20+ Book Recommendations by Trevor McKendrick
O Jerusalem!
Larry Collins
The epic drama of 1948, in which the Arabs and the Jews, heirs to generations of bitter conflict in a land sacred to them both, fought each other for the city of Jerusalem and for the hopes of fulfillment it represented to each. Here, for the first time is an account of that struggle which encompasses the full spectrum of its participants.@tommycollison O Jerusalem was one of my favorite pandemic books!
The Way of Kings
Brandon Sanderson
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, Book One of the Stormlight Archive begins an incredible new saga of epic proportion. Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter. It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them. One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable. Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity. Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar's niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan's motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war. The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making. Speak again the ancient oaths: Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before Destination. and return to men the Shards they once bore. The Knights Radiant must stand again. Other Tor books by Brandon Sanderson The Cosmere The Stormlight Archive The Way of Kings Words of Radiance Edgedancer (Novella) Oathbringer The Mistborn trilogy Mistborn: The Final Empire The Well of Ascension The Hero of Ages Mistborn: The Wax and Wayne series Alloy of Law Shadows of Self Bands of Mourning Collection Arcanum Unbounded Other Cosmere novels Elantris Warbreaker The Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians The Scrivener's Bones The Knights of Crystallia The Shattered Lens The Dark Talent The Rithmatist series The Rithmatist Other books by Brandon Sanderson The Reckoners Steelheart Firefight Calamity@tommycollison https://t.co/SLParG1ovL
Britain's War
Daniel Todman
Answer: https://t.co/u2IszQEWBh
@paulg Feels like a canonical example https://t.co/9zHXNcAeRN
EBoys
Randall E. Stross
Looking carefully at these "icons" of the 1990s, the author uses his unprecedented access to the venture capitalists behind Benchmark to reveal the surprising world behind the ultimate investment gamble.@RevaSeth @tommycollison @SethGRosenberg https://t.co/wALYHp13Xi is pretty good
The Courage to Be Disliked
Ichiro Kishimi
“Marie Kondo, but for your brain.” —HelloGiggles “Compelling from front to back. Highly recommend.” —Marc Andreessen Reading this book could change your life. The Courage to Be Disliked, already an enormous bestseller in Asia with more than 3.5 million copies sold, demonstrates how to unlock the power within yourself to be the person you truly want to be. Is happiness something you choose for yourself? The Courage to Be Disliked presents a simple and straightforward answer. Using the theories of Alfred Adler, one of the three giants of nineteenth-century psychology alongside Freud and Jung, this book follows an illuminating dialogue between a philosopher and a young man. Over the course of five conversations, the philosopher helps his student to understand how each of us is able to determine the direction of our own life, free from the shackles of past traumas and the expectations of others. Rich in wisdom, The Courage to Be Disliked will guide you through the concepts of self-forgiveness, self-care, and mind decluttering. It is a deeply liberating way of thinking, allowing you to develop the courage to change and ignore the limitations that you might be placing on yourself. This plainspoken and profoundly moving book unlocks the power within you to find lasting happiness and be the person you truly want to be. Millions have already benefited from its teachings, now you can too.@jessmartin One of my favorite books that reminds me of the above https://t.co/flwRXu7wHI
Zero To One
Peter Thiel and Blake Masters
@jayanthkumarak Rest of the book is a great read too
The Fish That Ate the Whale
Rich Cohen
@antoniogm Fantastic book with possibly the worst title of all time :/ Also I might disagree about the SV take... while no physical feat, aggregating the attention of the entire world is impressive on a mental level that’s worth admiration
To Pixar and Beyond
Lawrence Levy
The never-before-told story of Pixar's improbable success? "Hi, Lawrence?" the caller asked. "This is Steve Jobs. I saw your picture in a magazine a few years ago and thought we'd work together someday." After Steve Jobs was unceremoniously dismissed from Apple, he bought a little-known graphics company called Pixar. One day, out of the blue, Jobs called Lawrence Levy, a Harvard-trained lawyer and executive to whom he had never spoken before, to persuade Levy to help him get Pixar off the ground. What Levy found was a company on the verge of failure.To Pixar and Beyond is the story of what happened next: how, working closely with Jobs, Levy produced and implemented a highly improbable plan that transformed Pixar into one of Hollywood's greatest success stories. Set in the worlds of Silicon Valley and Hollywood, the book takes readers inside Pixar, Disney, law firms, and investment banks. It provides an up-close, firsthand account of Pixar's ascent, how it made creative choices, Levy's enduring collaboration and friendship with Jobs, and how Levy came to see in Pixar deeper lessons that can apply to many aspects of our lives.This book appears to be relatively unknown, so PSA this is written by Pixar's first CFO and covers his time pre-Toy Story to selling the company to Disney: https://t.co/RFVjIHXkIE Highly recommended. Lots of Steve stories too.
To Pixar and Beyond
Lawrence Levy
^^ Underrated book about Pixar btw. Written by their CFO.
