Jump In. 

The monthly newsletter covers the books I’ve read over the course of the month, any essays I wrote or challenges I undertook, and some other interesting articles, interviews, etc.   

It has been an inspiring year, to say the least. Married, had my first daughter, my actual job has been firing on all cylinders, and my side hustle (this site) grew subscribers by 21x (h/t Patrick and Brent!). It has been really fun and meaningful to see people find value here and I strive to keep delivering on that promise. Thank you all for being part of this community and journey, and I’m looking forward to sharing more soon about another side project that I’m really fired up about. More to come…

Books

Below are the books that most impacted me in 2019 – changing or refining how I think and see the world. 12 out of 89 total books read in 2019 (~13%) fell into this category. Not sure how to think of that hit rate but I don’t think I would have appreciated or even come across some of these without the other books I read. Could be horrible post-rationalization though… 

• The Path of Least Resistance by Robert Fritz
• The Art of Doing Science and Engineering by Richard Hamming
• Skin in the Game by Nassim Taleb
• How Asia Works by Joe Studwell
• The Dream Machine by Mitchell Waldrop
• Loonshots by Safi Bahcall
• Setting the Table by Danny Meyer
• The Nature of Technology by Brian Arthur
• Why Do People Sing? by Alexander Jikuridze, Alexander Jordania
• The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman
• Trillion Dollar Coach by Eric Schmidt, Alan Eagle
• Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard

Full list of books read in 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014

Any book, which is at all important, should be immediately re-read

Essays

• 2019 was the first year I started publishing my essays – 7 in total. There was no rhyme or reason to the topics or release schedule. I wrote about ideas that I couldn’t shake which seemed to have some lasting power. The Best Product? A Great Team and The Opportunity Paradox got the best responses but I’m particularly excited about the essay I released this month (see next bullet). I have found writing to be such a powerful outlet and look to publish a lot more in the coming years.
• The Infinite Game – I wrote an essay I wish I had been given when I graduated from college, “retired” from tennis, and began the transition from student-athlete to the “real world.” While written through the lens of a student-athlete, hopefully some of these principles and tools apply to a broader audience. 

Teacher’s Reference Guides

• I wrote 3 teacher’s reference guides in 2019 – On How to Start a Startup, Seth Godin’s Freelancer Course, and On Howard Marks’ Memos. 
• The most influential deep dives I’ve ever done have been On Paul Graham and On Complexity. Influential because they have impacted and permeated nearly every facet of my life and thinking. Re-reading these reference guides has proven a hugely beneficial use of time.
• While summarizing, distilling, and synthesizing some monstrous topics into these teacher’s reference guides has been beyond useful, I have started to truly enjoy the process of creating and see myself spending more time on writing essays than compiling these reference guides. 

Monthly Challenges

• None for December but my favorite monthly challenge from 2019 was the daily “energy check-in” my wife and I instituted. Once I’m home, we ask each other how we’re feeling from 1-10 (and can’t choose 7). This gets us on the same page, level-sets expectations, and opens lines of communication. Simple, easy, and effective. 

Other

The articles, blogs, podcasts, etc. that stood out to me in 2019 include:

• Sam Altman on How to Be Successful
• Commoditize Your Complement by Gwern
• Status as a Service by Eugene Wei
• Runnin’ Down a Dream by Bill Gurley
• What is Amazon? by Zack Kanter
• Inside the Secret Team Dinners that Have Built the Spurs’ Dynasty
• Naval Ravikant’s How to Get Rich 
• James Clear on Average Speed and Marginal Gains
• Speed Matters by James Somers
• Making Uncommon Knowledge Common by Kevin Kwok
• Grassroots Leadership by Michael Abrashoff
• Joe Plumeri on First Principles of Value Creation
• What Makes Entrepreneurs Entrepreneurial? by Saras Sarasvathy
• Notes on Superhuman’s Acquisition Loops by Kevin Kwok
• The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius by Paul Graham

Thank you for a beautiful 2019 and looking forward to an even better 2020!

Amor Fati Amor.

Blas

“The tree of knowledge and the fountain of youth are one and the same. – Old Masters

My monthly newsletter covers the books I’ve read over the course of the month, any essays I wrote or challenges I undertook, and some other interesting articles, interviews, etc.   

Books

• How Life Imitates Chess by Gary Kasparov
• Organizing Genius by Warren Bennis
• The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder
• Ulysses by James Joyce
• The Courage to Be Disliked by Fumitake Koga, Ichiro Kishimi
• Business Adventures by John Brooks
• Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin
• The Hour Between Dog and Wolf by John Coates
• The Oxygen Advantage by Patrick McKeown

Full list of books read in 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014

Any book, which is at all important, should be immediately re-read

Essays

• None

Teacher’s Reference Guides

• Howard Marks’ Memos. Still finalizing and I’ll publish next month.

