Rather than read individual books, why not read clusters on related topics? Using AI to summarize, compare, and fact-check?

  • Tiny-habits + behavior design wave (2018–2020)
  • Learning faster, remembering more (2014–2020)
  • Motivation, grit, and “how people get good” (2016–2019). # Gemini
  • The “Attention Resistance” and Digital Minimalism (2016–2022)
  • Trauma, healing, and therapy “going mainstream” (2014–2022)
  • Endurance running as history + meaning + limits (2006-2016)
  • Socialism “after the 20th century”: rebuilding the case, testing alternatives, arguing with critics (1944-2021)
  • Coaching-centered leadership and building high-performing teams (1998-2019)
  • Nexus and the history of information networks: media, power, and the AI turn (2010-2024)
    • Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI (Yuval Noah Harari, 2024)
    • The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood (James Gleick, 2011)
    • The Master Switch (Tim Wu, 2010)
    • The Shallows (Nicholas Carr, 2010)
    • The Square and the Tower (Niall Ferguson, 2017)
    • The Age of Surveillance Capitalism (Shoshana Zuboff, 2019)
  • “Remarkable service” leadership playbook (1993-2022)
    • Unreasonable Hospitality (Will Guidara, 2022)
    • Setting the Table (Danny Meyer, 2006)
    • Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service (The Disney Institute, 2001; updated editions later)
    • Delivering Happiness (Tony Hsieh, 2010)
    • The Experience Economy (B. Joseph Pine II & James H. Gilmore, 1999)
    • Raving Fans (Ken Blanchard & Sheldon Bowles, 1993)
  • Science graphics, visual explanation, and evidence-based information design (1983-2023)
    • Building Science Graphics (Jen Christiansen, 2023)
    • The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (Edward Tufte, 1983)
    • Visual Explanations (Edward Tufte, 1997)
    • The Truthful Art (Alberto Cairo, 2016)
    • Storytelling with Data (Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic, 2015)
    • Show Me the Numbers (Stephen Few, 2004)
  • Superforecasting and the craft of good judgment under uncertainty (2001-2018)
    • Superforecasting (Philip E. Tetlock & Dan Gardner, 2015)
    • The Signal and the Noise (Nate Silver, 2012)
    • Thinking in Bets (Annie Duke, 2018)
    • How Not to Be Wrong (Jordan Ellenberg, 2014)
    • Fooled by Randomness (Nassim Nicholas Taleb, 2001)
    • The Black Swan (Nassim Nicholas Taleb, 2007)
  • Explanations, progress, and the Popperian worldview (1963–2018)
    • The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World (David Deutsch, 2011)
    • Conjectures and Refutations (Karl Popper, 1963)
    • The Logic of Scientific Discovery (Karl Popper, 1934; English 1959)
    • The Fabric of Reality (David Deutsch, 1997)
    • Enlightenment Now (Steven Pinker, 2018)
  • Decision-making, noise, and cognitive bias (2011–2021)
    • Thinking, Fast and Slow (Daniel Kahneman)
    • Superforecasting (Tetlock & Gardner)
    • Noise (Kahneman, Sibony, Sunstein)
    • Thinking in Bets (Annie Duke)
  • Happiness → meaning → the good life (2016–2023)
    • The Happiness Trap (ACT-based)
    • The Power of Meaning (Emily Esfahani Smith)
    • The Good Life (Waldinger & Schulz)
    • Build the Life You Want (Brooks & Winfrey)
  • Relationships + attachment + communication (2010–2018)
    • Attached (Levine & Heller)
    • Nonviolent Communication (Rosenberg)
    • Crucial Conversations
    • The 7 Principles for Making Marriage Work (Gottman)
  • Longevity / healthspan “protocol” wave (2017–2023)
    • The Telomere Effect (Blackburn & Epel, 2017)
    • Lifespan (David Sinclair, 2019)
    • Outlive (Peter Attia, 2023)
  • Sleep finally gets its “public health” moment (2016–2018)
    • Why We Sleep (Matthew Walker, 2017)
    • The Sleep Revolution (Arianna Huffington)
    • Sleep Smarter (Shawn Stevenson, 2016)
    • The Power of When (Michael Breus, 2016)
    • The Sleep Solution (W. Chris Winter, 2017)
  • Metabolic health, obesity, and food environment (2015–2023)
    • The Obesity Code (Jason Fung)
    • How Not to Die (Michael Greger)
    • Ultra-Processed People (Chris van Tulleken)
  • Exercise as medicine + movement as mood (2008–2020)
    • Spark (John Ratey)
    • Born to Run (McDougall)
    • The Joy of Movement (Kelly McGonigal)
  • Modern management craft: feedback, coaching, teams (2016–2019)
    • The Coaching Habit (Michael Bungay Stanier)
    • Radical Candor (Kim Scott)
    • The Culture Code (Daniel Coyle)
    • The Fearless Organization (Amy Edmondson)
  • Execution systems: OKRs and operating cadence (2015–2018)
    • Measure What Matters (John Doerr)
    • Radical Focus (Christina Wodtke)
    • The 4 Disciplines of Execution (McChesney et al.)
