The Best Books I Read in 2017
It’s December, which means it’s time to share the best books I read this year.
My “Best Book” lists change a lot from year to year. Each year brings with it new questions, and the books I read are an attempt to find answers to those questions.
In 2015 I was asking the question “How do I become a great investor?” Shopify went public that year and I’d made more money than I could spend in my lifetime. I believe that technology makes the world a better place, so I decided that the best way to use my money was to invest in tech startups. But to do this well, I had to learn how to be a great investor first.
I spent 2016 reflecting on “What is the purpose of life, and how can I be happy?” I’d achieved my goals — building a successful company and financial freedom — early in life. But I hadn’t prepared for the feelings that came after. Despite my success, I felt that I had lost my purpose in life. So, I spent 2016 learning what 5,000 years of philosophical wisdom had to say about how to live a good life.
Which brings us to 2017. This year, I’ve been thinking about three questions (instead of one).
The first is “How do I take what I’ve learned from philosophy and apply it in everyday life?” Philosophies like Stoicism and Zen Buddhism are full of wisdom about how to live well. But, it’s one thing to read their lessons, and another to apply them everyday in your own life. So, I spent some time this year learning how to live by these lessons. I’ll call this reading “applied philosophy”.
The second question I’ve been thinking about is “How does innovation happen?” I love innovation — it’s the driving force in making the world a better place. These days, I spend a lot of time thinking about why some people change the world while others fail. How can I improve my chances of doing the most good? Some of this year’s reads are an attempt to answer these questions. It’s a fascinating topic that I’ll continue reading about in 2018.
The last question I’ve been thinking about is “How can I make new connections?” Innovations happen in two places: at the cutting edge of a field, or where ideas from different fields intersect. This year, I’ve let my reading wander more in hopes of discovering new ideas and making new connections.
Applied Philosophy
The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations for Clarity, Effectiveness, and Serenity
Stoicism is a school of philosophy that’s concerned with how to live a good life. It’s known for its practicality and usefulness in everyday life. But Stoic teachings, like those of Marcus Aurelius and Seneca, can be hard to read in their original form.
The Daily Stoic fixes that. The book contains 365 Stoic lessons — one for each day of the year. Each lesson starts with an original quote, explains it in modern terms, and gives advice on how to apply it in everyday life.
The Daily Stoic is likely the most useful book I’ve ever read, and one I’ll read daily for the rest of my life.
The Daily Zen Book of Wisdom
The Daily Zen Book of Wisdom is like The Daily Stoic, but for Zen Buddhism instead. The format is the same — one lesson each day along with suggestions how to apply it. Still, I suggest reading both books. They’re great ways to learn from 5,000 years of wisdom in two minutes each day.
Principles
Ray Dalio is the founder of Bridgewater, the most successful hedge fund in the world. He’s also one of the smartest thinkers alive. His unique ideas and mental models are a huge reason why Bridgewater has been so successful.
In Principles, Dalio shares his lessons about life and work. It’s a thought-provoking, contrarian, and often controversial book. Regardless of whether you agree with his lessons or not, they’re sure to make you think about your own life and principles.
His lessons, as well as his “Five Step Process for Getting What You Want Out of Life”, make Principles a must-read.
How Innovation Happens
Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed
Skunk Works is the legendary “advanced projects” department of Lockheed Martin. When the US Government needs an aircraft that can do the impossible — that flies so fast it can’t be shot down, or that’s invisible to radar — it calls Skunk Works.
The book shares the Skunk Works formula for doing the impossible, told through the stories of creating iconic aircraft like the SR-71 Blackbird and F-117 stealth fighter.
Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir is extremely well written. No matter your background, it’s a page-turner. But for anyone trying to build the impossible, it’s required reading.
The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation
Bell Labs is likely the most innovative company in history. Many of the technologies that power our world today — the transistor, cell phones, communication satellites, solar power, lasers, and Information Theory — were invented there almost 50 years ago. Innovations today, from industry giants like Apple and Google, feel incremental in comparison.
