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@matthewmccullough
Last active May 2, 2024 18:01
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Personal Finance

  • Consider Your Options - covers stock grants, nonqualified options, incentive stock options and employee stock purchase plans in an easy to understand way.

Personal Security

Business, Etc

Software / Open Source

Operations

Presentations and Public Speaking

Self Help / Inspiration

Communication

Meditation

Design / Creation / Making

Food, Drink, Booze, etc.

  • The Art of Fermentation - Sandor Katz wrote the previous great book on fermentation, "Wild Fermentation", which now seems like a shoddy rough draft compared to this encyclopedic, yet engaging, bible and, er, "cookbook" of all things fermented. 💯 Amazing. (@rick)
  • The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart - Histories of the plants that are used in alcohol. Warning, will make you want to start a garden. (@otehrcasey)
  • On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee - This glorious tome of food knowledge is why I know so much about Brassica oleracea. (@jonahberquist)

Math and Science

Economics

  • Naked Economics - Short and unbelievably readable introduction to macroeconomic principles. If you want to have a real understanding of things like the Federal Reserve, inflation, pegging currencies, etc - this is a fantastic way to wrap your head around economics.

Probability modeling

General Intellectual Interest

Fiction

  • Invisible Man - Not the HG Wells Sci-Fi. The quintessential Harlem renaissance coming of age novel. You likely were supposed to read it in high school, but didn't.
  • 1Q84
  • A Song of Fire and Ice - Of HBO's Game of Thrones fame. Marathon reads; the longest is 1500 pages. But, an extremely active story that runs quickly. (from @aspires. Note: IMHO you can watch Season 1 and skip the first book. Others disagree.) (Suggestion: Read #4 & #5 in Feast Dance order.)
  • The Culture Series by Iain M. Banks. (@jdmaturen)
  • The Martian - A NASA astronaut is abandoned on Mars. Think Bear Grylls in a spacesuit. Technical, fascinating, and pretty damn funny. (from @jasonlong)
  • Ready Player One - Snow Crash + a metric 💩ton of 80s pop culture references. (from @jasonlong)
  • Magic 2.0 Series - If you enjoyed Ready Player One, you might enjoy this little gem of a 3-part series as well. (from @jodidelman)
  • The Alchemist (@francisfuzz)
  • Light by M. John Harrison (@acyphus)
  • Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
  • Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
  • Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson
  • Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold - character-driven military space series, lighthearted but oh so real. Talk to me if you want more convincing.

Great Books

Game Theory

Distilled from a Gist:

Other Ideas

  • Derek Sivers (cdbaby founder, internet dude) keeps a list of books that he's read with brief reviews.
  • @rick sometimes maintains a dem books Gist with reading recommendations in it.
  • Personal MBA has a list of 99 books for, well, getting your own personal MBA without going to college. Quite a few of them are already present in this list, feel free to check the rest!
@gregorynicholas
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@matthewmccullough what prompted the in depth research?

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