In 2024, I committed to reading a book (usually a biography) every week, and to date, I’ve done it for 65 consecutive weeks. I wanted to share what I’m reading and also keep track for myself, which, surprisingly, was hard to do (see here). So, I created the Library section on this website. I added to the Library all the books I’ve read since I embarked on my book-a-week habit. And I’ve committed to adding my latest read to the Library every Sunday. It’s a weekend habit that helps me document and share my continuous learning journey in a fun way.

However, I also read books before 2024, and I want to capture and share those as well. My goal is to add them to the Library over time. During Memorial Day weekend, I added five (see here). That inspired me to experiment with adding two books every weekend until my backlog is cleared. Two weekends ago, I added two books (see here), and this past weekend I added two more:

• Capital Wars by Micheal Howell
• Seeking Wisdom by Peter Bevelin

That’s the latest on my weekend goal. I hope that sharing these books via my Library will add value to others.

I’m a first-generation entrepreneur who loves to learn, and I’m committed to learning as much as I can about entrepreneurship. The best way I’ve found to do it is to study other entrepreneurs and the frameworks they use. So, every week, I read a book, usually a biography. Then, every Sunday, I post my latest read in my Library on this site.

Several years ago, an entrepreneur friend mentioned Dale Carnegie and told me how useful his book was in helping him improve his interactions with his team. I was intrigued and bought Carnegie’s book How to Win Friends & Influence People, but I never made it a priority to read it . . . for seven years.

In the last six months, I’ve gotten more interested in human psychology and have been reading up on the topic. Several books and people have mentioned Carnegie’s book. I decided to dust off my copy and give it a read. The book was initially published in 1936 but has been updated several times. My paperback copy was published in 1998, but I plan to also read the 2022 edition.

Carnegie’s book focuses on his easy-to-understand framework and breaks it down into four parts:

• Techniques for Interacting with People
• Making People Like You
• How to Win People to Your Way of Thinking
• Leadership: How to Change People without Offending or Angering Them

For each part, he explains several principles that help you improve in that area. What I liked was that he connected each principle to examples that crystallize how it had been applied in real life. He didn’t leave it up to the reader to figure out the application of the principles.

I now understand why so many people like this book and why it’s been a bestseller for decades. It helps anyone easily understand how to improve their interactions and relationships with others. Who doesn’t want that?

An interesting fact is that Warren Buffett took Carnegie’s course on public speaking many years ago. He credits that course with improving his interactions with others and getting him past his fear of public speaking. The principles taught in that course are some of the principles in this book.

Current Project: Reading books about entrepreneurs and sharing what I learned from them

Mission: Create a library of wisdom from notable entrepreneurs that current entrepreneurs can leverage to increase their chances of success

Cumulative metrics (since 4/1/24):

• Total books read: 66
• Total blog posts published: 427

This week’s metrics:

• Books read: 1
• Blog posts published: 7

What I completed this week (link to last week’s commitments):

• Read Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends & Influence People, which lays out Carnegie’s framework for improving interpersonal skills, building relationships, and making others receptive to your way of thinking; it’s a great book about learning to “deal with people,” as Carnegie puts it
• Added two more books that I read in 2023 to the library on this site—see more here
• Created a digest of A Technique for Producing Ideas that distills the book’s main concepts into a short document

What I’ll do next week:

• Read a biography, autobiography, or framework book
• Add two more books I read in 2023 to the library on this site—see more here
• Create a digest of one biography, autobiography, or framework book

Asks:

• If you know any senior full-stack developers interested in working on the software for my current project, please introduce us!

Week two hundred seventy-one was another week of learning. Looking forward to next week!

Current Project: Reading books about entrepreneurs and sharing what I learned from them

Mission: Create a library of wisdom from notable entrepreneurs that current entrepreneurs can leverage to increase their chances of success

What I struggled with:

• No material struggles last week

What I learned:

• Byrne Hobart founded The Diff, a newsletter about “inflections in finance and tech” that’s popular among investors and entrepreneurs. Hobart made the point that a few successful people started their companies because they first shared their thoughts via their newsletter. Doing so helped them become known for their thinking (i.e., develop a brand) and build a list of potential customers (i.e., newsletter subscribers). Hobart mentioned Shelby Davis, Ray Dalio and Bridgewater Capital, Bill Gurley, Warren Buffett, Charles Schwab, and others. A newsletter, he said, can be thought of as a brand and list of potential customers in search of a business. This is an interesting way to think about newsletters. To listen to Hobart talk about it, watch it here.

That’s what I learned and struggled with last week.

One thing I learned when my buddy helped me set up Google Tag Manager (GTM) on this blog was that to make the data actionable, I need to increase the number of readers. If we were to make big changes based on current GTM data, they could end up being mistakes. He tasked me with getting more people to the site. So far, people just organically find the site with no effort from me.

I’ve been thinking about doing this in two ways. One strategy is to create more content that people have already indicated they like. That’s already in progress. The other strategy is to increase awareness of the existing content. I don’t have a big social media following, but I’ve been testing a social strategy.