  • Startups & product-building playbook wave (2011–2016)
    • The Lean Startup (Eric Ries)
    • Zero to One (Peter Thiel, 2014)
    • Sprint (Knapp et al.)
    • Hooked (Nir Eyal)
    • The Hard Thing About Hard Things (Ben Horowitz, 2014)
    • Creativity, Inc. (Ed Catmull, 2014)
  • Strategy “clarity” wave (2011–2017)
    • Good Strategy Bad Strategy (Rumelt)
    • Playing to Win (Lafley & Martin)
    • The Innovator’s Dilemma (Christensen)
    • Seven Powers (Hamilton Helmer)
  • Incentives, misalignment, and corporate pathology (2015–2020)
    • Misbehaving (Thaler)
    • The Undoing Project (Lewis)
    • The Man Who Solved the Market (Zuckerman) (if you like finance angle)
    • No Rules Rules (Hastings & Meyer)
  • “Why nations succeed/fail” + institutions (2012–2015)
    • Why Nations Fail (Acemoglu & Robinson)
    • The Dictator’s Handbook (Bueno de Mesquita & Smith)
    • Prisoners of Geography (Tim Marshall)
  • Big History and the “Sapiens” Effect (2014–2021)
    • Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Yuval Noah Harari, 2014)
    • The Better Angels of Our Nature (Pinker)
    • The Silk Roads (Peter Frankopan, 2015)
    • Homo Deus (Yuval Noah Harari, 2016)
    • The Dawn of Everything (David Graeber & David Wengrow, 2021)
  • Geopolitics reboot (2012–2020)
    • The Revenge of Geography (Robert Kaplan, 2012)
    • Prisoners of Geography (Tim Marshall, 2015)
    • The Future is Asian (Parag Khanna)
    • Connectography (Parag Khanna, 2016)
  • Inequality, capitalism, and who wins (2012–2019)
    • Capital in the Twenty-First Century (Thomas Piketty, 2013/2014)
    • Winners Take All (Anand Giridharadas)
    • The Age of Surveillance Capitalism (Shoshana Zuboff)
    • The Price of Inequality (Joseph Stiglitz, 2012)
    • Inequality: What Can Be Done? (Anthony Atkinson, 2015)
    • After Piketty (Heather Boushey et al., 2017)
  • Race, systems, and social structure (2019–2020)
    • How to Be an Antiracist (Ibram X. Kendi)
    • White Fragility (Robin DiAngelo)
    • Caste (Isabel Wilkerson)
  • Social contagion, networks, and how behavior spreads (2009–2013)
    • Connected (Christakis & Fowler)
    • Contagious (Jonah Berger)
    • The Righteous Mind (Jonathan Haidt)
  • AI and the future of work (2017–2023)
    • Life 3.0 (Tegmark)
    • AI Superpowers (Kai-Fu Lee)
    • The Alignment Problem (Brian Christian)
    • The Coming Wave (Mustafa Suleyman)
  • Climate “this is the constraint” wave (2014–2021)
    • The Sixth Extinction (Kolbert)
    • Drawdown (Hawken, ed.)
