I’m a casual reader and not a literary connoisseur, but here is an ongoing list of some fun books that I’ve recently enjoyed. The list turns out to be a mashup of business/tech/economics mixed with some exciting adventure stories. Enjoy!

Non-Fiction

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
I regularly listened to the Freakonomics podcasts before I finally picked up this book. My academic training has ingrained a critical mindset and a “healthy dose of skepticism” (a term my PI loves using) to all scientific matters. Freakonomics puts what I have learned in my academic training into economic and digestible real world situations. Especially during a time when information seems to be flowing at us like a firehose, criticism and careful curation of new data should be everybody’s first response.

Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman
by Yvon Chouinard
I’m not sure how I stumbled on this book, but it perfectly blends my interests. Yvon Chouinard, who is an overall badass, talks about how he originally founded Patagonia to cater to the fellow “dirtbag” climbers who needed better pitons. He eventually developed the company into one of the most successful outdoor brands. What really stuck with me is how successful a purpose-driven company can be. One of the driving factors for patagonia is improving and maintaining wild places (1% for the Planet), which happens to be the place where Patagonia customers use their products. The company also puts an enormous emphasis on maintaining the “dirtbag” culture, by hiring people who are similarly obsessed with things like surfing, climbing, fly fishing, and hiking. They encourage employees to catch the fresh powder or some big waves that may happen in the middle of the workday (hence the title of the book). Chouinard explains how deeply these employees care about Patagonia’s success and that’s how they can maintain good productivity and growth.

Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think
By Peter Diamandis and Steven Kolter
This book makes my list because the while technology will continue to become outdated, the message is evergreen. We hear daily stories about how AI is going to take over the world and fossil fuels are destroying our planet but this book brings a tinge of optimism for technology. Exponential tech, like transistor capacity and sequencing capabilities, provide opportunities for making the world a better place as our population grows. Obviously, this stuff needs to be in the hands of people with the right intentions. The authors present plenty of tangible examples for ways to do things like reduce food insecurity and capture renewable energy. Another bonus is that the author is the founder of the X-Prize, which is a global competition to develop humanitarian technology for a hefty cash prize.

Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!
by Richard P. Feynman
I read this when at the perfect time in my life, during my first year of graduate school. Feynman is a legend in the world of physics, but he was such a multifaceted person and not the stereotypical scientist. The stories shared in this book convinced me that even the most prolific scientists can embrace their broad interests. Being involved in science means a person has a child-like curiosity and an a stoic level of criticism. With that in mind, why should a person be shackled to a narrow focused ideology of science? I realize that, after a few years in graduate school, narrow minded is not even close to a description of a research scientists. But for some reason, the younger version of me believed that I had to stick with the work I was doing forever. So I encourage everyone I meet to read this book, ask why things work, learn to play the bongos, play the innocent joke on your colleagues (but be considerate), say ridiculous things, and do what makes you happy.

Into the Wild
By Jon Krakauer
This one hit me a little bit different than I expected. It’s based on a true story. At first glance, this kid seems like an idiot for venturing to Alaska as unprepared as he was. But then I realized that I could relate more to his story than I could criticize. When Christopher Mccandless talks about his Alaskan journey, I can’t help but sympathize with the longing to see new and dangerous places. I don’t think I’d get as far as giving up my career and selling off my belongings, but I completely understand why he went on such a seemingly insane adventure that ultimately led to his death.

More Money Than God
By Sebastian Mallaby
Hedge funds have a reputation for being charachiture’s of rich supervillains. This book gives a more objective take and my mind was blown by the motivations behind the hedge fund managers from the last 50 years. Some stories are downright scary, like when George Soros “went for the jugular” and caused the collapse of the british sterling. Others, like Citidel’s and DE Shaw’s response to the 2008 financial crisis were just ingenious. It was a fun read on a topic that inspired a growing interest in the world of finance.

A Sand County Almanac
By Aldo Leopold
“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” If we want to preserve the wild places that existed long before us, we have to actively participate in not destroying it. This book lays out some visionary ideas about wildlife conservation and should be required reading for anyone who embraces the great outdoors. As an added bonus, it is loaded with sketches and anecdotes about Aldo Leopold’s experiences in the outdoors.

Fiction

Rowdin’s Renaissance: Inspired by Real Events
By Bassam Osman
This is a slight plug (my dad wrote this book) :). It is a fictional story that clearly reflects my fathers upbringing in a middle-eastern warzone. It is a story of optimism, showing how investment in education of the younger generation in the middle east can drive them away from factional ideology and towards improvement and innovation. No matter where a person is brought up, it’s easy for an individual to fall into a misguided ideology. If enough people fall into this trap, a community will inevitably be driven into a downward spiral. Rather, by focusing on innovation and education, a community can create its own wealth and prosperity that’s not driven by greed and anger.

The Big Sky
by A.B. Guthrie
If you know me well, you’ll know that I’ve developed a fondness for stories about the American west. At first, I wanted to recommend Blood Meridian, but to be honest, I felt like a literary luddite as I trudged through that book. Instead, The Big Sky is one I thoroughly enjoyed. It tells the story of character named Boone as he ventures from Kentucky through the west. Running with a french keelboat crew, they deal with plenty of whiskey, wildlife, and run-ins with violent groups of strangers. It’s a fun read and among my favorites in western fiction.

White Fang and Call of the Wild
by Jack London
These two are combined because they are so short and I read them back to back. These two are classics for any age. Dogs, adventure and big woods. What’s not to love?

The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: The Finca Vigia Edition
by Ernest Hemingway
Hemingway needs no introduction… This collection of short stories is especially fun for me to read because it acts as an interlude between long books. I can crack it open and read through some quick and fun stories. It’s got everything from action, love, lions, death, and drama. “Hills Like White Elephants” is probably among my favorites in this collection.

Some others worth mentioning:

Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein
By Walter Isaacson

A Walk in the Woods
By Bill Bryson

4 Hour Work Week
By Tim Ferriss

American Gods
By Neil Gaiman

Siddhartha
Herman Hesse

David and Goliath
Malcolm Gladwell