Bookshelf
The Sovereign Individual
Mastering the Transition to the Information Age
Completed:Jul. 3, 2021
Okay, so two former investment advisors have put together a series of books throughout the 70s to 90s about the changing business landscape and the implications it has on modern civilization as it transitions into the information age. Keeping in mind that this book was written in the 90s, foreseeing trends such as bitcoin (or cryptocurrencies more generally), e-commerce exploding and dominating retail as well as a migration to microprocessor fueled computing (read: the evolution of smart phones). They begin by describing how the history of violence has controlled the masses and our coming Information Age has changed the human experience from being an asset of the state to a client of the state. Clients of the state implies that civilians of planet earth will have the option to select a government in lieu of settling for the one they are provided. Choosing government will ultimately bring the collapse of social and political systems as we know them today to become increasingly privatized and decentralized from government due to centuries of imprudent behaviour with taxes and budgets.
Jeff, One Lonely Guy
Completed:Jun. 11, 2021
Guy posts an ad in several places with his phone number while he’s a struggling actor and comedian. Expecting a few calls, thousands of people end up calling, texting, and meeting him after the ad had been posted. Not only did people from Lower Manhattan reach out to Jeff, but also thousands from across the globe did as well. Jeff provides an introspective view of the types of conversations he has with people and the stories they share of life, success, hardships, sexual frustration and friendships. A unique read with an uncanny style of collecting quotes for corresponding sections that Jeff summarises about life in general.
The Sayings Of Confucius
Completed:Jun. 7, 2021
Here’s a collection of timeless wisdom from Confucius’ sayings and teachings from 400 BC. Using reflection to understand his success and fault lines, Confucius leaves the reader with wonder as small phrases can contain deep truths and reveal more about someone based upon their actions. Characterizing (or judgement) helps determine whether or not you, the reader, are navigating correctly along “The Way”. Confucius thought remains influential throughout East Asia with respect to concepts of family, responsibility, and duty (to state and work) in a cultural perspective. Understanding Confucianism has unlocked great Eastern wisdom recommended to anyone who enjoys spiritual classics.
SELL LIKE CRAZY
How to Get As Many Clients, Customers and Sales As You Can Possibly Handle
Completed:Jun. 6, 2021
From understanding your customer to creating clever sales funnels, this read provides you formulas and worksheets to identify your core audience and how to warm cold leads with digital advertising. Offering a product or service makes little difference when it comes to providing value to your customers in the process of acquiring them with free content. Although it’s more relevant in a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, products can leverage free content to educate consumers on best practices as a form of ‘Guerilla’ marketing. 300 pages of insights and exercises Sabri shares to help you get to the heart of your marketing struggles while cutting the sales jargon and cure-all formulas.
Charter Schools
and Their Enemies
Completed:Dec. 8, 2020
There’s often rhetoric surrounding children’s education about whether enough or too little is being done for their best interest. Thomas Sowell, American Economist and Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institute, finds comparable circumstances where students and their form of education are nearly identical to conduct cohort studies. Since so many elements must be considered in studies of this magnitude, Dr. Sowell contrasts charter and public schools taught in the same location to show the dramatic difference in performance charter school students tend to have based on the structure of their program.
The Crowd
A Study of the Popular Mind
Completed:Nov. 13, 2020
Without a doubt one of the most influential documents to be created in history, The Crowd has been highly instrumental in creating the study of mass behavior. To quote Gustave Le Bon, “The masses have never thirsted after the truth. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim.“It’s a short, but dense read that is worth every minute you sift through centuries of wisdom in less than 100 pages. The book speaks volumes to popular psychology, tyranny and manifestations based upon reasoning and imagery. Truly a modern master piece written over 125 years ago.
Love Letter to America
The Story of Yuri Bezmenov
Completed:Oct. 31, 2020
4 easy steps are taken in the process of ideological subversion to destabilize a nation: Demoralization, Destabilization, Crisis and Normalization. This is the process that soviet propaganda is used to overthrow a government that is not inline with the Soviet Union (or communism more generally). Whether or not the accounts are 100% true, we naively observe the problematic behaviours of blindly following a certain collective. Love letter to America is a personally account of Yuri Bezmenov, a KGB defector from Russia, who explains his process of liberating himself from the shackles of communism and the consequences it could have in their imprudent attempts to succeed as a system of governance. Yuri’s perspective brings light on how the government fuels the conflict for social and racial issues to remain relevant by indoctrination.
Machete Season
Completed:May. 13, 2020
In the early 90s, 800,000 Tutsis from Rwanda had been massacred over the course of 12 weeks by Hutu fellow citizens. Jean Hatzfeld reports on the interviews of 9 Hutu killers with justification, interpretation and operationalizing their ‘cuts’ as interviews casually describe. The complete brutality of demoralizing campaigns becomes a deadly weapon in the age of early technology. With access to radios, broadcasting, and weaponry there is a suite of effective tools to separate yourself from an individual due to race, religion or caste.
