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.

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.

In 2024, I began reading a biography (usually) every week, and I’ve added all those books to the Library page of this website. But I read books before 2024 too, and I want to share those as well. I aim to add them to the Library page on this site over time. A few days ago, I said I’d set myself a Memorial Day Challenge to add five of them.

I’m happy to report that I checked that box. Here are the books I added:

• Limitless by Jim Kwik
• Unknown Market Wizards by Jack Schwager
• Broken Money by Lyn Alden
• The Dhandho Investor by Mohnish Pabrai
• The Little Book That Still Beats the Market by Joel Greenblatt

This was a fun challenge. It took longer than I expected, but it was worth it. I spent a decent chunk of time reading the highlights and notes in each book. It was a nice refresher and reminded me of concepts I hadn’t revisited in almost two years.

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

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. To do that, 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.

I recently listened to an interview of Josh Kopelman, founding partner of First Round Capital, a well-known, seed-stage, venture capital firm. One of Kopelman’s points is that most of the profits in venture capital are made in parts of the financial market cycle driven by “extreme f*ing greed” and “irrational disequilibrium” (see the clip here). This interview reminded me that financial market cycles have a profound impact on entrepreneurs and the investors who back them.

Last year, I read Bull!, which chronicles the financial booms and busts between 1982 and 2004. I wanted to go back further. I found exactly what I was looking for in a book that goes back hundreds of years, A Short History of Financial Euphoria. It’s short, a quick read, but does a great job of recounting history’s most famous financial bubbles—from the 1600s’ Tulip Mania to the 1980s’ junk bond frenzy and savings and loan crisis.

This book was straightforward and read like a mini biographical anthology. It details each bubble, including its origins, how it was created, and who the major players were. It describes the patterns each major speculative financial bubble follows and how to spot the signs of a bubble.

Anyone interested in the financial cycles and how to spot speculative euphoria may enjoy this book.

Recently, I started reading a book on financial history. I’m curious about the topic and think it could help me better understand the current financial landscape. I was excited when I received the book and began reading it, but I quickly realized I wasn’t feeling it. I was somewhat academic and a chore to read. The writing style wasn’t a good fit for me. I struggled to read thirty or so pages before I pulled the plug.

I’ve put pre-read steps in place to reduce the likelihood that I’ll start reading a book I won’t like, so this hasn’t occurred in many months. Because it isn’t happening as often, I second-guessed myself for a moment before I realized that I wasn’t the problem. The book was.

I read to gain wisdom from others and an understanding of topics that interest me. If a book isn’t helping me achieve those goals, I need to move on and find another book that will. There’s no shame in that. I’ve got an objective, and I’m on a mission. The world is full of books. If one isn’t working, there are plenty more to take its place.

I enjoy reading books from start to finish, one book at a time. But I’m not going to waste time. I finish books only if they align with what I’m trying to accomplish and aren’t a struggle to digest or comprehend.

I’ve committed to learning as much as I can about entrepreneurship, and the best way I’ve found to do it is by studying entrepreneurs. Reading about their journeys is my preferred method. I read a book every week, usually a biography, and then share it in my Library on this site. Every Sunday, I post the latest book I read.

Last summer, I read Call Me Ted, an autobiography by Ted Turner. The book is a great recap of Turner’s entire career through 2008 or so. But when I read it, I could tell Ted was speaking from the perspective of a wiser man who had calmed down a lot. I enjoyed that perspective, but I wanted to hear from Ted in his prime, when he was full of energy and said outlandish things publicly on a daily basis.

I did some digging and found another book. Last week, I read a biography of Turner, Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way by Christian Williams. Williams was attached to Turner’s hip throughout 1979 and 1980. He saw and heard a lot. He was even aboard Turner’s yachts for some of his famous and tragic races.

The thing I like most about this book is that it’s filled with quotations of things Ted said. He was brash and direct, to put it mildly. His words offer a unique insight about his thinking and mind during, arguably, his prime. A period when he was undertaking some of his most ambitious projects (e.g., launching CNN), fighting some of his fiercest battles with competitors and regulators, and racing yachts all over the world (and winning, too).