I’m a habitual lurker on social. I consume but rarely post. For some reason, the idea of posting my thoughts makes me uncomfortable, even though I blog every day. LOL. I decided to change this and began joining conversations. If there’s something I’m knowledgeable or curious about or that I found helpful, I’ll say so in an existing conversation. If I have knowledge or a perspective that others might find helpful, I’ll share my thoughts, and if it makes sense, I’ll provide a link to a post where they can read more of my thoughts on the topic or to the Library on this site, where they can read my notes on a particular book they might find helpful.

It’s early, but I’m seeing positive signs. And it’s surprisingly fun to be part of conversations about things I’m interested in. I’m still not starting new conversations; I’m just joining other people’s. But this feels like a baby step in that direction.

The beginning of this year was full of frustration and pain related to sharing and tracking the books I’d read (see here). My Google Sheet wasn’t cutting it anymore, and I couldn’t share it publicly (it’s pretty crude). That led to my adding a Library section to this site in February, which I’m happy with. The look and feel will get tweaked more, but the functionality is just what I was aiming for.

I mainly read biographies about entrepreneurs, and I want a way to track and share my research about these people. The process has been slow, with starts and stops, but I now have a better idea of how I want it to work. So that’s the current side project I’m working on for this site. Hopefully, I’ll have something to share in a few weeks that you’ll find useful and that will help you learn more about entrepreneurs too.

One of my friends, whom I’ve known for decades, told me I do a great job of researching and of learning about topics at a deeper level than most. He said that’s the reason he comes to me when he has an idea or wants to talk through something—I can often share a piece of information I’ve learned along the way and point him toward an article or other resource he finds useful.

He suggested that I link to more things I find interesting on my blog instead of primarily sharing when people ask. He thinks people would find the curation helpful.

I like this idea, but I’m not sure what it would look like in practice. I do share some links or resources today, but I don’t share most of what I consume. I’ll think more about this, because I like the idea of being more intentional about regularly sharing the resources I’ve found valuable via this blog.

Let me know what you think.

In 2024, I began reading a biography (usually) every week. I wanted to share what I’m reading and keep track for myself, which was hard to do (see here). So, I created a Library section in this website. Every Sunday, I add my latest read to the Library. And I’ve added all the books I’ve read since I started my book-a-week habit in early 2024.

However, I also read books before 2024, and I’d like to share those as well. My goal is to add them to the Library page on this site over time. During Memorial Day weekend I added five. See here.

Last week, I decided to test adding books weekly until my backlog is depleted (see here). So, I set a goal to add two books by Monday. I’m happy to say I checked that box. Here are those two books:

• Central Banking 101 by Joseph Wang
• You Can Be a Stock Market Genius by Joel Greenblatt

Adding two older books to the library wasn’t too bad. Felt like a more manageable pace than adding five, as I’d done the previous week. I reviewed my highlights in each book to refresh my understanding of the main concepts, which was useful.

Hopefully, sharing these books via my Library will add value to others.

As a first-generation entrepreneur, I’m committed to learning as much as I can about entrepreneurship. The best way I’ve found to do it is to study other entrepreneurs and their mental models, so I read a book every week, usually a biography. I share it in my Library on this site, and every Sunday, I post the latest book I read.

Earlier this year, I read the updated version of Poor Charlie’s Almanack, a collection of Charlie Munger’s speeches on mental models and psychology. Periodically, I listen to a condensed version of Munger’s “Psychology of Misjudgment” speech (see here). These resources piqued my interest in learning how people make decisions and are persuaded to make decisions or take action.  

Munger and others have recommended Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini, so I gave it a read. The book is considered a classic, and I can see why. Cialdini updates it periodically. I read the 2006 edition because I already owned it, but now I plan to read the 2021 edition, too.

This book delves into the intricacies of the psychology of compliance (doing what people are asking you to do). It also dedicates a chapter to the big-six psychological triggers, including examples of how they’re used:

• Reciprocation
• Commitment and consistency
• Social proof
• Liking
• Authority
• Scarcity

This book was informative and equipped me to be better at recognizing when these triggers are being used against me. The case study–style examples effectively drove home the points and made them less theoretical.

An interesting observation was that Charlie Munger borrowed heavily from the concepts in this book for his “Misjudgment” speech, and the principles are prominent in Poor Charlie’s Almanack, too. Charlie was smart enough not to reinvent the wheel. Instead, he built on Cialdini’s principles and applied them to investing to create his billion-dollar fortune.

Current Project: Reading books about entrepreneurs and sharing what I learned from them

Mission: Create a library of wisdom from notable entrepreneurs that current entrepreneurs can leverage to increase their chances of success

Cumulative metrics (since 4/1/24):

• Total books read: 65
• Total blog posts published: 420

This week’s metrics:

• Books read: 1
• Blog posts published: 7

What I completed this week (link to last week’s commitments):

• Read Influence, by Robert B. Cialdini, which explains the psychology behind people saying yes and doing what others ask of them as well as how psychology can be used to influence and persuade people
• Added five books I read in 2023 to the library on this site—see more here

What I’ll do next week:

• Read a biography, autobiography, or framework book
• Add two more books I read in 2023 to the library on this site—see more here
• Create a digest of one biography, autobiography, or framework book

Asks:

• If you know any senior full-stack developers interested in working on the software for my current project, please introduce us!

Week two hundred seventy was another week of learning. Looking forward to next week!