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Here are some quick takeaways of some books I read this year.

Million Dollar Weekend – Noah Hagan

• Nice lessons: Always ask for what you want. Quantity > Quality. Visualize. A nice book to be put into a productive gear.

Sapiens – Yuval Noah Harari

• Sample theses: Physical communities are being replaced by virtual communities. Natural religions (nationalism, capitalism, moral frameworks, etc.) are replacing traditional deities. Real peace is the implausibility of war.
• In the last chapter, Harari describes Sapiens as god-like, but also perpetually dissatisfied and irresponsible. It’s less of a history textbook and more of a book using history to justify commentary on human behavior.

Zero to One – Peter Theil

• This is a book for the contrarian. What important truth do very few people agree with you on? Some main ideas are (1) Competition is bad. (2) Start small and don’t disrupt. (3) The power law – hedge in winners.
• I have reread this book once every few years. I can think about recent changes (AI, tech companies, competition, etc.) within the context of some simple ideas provided by this book.

The Best American Essays 2023 – Vivian Gornick

• This is basically an anthology of eclectic voices (e.g. a doctor treating an unusually unstable drug addict, a young adult in maximum security prison turned writer due to solitude, a girl finding out her mom is gay at the very end of her mom’s life through old photos, etc.)