What book are you reading? Right now. Post up!

[Antifragile]

A few chapters into it, so far good. I believe in what they are saying. Life is unfair and always will be. Entrepreneurs who succeed take advantage of whatever they have been given to do well. Like language, money, skills, relationships, genetics etc.

 

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[LifeisSuffering]

the author give a foundation on how to create trading algorithm based on technical analysis that are tested and have statistical edge

 

[SSTrey]

I'm a very avid reader, but recently I've reached a point where the books I read share similar views and topics on success.
In my execution of TMF using the CENTS framework I have taken more pride in executing / doing, & reading / researching as & when needed.

 

[Providence]

Hello guys, From the time i got wind of this platform you all have really been helpful. Am more of looking for a book to read, under finance specifically would anybody know a great book to do with micro money lending ?

 

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[David Fitz]

I'm reading Andre Agassis autobiography and it's probably one of my favourite books so far.

I'm listening to Ed Myletts Power of One More book and holy shit did I struggle to listen to it. It nearly put me to sleep.

 

[LifeisSuffering]

fantastic book valuable for every stage of your life

 

[Niptuck MD]

Sobottas atlas of anatomy

and

Biomedical Devices​

Materials, Design, and Manufacturing

 

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[Rauschmi]

Value-Added Selling, Fourth Edition: How to Sell More Profitably, Confidently, and Professionally by Competing on Value―Not Price

https://a.co/d/budAXnR

I am halfway through it. Good points on where to add value along a customers buying path or your selling path.
Like MJ says about what book to read:
Read the book that will help you fix or overcome your current problem.
(Or close to what he said)

 

[starttoday123]

How to be a boss b*tch by Christine Quinn
I really liked it, lots of funny, honest anecdotes and worthwhile lessons on how to make the right decisions to become successful and happy

Choose Possibility: Take Risks and Thrive (even when you fail) by Sukhinder Singh Cassidy
I wasn't a fan, it's better for people growing their corporate career because the author's career was corporate

 

[Jing Wei]

Ruthless Consistency by Michael Caniac

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Currently reading "How I Built This" by Guy Raz.

How I Built This: The Unexpected Paths to Success from the World's Most Inspiring Entrepreneurs: Raz, Guy: 9780358216766: Amazon.com: Books

How I Built This: The Unexpected Paths to Success from the World's Most Inspiring Entrepreneurs [Raz, Guy] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. How I Built This: The Unexpected Paths to Success from the World's Most Inspiring Entrepreneurs

amzn.to

About halfway thru it.

It is pretty good and I would even go as far as recommending it -- however I think it misses the mark as you can tell it is written by someone immersed in the Cult of Silicon Valley for people who want to be in the Cult of Silicon Valley.

I was hoping to read about "non-famous" entrepreneurs who made it big. Thus far, it is all about famous entrepreneurs and how they built their companies, AirBnb, Clif Bar, etc. And not surprisingly, most of them have bay-area connections. I guess this "expectation" is my fault -- it clearly says "the world's most inspiring entrepreneurs" which implies a certain level of notoriety.

 

[MitchC]

I just finished Breathe by Rickson Gracy.

I loved it. So easy to read and compelling that I read it very quickly, I couldn’t put it down.

I like how he talks and he writes how he talks. A super humble and calm way that exudes total confidence and comfort.

I definitely aspire to get to that point by the time I’m his age.

 

[MTF]

Just finished this one. Pasting my review from the random chat:

I just finished the book. While there were some interesting thoughts, there were also a lot of crazy conspiracy theories such as using people's private conversations or something like that to fuel AI translation services. I also found it funny when he said that CIA and NSA had information leaks but not Google or Facebook as if that's proof how evil they are (while in reality private companies simply have way better security than governments).

The general tone was as if social media companies (or rather the advertisers) were caricature villains who want to manipulate the world. I don't believe that. Maybe I'm too naive but to me there's no sinister motive other than making money off people's voluntarily provided data.

He also missed or glossed over many way more important arguments against social media such as the effect of social media on men (seeing hot women everywhere all the time isn't helpful), the effect of social media on women (thinking that selling your body is the only way to succeed), shortening attention spans, lack of subtlety, cancel culture, and many more.

I also don't agree with his Luddite views on AI and his claims that "robotic nurses" "exploit" human nurses who make less money and stuff like that.

