Feeding Your Brain: We Recommend
Reads
Drive, by Daniel Pink
Our recent post, Motivating Talent in the Post-Pandemic World, gave Daniel Pink a shout-out for this 2009 New York Times bestseller. Still relevant in the post-COVID world, and a must-read for leaders striving to build better teams by leveraging mastery, true purpose and meaning.
Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less, by Roy Schwartz, Mike Allen, Jim VandeHei
A Wall Street Journal and USA Today national bestseller from the brains who brought you Politico and Axiom. This one’s a fast read, chock full of practical advice on the power of less-is-more in modern communication. It has helped me improve everything from emails and PowerPoint bullets to this review.
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, by Edwin Lefèvre
I was inspired to revisit this 1923 classic based on the exponential speculation, arbitrage and malfeasance surrounding crypto. It’s a fascinating and highly entertaining first-person account of a swashbuckling Wall Street trader back in the pre-SEC days. Goodreads names it the most widely-read, highly-recommended investment book ever. We concur.
The Whitepaper, Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, By Satoshi Nakamoto
A friend encouraged me to read this, saying that it was like an alien traveling back from the future to give us liquid aluminum. It’s less than a 15-minute read, so great ROI on your time. You could buy the hardback or download it from Kindle. But unleash your inner geek and read it for free at https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf.
Listens
Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed or Fail, by Ray Dalio
Mark Twain said, “History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.” Ray Dalio, aka the Oracle of Bridgewater, studied the past 500 years of world economic order to inform his predictions on what lies ahead for America as a world economic power, and for the greenback as the global reserve currency. At 572 pages, it’s a monster (nearly 17 hours on Audible). Still, for me, it provided a well-documented framework for understanding the implications of recent fiscal and monetary policy (e.g., the printing of trillions) and the ultimate ramifications for our kids and grandkids.
Snowcrash, by Neal Stephenson
Whatever you do, don’t read this book. The Audible version is fantastic – thoroughly immersive, delivering on every level. Stephenson’s invention of the Metaverse comes alive, conjuring images from sci-fi milestones like ReadyPlayerOne and Blade Runner. I came to learn about the origins of the Metaverse but stayed to savor the pure entertainment. And this is coming from a guy who has never been a science fiction fan.
The Tim Ferriss Show (#651)Legendary Investor Bill Gurley on Investing Rules, Finding Outliers, Insights from Jeff Bezos, and More.
Ferris is nothing less than the greatest interviewer and podcaster of our generation. And Bill represents the quintessential world-class investor. Proof? While at Benchmark, he led early-stage investments in GrubHub, Nextdoor, OpenTable, Stitch Fix, Uber and Zillow. Need I say more?
Streams
Deadline Artists is an HBO documentary focusing on Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamill, two colorful NYC reporters/columnists. It’s worth getting their takes on some of the most iconic stories of the 20th century.
The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee is another HBO doc chronicling this celebrated journalist’s career and lush life. From tales of Watergate to his wife’s affair with JFK, you can’t make this stuff up.
Country Music | A Film by Ken Burns
In my opinion, American schoolchildren would be both smarter and wiser if they could skip U.S. history classes in favor of watching every documentary Ken Burns ever made. This gem goes deep inside 100 years of country music but also provides a richly-textured overview of our country as a whole. I’ve watched the complete 16-hour masterpiece twice, with the Spotify playlist to prove it.