I started this book with a question in mind: “What made Bell Labs so innovative?” The Idea Factory does a great job answering it. It’s a fascinating history, filled with lessons about how to manage people and ideas to achieve great things.
Making New and Interesting Connections
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
Evicted will change how you think and feel about poverty.
I believed, like many others, that poor people are poor because they make bad decisions. Losing your home was a consequence of being lazy, impulsive, or irresponsible. Work harder and you’ll have a better life, or so I thought.
Evicted shows that eviction is not only a consequence of poverty, but actually a cause. It follows eight Milwaukee families dealing with eviction. We learn that losing your home triggers a downward spiral of instability. Eviction breaks up families and communities. Homelessness makes it harder to find and keep a steady job. Landlords and companies prey on evictees with nowhere else to turn for help. Instead of working for a better life, evicted people spend their time dealing with the consequences of eviction.
Evicted is my 2017 must read.
The Gene: An Intimate History
Rarely, a technology comes along — like the steam engine or electricity — that changes humanity forever. Genetic engineering — the ability to read and write biology — is destined to become the next one. Learning about genetics today is like learning about computers in the 1970s; now is the perfect time.
There’s no one better than Siddhartha Mukherjee to help us learn about genetics. He’s the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of all Maladies, A Biography of Cancer. As the name suggests, that book is a “biography” of cancer from its discovery hundreds of years ago to the present day. In The Gene, Mukherjee follows the same formula. To help us understand where we’re going, Mukherjee first tells us where we’ve been. He starts with our first efforts to understand genetics thousands of years ago, and walks us through the discoveries that have lead us to modifying genes today.
As the book blurb says: “The Gene is a must-read for everyone concerned about the definition and future of humanity. This is the most crucial science of our time, intimately explained by a master.”
Wine Folly: The Essential Guide to Wine
Wine…
It’s a drink I’ve avoided for all my adult life. Not because I didn’t like wine — I did — but because I hated the culture around it. For every person who enjoyed wine, there was another who used wine to signal their social status. You know the person I’m talking about. They have a 400-bottle wine cellar in their McMansion. They order the $150 bottle at a restaurant when a $15 bottle will do. They can’t taste the difference between the two (if there is one), but they’re happy to tell you all about it.
So, I avoided wine. That is, until I read Wine Folly: The Essential Guide to Wine.
The Guide makes wine fun. Beautiful infographics explain everything, from how to pick and pair wine, to what flavours to look for in each type. It strips away the complexity and cultural baggage around wine. Instead, it’s a book for people who love learning and appreciate design.
I drank a wine recently that tasted like gummy bears. A few days later, I had another that tasted like green apples and pears. The fact that both drinks came from grapes blew my mind. The Wine Folly Guide helped me see the beauty through the bullshit. It showed me that wine can be surprising, complex, and fun. Even the $10 bottles.
The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear
Every once in awhile, a fantasy series comes along that wins the hearts of a generation. The Lord of the Rings did it. Harry Potter did it. More recently, Game of Thrones did it.
Those series are all different, but share the same attributes that make them great. Their worlds are like ours — huge and full of surprises. Their characters are like us — complex, flawed, and often uncertain about themselves. Their quests are epic and resonate with our own lives.
The King Killer Chronicles might become this generation’s defining fantasy series. It has all the elements of the classics mentioned above — interesting worlds, relatable characters, and epic adventures. Its writing is easy-to-read and witty. I’m not a fantasy fan, but I enjoyed reading The King Killer Chronicles at least as much as reading Harry Potter.
If you need further proof that The King Killer Chronicles will be big, a movie and a TV show are already on the way. But read the books first — they’re that good.
Going into 2018, I’m thinking about “How can I move the world forward and improve the lives of as many people as possible?”
What do you think I should read to explore this question?