Also, the guy is a painful leftist. He talks about social media turning you into an a**hole who has no empathy yet he couldn't help but viciously criticize Trump, his supporters and many other people (I don't care about Trump, it just annoys me the author is so hypocritical in a book that's supposed to teach you to get away from drama). I also can't treat seriously anyone who thinks that AOC is an "optimistic hopeful politician."

So in the end, I did finish the entire book but only the first 10-20% was worth reading and the longer I read it, the more pushy it felt with all his crazy accusations.

---

Also, I want to add that I'm generally very against social media so this book should have appealed to me. But the way it was presented sounded more like criticism of capitalism and appeasing leftist Silicon Valley bros with all the catchphrases like inequality, low pay, oligarchs, alt-right, etc. The guy hit all the tropes lol.

 

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[Cojo]

Atomic habits. I recommend it

 

[LifeisSuffering]

wonderfull insight about power and you can use them also for leadership, another valuable book to read at every stage in your life

 

[Simon Angel]

I just finished the book. While there were some interesting thoughts, there were also a lot of crazy conspiracy theories such as using people's private conversations or something like that to fuel AI translation services.

I think this one isn't so out there. Whenever you delete your Facebook profile you can request to download a full copy of your data including chats, media, etc. Which means that even if you deleted all of that within Facebook's UI, it's still stored on a sever.

So considering they have that available and taking a LOT of server space, which they're paying for, why wouldn't they feed it to an algorithm and watch it evolve?

 

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[Guyfieri5]

Reading through Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand right now. Can't put it down. I read all of her other works in college including her essays but never got the chance to push through her greatest work. She finds a way to really put into perspective how important it is to have a purpose and be unapologetically driven to achieve personal goals. Ayn Rand is definitely a workaholic's philosopher lol.

 

[David Fitz]

Currently listening to Hitler by Ian Kershaw.

It's a 40 hour listen but I've a big interest in WW2 history so finding it easy to listen to.

The book is very well done so far. No boring monotonous details.

I don't think there's a greater story in history of how a guy who was a total bum artist in his 20s and then becoming one of the most powerful people on the planet in just a few short years.

 

[MTF]

Nathan Latka - How to Be a Capitalist Without Any Capital

I had seen this book a few times before and the douchey cover and weird title always put me off. I heard about it again recently, recommended for those interested in buying businesses instead of building them.

And it's one of the best business books I've ever read.

The guy is sometimes douchey (bragging how he posted on Instagram a picture wearing a borrowed $4k jacket to appear rich - cringe as F*ck; his IG account has been inactive since 2019 so it looks like he has changed) and, to my standards, unethical at times (for example, seemingly "innocent" lies to gather data or get a better deal).

But this aside, the book contains extremely creative tips how to get rich through business and investing. He shares a lot of creative deal-making I've never seen before except for Jay Abraham's stuff (and that man is legendary).

I particularly liked his personal examples of acquisitions. He turned free apps into paid ones. He got paid $15k to acquire a company that had $100k in debt (which he restructured in such a way that the business paid it off). He invested $6k in a food truck after a 20-minute conversation and created a royalty stream for life.

Here are a few highlights of business/investing advice as that's easier to showcase how great the book is:

Buying companies is so simple. Actually, that’s the most important tenet to follow when doing this. Keep it simple. If a deal or company looks too complicated, it’s not worth your energy. Eventually your wealth will be nicely diversified with ten, twenty, even thirty passive income streams (I have about thirty). Owning companies can make up a huge part of your portfolio, but not if you take on complex projects.

Free apps and web extensions are perfect buys for beginners. They hit all of these criteria and you can usually get them for little money because the owners aren’t making substantial income off them. (Hello, The Top Inbox and SndLatr.) Another bonus: the owners are often individuals or tiny companies that built the software as a side project. Because the asset is not their main focus, they’re more likely to let it go.

So, my basic strategy, step-by-step:

1. Buy free digital properties with a big user base.

2. Hire a Toptal developer to put up a pay wall that appears after someone uses the product a certain number of times.

3. Reinvest the revenue back into the company as needed. Also use the income from this business to buy other companies (and to fill my pockets!).

In his book Zero to One, Peter Thiel talks about how important it is to launch a company that has a monopoly. He means you want a Google—a company so good at what it does that no others can compete with it. It owns the market. We’d all love that, but those companies are hard to find and hard to buy. But what’s close, and much easier to acquire, is a company that has a monopoly over a distribution channel. That’s the number one thing I look for when analyzing a business to take over.

(...)

There are lots of different ways to monopolize a channel. A company might be one of the most popular apps in the Apple App Store for document signing. It might be number one in its category on G2 Crowd or another review site.

