A few years ago, I made an unusual friend. He was a traveling houseless graphic designer who worked very little and made far more money than I did. Everything he owned fit into a small backpack, and he was essentially in permanent vacation mode, while working online whenever he wanted to. He introduced many interesting… Continue reading ❤️ Tim Ferriss – The Four Hour Work Week
Category: Reading List
❤️ Dossie Easton and Janet Hardy – The Ethical Slut
At burning man last year, I attended a wedding. There is some sweet 360 footage in a recent post about burning man. The bride and groom gave unusual vows, promising to respect and never try to change one-another rather than the traditional vow of forsaking all others. And there were other differences from the traditional… Continue reading ❤️ Dossie Easton and Janet Hardy – The Ethical Slut
💩 Chris Guillebeau – The $100 Startup
This book is a great primer on bootstrapping what it calls a “micro-business,” or a one-person business. There are lots of great tips about how to build the first relationships and focus on creating value for your product or service. There is also some focus on how to identify the business that will fit well with your… Continue reading 💩 Chris Guillebeau – The $100 Startup
Ayn Rand – Atlas Shrugged
I first read this book in 2010. It was a gift from the senior development engineer at Build.com during a series of interviews I had there. It is the kind of book that gives you a lot more questions than answers. There is a knife’s edge today which I feel myself balancing on. On one… Continue reading Ayn Rand – Atlas Shrugged
[Documentary] Adam Curtis – HyperNormalisation
Adam Curtis is an amazing documentarian and this is his best work yet. HyperNormalisation focuses on the culture in the USSR at the end. Curtis describes the meaning behind the title, “…everyone knew that the system in place wasn’t working and that the politicians didn’t believe it any longer. Yet at the same time, because they… Continue reading [Documentary] Adam Curtis – HyperNormalisation
[Documentary] Adam Curtis – All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace
Years ago, I came across this documentary series and was struck by its intense and unusual style. Adam Curtis has become one of my favorite documentarians. Luckily for me, he is prolific. His new documentary Hypernormalisation is one of his best. All of his work is about the interplay between power and economics and politics.… Continue reading [Documentary] Adam Curtis – All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace
Neil Strauss – The Game
This is a book about a group of terrible people. A few months ago, I was sitting in a cafe drinking some coffee, when I noticed an odd-looking man reading this book. I Googled the title, and found that it was a New York Times nonfiction best seller about an investigative journalist infiltrating the pickup… Continue reading Neil Strauss – The Game
Ernest Hemingway – The Sun Also Rises
In July of last year, I listened to Brett McKay’s Art of Manliness podcast Episode #219: The Real Life Story of Hemingway and The Sun Also Rises. McKay likes interviewing biographers who are writing about figures who are the actual subject of his interviews. In this episode, he talks with author Lesley Blume about her new book… Continue reading Ernest Hemingway – The Sun Also Rises
Stephen King – On Writing
This book is required reading for a class I am taking at Sierra College, but I also feel that it may improve my blogging and writing in general. It is a short biopic piece by Stephen King about his journey learning to write. I think King’s advice would be to just start writing and… Continue reading Stephen King – On Writing
Zero to One by Peter Thiel
After the Gawker case, earlier this year, I decided to start following Thiel’s career. He is a fascinating figure with his hands in lots of different businesses, many of which figure heavily into the larger theme of futurism that has become so important to me. I have since watched dozens of his interviews on YouTube… Continue reading Zero to One by Peter Thiel