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!

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:

• Ben Thompson founded Stratechery, a “subscription-based blog, newsletter and podcast that provides analysis of the strategy and business side of technology and media.” Stratechery’s subscription model is what inspired the creation of Substack (according to Ben, Substack said in its seed deck that it’s Stratechery in a box). His platform is wildly successful, with tens of thousands of paying subscribers. Many tech CEOs subscribe to his blog, and he has interviewed CEOs such as Mark Zuckerberg (see here). The core of his business is written blog posts. These posts, or their content, are distributed in various ways (email, RSS, SMS, etc.) so subscribers can consume in the way that’s easiest for them. Ben teamed up with Automattic to create custom software that powers all this. The software is called Passport. It’s not available for purchase just yet, but they’re registering interest via their waitlist.
• According to Dan Martell, a personal brand can be thought of as a combination of reach and reputation. If lots of people know who you are and think positively of you, everything you want to do becomes easier. It can be a force multiplier of growth, especially with the distribution of entrepreneurs’ products and services. See here for Dan’s explanation of this concept in a segment of an interview he recently gave.

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