading this book give you leverage? If yes, what kind of leverage? Where can you apply it? How can you keep it?

    The Great Mental Models, Volume 1: General Thinking Concepts by Shane Parrish is one of the best books I’ve read in the last years. This is a book that will stand the test of time, and will provide great leverage, because “the skill of finding the right solution for the right problem is one form of wisdom3“.

  • Thinking and decision making: will this book help my thinking process? Will it help me make better decisions?

    How to Take Smart Notes by Sónke Ahrens, explains Luhmann’s Zettelkasten could help you improve not only your note-taking but also your thinking process. Expressing what we’ve read about by writing our insights confronts us with our lack of understanding.

  • Step out of your domain of expertise. Will reading this book give a different perspective on a particular topic, or are you falling in some kind of confirmation bias? Will it require effort on my part to understand what the author is proposing? (For non-fiction, books that don’t challenge you or that don’t require any effort to read are usually not worth your time.)

    Some people don’t read books like Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning because they fear to confront their long-term purpose and motivation. Or because reading about Nazi’s concentration camps make them feel uncomfortable. Other people can’t stand Nassim Taleb’s attitude, even if some of his books are of indispensable reading. Some people criticize James P. Carse for writing Finite and Infinite Games as it were a theological treatise from centuries ago, but the book it’s definitely worth your time.

  • What questions do I expect this book to answer? Sometime you read a book because you trust the author. In those cases, even if there is an emotional component involved, you implicitly know the topics the author writes about, and how the book can help you. Most of the time, however, you should have in mind what questions do you expect the author to anwser in the book.

Book Reading 2020 (non-fiction)

In 2020, I read 17 non-fiction books:

  • The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance, by Josh Waitzkin
  • What Technology Wants, by Kevin Kelly
  • Stillness is the Key, by Ryan Holiday
  • Smarter Faster Better: The Transformative Power of Real Productivity, by Charles Duhigg
  • The Great Mental Models, Volume 1: General Thinking Concepts , by Shane Parrish
  • You, Your Child, and School: Navigate Your Way to the Best Education, by Ken Robinson
  • The Year Without Pants: WordPress.com and the Future of Work, by Scott Berkun
  • Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams, by Mathewe Walker
  • Finite and Infinite Games, by James P. Carse
  • The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness, by Andy Puddicombe
  • Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration, by Bryan Caplan
  • Hell Yeah or No. What’s worth doing, by Derek Sivers
  • How to Take Smart Notes, by Sönke Ahrens
  • Start Finishing: How to Go from Idea to Done , by Charlie Gilkey
  • Principles: Life and Work, by Ray Dalio
  • The Practice: Shipping Creative Work, by Seth Godin
  • The Almanack of Naval Ravikant, by Eric Jorgenson

If you are looking for non-fiction book recommendations for 2021, you can’t go wrong with The Great Mental Models by Shane Parrish, How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens, and The Practice by Seth Godin.

Even if in 2020 I read more non-fiction books than in previous years, I didn’t accomplish my goal of two books per month. I broke my reading routine several times for days and sometimes even weeks. So, borrowing from one the Knights Radiant ideals4, this year I’ll focus on journey before destination. I’ll focus on reading at least 25 five pages every day.

Book Reading 2020 (fiction and fantasy)

I also read 6 novels, some of them very long:

  • Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
  • The Relentless Moon, by Mary Robinette Kowal
  • Attack Surface, by Cory Doctorw
  • Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive, Book 4), by Brandon Sanderson
  • I re-read books 1 and 2 of Patrick Rothfuss The Kingkiller Chronichles, The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear.

I love both fiction, hard science-fiction, and fantasy books. But if I had to pick one book from the list above, I recommend Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. The plot happens in two parallel timelines, alternating between code-breakers and tactical-deception operatives in World War II, and their part-decendants building a data haven and anonymous cyber-banking in the late 1990’s.

Happy reading!