If you’re interested in learning about the early years of Ted’s journey, how he was thinking at the time, and the details of what he was doing, consider reading this biography.

I love studying entrepreneurs. Reading about their journeys is the best way for me to do it. I’m reading a book every week, usually a biography, and then sharing it in my Library on this site. Every Sunday, I’m posting the latest book I read.

Last month I read Netflixed, a biography about—you guessed it—Netflix. The book mentioned Andre Blay and how he pioneered the VHS industry, which helped birth the home video rental industry. According to that book, Blay laid the foundation for Blockbuster and then Netflix.

This week, I read Blay’s memoir about his journey as an “entertainment entrepreneur.” Pre-Recorded History, published in 2010, describes how he became the “founder of the home video industry.”

Blay’s memoir was about more than his own journey; he delineated the backstory of the movie industry and provided a detailed timeline of each movie studio’s chain of ownership and significant events. He then described how working with Learjet founder Bill Lear (who also created the 8-track stereo system) and then at a tape-duplication company that acquired music rights from Motown Records gave him the idea for recorded movies on VHS.

Blay’s idea, combined with new VCR technology in the late 1970s, led to explosions of consumers watching movies at home and video rental stores to satisfy the demand. Between 1978 and 1985, around 20,000 video rental stores, mostly mom-and-pop outfits, sprang up across the country. In 1981, the first year data was recorded, pre-recorded home entertainment retail sales reached $500 million. By 1999, they were $16 billion, according to Blay.

If you’re interested in learning about how technology disrupted the way Hollywood distributed movies, leading to the rise of Netflix, or about how movie distribution deals are structured, consider giving this book a read.

I learned the growth hack The New York Times used to explode readership.

Last week I read An Honorable Titan, a biography about Adolph Ochs, who acquired The New York Times and turned the paper into an institution. Adolph executed this strategy in around 1900, but I think it’s ingenious and something others could find helpful. So, what’d he do exactly?

The Times’s daily circulation was stuck at 26,000, and it was losing money. The Times made money from sales at newsstands and advertising revenue. Adolph determined that he needed to double his circulation to 50,000 to break even.

His paper was respected and sold for the going rate of $0.03. Papers that sold for less than that were deemed sensationalized and from the yellow press. These lower-quality papers sold for $0.01. At the time, the thinking was that anyone who wanted to read a respectable paper would have $0.03. The $0.01 and $0.03 tiers were accepted pricing norms.

This pricing logic didn’t make sense to Adolph, and he decided to blow it up. He hypothesized that “the requisite number of readers could be found among those to whom the difference between three dollars a year and ten dollars a year for a newspaper was a material difference.” Using this logic, he priced the Times at $0.01. The move shocked everyone. His advisers and other publishers thought he was crazy because he essentially reduced his revenue from newsstand sales by 66%. Said differently, he had been losing money before, and he would lose money faster—and be wiped out—if he were wrong.

A funny thing happened. Circulation skyrocketed from 26,000 to 75,000. This jump allowed him to increase advertising rates because more people saw the ads. The Times went from losing money to being solidly profitable. The newspaper world called Adolph’s move a stroke of genius.

What did Adolph see that others had missed?

The unsaid and accepted logic behind pricing at that time was that the poor were unintelligent and, therefore, had no desire to read a respectable paper. Adolph recognized that intelligence is evenly distributed through the population at all economic levels. Doing the math, he realized that the rich are a small percentage of the population and if intelligence is evenly distributed, there was huge unmet demand among the largest segment of the population, the poor.

If, say, 10% of people are intelligent and 100 people are rich, 10 would desire a respectable paper like the Times. If 1,000 people are poor, 100 would want the paper if it was affordable.

Adolph didn’t just accept the status quo. He did his own thinking to reach his own conclusions instead of accepting the thinking of others. This approach allowed him to see an opportunity everyone stared at but couldn’t see.