Books
This is a list of books that have impacted me. I annotated each so that hopefully that can help you (me?) know the "why" behind this book's relevance.
Criteria for making the list:
- Clear, readable prose (no Academese)
- Contains profound ideas that have improved my daily life after integrating them
- Inclusive: Implementing the ideas does not require specialized pre-requisite skill
My humble request of you: Please assign more weight to my annotations than the title of the book, or any pre-conceptions (if any) you have about the author.
The Organized Mind
Relevance: Reduces stress and "anxiety loops" by providing specific techniques for leveraging an "externalized attentional filter" so that you can remove things from your list of concerns with confidence.
Who Referred it to me? Justin Bergh via the Julie Foucher "Pursuing Health" podcast
Finding Flow
Relevance: Think of a time when you were so completely engaged with an activity that you lost total track of time, and felt refreshed and invigorated when it was complete. Chances are you were in the "flow" state, characterized by high engagement & sufficient challenge. This book is all about how to make that a regular part of your life, rather than a fleeting "lucky" moment.
Who Referred it to me? The author was referenced in "The Organized Mind"
Decisive
Relevance: A primary function of our existence is making choices. In order to maximize the probability that we will make a high quality choice in a given circumstance, we need a simple to use recipe that we can follow. This book provides one.
Who Referred it to me? No idea. It certainly turned me on to the consistently high quality of Stanford authors though.
Essentialism
Relevance: Focusing is hard because of the competition of good ideas to pursue. This book helps us prune our lives so we are maximizing the amount of time spent on only the things that really matter to us.
Who Referred it to me? The Unbeatable Mind Podcast from Mark Divine, I think?
Trump: Think Big And Kick Ass
LOL. Just kidding.
Feeling Good
Relevance: Learning to listen to your thoughts, and challenge their validity is a skill. This book teaches that skill and describes a list of common "cognitive distortions" that we engage in. Our thoughts are incredibly important in driving our self-esteem, and you can empower yourself to control them.
Who Referred it to me? My friend Tom Palmieri, I think.
The Power Of Now
Relevance: Our thoughts are not "us". You are the awareness that allows your thoughts to be. Shifting your consciousness to realize the answer to questions like "When is it ever not now?" will empower you to acknowledge that we spend the vast majority of our lives focused on past or future, which robs us of optimally experiencing life.
Who Referred it to me? Picked it up at a Borders bookstore years ago, and never put it down.
Atomic Habits
Relevance: There is an alternative to using willpower. If you set up an environment that makes the default option the healthy option, you have created leverage for yourself, because you now don't have to repetitively use willpower in order to optimize your behavior.
Who Referred it to me? Katrin Davidsdottir via the Chasing Excellence podcast
The Book Of James
Relevance: The Bible is 66 books, so I will just note one that has made a large impact on my thinking. Our nature is to avoid problems, but in this short bit of wisdom, we see that it is our perspective toward problems that is the problem. A colleague of mine used to say "The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is the expectation that there will be no problems."
Who Referred it to me? The Great Spirit. God. Yaweh...whatever label you wish to ascribe to the eternal and non-physical awareness that contains the physical universe but is not contained by it.
The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People
Relevance: We are drowning in an exponentially expanding ocean of concerns, because social platforms are incentivized to monetize our attention to those concerns. If you restrict your circle of concerns only to those things you have power to influence, you will be better in every way. The guidelines in this book will increase in relevance, as the percentage of actionable information we are exposed to decreases.
Who Referred it to me? Ben Bergeron via the Chasing Excellence podcast
Junk Drawer of other books to annotate:
Wishcraft
Stillness Speaks
Happiness Is a Serious Problem
Criteria for making the list:
- Clear, readable prose (no Academese)
- Contains profound ideas that have improved my daily life after integrating them
- Inclusive: Implementing the ideas does not require specialized pre-requisite skill
- Passes the "lots of underlining" test. If the book is full of ink, it's made an impact on me
My humble request of you: Please assign more weight to my annotations than the title of the book, or any pre-conceptions (if any) you have about the author.
The Organized Mind
Relevance: Reduces stress and "anxiety loops" by providing specific techniques for leveraging an "externalized attentional filter" so that you can remove things from your list of concerns with confidence.
Who Referred it to me? Justin Bergh via the Julie Foucher "Pursuing Health" podcast
Finding Flow
Relevance: Think of a time when you were so completely engaged with an activity that you lost total track of time, and felt refreshed and invigorated when it was complete. Chances are you were in the "flow" state, characterized by high engagement & sufficient challenge. This book is all about how to make that a regular part of your life, rather than a fleeting "lucky" moment.
Who Referred it to me? The author was referenced in "The Organized Mind"
Decisive
Relevance: A primary function of our existence is making choices. In order to maximize the probability that we will make a high quality choice in a given circumstance, we need a simple to use recipe that we can follow. This book provides one.
Who Referred it to me? No idea. It certainly turned me on to the consistently high quality of Stanford authors though.
Essentialism
Relevance: Focusing is hard because of the competition of good ideas to pursue. This book helps us prune our lives so we are maximizing the amount of time spent on only the things that really matter to us.
Who Referred it to me? The Unbeatable Mind Podcast from Mark Divine, I think?
Trump: Think Big And Kick Ass
LOL. Just kidding.
Feeling Good
Relevance: Learning to listen to your thoughts, and challenge their validity is a skill. This book teaches that skill and describes a list of common "cognitive distortions" that we engage in. Our thoughts are incredibly important in driving our self-esteem, and you can empower yourself to control them.
Who Referred it to me? My friend Tom Palmieri, I think.
The Power Of Now
Relevance: Our thoughts are not "us". You are the awareness that allows your thoughts to be. Shifting your consciousness to realize the answer to questions like "When is it ever not now?" will empower you to acknowledge that we spend the vast majority of our lives focused on past or future, which robs us of optimally experiencing life.
Who Referred it to me? Picked it up at a Borders bookstore years ago, and never put it down.
Atomic Habits
Relevance: There is an alternative to using willpower. If you set up an environment that makes the default option the healthy option, you have created leverage for yourself, because you now don't have to repetitively use willpower in order to optimize your behavior.
Who Referred it to me? Katrin Davidsdottir via the Chasing Excellence podcast
The Book Of James
Relevance: The Bible is 66 books, so I will just note one that has made a large impact on my thinking. Our nature is to avoid problems, but in this short bit of wisdom, we see that it is our perspective toward problems that is the problem. A colleague of mine used to say "The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is the expectation that there will be no problems."
Who Referred it to me? The Great Spirit. God. Yaweh...whatever label you wish to ascribe to the eternal and non-physical awareness that contains the physical universe but is not contained by it.
The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People
Relevance: We are drowning in an exponentially expanding ocean of concerns, because social platforms are incentivized to monetize our attention to those concerns. If you restrict your circle of concerns only to those things you have power to influence, you will be better in every way. The guidelines in this book will increase in relevance, as the percentage of actionable information we are exposed to decreases.
Who Referred it to me? Ben Bergeron via the Chasing Excellence podcast
Junk Drawer of other books to annotate:
Wishcraft
Stillness Speaks
Happiness Is a Serious Problem