  1. There are exceptions to this rule, for example, when you want to learn something specific and tactical. But those exceptions should be few. ↩
  2. The Great Mental Models Volume 2: Physics, Chemestry and Biology, by Shane Parrish, p. 110. ↩
  3. cfr The Great Mental Models, Volume 1, by Shane Parrish, Kindle Edition, loc. 98 ↩
  4. Taken from Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings, from the Stormlight Archive series. ↩

Filed Under: Strategy and Technology Tagged With: books, leverage, reading, wisdom

Books break the shackles of Time

2020-04-19 by Roberto Zoia Leave a Comment

Carl Sagan 48247012_2041372089249126_1541176235948769280_o

Filed Under: What I'm Reading Tagged With: books, carl sagan, reading

33 libros en el 2019

2020-01-06 by Roberto Zoia Leave a Comment

Como ya he comentado antes, vivimos en una época en que el autoaprendizaje es cada día más relevante. En la medida en la que menos gente lee libros, leer se puede convertir en una ventaja competitiva importante. Es un modo muy efectivo de pararse sobre los hombros de gigantes.

El 2019 leí 16 libros de no-ficción y 17 novelas. Del primer grupo, estos son los que más disfruté y recomendaría:

  • 21 Lessons for the 21st Century por Yuval Noah Harari.
  • This Is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn to See  por Seth Godin y Ken Blanchard.
  • Building a Better Business Using the Lego Serious Play Method por Per Kristiansen y Robert Rasmussun.
  • Atomic Habits por James Clear.
  • Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad por Austin Kleon.
  • AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order por Kai-Fu Lee.
  • Information Doesn’t Want to Be Free: Laws for the Internet Age  por Cory Doctorow, Neil Gaiman y Amanda Palmer.

En la categoría de ficción/fantasía, esta es la lista corta. Si tuviera que quedarme con uno, escogería la trilogía de Liu Cixin, Remembrance of Earth’s Past.

  • A Year and a Day in Old Theradane por Scott Lynch. (Fantasía)
  • The Murderbot Diaries por Martha Wells (All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rouge Protocol, Exit Strategy). (Ciencia ficción)
  • The Quantum Evolution Series (The Quantum Magician, The Quantum Garden) by Derek Künsken. (Ciencia ficción)
  • Lady Astronaut series (The Calculating Stars, The Fated Sky) por Mary Robinette Kowal. (Ciencia ficción)
  • Delta-V por Daniel Suarez. (Ciencia ficción)
  • Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy (The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, Death’s End) por Liu Cixin. (Ciencia ficción)
  • The Technologists por Matthew Pearl. (Misterio histórico)

Photo by Nong Vang on Unsplash.

Filed Under: Español Tagged With: books, reading

33 Books in 2019

2020-01-06 by Roberto Zoia 1 Comment

As I’ve written before, we live in an age where self-learning becomes more relevant every day. As less people read books, reading becomes a real competitive advantage. It’s a very effective way of standing on the shoulders of giants.

In 2019 I completed a total of 16 books (non-fiction) and 17 novels. From the non-fiction list, these are the ones I enjoyed very much and consider worth recommending:

  • 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari.
  • This Is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn to See  by Seth Godin and Ken Blanchard.
  • Building a Better Business Using the Lego Serious Play Method by Per Kristiansen and Robert Rasmussun.
  • Atomic Habits by James Clear.
  • Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad by Austin Kleon.
  • AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order by Kai-Fu Lee.
  • Information Doesn’t Want to Be Free: Laws for the Internet Age  by Cory Doctorow, Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer.

These are the books enjoyed most in the fiction/fantasy category. If I had to choose one, I would pick the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy by Liu Cixin.

