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.
And How We Can Get There
The idea of implementing a universal basic income has been floating around for a long time. But does it have merit? What did the experiments conclude? What’s the history of it? Or have we maybe lost our will to change and improve society?
Gain Power, Steer the Legislative Process, Dominate the Media, Get Renominated
Politics is a tricky business. The EU parliament with people from 27 different countries who speak 24 different languages and try to make decisions might be the masterclass. Insider author Kovacs tells it as it is to become successful. No time wasted.
How to Stop Fearing Nihilism and Embrace the Void
What exactly is “nihilism” and does it make sense? Will it lead to depression to realize there’s no inherent meaning or purpose to anything? That nothing is even real? It might, but it should not. And that’s what this book explains.
How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are
It’s just been there in the sky for as long as humans can remember, but what exactly is our Moon and how did it influence life on Earth? The book explains thousands of years of human history with our closest companion in space.
The Rise of Pointless Work, and What We Can Do About It
Why are so many people convinced that their jobs are totally pointless and wouldn’t be missed by anyone were they to disappear? The book tries to explain how we got here, but has its lengths. Still it’s important for us to realize what’s happening here.
It is what it says on the cover, but it’s way more fun and enjoyable than that suggests. A chronologic journey through the history of philosophy to show us what humans have been pondering over the centuries. With anecdotes, summaries, and quizzes!
Because it’s Better than Positive Thinking
A short book about a single idea, written with an awkward stylistic choice and some delusions on the side. There’s still something in it we can take away and use for our benefit!
Chasing Dreams, Befriending Pain, and Other Big Ideas r
Alexi Pappas is an Olympic 10,000 meters runner who has experienced many different lives. From a tough event in her childhood to working relentlessly for her dream, facing setbacks after achieving it, and rising again, her story is a true rollercoaster.
A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
The past and future are imaginary products within our brains and all we’ll ever have is the present moment. So far, so good. But what else is there in this bestseller book? How can its wisdom be applied and is it wisdom, even?
A Brief History of Tomorrow
In what feels like a follow-up to his breakout success, Sapiens, Harari now discusses humankind’s current focus and possible trajectory towards becoming a data-reliant species, merged with technology and maybe losing our humanism along the way.
Sivers has done it again and wrote another short and concise book about basically one single idea. That idea is so powerful it has the ability to change many lives for the better. Therefore, this book should be read by everyone.
Neue Abenteuer im Europaparlament
[GERMAN] Hat der Satiriker nach seiner zweiten Amtszeit im EU-Parlament seinen Humor verloren? Fast. Dennoch ist das Buch sehr wichtig und interessant. Es zeigt die groben Missstände und Korruption auf und verursacht trotzdem einige Lacher.
An energetic finale to a wonderful book series. Fast-paced action, a complex narrative, and strong character developments. Rowling’s ability to create hopelessness and despair, conjure up a big plot twist, and leave us with a warm feeling is unparalleled.
Der Einstieg in die Langstrecke
A German language book written by two of the most experienced and knowledgeable figures in the national running community. The book has everything you need and want to know about getting into running and working towards the goal of finishing a marathon.
The penultimate book serves as the setup for the final showdown. We have stretches of nothing happening, some more slow exposition, some heartwarming teenage quarrels, and a Hollywood-style “no one believes the guy who understands the danger” situation.
Shipping Creative Work
A hugely successful and prolific creative writes his twentieth bestseller book, this time about how to overcome feeling stuck in a project. Beautiful sentences in short chapters, but is there enough substance to the simple advice to just get going?
Harry suffers the consequences of people abusing their power, spreading misinformation out of fear and for personal gain, but takes matters into his own hands to make it through another year alive, suffering another big loss.
How to Do More of What Matters to You
Productivity advice YouTuber Ali Abdaal has jumped many hurdles to become a bestselling book author. He is well versed in the topic of the book, but doesn’t bring much new to the table if you’ve followed his videos. There’s good advice in it, though.
This fourth book of the series goes from lighthearted moments to dark revelations. It’s taking a long time to build up momentum but doesn’t fail to captivate with unexpected twists and a powerful ending. It’s going to get a lot darker, apparently.
Harry Potter faces dark and ominous threats once more, but this book is a clear departure from the style of the first two. We have three well-connected acts and a huge plot twist with a subsequent page turner finale you can’t put away.
Book Two in the series largely follows the same story structure of the first one and is another addictive read. The story develops late into the book after a lot of exposition, then the escalation levels are high, but the finale is even more satisfying.
Everyone knows these stories and I’m twenty-five years late to the party. But because my daughters are into it right now, I finally picked it up and have to admit: Yes, it’s so much fun to read! A real feel-good vacation for the mind. I’ll keep going.
A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
A modern classic in the popular economy book section, this one doesn’t disappoint. A highly curious pair of authors explores a diverse range of topics and resurfaces with unexpected learnings which teach us to look twice in every area life.
