Here, you’ll find the books I’ve read since 2016. I’m making notes about all of them so I don’t forget what I’ve learned. These notes are not meant to be summaries or reviews, but I figured there are maybe some other people who would find it interesting what I took away.
With aesthetically pleasing outer form, the content is thinly spread out over 400 pages and superficial/obvious at times. It’s lacking humor, but there are valuable insights and it gets you thinking. The book is worth reading for creative individuals.
Violate Them at Your Own Risk!
This book tried to find unchanging laws of marketing, but it has clearly failed and possibly not even worked during the period of its publication in 1993. Many of the laws have been proven incorrect and certain examples like Microsoft’s certain doom are laughable.
Confessions of a Media Manipulator
Ryan Holiday explains from his own practical knowledge as an online marketer how entities with commercial or political interests abuse the fast news cycle in the age of Twitter, blogging, and other social media by inserting untrue information into the public, disguised as facts.
The Ultimate Training Guide
After the hugely successful first book, the author now focuses on explaining training methods and related aspects from the minimalist runner’s angle. While those are interesting and supplemented with fun follow-up and anecdotes from book #1, it could have been a short blog post.
Unshackle Yourself and Win the War Within
David Goggins, considered by many to be the hardest motherfucker living on the planet, uses this second book of his to dive deeper into his own psychology. It’s back to the roots of his ultra running, Leadville 100 and Moab 240, but then it centers around humility and service.
This book from 1937 is partly historical document, partly a self-help business book. It revolves around building a positive mindset for achieving success, here defined simply as getting rich. Values such as desire, persistence, and determination are at the core.
The business book of business books: published in 1989, it popularized terms and phrases such as synergy, thinking win-win, proactivity, or paradigm shifts. The twist is that it unites business and family life. Many lessons can be applied to both areas.
How to Train for Anything & Everything, Anywhere & Everywhere
Ross Edgley is looking like one of the fittest people on the planet and that’s not a mask. From world records to traveling the world to researching what the world has to offer, this guy explains physical fitness well. It’s funny and full with side stories and anecdotes.
How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
John Romero and John Carmack created the video games Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake together. It made them millions and left a huge cultural footprint. The two and their small team were hugely driven and passionate, but in the end exactly that led to the split.
A Brief History of Humankind
This book tells you everything you need to know about humankind’s evolutionary success. It’s not pretty and it will mess with your worldview, but in a good way. It’s about time to get realistic and understand how we arrived at this point in order to shape our path forward.
Written in 1936, this is the comprehensive guide to learning to behave in a way that makes other people respond more positively towards you. Yes, some people will make us angry, but showing that anger makes it worse, always. Bad title, great message. Be kinder, practice empathy.
27 conflicting answers and one weird conclusion
The book’s filled to the rim with smart ideas. It’s funny to go through them and realize that many of the imperatives contradict each other, so in the end you have the same amount of freedom to decide as you did before. There is a lot of deep inspiration in these short chapters.
40 Lessons For a New Kind of Entrepreneur
What is the common purpose of every company every founded? Provide people with some kind of value. Give them what they want or need. If that should change, the company must, too. You company is a playground, it can be made into anything you want it to be.
Adventures of a Curious Character
A Nobel Prize winner who is embarrassed by that fact, but has lived a uniquely interesting and varied life which he seemingly loved a lot. The book is a string of short stories from his adventures all over the world: humorous, unusual, inspiring.
How to Beat the Game of Capturing and Keeping Attention
This book is an introduction to what captures human attention in written form. How to structure content, how to phrase it, when to use different style elements, how to formulate headlines. If your target is to grow your audience, this is the book.
An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
In order to improve anything about yourself, you need to realize that tiny but regular steps towards it are the best way to reach your goals. Consistency is the key and no good habit can be too small to work for you using the compounding effect.
(And Other Lies the Meat Industry Tells You)
The animal industry is horrible and should be destroyed. But why exactly? Everyone kind of knows, but many of us choose to ignore the situation. Lets face it, learn about it, and change the world for the better. This book is a good start to get informed.
A Philosophical User’s Manual
The basic concepts of the Stoic philosophy are explained in this book, easily accessible via a division into separate topics or areas of life. Stoicism is a simple way of living for the greater good which has stood the test of time.
A Guide to Wealth and Happiness
You are most useful to society when you spend your time doing something which comes easily to you, because your motivation will be higher. You are responsible for your own happiness – and increasing your own wealth will solve at least all your money problems.
Perspectives on Humanity Hereafter
We should be realistic when we think about the future of our species. While it’s clearly getting better for most of us, it’s not looking good. For many reasons, societies are fragile and full of problems we need to address. The books says which those are and how to start.
Ten Reasons We're Wrong About The World - And Why Things Are Better Than You Think
Humankind should regain its main focus: making the world better for everyone. We must work together and not against each other. And we need to acknowledge we’ve come a long way so far – there’s improvement everywhere. Let’s get rid of our prejudices.
The classic tribute to hope from the Holocaust
Half autobiography, half analysis of the human psyche. Suffering plays a big role in every person’s life and we need to learn to live with it well. Viktor Frankl was interned at Auschwitz during WW2 and lived to tell the story. We all can learn from him.
How Designers Destroyed the World, and What We Can Do to Fix It
Everything which has been built, has been built by humans who are designers. Here, Mike Monteiro takes a look at the ethics of it all and encourages us all to take action and be part of creating a better future.
Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness
If you want to become wealthy, here is your guide. Spoiler alert, spend less than you earn and need. There is never any certainty, you always have to take calculated risks. Learn what makes sense and what doesn’t.
Mein Weg zum Weltmeister im Triathlon
An interesting, entertaining (and German) story about the life of professional triathlete Patrick Lange, who won the IRONMAN World Championships twice. How does a life look like that leads a person to become the best in the world?
Al Howie was one of the most remarkable endurance runners in the world. His whole life was all over the place, though. A biography about an exceptionally interesting person who pushed the limits of what most people thought possible every day.
The Psychology of Persuasion
How do humans make decisions? We are all influenced by a variety of things we can’t control and don’t know our subconscious thinks are important. Cialdini explains how our behaviors work and why that is the case. This helps us understand ourselves better.
Weisheiten und Lebenstricks von ziemlich außergewöhnlichen Menschen
The book is a collection of the main take-aways which Matze Hielscher got out of countless interviews on his podcast. What can we learn from the decisions and lives of these public figures?
Transforming Your Relationship With Money and Achieving Financial Independence
Money equals life energy, yes. But what does that really mean and how can we use our knowledge to our own advantage? This book helped me understand and change how I use money.
How a Million-Dollar Pay Cut and a $70,000 Minimum Wage Revealed a Better Way of Doing Business
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A trail running, ultramarathon, and wilderness survival guide for weird folks
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Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World's Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself
★★★★★
An unconventional approach to training for endurance events on a few hours a week (or less)
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