Hey, I’m passionate about reading and hope that you are too!
I have been adviced a few books recently, so, I’ve decided to share my personal library, the books that I’ve finished or just start reading. I hope it can inspire your professional development. Feel free to recommend me a book or two, I’ll be ever so grateful!
Never Split The Difference – must have for a negotiator!
One of the best books on negotiations written by an ex-FBI hostage negotiator. Lots of real-life examples as well as actual hostage negotiations. Thrilling!
Nonviolent Communication – a must have guide for respectful dialogue whether with children, spouse, colleagues or during negotiations
How to Give Up Plastic
I bought this book partially to support the author and the GreenPeace in their new global awareness campaign, partially to remind myself how much impact my daily routine makes on the planet and its inhabitants. Giving up plastic is not easy, it’s like a diet. It requires self awareness and perseverance as we are literally surrounded by plastic.
Start With Why – Great concept, many good examples. Simon has his own understanding of life and he is contageous.
Here’s my favorite quote
“Great companies don’t hire skilled people and motivate them, they hire already motivated people and inspire them. People are either motivated or they are not. Unless you give motivated people something to believe in, something bigger than their job to work toward, they will motivate themselves to find a new job and you’ll be stuck with whoever’s left”.
This one is in delivery from Mr. Burchard himself. Arriving before Christmas.
Just starting this one. Looks and sounds cheesy. Let’s see.
Money Land – An interesting book about the history of offshorization. More a guide-book how to hide money rather then the tool of “how to take it back”. Opens the eyes on unprecedental scale of dirty money in the world. Must read if you want to understand why most of the world is poor and unable to get out of corruption trap.
Getting More – is a great book, offering a real, pragmatic look on reality. There are no rules, only those that are in our heads (there is no spoon, remember?).
My favorite quote:
“Here’s a new definition of competitiveness: your ability to meet your goals”.
Beyond Reason – is a pretty straightforward, simple to understand and to implement in daily life book, “Getting to Yes 2.0”.
Getting to YES – THE BOOK. The classics of negotiations theory.
As Apple have started in Steve Vozniak’s garage, the Harvard Negotiation Project was launched by the authors of the book back in 1979. The classical theory of negotiations.
Here are some great books from Niall Ferguson:
Empire – easy to read, key facts laid to understand the rise and fall of British Empire
The Ascent of Money – is a perl of its own. Never have I seen a history book so captivating. Money as a form of reward explained from A to Z.
Civilization – is a great comparison of biggest rival empires – the UK, France and Spain with a good analysis of how the UK came to global domination
The Great Degeneration – the 21st century financial and political mess explained
The Divide – is an interesting book trying to explain the difference between the “developed” and “developing” worlds based on colonial and economic interests of great powers.
Uneven Development – is a masterpeice of political geography, looking at forces behind the world’s slums and riches. Academic.
Imagined Communities – is a history of nations creations and the rise of nationalism as a strugle of local powers against colonial regimes. The book saw light in 1983 and yet its essense becomes important today with the rise of nationalist movements.
The Mystery of Capital – Hernando De Soto argues that property rights virtue given to an englishman back in the 13th century is the key factor for anglo-saxon global dominance over shady and corrupt post-colonial world
Rise and Fall of Nations – is a book by the high street trader, an attempt to predict which countries to bet on. Lots of data, good analysis. Whether to trust the formula or not, up to you.
Here are some new books that I have been traveling with lately
Dark Money
Interesting at the beginning, but then too detailed and repeatative. An account of when, how and at which cost Koch family financed Trump’s ascent to power. From an outsider, it was interesting to learn the know-how of modern intronisation.
The Narrow Corridor
Ouf. Still reading it. Too disturbing for me. Quite a frank representation of societies, cruelty, agression, subjugation. The midieval notion of Leviathan as the state, realised in the book of Thomas Hobbes analysed and applied to the 21st century world.
The conclusion is rather interesting. The Leviathan represents state absolute power and violence and repression is a natural part of the state’s essence. However, there are 3 types of societies today. The stateless, the autocratic and the democratic ones. Therefore the Leviathan can be “chained”, restricted, managed. Or “unchained” in the likes of autocratic and repressive regimes.
I would recommend this book for those, interested in the social contract theory. What are the norms and how they evolve. Why certain things are acceptable and others aren’t. This book is about it.
And the narrow corridor means the path from autocracy to democracy. The reasons why most post colonial world has failed to transform into the Western liberal model explained.
Owning the Earth.
My book of the year. Definately.
Modern history, key world events, transformation of society into what we are today explained by focusing on the 2 main ideas of how we own the earth (privately or collectively).
Slavery, serfdom, England’s industrial revolution, colonial world conquests, Russian and Chinese territorial expansions, American war for independence, all these events carefully analysed and reviewed from the land ownership perspective.
Fascinating.
NEW READS (summer 2020)
Here are two exciting books I am finishing now. Quite unorthodox. Written by a historian Yuval Harari. Highly recommend!
Some of my favorite quotes from Homo Deus:
“History isn’t a single narrative, but thousands of alternative narratives. Whenever we choose to tell one, we are also choosing to silence others.”
“The greatest scientific discovery was the discovery of ignorance. Once humans realised how little they knew about the world, they suddenly had a very good reason to seek new knowledge, which opened up the scientific road to progress.”
Some of my favorite quotes from the 21 lessons:
“If you cannot afford to waste time, you will never find the truth.”
“The very sophisticated artificial intelligence of computers might only serve to empower the natural stupidity of humans.”
By manufacturing a never-ending stream of crises, a corrupt oligarchy can prolong its rule indefinitely.”
Revelational. Eyes opening. Speculative. I find the beginning of the book to be quite intriguing. Yuval is playing with assumptions and unorthodox ideas. The change from hunter-gatherers to settlers is disturbing though. I do not think we have any proof and we cannot possibly explain it. Still reading the book with a more critical approach
The Future is Faster then You Think
Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler have assembled all the rapturous ideas that are already transforming our lives and even ourselves.
Very interesting chapters on the transformation of shopping and advertisement.
Also the Turbo-boost chapter makes me think that no current market leader nor current leading technologies are going to be there still in our lifetime, giving space to new actors.
The 6D’s technological change (digitalization, deception, disruption, demonetization, dematerialization, democratization) will continue disrupting and transforming all parts of our lives.
Therefore, there is plenty of opportunities to re-invent, re-discover and re-imagine. The jump from an idea to the market dominance is incredibly quick now and will become even faster in the nearest future.
The Art of Impossible
Very interesting and highly technical book. A fantastic guide to self-development.
“While a good mood is the starting point for heightened creativity, a daily gratitude practice, a daily mindfulness practice, regular exercise and a good night’s rest remain the best recipe that anyone has yet found for increasing happiness”.
Christmas 2020 – Winter 2021 reads
1. Mars
The lockdown-enabled hobby of mine. I have literally opened my horizons and wish you to use this time to learn something new. Like our neighbor, planet Mars!
2. Subprime Nation, a very detailed and thorough analysis of the world working laboriously to re-install the US as a global power. Are we repeating the same mistakes, making poor nations poorer and the US stronger and richer than ever before ring now?
3. Atomic Habits
Self-development book. An easy to follow guide on changing yourself into a better version of you. Highly recommend.
4. Chimpanzee politics
The story of power and social life of apes in captivity. Can’t wait to see the parallels with human society. Excited! Got it today as a birthday gift.