  • A Year and a Day in Old Theradane by Scott Lynch. (Fantasy.)
  • The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells (All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rouge Protocol, Exit Strategy). (Science-fiction.)
  • The Quantum Evolution Series (The Quantum Magician, The Quantum Garden) by Derek Künsken. (Science-fiction.)
  • Lady Astronaut series (The Calculating Stars, The Fated Sky) by Mary Robinette Kowal. (Science-fiction.)
  • Delta-V by Daniel Suarez. (Science-fiction, techno-thriller.)
  • Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy (The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, Death’s End) by Liu Cixin. (Science-fiction.)
  • The Technologists by Matthew Pearl. (Historical mystery.)

Photo by Nong Vang on Unsplash.

Filed Under: Strategy and Technology Tagged With: books, Reading list

Book Reading Goal for 2017 (Update)

2017-08-17 by Roberto Zoia Leave a Comment

One of my goals for 2017 has been to read two non-fiction books and one novel per month. Inspired by Shane Parrish’s suggestion, my plan has been to read 25 pages a day.

As of August 2017, I’ve read 12 non-fiction books and 17 novels. With some exceptions, I’ve managed to read 25 pages most days. I only wrote three book reviews (I’m not happy with this), and a summary for Kevin Kelly’s outstanding book The Inevitable, which you can download here for free or buy on Amazon.

Finally, a comment from Ryan Holiday from his recent AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit on the importance of reading:

To me, reading is both intrinsically pleasurable–it’s beautiful like music–but it also has a big ROI. I think most cases about reading use the former argument and not the latter. Not everyone loves the smell of books you know? Not everyone fancies are beautiful turn of phrase. So why try to change their mind along those lines?
(…) There is a quote from Bismarck: “Any fool can learn by experience. I prefer to learn by the experience of others.” Well, for 5,000 years we’ve been recording knowledge in the form of books and poems. That’s a lot of smart (and dumb) people talk about their experiences. Why wouldn’t you want to avail yourself of that? Why wouldn’t you want to save yourself a lot of painful trial and error? One book–that cost $15–could make you millions of dollars. Or help you meet the love of your life. Or give you an idea that changes the world. Or solve your anxiety or your resentment towards your parents.
But that can only happen if you pick one up and fucking read it.

Non-fiction (12 books)

The Inevitable. Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape our Future, by Kevin Kelly (Review)
The Unofficial Author’s Guide To Selling Your Book On Amazon: The Top 5 Cheat Sheet for Self Publishing Authors, by Richard McCartney
Antifragile, by Nassim Taleb
The Habit Guide. Zen Habit’s Effective Habit Methods + Solutions, by Leo Babauta
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by Carol Dweck
The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg (Review)
Grit. The Power of Passion and Perseverance, by Angela Duckworth
Deep Work, by Cal Newport (Review)
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future, by Peter Thiel
Daring Greatly, by Brené Brown
Give or Take, by Adam Grant
Hack Upwork: How to Make Real Money as a Freelancer, by Danny Flood

Novels. Fantasy, Science Fiction, etc. (17 books)

Nexus, by Ramez Naam
Republic of Thieves, by Scott Lynch
Fire Thief Reborn, by Seth Mullins
Ruins (Pathfinder Book 2), by Orson Scott Card
Visitors (Pathfinder Book 3), by Orson Scott Card
Snapshot, by Brandon Sanderson
Change Agent, by Daniel Suárez
Changes (The Dresden Files, Book 12), by Jim Butcher
Ghost Story (The Dresden Files, Book 13), by Jim Butcher
Skin Game (The Dresden Files, Book 15), by Jim Butcher
Furies of Calderon (Codex Alera Book 1), by Jim Butcher
Academ’s Fury (Codex Alera Book 2), by Jim Butcher
Cursor’s Fury (Codex Alera Book 3), by Jim Butcher
Captain’s Fury (Codex Alera Book 4), by Jim Butcher
Princeps’ Fury (Codex Alera Book 5), by Jim Butcher
First Lord’s Fury (Codex Alera Book 6), by Jim Butcher
The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., by Neal Stephenson

Photo credits: Pavan Trikutam

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: book reading, books, reading, unfair advantage

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