Disunited Nations
Completed:Apr. 15, 2020
A third in a series of books about the politics and geography of the future, Peter Zeihan provides insight about the likely behaviours to persist by country in the near and existing future. One might be apprehensive to consider the realities that are conveyed in this book, but it’s a starkly different world we have shifted towards living in due to the regular American-dominated order. The USA 🇺🇸 will persist as an indifferent mercenary for hire that will work in their own interest while the God-complex race for the next “Superpower” will prove futile in the light of economic and social collapses in places like China, Germany and Brazil. Meanwhile, the least likely candidates such as France, Iran, and Argentina will supersede the fate others have cynically attempted to predict for them.
The Dictionary of Body Language
A Field Guide to Human Behavior
Completed:Jan. 11, 2020
Indexed like a dictionary, Joe Navarro puts out a field guide that highlights human physical features and what they’ve meant in high stakes interrogations in his 25 years of experience with the FBI. Starting from the hair and finishing with the feet provides a comprehensive understanding of what certain actions might mean for humans, especially when they’re not common for the person. Are they anxious? Being honest? Hiding information? These questions are answered when paired with intuition and context. Joe’s skills from interrogation settings draw parallels with job interviews, meetings or personal interactions alike to best understand what is truly being said in a conversation.
The Problem of the Puer Aeternus
A study in Jungian Psychology
Completed:Aug. 11, 2019
A series of lectures by Jungian psychologist Marie-Louise Von Franz discussing the “Puer Aeternus”, a Latin term meaning eternal youth. The lectures highlight the typical charming, affectionate, creative and dream pursuing man who remains eternally youthful by their lack of responsibility for the pursuits they never achieve. The lectures take input from students while discussing the resolution for the complex by considering the focus that a career or work brings to an individual to enable them to focus on a single goal. Marie-Louise provides a down-to-earth assessment of how the puer aeternus began, how to identify them and why they are becoming more common. If this might sound like you or someone you know, Marie-Louise completes the lectures by providing the remedy in a trivial sense.
The Absent Superpower
The Shale Revolution and A world without America
Completed:Jun. 27, 2019
With changes happening in the world at an accelerated rate, part of our old way of thinking may leave us vulnerable to unexpected change. Peter Zeihan in his second book regarding the Superpower that is the United States provides readers with a lens into how the future may pan out globally as the US exercises more indifference in foreign policy. Regardless of the administration, the US is setup for a fantastic future of geographic wealth from the American Shale Revolution. Although this does not seem like the fate of the US, it has historically appeared to lag prior to breakthrough changes for itself as a nation.
Getting Things Done
How to achieve stress-free productivity (David Allen)
Completed:Jul. 22, 2018
A short read about stress free productivity that can help you effectively manage your work well with a framework that fits you. Finding out how to separate your ’tasks’ of varying priority allows one to determine what is worthwhile for a next action, reference and follow up. Instead of reacting to the next bit of work that lands on your desk, the Getting Things Done (GTD) framework enables you to organize priorities to reduce the long lists that plague engaging in work. If you’re feeling overwhelmed about your work and are not sure where to start, this book can set you up on the path to better project management and tasks priorities for your work or personal life.
Gospel of Thomas
Completed:Jul. 13, 2017
Found in the Nag Hammadi, the Gospel of Thomas is the best interpreted document. It’s a religious book about the sayings of Jesus who preaches of the coming of a new man, the man of knowledge. Jesus is quoted delimiting knowledge by encouraging independent thinking and going deep into what you might believe. The beauty of the document is that it promotes the ideas of Christ from a position that is non-partisan and encourages independent thinking about how to interpret the teachings of Christ. Although it’s heretical to some, the Gospel of Thomas is an alternative gospel to the several permitted in the bible. Read at your own discretion
The Bell Curve
Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life
Completed:May. 15, 2017
A controversial read that discusses the relationship between intelligence with class and race today. Although there are complaints from certain pundits, The Bell Curve provides insights about what circumstances help children with the best possible outcomes through public policy. This book is not for the faint of heart as it reviews research thoroughly while providing insights about IQ, birth rate, crime, fertility, warfare, socioeconomic class and poverty. Charles and Richard have provided an empathetic assessment of the issues that exist for races that struggle in the current education system and thoughful intervention to help everyone have the best outcome. I highly encourage this read for any free thinkers.
The Accidental Superpower
Completed:Mar. 12, 2016
Ah, how it all began. This book describes the history of what has brought success to nations and societies. In particular, the contents will prime the reader to understand how the US’s geography has inevitably made it the superpower of planet earth. Whether it’s the self-sufficient oil independence, access to the world’s largest trade routes, or Bretton Woods after WWII, America’s strengths dwarf their weaknesses. The Accidental Superpower merely highlights what it took to make America as successful as it is today while contrasting it with other successful (and not so successful) human societies.