#17 Quarantine Reading List
For people who love design, and thinking about the future of businesses
Most unforgettable titles I’ve read in the past 6 months:
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel, Blake Master
I had high expectations on this, and it went beyond it. This is the kind of book I wish I read in high school. This is the kind of book I’ll never stop recommending to folks. Whether or not you are a novice, or already at the top of your field, this is an exceptionally smart bible if you want to thrive in the future.
Creativity, Inc: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Amy Wallace and Edwin Catmull
Unexpected, delightful and full of wisdom, Edwin Catmull and Pixar is a world-class storyteller, for a reason. It was a pleasure to read about that journey.
Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business by John Mackey and Rajendra Sisodia
Inspiring, and insightful book. One that I expect to find, and to learn from business schools.
Design For Real Life by Eric C. Meyer and Sarah Wachter-Boettcher
Changed the way I look at user journey maps and service design, in general.
The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon
Read this at the same time as Conscious Capitalism. Ironically, Amazon bought Whole Foods in 2017. Without John Mackey’s perspective, my thoughts on this book would’ve been a lot different. Grab this for the origin story, stay for the priceless life and business lessons from Jeff Bezos, regardless of what you think about him.
Tips for maximizing your reading list:
Don’t just read, learn proactively about the subject. Pay attention to the writers and authors of it. Listen to their talks or podcast episodes to continuously put your head in the space they are in. If you’re lucky, you might just find some lectures of it on YouTube, Vimeo and elsewhere on the internet.
Start small. Commit to a minimum amount of time you can allow yourself to read, free of guilt and distractions. I personally started at 20 minutes every morning. If you can do that regularly, it becomes a lot easier to sustain and grow this immensely rewarding habit.
Anticipate free time. Bring a book with you wherever you go. Going to the grocery? Take a book/ebook with you. Lounging in your living room? Surround the space with books. Woke up an hour earlier on a weekend? Read a page or two. Until it becomes pleasurable, until it becomes a thing you can’t live without, until you realize it’s as essential to living and breathing.
Diversify your subjects. This is important. Feed your curiosity and explore the subjects you’ve always put out. Combine multiple worlds and mindsets and allow yourself to be molded by more than just your comfort zones. Pretty soon, you’ll understand that if you learn from a principles-first perspective, it can apply to pretty much everything. The best way to expand your mind is to be nimble enough to absorb multiple concepts… and spot opportunities to apply them where it matters.
Read for fun and for the thrill of intellectual bravery. There is nothing like it. When I was starting out, I picked up books because I was lonely. I felt like I was in a place where I had no-one to talk to about the world, what it had to offer. Instead of looking for it on places where it didn’t exist, I resorted to literature and found those voices. I’ve never felt more free. It completely changed my life and how I looked at the world.
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