Hacker News Books

I would recommend the book "essentialism".

You can't do it all. You need to define what is the most important things and avoid everything else. This is how you get balance and reduce stress.

Deep Work - Cal Newport

Value-Based Fees - Alan Weiss

Technology Strategy Patterns - Eben Hewitt

The Road Less Stupid - Keith J Cunningham

The Business of Expertise - David C Baker

Atomic Habits - James Clear

There are exceptions, Ray Dalio being a recent good example. But I think he is more the exception, not the rule.

Below is a related passage from Essentialism that touches upon this dynamic:

"Jim Collins, the author of the business classic Good to Great, was once told by Peter Drucker that he could either build a great company or build great ideas but not both. Jim chose ideas. As a result of this trade-off there are still only three full-time employees in his company, yet his ideas have reached tens of millions of people through his writing."

McKeown, Greg. Essentialism (p. 55)

Currently reading:
The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham,
A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William Irvine,
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

Edit: reformatted for clarity.

I'm only through the first chapter. Might be a good read, but harder to implement. So far it's, you gotta say no to things that aren't important. How often has your boss asked you to do unimportant things, and would you be able to say no to any of them? Maybe try to push it off to someone else... But to say no would be harder.

I will be advocating GTD. It doesn't only give you the framework. Once you're done with the basics, it also allows you to make clearer decisions. A nice quote (self-translated, I wasn't reading in English): When the boat sinks, you don’t think about its course.

"Essentialism" is another classic in the subject, more disciplined in rejecting unnecessary stuff, complementary to GTD in terms of your concerns.

Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky - I went back to Dostoevsky because I needed a break from business books... Something to distract me from work in the evenings. Dostoevsky's overly descriptive narrative does a great job of transporting my mind to 19th-century Russia and far, far from my work and other present-day concerns.

Essentialism by Greg McKeown, and Deep Work by Cal Newport - Pairing them together because they both reminded me the same important lessons: 1) Do fewer things and do them better, 2) Being overly busy is not a sign of success.

The book talks about how minimalism isn't about ridding yourself of everything but your bare necessities, but to discard things that you don't love so that you can better focus on the remaining things that are important to you. If you've read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, this point will resonate with you quite well.

I've since whittled down my wardrobe significantly, throwing out a large chunk of shirts/pants/sweaters that I haven't worn in over a year and it's actually done wonders for my health. I discovered that my bedroom had been left in neglect for a long time now, which had caused a bit of mold to grow (which in turn had given me allergy issues for the past couple months) and having to go through my clothes helped me both physically and mentally.

Another book that touches on these themes is Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown.

Maybe in 2019 I'll finally get to a point where I don't have to pack dozens and dozens of boxes when I inevitably move again.

- The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford

* Confidence Men By Ros Suskind

* Dark Money by Jane Meyer

* Better by Atul Gawande

* The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande

* Essentialism by Greg Mckeown

* Contagious by Jonah Berger

* Sapiens by Yuval Harari

* The Pentagons Brain by Annie Jacobson

* Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

* The Only Game in town by Mohamed El-Erian

* The Industries of Future By Alec Ross

> Snowball (Warren Buffet), Andrew Carnegie and Rockefeller biographies - for understanding the mental mindset to win in business (it's not what you think)

> Hackers and painters - for understanding startups and how/why they work

> Essentialism, the disciplined pursuit of less and Walden - for understanding how "stuff" gets in the way of happiness

- Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

- Turing's Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe

- The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet

- Do I Make Myself Clear? Why Writing Well Matters

- This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More. For Young and Old Alike

- A Life in Parts

- Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

- Triggers: Creating Behavior That Lasts--Becoming the Person You Want to Be

- The Power of the Other: The startling effect other people have on you, from the boardroom to the bedroom and beyond-and what to do about it

- The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads

- The Compassionate Achiever: How Helping Others Fuels Success

- The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play