Skin in the game – Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Written in Taleb’s highly entertaining style, at times overly cocky but with more than enough wisdom to make up for it.
Developing nuclear physics required a lot tinkering and failing
Atomic Adventures – James Mahaffey
Refreshing view on history of nuclear physics with emphasis on ‘failures’ like cold fusion and nuclear rocket engines in this often counter-intuitive branche of science.
You have to work hard before good stuff manifests itself
Mike Dooley – Playing the matrix
Feel-good take on: ‘there is no such thing as a free lunch’ from the guy who (somewhat pretentiously) signs his daily newsletters with: “The Universe.”
Jesus of Nazareth was ‘just another sect leader crucified for high treason against Rome’ (which is down-played in the gospels to make Christianity more socially acceptable)
Convincing and elegantly developed argument, building on limited historical evidence and close reading of biblical texts in historical context.
There is a myriad of ways in which AGI can be scary, but also a whole array of options humanity can pursue to stay on the top of the food chain
Mike Bostrom – Superintelligence
More thorough and nuanced than most scary-AI-will-take-over-the-world-books, but it still suffers from the same pitfall: over-estimating the importance of superintelligence for evolutionary success (two random examples: cockroaches and Donald Trump).
Build safety, share vulnerability, and establish purpose
Daniel Coyle – The culture code
Rich collection of cases that jointly convey an important message – even if the individual annecdotes may be somewhat over the top.
Exposure therapy is highly effective to overcome fear of rejection
Contageous enthusiasm of authentic curiosity comes across best in his Jia Jiang’s youtube videos (cf. Olympic rings).
Markets are not efficient, but shaped by the evolution of actors such as hedge funds and electronic traders
Elegant mix of historic analysis of market dynamics and experiments with natural selection in non-biological context.
Cognitive biases can be leveraged in a gazillion of ways to make Marketing more effective
Impressive laundry list of neuromarketing applications, ranging from solid science-based insights to intuitively appealing generalities.
The applied science of addictive behaviour drives how we interact with technology
Please note the irony in the fact that Amazon does not offer this book as ebook.
Only bet (in the casino or on Wallstreet) when you have an edge.
Edward Thorp – A man for all markets
Sage advise from the man who beat the dealer at blackjack and outperformed the market as one of the world’s first quants (but feel free to skip the chapters about Edward’s youth as a prodigy).
J.D. Vance – Hilbilly elegy
Compassionately written, but downplaying that uneducated, scared anti-intellectuals are often ruthlessly mean towards anyone who is not part of their clan.
Geoffrey Moore – Crossing the chasm
Written in an entertaining laid-back style that more business books could use and – above all – surprisingly relevant over 25 years after first publication in 1991.
Philip Tetlock – Superforecasting
While containing valuable advice, the book does not go much beyond the basic market research toolkit I’d expect any strategy consultant to possess.
Kevin Kelly – The inevitable
Enjoyable, yet somewhat theoretical, meandering between fundamental truisms and gross simplicications, leaving the reader with one key question: ‘Where does it pay off to act contrarian?’
Scott Carney – What doesn’t kill us
The quest of a journalist overcoming his initial scpeticism and transforming from a coach potatoe into a survival adept, who walks up mount Kilimajaro bare-chested and loses his initial stance as an objective observer.
Yuval Noah Harari – Homo Deus
Strongly opiniated view on the future of humanity, mostly valuable due to the emphasis on the role of humans in steering development of technology and AI.
Mel Robbins – The 5 second rule
Counting back from 5 to 1 and then ‘go’ is a useful mind trick that helps to bypass inertia.
Entertaining proponent of the emerging trend of ‘self re-programming’ within ‘self help’, leveraging scientific insights from fields such as neuro science and behavioral economics to train the mind.
Adam Grant – Give and take
In order to be successful, ‘givers’ have to be smart about how they direct their giving.
Remarkable how social environment and incentives can shape giving/taking behavior of individuals.
Deborah Blum – The poisoner’s handbook
Treasure trove of slightly lugubrious annecdotes on crimes, accidents and government schemes.