Personal notes on 2018 Readings

Exceptional stuff : 1)The Courage to be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga : An excellent read on Alderian psychology which turns Freudian theory of past cause and present / future effect on its head and brings things in your life back to the one person who can change it – you ! 2)The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis : I usually avoid pessimists but this book which goes behind optics to what is happening to the US Government is just too factual and good to put down. Must read even if you are not an American. Fiction : 3)Past Tense by Lee Child : My only fiction read for the year. Reacher takes a detour to the town where his father was born and finds somethings not quite fitting in. Unputdownable enjoyment ! Investments : 4)A Zebra in a Lion Country by Ralph Wanger : The bible for small cap investing ! 5)The Most Important Thing : Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investing by Howard Marks : One of the best investment philosophy books ever written. 6)Mastering the Market Cycle by Howard Marks : Another gem from Howard Marks on the inevitable phenomenon of market cycles. 7)The Aspirational Investor by Ashwin Chhabra : Provides an excellent framework for approaching financial planning. 8)Narrative and Numbers – the value of stories in numbers by Ashwath Damodaran : The answer behind - Why does a startup with no profit have that billion dollar valuation ? Academic at times – but overall hugely value adding. 9)Factfulness by Hans Rosling : Incredible book on why folks love to discount the optimism around even when it is out there in hard facts/ numbers. Great book to build your investment philosophy. 10)Antifragile : Things that gain from disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb : Like talking to an academic on his treatise on systems which benefit from black swans. Incredibly binding. Great insights for investment. 11)Warren Buffet and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder: An authorized biography. Contains more about his life and times than on the rationale of his investment. A light, easy read. 12)The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande : A short read about a doctor who brought checklist to WHO and saved numerous lives. Rich with examples from aviation, construction and every walk of life where check lists add value every day. Must read book. 13)Competitive Advantage by Michael Porter : Analyzes sources of competitive advantages for individual firms. Academic at times, long winded in places but an excellent book for building knowledge on frameworks for evaluating investment worthy businesses. 14)Invest like a Guru by Charlie Tian : On summation, offers nothing new - a summary of value investing lessons from all the big ones condensed in 1 book. A non-remarkable book. Agile Management : 15)Agile Product Management with Scrum by Roman Pichler : The easiest and briefest book I could find on difference between Agile Product Management Vs Traditional Product Management. Got me hooked to find more. 16)The Agle of Agile by Stephen Dunning : How successful companies are embracing Agile Management. Average read. Others : 17)How to fail at almost everything and still win big by Scott Adams : Title is self explanatory but the book in my opinion could have been much better. Would have avoided if I was clairvoyant. 18)Zero to One – Notes on Startups or How to build the future by Peter Theil : “'What is something you think is true, but that most people disagree with you on?'". Some exciting ideas like the aforesaid question but the overall falls a little short of being a great read. 19)Collaborating with the Enemy by Adam Kahane : A quick read on working through conflict. A bit too hurried for a learner to pick up insights. 20)Blockchain Revolution by Don Tapscott : A good book to explain why Blockchain is so important and its possible uses. At times gets boring. 21) Chaos Monkeys by Antonio García Martínez : Seemed to be Liar’s Poker – turned out to be a colossal waste of time.