    • The Uninhabitable Earth (Wallace-Wells)
    • How to Avoid a Climate Disaster (Gates)
  • Physics/cosmology for humans (2014–2017)
    • Seven Brief Lessons on Physics (Rovelli)
    • The Big Picture (Sean Carroll)
    • Astrophysics for People in a Hurry (Tyson)
  • Modern Stoicism and Ego Management (2014–2019)
    • The Obstacle Is the Way (Ryan Holiday, 2014)
    • Ego Is the Enemy (Ryan Holiday, 2016)
    • The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F-ck (Mark Manson, 2016)
    • Stillness Is the Key (Ryan Holiday, 2019)
  • The “Wood Wide Web”: Plant and Fungal Intelligence (2015–2021)
    • The Hidden Life of Trees (Peter Wohlleben, 2015)
    • The Overstory (Richard Powers, 2018)
    • Entangled Life (Merlin Sheldrake, 2020)
    • Finding the Mother Tree (Suzanne Simard, 2021)
  • Breathwork and Respiratory Health (2015–2020)
    • The Oxygen Advantage (Patrick McKeown, 2015)
    • Just Breathe (Dan Brulé, 2017)
    • Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art (James Nestor, 2020)
  • The Microbiome and Gut-Brain Axis (2014–2016)
    • Missing Microbes (Martin Blaser, 2014)
    • The Good Gut (Justin & Erica Sonnenburg, 2015)
    • 10% Human (Alanna Collen, 2015)
    • I Contain Multitudes (Ed Yong, 2016)
  • The Psychedelic Renaissance (2018–2021)
    • How to Change Your Mind (Michael Pollan, 2018)
    • The Psychedelic Renaissance (Ben Sessa, 2012/2018 edition)
    • Acid Revival (Danielle Giffort, 2020)
    • This Is Your Mind on Plants (Michael Pollan, 2021)
  • CRISPR and the Gene Editing Revolution (2017–2021)
    • A Crack in Creation (Jennifer Doudna & Samuel Sternberg, 2017)
    • The Gene (Siddhartha Mukherjee)
    • Hacking Darwin (Jamie Metzl, 2019)
    • Editing Humanity (Kevin Davies, 2020)
    • The Code Breaker (Walter Isaacson, 2021)
  • The Meritocracy Trap (2019–2020)
    • The Meritocracy Trap (Daniel Markovits, 2019)
    • The Tyranny of Merit (Michael Sandel, 2020)
    • The Cult of Smart (Fredrik deBoer, 2020)
  • The Crisis of Democracy and Authoritarianism (2018–2020)
    • How Democracies Die (Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt, 2018)
    • Fascism: A Warning (Madeleine Albright, 2018)
    • The People vs. Democracy (Yascha Mounk, 2018)
    • Twilight of Democracy (Anne Applebaum, 2020)
  • The Gender Data Gap and Invisible Labor (2019–2021)
    • Invisible Women (Caroline Criado Perez, 2019)
    • Counting: How We Use Numbers to Decide What Matters (Deborah Stone, 2020)
    • The Authority Gap (Mary Ann Sieghart, 2021)
  • The “Unicorn” Fall: Corporate Fraud and Failure (2018–2021)
    • Bad Blood (John Carreyrou, 2018)
    • Super Pumped (Mike Isaac, 2019)
    • Billion Dollar Loser (Reeves Wiedeman, 2020)
    • The Cult of We (Eliot Brown & Maureen Farrell, 2021)
  • New Urbanism and Walkable Cities (2012–2019)
    • Walkable City (Jeff Speck, 2012)
    • Happy City (Charles Montgomery, 2013)
    • Streetfight (Janette Sadik-Khan, 2016)
    • Soft City (David Sim, 2019)
  • Silk Roads and “history as networks”: trade routes, exchange, and the Eurasian pivot (2008–2018)
    • The Silk Roads (Peter Frankopan, 2015)
    • The New Silk Roads (Peter Frankopan, 2018)
    • Empires of the Silk Road (Christopher I. Beckwith, 2009)
    • A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World (William J. Bernstein, 2008)
    • The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean (David Abulafia, 2011)
  • The Modern Synthesis forming: evolution meets genetics and math (1930–1942)
    • The Causes of Evolution (J. B. S. Haldane, 1932)
    • The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection (R. A. Fisher, 1930)
    • Genetics and the Origin of Species (Theodosius Dobzhansky, 1937)
    • Evolution: The Modern Synthesis (Julian Huxley, 1942)
    • What Evolution Is (Ernst Mayr, 2001)
  • Forecasting science’s consequences: biotech futures and moral whiplash (1924–2005)