Heart versus Heat at Western States 100
The oldest 100-mile foot race takes place annually in California and is called Western States Endurance Run. The author has been selected to run even though he felt majorly unprepared for it. This makes for a compelling story about suffering and meaning.
Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
Epstein shows us how people with a wide range of interests and curiosity who find a profession matching their skillsets perfectly will produce better results and move humankind forward by citing many studies and telling entertaining anecdotes.
Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self
Former Men’s Health author goes on a month-long trip to remote Alaska in order to find out why all of the comforts of modern life are in fact making us miserable. He returns and consults a huge amount of experts and studies to make a tight case for it.
Rarely does a book grab the attention of and inspire millions of people like this one has. Phrases like “Don’t panic!” or the frequent use of the number 42 are in the vocabulary of a certain large subset of humans. But what made the book successful?
One of the most accomplished, controversial, and interesting people who are currently alive on this planet. A biography written by one of the best biographers of the recent years. A recipe for success.
Every Parent’s Guide to Supporting Their Child’s Mental Health
This book feels like marketing for app subscriptions & Brain-ee dolls, yet offers unique parenting advice. What are those insights beyond 'spend more time with your kids'?
How to free yourself, change your life and achieve real happiness
Authors Kishimi and Koga use the ancient Greek dialogue form to explain Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler’s ideas on ‘individual psychology’, bridging cultures and time. Some radical ideas question the way we think and bring ideas of empowerment forward.
A Harvard professor of psychology explains in a funny and entertaining way how much we get wrong when we imagine our future emotional states. You have to derive your own conclusions from this, but it raises a lot of awareness for our weird brains.
One of the most well known books about running training. The author is a highly educated and successful running coach with a number-focused approach and lots of interesting and proven ideas to further the fitness levels of a huge variety of athletes.
Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most
The ”Essentialism” follow-up called “Effortless” advocates working smarter, prioritizing, and recovering adequately. Reading, learning, teaching all have high returns. Removing decisions and taking the direct route towards our goals helps.
Wisdom I Wish I’d Known Earlier
Kevin Kelly, the WIRED magazine co-founder and longtime executive editor, put his two most popular blog posts into a small book full of byte-sized advice, ranging from short and sweet to funny to helpful and thought-provoking.
An Inquiry into Values
A difficult one. Although it was hugely successful, I can’t find many positives about this self-indulgent autobiographical narration which shows no regard for the humans around the author. It made me want to learn more about classic philosophy, though.
After lots of build-up in the first and second book, this one promises a showdown. But the Zombie Nazis appear to be hallucinations in the end. And the sea monster Leviathan doesn’t do much except fall in love with the protagonist’s AI. Not worth it.
As the second book of the trilogy, it doesn’t do much to further the storyline if you could even call it that. It reads like an LSD trip the authors had and that’s maybe even true. There are some slight hints at a sort of showdown coming up in next book.
A highly confusing book. Combining politics, satire, science fiction, conspiracy theories, and a detective novel, you still never completely understand what’s going on. It is challenging your perception of reality and has rightfully become a cult classic.
A Self-Help Book for Societies
Author Tim Urban, who runs the popular comic blog “Wait But Why” has published a book about our current societal problems which took him six years to write, because the world changed so much during that time. An important read for everyone.
Complex tasks increase the likelihood of critical mistakes. Checklists are the remedy. 'The Checklist Manifesto' chronicles the journey of introducing checklists into critical fields, like medicine, to reduce errors and enhance communication.
Time Management for Mortals
This is a book that urges readers to be intentional about how they use their limited time on Earth, focusing on what truly matters to them and finding fulfillment in the time they have, rather than chasing endless productivity and success.
Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love
Don't follow your passion, it often leads to disappointment. Instead, master a valuable skill for more control. Successful people have a mission based on experience and knowledge. Deliberate practice and skill development create more opportunities.
A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
It’s a concise book of the self-help category, full with little bits of advice on how to view and interpret our current individual situations within modern society. With its profanity, it drives home its many actionable points in an easy-going way.
The four-step playbook for getting better leads and bigger profits
Learn how collecting data is crucial for sales success. Use an online Scorecard, a fun quiz, to gather information about interested customers non-intrusively. Target those customers in order to get cost-effective marketing results.
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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This was one of the best articles I've read so far in telling about a race. I couldn't put it down. Your details were so awesome. You made New York just come alive.
Great review, enjoyed reading it and recognize lots off related subjects and hurtles. I’m amazed by all your running and races well done.
Great article! I've read so many long blogs only to get bored in the middle as I suffer terribly from ADD and move on to other things. Yours has been one of few that held my attention all the way to the end.
Your good humor and ease in telling stories make this blog a really cool space. Nice review.
Amazing effort Tim, well done! Thank you for taking the time to write down your thoughts, feelings and memories from the event. There’s always something to learn from your posts and this one was no exception!! Another cracking read.
What a ride! Surely the race, but also reading about it. Thanks for taking the time to write up such a detailed report, almost feel like I was there.