The Fish That Ate the Whale
Rich Cohen
@Tay_Murph The Fish That Ate The Whale
High Growth Handbook
Elad Gil
Well known technology executive and angel investor Elad Gil has worked with high growth tech companies like Airbnb, Twitter, Google, Instacart, Coinbase, Stripe, and Square as they've grown from small companies into global brands. Across all of these break-out companies, a set of common patterns has evolved into a repeatable playbook that Gil has codified in High Growth Handbook. Covering key topics including the role of the CEO, managing your board, recruiting and managing an executive team, M&A, IPOs and late stage funding rounds, and interspersed with over a dozen interviews with some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley including Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn), Marc Andreessen (Andreessen Horowitz), and Aaron Levie (Box), High Growth Handbook presents crystal clear guidance for navigating the most complex challenges that confront leaders and operators in high-growth startups. In what Reid Hoffman, cofounder of LinkedIn and co-author of the #1 NYT bestsellers The Alliance and The Startup of You calls "a trenchant guide," High Growth Handbook is the playbook for turning a startup into a unicorn.All the startup advice you read from legit places (YC, High Growth Handbook, etc.) is true. You can learn this shit in books and blogs my friends.
Fear No Evil
Natan Sharansky
Book here: https://t.co/b1AaT1bL8O
- This ultimate insider's guide reveals the secrets that none dare admit, told by a show biz veteran who's proven that you can sell your script if you can save the cat!
@axpence @sknthla A book called Save the Cat! (haven't read it but saw it in the thread and it's at top of the spreadsheet)
Masters of Doom
David Kushner
Presents a dual biography of John Carmack and John Romero, the creators of the video games Doom and Quake, assessing the impact of their creation on American pop culture and revealing how their success eventually destroyed their relationship.@armadsen Masters of Doom
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Brian David Scates
@homsiT @zackkanter Moon is a harsh mistress is a book of poems? https://t.co/FZKZhAqBvt
Ender's Game (The Ender Quintet)
Orson Scott Card
From New York Times bestselling author Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game is the classic Hugo and Nebula award-winning science fiction novel of a young boy's recruitment into the midst of an interstellar war. In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training. Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister. Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives. Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is the winner of the 1985 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1986 Hugo Award for Best Novel. THE ENDER UNIVERSE Ender Quintet series Ender’s Game / Ender in Exile / Speaker for the Dead / Xenocide / Children of the Mind Ender’s Shadow series Ender’s Shadow / Shadow of the Hegemon / Shadow Puppets / Shadow of the Giant / Shadows in Flight Children of the Fleet The First Formic War (with Aaron Johnston) Earth Unaware / Earth Afire / Earth Awakens The Second Formic War (with Aaron Johnston) The Swarm /The Hive Ender novellas A War of Gifts /First Meetings@zackkanter Any recommendations? Loved Ender’s Game but otherwise not into much sci fi
Stubborn Attachments
Tyler Cowen
If we want to continue on our trends of growth, and the overwhelmingly positive outcomes for societies that come with it, every individual must become more concerned with the welfare of those around us - and in the world at large and most of all our descendants in the future. So, how do we proceed? Tyler Cowen, in a culmination of 20 years of thinking and research, provides a roadmap for moving forward. Stubborn Attachments: A Vision for a Society of Free, Prosperous, and Responsible Individuals argues that our reason and common sense can help free us of the faulty ideas that hold us back as people and as a society. Cowen's latest book, at its heart, makes the contemporary moral case for economic growth and in doing so engenders a great dose of inspiration and optimism about our future possibilities.Reading @tylercowen’s newest book “Stubborn Attachments” has been deeply satisfying. https://t.co/ZSyuvjRA5A
Consider the Lobster
David Foster Wallace
A collection of essays by the award-winning author of Infinite Jest shares whimsical and biting observations about such topics as the Bush-Kerry presidential race, the pain experienced by lobsters while they are being prepared for the feast, and Franz Kafka's questionable sense of humor. Reprint."Consider the Lobster" (the book), by DFW. Highly recommend the essays "Authority and American Usage", "How Tracy Austin Broke My Heart", "Joseph Frank's Dostoevsky", "The View from Mrs. Thompson's", and "Host" https://t.co/iY7gzN3Ndj 9/
The Plot Against America
Philip Roth
In a novel of alternative history, aviation hero Charles A. Lindbergh defeats Franklin Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election, negotiating an accord with Adolf Hitler and accepting his conquest of Europe and anti-Semitic policies."The Plot Against America", by @FranklinFoer. Politics is exhausting but I thought this background piece on Paul Manafort was fascinating. https://t.co/9aQImKT6pi 5/
Man's Search for Meaning
Viktor E. Frankl
This author's memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Based on his own experience and the stories of his patients, he argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward. At the heart of his theory, known as logotherapy, is a conviction that the primary human drive is not pleasure but the pursuit of what we find meaningful. This book has become one of the most influential books in America; it continues to inspire us all to find significance in the very act of living."Man's Search for Meaning", by Viktor Frankl. A classic on how to find meaning even in suffering 3/ https://t.co/0Too4VpG8L