    • Daedalus; or, Science and the Future (J. B. S. Haldane, 1924)
    • The World Set Free (H. G. Wells, 1914)
    • Brave New World (Aldous Huxley, 1932)
    • Silent Spring (Rachel Carson, 1962)
    • The Singularity Is Near (Ray Kurzweil, 2005)
  • Erudite historical mystery: monasteries, manuscripts, and ideas as suspects (1977–1993)
    • The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco, 1980)
    • Foucault’s Pendulum (Umberto Eco, 1988)
    • The Club Dumas (Arturo Pérez-Reverte, 1993)
    • A Morbid Taste for Bones (Ellis Peters, 1977)
    • Labyrinth (Kate Mosse, 2005)
  • Chemistry as memoir, ethics, and survival: science told as literature (1975–2016)
    • The Periodic Table (Primo Levi, 1975)
    • If This Is a Man / Survival in Auschwitz (Primo Levi, 1947)
    • Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood (Oliver Sacks, 2001)
    • The Disappearing Spoon (Sam Kean, 2010)
    • Lab Girl (Hope Jahren, 2016)
  • Insight under pressure: intuition, expertise, and how people actually decide (1998–2015)
    • Seeing What Others Don’t: The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights (Gary Klein, 2013)
    • Sources of Power (Gary Klein, 1998)
    • Blink (Malcolm Gladwell, 2005)
    • Thinking, Fast and Slow (Daniel Kahneman, 2011)
    • Superforecasting (Philip Tetlock & Dan Gardner, 2015)
  • Awe and everyday transcendence: the science of wonder and its effects (2006–2023)
    • Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life (Dacher Keltner, 2023)
    • The Happiness Hypothesis (Jonathan Haidt, 2006)
    • Flow (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, 1990)
    • The Book of Delights (Ross Gay, 2019)
    • Braiding Sweetgrass (Robin Wall Kimmerer, 2013)
  • Introversion, temperament, and the “extrovert ideal” (1996–2012)
    • Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking (Susan Cain, 2012)
    • The Highly Sensitive Person (Elaine N. Aron, 1996)
    • The Introvert Advantage (Marti Olsen Laney, 2002)
    • The Introvert’s Way (Sophia Dembling, 2012)
    • Personality (Daniel Nettle, 2007)
  • Why societies diverge: geography, germs, institutions, and big-history arguments (1997–2021)
    • Guns, Germs, and Steel (Jared Diamond, 1997)
    • Why Nations Fail (Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson, 2012)
    • The Wealth and Poverty of Nations (David S. Landes, 1998)
    • Prisoners of Geography (Tim Marshall, 2015)
    • The Dawn of Everything (David Graeber & David Wengrow, 2021)
  • Presence, mindfulness, and “waking up” from mental noise (1975–2014)
    • The Power of Now (Eckhart Tolle, 1997)
    • The Miracle of Mindfulness (Thích Nhất Hạnh, 1975)
    • Wherever You Go, There You Are (Jon Kabat-Zinn, 1994)
    • Waking Up (Sam Harris, 2014)
    • 10% Happier (Dan Harris, 2014)
  • Therapy made legible: human stories, clinical craft, and change (1989–2020)
    • Maybe You Should Talk to Someone (Lori Gottlieb, 2019)
    • Love’s Executioner (Irvin D. Yalom, 1989)
    • The Gift of Therapy (Irvin D. Yalom, 2001)
    • Good Morning, Monster (Catherine Gildiner, 2019)
    • Group (Christie Tate, 2020)
  • Classic success psychology: ambition, persuasion, and “prosperity” narratives (1903–1937)
    • Think and Grow Rich (Napoleon Hill, 1937)
    • How to Win Friends and Influence People (Dale Carnegie, 1936)
    • The Richest Man in Babylon (George S. Clason, 1926)
    • The Science of Getting Rich (Wallace D. Wattles, 1910)
    • As a Man Thinketh (James Allen, 1903)

TODO

  • The Panda’s Thumb (Stephen Jay Gould, 1980)
  • Pluto’s Republic (Peter Medawar, 1983)
  • The Science of the Artificial (Herbert A. Simon, 1969)
  • Weapons and Hope (Freeman Dyson, 1984)
  • Faraday, Maxwell, and the Electromagnetic Field: How Two Men Revolutionized Physics (Nancy Forbes & Basil Mahon, 2017)
  • Art in the age of mechanical reproduction