Week Notes: Vol. 1 – № 9

11 books I read in 2022

Many of the books I read in 2022 focused on understanding how people think, decide, and work together for better outcomes.

Most of them are about noticing what’s missing: the gaps between strategy and execution, intent and impact, leaders and teams.

Books: 'Thinking, Fast and Slow,' 'Loonshots,' 'Resilient Management,' 'Articulating Design Decisions,' 'Algorithms to Live By,' 'Save The Cat,' 'Sick in the Head,' 'The Power of Us,' 'Born Standing Up,' 'Difficult Conversations,' 'Ask'

Favorites of the year

"The Power of Us: Harnessing Our Shared Identities to Improve Performance, Increase Cooperation, and Promote Social Harmony" by Jay J. Van Bavel PhD and Dominic J. Packer PhD

Rating: 5 out of 5

Probably one of the more important books I’ve read lately. A bit all over the place, but it is good insight into how people prioritize certain parts of their personal identity to create team and culture dynamics. Our identity changes based on the context we’re in and often seems contradictory.

Back to top

"Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life" by Steve Martin

Rating: 5 out of 5

I’ve developed a recent fascination with Steve Martin. I first only knew him from Father of the Bride. Then other movies. Recently a combination of his old work in the 70s and the show "Only Murders In The Building". This book is an interesting memoir and the final chapter is very poetic.

Back to top

"Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most" by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen

Rating: 5 out of 5

Sad I didn’t read it sooner. Highly recommend. I enjoyed how this book wakes you through what happens when we try to have hard conversations normally and why they fail. It’s all very practical. The last chapter nicely steps through a difficult conversation and what to look out for.

Back to top

"Articulating Design Decisions: Communicate with Stakeholders, Keep Your Sanity, and Deliver the Best User Experience" by Tom Greever

Rating: 5 out of 5

So glad I finally got a chance to read this book. Many good nuggets but what has stuck with me most is always saying yes as a method of inviting collaboration and understanding perspectives.

Back to top

"Resilient Management" by Lara Hogan

Rating: 4 out of 5

This book really lifted the veil on the struggles managers face that their reports may not be aware of. Also good tips for how to interact with your manager!

Back to top

Worth a read

"Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman

Rating: 4 out of 5

A pretty thick read and kind of academic. Took me a while to get through. But there were enough nuggets about psychology and human behavior to keep me reading.

Something I learned is that algorithms are actually better at predictions than human intuition. So when you can try to turn your intuition into a statistic.

Back to top

"Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries" by Safi Bahcall

Rating: 3 out of 5

Kind of all over the place. Lots of good stories about business innovation and failure. I found the last part about project vs. promotion culture in companies the most interesting.

Back to top

"Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need" by Blake Snyder

Rating: 4 out of 5

Found a lot of transferable tips in this book. But it was also fun to read something very different. A short and entertaining read. I feel like I have a much different perspective watching shows and movies now.

Back to top

Not what I hoped for

"Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions" by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths

Rating: 3 out of 5

Not exactly what I expected. A bit esoteric. I found the parts about sorting, caching, and scheduling the most interesting. But I was glad to be done with this book.

Back to top

"Sick in the Head: Conversations About Life and Comedy" by Judd Apatow

Rating: 3 out of 5

Disappointed by this book. Judd talks a lot about himself during these interviews, which turned me off. The most interesting ones were at the end with Rosanne and Steve Martin.

Back to top

"Ask: The Counterintuitive Online Formula to Discover Exactly What Your Customers Want to Buy, Create a Mass of Raving Fans, and Take Any Business to the Next Level" by Ryan Levesque

Rating: 3 out of 5

Just OK. The author has an engaging personal story at the beginning. The portion after about how to set up a customer survey funnel and how to sort your audience is good for niche roles in a marketing or startup environment.

Back to top