Monthly Challenges

• None

Other

• Good Reading 10th Anniversary by Phil Ordway. Massive rabbit hole with dozens of worthwhile articles and books – many listed below
• An Interview with Tom Murphy
• So You Want to Be the Next Warren Buffett? How’s Your Writing? by Mark Sellers
• The Best Investor You’ve Never Heard Of by Jason Zweig
• “Many big people were chasing me. I didn’t know what to do. So I thought I would surprise them and throw it.”
• Inside the PARC
• Large Teams Develop and Small Teams Disrupt Science and Technology
• Football Coaches Are Still Flunking on 4th Down
• Herb Meyer on Globalization, Modernity, Western Civilization, Islam, and the Rise of the Global Middle Class
• Paul Graham on Start-Ups, Innovation, and Creativity

Amor Fati Amor.

Blas

“Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats.” – Howard Aiken

My monthly newsletter covers the books I’ve read over the course of the month, any essays I wrote or challenges I undertook, and some other interesting articles, interviews, etc.   

Books

• The Art of Doing Science and Engineering by Richard Hamming
  • If you read only one summary this month, choose this one
• The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
• The Last Lion, Vols. 1 and 2 by William Manchester
• An Elegant Puzzle by Will Larson
• Super Thinking by Gabriel Weinberg, Lauren McCann
• Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard
• How to Raise Successful People by Esther Wojcicki
• The Spiritual Child by Lisa Miller
• The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp

Full list of books read in 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014

Any book, which is at all important, should be immediately re-read

Essays

• None this month

Teacher’s Reference Guides

• None this month

Monthly Challenges

• Semi-Annual Pareto Spring Cleaning – an easy and effective way to spend 20 minutes every quarter, helping to identify distractions and amplifiers
• 7-Minute Daily Hanging Challenge (Ido Portal) – not 7 consecutive minutes, but 7 minutes total in a day. Felt like it helped with my posture, grip strength, and shoulder flexibility. 

Other

• Learning to Learn lectures by Richard Hamming (my summary here)
• Working Backwards to the Technology
• Solitude and Leadership by William Deresiewicz (contrast with What Is It Like to Work in China?)
• Speed Matters by James Somers
• Sea Slug is Half Plant, Half Animal
• Orangutan Photographed Using a Spear Tool to Fish
• Acoustic Metamaterial Blocks All Sound
• Making Uncommon Knowledge Common by Kevin Kwok
• How Much Do Coaches Matter? by Sam Walker
• NBA Vintage: Bill Russell
• How I Practice at What I Do by Tyler Cowen
• A Long Chat With Peter L. Bernstein by Jason Zweig

Amor Fati Amor.

Blas

“I had worked with John Tukey for some years before I found he was essentially my age, so I went to our mutual boss and asked him, “How can anyone my age know as much as John Tukey does?” He leaned back, grinned, and said, “You would be surprised how much you would know if you had worked as hard as he has for as many years.” There was nothing for me to do but slink out of his office, which I did. I thought about that remark for some weeks and decided, while I could never work as hard as John did, I could do a lot better than I had been doing.” – Richard Hamming

Books

• Small Giants by Bo Burlingham
• The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman
• The Power of Moments by Chip & Dan Heath
• Loonshots by Safi Bahcall
• The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav
• The Captain Class by Sam Walker
• The Mindful Athlete by George Mumford
• Dropping Ashes on the Buddha by Stephen Mitchell
• Fiber by Susan Crawford
• Moving the Mountain by Li Lu

Full list of books read in 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014

Any book, which is at all important, should be immediately re-read

Essays

• The Industrialists

Teacher’s Reference Guides

• None

Monthly Challenges

• Fred Wilson’s MBA Mondays – Fred clarified a lot about the startup world, from fundraising to exits and everything in between. Some of my favorites:
  • The Management Team Guest Posts – Matt Blumberg, Joel Spolsky, Phil Sugar, Jerry Colonna
  • Culture – Susan Loh, Scott Kurnit, Dana Ardi
  • Sustainability: How to be in Business Forever – 1, 2, 3,4

Other

• Michelin Restaurants and Fabulous Wines: Inside the Secret Team Dinners that Have Built the Spurs’ Dynasty
• Open Letter to the AirBnb Community
• Don’t Fuck Up the Culture
• What 7 Years at AirBnb Taught Me About Building A Company
• Letter to Ducks Nation
• Peter Attia Podcast with Matthew Walker on Sleep (3 parts)
• Invest Like the Best Podcast with Peter Zeihan on the future of politics
• Ferriss podcast with Eric Schmidt
• If SaaS Products Sell Themselves, Why Do We Need Sales?
• How to Write Emails With Military Precision
• Sarah Lacy with John Doerr
• Inflammation May be the Root of All Preventable Disease

Amor Fati Amor.

Blas

“Simplicity is the end result of long, hard work, not the starting point.” – Frederick Maitland