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A collection of books I read this year, with brief notes and ratings. Covering business, science, fiction, and personal development.
Rating: 4.5/5
A refreshingly honest look at what it means to be a new manager. Zhuo draws from her experience at Facebook to cover the real challenges: giving feedback, running meetings, and building trust. Unlike most management books, this one acknowledges that management is messy and uncertain.
Key takeaway: Great managers are not born -- they are made through deliberate practice and honest self-reflection.
Rating: 4/5
Slootman, who led Snowflake and ServiceNow, argues that most organizations operate at a fraction of their potential. His prescription: raise standards, narrow focus, and increase pace. The book is direct and sometimes blunt, which is part of its appeal.
Key takeaway: Intensity and focus are underrated. Most companies spread themselves too thin and tolerate mediocrity for too long.
Rating: 4.5/5
The creator of the iPod and Nest thermostat shares lessons from decades of building products. Covers everything from individual career advice to running a company. Full of specific, actionable stories rather than abstract principles.
Key takeaway: The best products solve real problems that the builders themselves have experienced and care deeply about.
Rating: 4/5
The story of Jennifer Doudna and CRISPR gene-editing technology. Isaacson weaves together the science, the personalities, and the ethical implications of one of the most important discoveries in biology. Reads like a thriller in some chapters.
Key takeaway: Breakthrough discoveries come from curiosity-driven research combined with fierce competition and collaboration.
Rating: 5/5
A philosophical take on time management that argues against trying to optimize every minute. Instead, Burkeman suggests embracing our finite time and making deliberate choices about what truly matters. Changed how I think about productivity.
Key takeaway: You will never get everything done. The question is not how to do more, but how to choose what matters.
Rating: 4.5/5
A primer on systems thinking that explains why complex problems resist simple solutions. Meadows uses clear examples from ecology, economics, and everyday life to show how feedback loops, delays, and leverage points shape the world around us.
Key takeaway: Understanding the structure of a system is more important than knowing its individual parts.
Rating: 4.5/5
Told from the perspective of an artificial friend (a robot companion for children), this novel explores love, sacrifice, and what it means to be human. Ishiguro's prose is deceptively simple, and the emotional depth sneaks up on you.
Key takeaway: A beautiful meditation on observation, devotion, and the limits of understanding another person.
Rating: 5/5
A science fiction page-turner about an astronaut who wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there. The science is detailed and plausible, the humor is genuine, and the central relationship is unexpectedly moving. Could not put it down.
Key takeaway: Sometimes the best stories combine rigorous problem-solving with genuine emotional connection.
Rating: 3.5/5
A woman finds herself in a library between life and death, where each book represents a different life she could have lived. The premise is compelling, though the execution sometimes feels heavy-handed. Still, it leaves you thinking about regret and possibility.
Key takeaway: The lives we imagine we want might not be as fulfilling as we think.
Rating: 5/5
The definitive book on building good habits and breaking bad ones. Clear breaks down the science of behavior change into a practical, four-step framework: make it obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying. Re-read this year and found new insights.
Key takeaway: You do not rise to the level of your goals -- you fall to the level of your systems.
Rating: 4/5
Argues against early specialization and in favor of broad experience. Epstein shows that generalists often find their path later but excel in complex, unpredictable environments. A good counterpoint to the "10,000 hours" narrative.
Key takeaway: In a world that demands specialization, the ability to draw from diverse experiences is an undervalued advantage.
Rating: 4/5
The disciplined pursuit of less. McKeown argues that by trying to do everything, we accomplish nothing meaningful. The book provides a framework for identifying what is truly essential and eliminating everything else.
Key takeaway: If you do not prioritize your life, someone else will.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total books read | 12 |
| Fiction | 3 |
| Non-fiction | 9 |
| Average rating | 4.3/5 |
| 5-star books | 3 |
| Pages read (estimated) | ~3,600 |
| Favorite book | Four Thousand Weeks |
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