If a business has a natural monopoly on a distribution channel, it’s a great sign that the company is running itself, or at the very least, that it’s not a complete disaster. People wouldn’t constantly download an app and give it strong reviews if it weren’t functioning smoothly. That’s huge. You don’t want a company that requires you to be smart or work hard. You want one that you can put on autopilot with just a few tweaks by freelancers.

What’s even better is if you find a company that hasn’t monetized its top spot in that distribution channel.

If buying a business sounds intimidating, know that it’s actually way smarter, easier, and less risky than starting one. I’m not saying you shouldn’t launch a new venture. Most of this book is advice on starting and running a business. But buying a business, by comparison, is much more efficient. Once you take a company over, all the groundwork is done. Your systems are in place and running themselves. You have a built-in customer base. All you have to do is tweak and monetize what’s already there. If a company needs more than that, you’re not going to buy it. It’s that simple.

One way to not do it wisely: getting stuck in a business. A lot of people will buy a company and their ego is so big that they think they have to do everything themselves. So they end up in the weeds every day, answering support emails, returning phone calls, recruiting people, updating designs, pitching salespeople, traveling to get clients. That’s working in your business and that is not what you want. You’re buying companies to build up revenue streams that free up your time, not hijack it. The only way to do this is to buy a business with an infrastructure that lets the business run itself, like an assembly line that prints you money.

It’s also a great investment to buy distribution channels—if you can—instead of paying to be put through them. So instead of paying, say, $5K for someone to mention you on their email list one time, try to buy the whole company so the list becomes yours. That’s exactly what I did with The Top Inbox. You can do this with anything—a curation website, a reviews website, a YouTube channel, or any other distribution channel you can think of.

I highly recommend it if you need to get a fresh perspective on business and creative ways to get rich.

 

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[David Fitz]

Currently reading The Happiest Man on Earth

Seen it mentioned here before and got in on my Kindle. It's a good a read and makes you feel so lucky to be alive today compared to Jews living in the 1940s era. The books gives you an insight into his life as a Jew before, during and after WW2 living in Germany.

 

[MTF]

Currently reading The Happiest Man on Earth

Seen it mentioned here before and got in on my Kindle. It's a good a read and makes you feel so lucky to be alive today compared to Jews living in the 1940s era. The books gives you an insight into his life as a Jew before, during and after WW2 living in Germany.

I found it a way better read than Frankl's book. Despite the horrors described, it's more positive, especially since it covers Eddie's (successful) life afterward.

 

[Niptuck MD]

Currently reading a heavy one..

 

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[mikecarlooch]

This is a great book so far!

 

[david1024]

Nothing Down for the 2000's by Steve Allen.

Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins. (again! I read this one all the time!)

The Secret by ?

Sales Dogs by RD advisor.

I never get tired of learning!

The Secret is by John assaraf. He also has the book innercise which is all about brain waves, meditating and completely transforming any conditioning your brain has done. Great book.

 

[David Fitz]

I found it a way better read than Frankl's book. Despite the horrors described, it's more positive, especially since it covers Eddie's (successful) life afterward.

I thought the same. I liked the way he described things and life lessons he learned a long the way, especially the way he worked hard and used his skills while in Auschwitz, didn't complain and tried to remain positive throughout. Don't forget to hug your mother, I shed a tear reading that part.

 

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[David Fitz]

Now reading the Courage to be Disliked which is free on Kindle if you're a prime member. Pretty good book so far.

Also started reading Tom Jones autobiography, yes the singer from Wales. I actually like this book. He was a guy going nowhere in life and got a lucky break and took it.

 

[DuncDad]

UNSCRIPTED - 80%+ complete

 

[Bearcorp]

Currently half way through Bad Blood, the story of Theranos, and founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes. Absolutely mind blowing the quality of people she had around her from such a young age, on the board, her staff, and how she managed to continue to dupe them all the way through, or remove anyone with doubts without it blowing up for so long.

Not to mention the companies that signed deals and invested in Theranos but overlooked seemingly simple and straight forward testing results, because individuals seemed to be transfixed with Holmes.

 

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[LifeisSuffering]

just finished those two amazing books, both intersting character Feynman and the underground man, insights on physics, how to look at things from the first principals and human psychology
recommended to read at any time of your life

 

[Tommo]

He can be a bit of a pretentious wanker and name drops obscure(to me) artists but I find him hilarious, also he has some unusual takes and insights.