How to live
by Derek Sivers
This is a short book based on author's opinon, which mostly aligns with mine. I found that many principles from the books are based on Stoicism philosophy.
The book contradicts itself few times, but I still had a good time listening to it. I found it a bit inspirational to be reminded of those things.
Staff Engineer
by Will Larson
Software engineer titles are a mess. Senior Software Engineer title got deflated over the years. It's not uncommon to see people with 3 years of experience with it. As a result technical career path becomes problematic as there is none. As an obvious solution new titles started appearing. Company started to create their own titles, which doesn't tranfer or communicate much outside the company. The most common title above the Senior in Australia is Lead Developer, but that's pretty much it.
Recently I've discovered a new title taxonomy called Staff Engineering. It is still loosely defined. This book is based on aggregation of opinions and defines the next technical levels above Senior.
The book has lower quality than I'd expect from books. It feels like a collection of blog posts. However it's still useful to read to get the authors opinion.
The Art of Gathering
by Priya Parker
You probably wouldn't think much what there is to a gathering. This book goes into details what makes gatherings good or bad. The book is not prescriptive and gives a good high level guide to different aspects.
I think everybody could benefit from this book, but probably not many people will find it interesting. I've read this book twice in a row, as the second round was for the book club.
The Alphabet of Emotions (Rus) / Азбука Эмоций
by Natalia Kedrova
I had fun reading this small Russian book. It talks about the most common emotions and how to interpret them.
The book has colorful design and illustrations, which made me think that most books are visually boring.
I would recommend it to everybody if you can read Russian.
A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy
by William B. Irvine
This book is my first introduction to Stoicism. I would say the book is well written, but I didn't like the audiobook's narrator on Audible. It was too monotone for me.
Stoicism itself is an interesting philosophy and I would recommend you to look into it if you still haven't.
Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World
by Marcus Buckingha, Mashley Goodall
That's a pretty interesting book about debunking the status quo. I generally agree with the author that the “lies” as the status quo make little sense. However, I’m not fully sold yet that the “truths” is the right solution. I felt the arguments were very weak at times. Also, the author gives weird definitions to the problems so later he can present his solution, which are only relevant in such setup.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the argument as it got me thinking. The book is easy to read. I would recommend it if you want to challenge your beliefs with the new facts.
Everyone Communicates, Few Connect
by John C. Maxwell
I listened to this audiobook and I should say it would be better to read it instead. The book is very well structured. The author provides a good breakdown of how to connect with people when communicatating.
The book doesn't offer anything groundbreaking: be valuable to others, puts others' interestes first, be interesting, be inspiring, speak clearly, be authentic. I feel the advice is too generic and theoretical. I might read it in the future though.
Do the work
by Steven Pressfield
This is short (2 hours) motivational book. It’s written in an engaging style. The main idea if you want results you should do the work.
The author encourages to distance yourself from your own bad habits and lack of discipline. I think that’s an interesting idea which might yield better results.
This book feels like more like a summary essay of the author’s previous book "The War of Art". I haven’t read it yet, but even the foreword makes it very clear.
Below are my highlights.
The Four
by Scott Galloway
The book includes the short analysis of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google along with future prediction. It was an interesting listen but I didn’t make any notes.
Хулиномика
This book gives a good introduction to ecomony basics. It quickly touches on a lot of concepts so don’t expect to get a good introduction. The author prioritises cool slang over explanation simplicity. This book is very entertaining indeed, but having the basic knowledge myself I found it had to follow.