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: 103
• Total blog posts published: 686

This week’s metrics:

• Books read: 1
• Blog posts published: 7

What I completed in the week ending 2/22/26 (link to the previous week’s commitments):

• Read How to Decide, a framework and workbook from Annie Duke that details tools and a multistep process to improve your decision-making

What I’ll do next week:

• Read a biography, autobiography, or framework book

Asks:

• No ask this week

Week three hundred eight 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 related to this project this week.

What I learned:

• No material learning related to this project this week.

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

Yesterday, I shared a post about technology and software company valuations (see here). It included my back-of-the-envelope process for valuing companies. Today, I had several conversations with friends who read that post and are similarly interested in some of the companies because their valuations are attractive. I hadn’t planned on that, but it was a nice, unexpected benefit of sharing my thinking publicly. My takeaway is that I should share more of my thinking and analysis publicly because doing so sparks interesting conversations with people who are thinking along the same lines.

Yesterday, I shared a post (see here) that includes my reading stats for 2025. After writing it, I realized that since I began my book-a-week reading habit in April 2024, I’ve read 100 books in roughly 100 weeks. For whatever reason, that hadn’t occurred to me before yesterday. It made me feel accomplished and motivated, and it feels like a material milestone that I want to keep extending. So now I’m more motivated than ever to read a book every week!

In 2024, I began reading a book every week. I wanted to share what I’d read, so I posted a recap of my 2024 reading stats and lessons learned (see here). I was frustrated by how hard it was to share a list of all the book titles (see here), so I created a page about each book I read in 2024 (see here). I wanted to replace the Google Sheet I use to track all my reading, so I created a searchable library of all the books I’ve read (see here). I update it weekly.

Last year, 2025, was year two of consistently reading a book every week, and I want to share a recap of my stats and lessons learned. Sorry it’s late (the goal was January).

High-level stat for 2025:

• Books read: 51

2025 breakdown by month:

• January: 4
• February: 4
• March: 4
• April: 4
• May: 4
• June: 5
• July: 4
• August: 5
• September: 4
• October: 4
• November: 5
• December: 4

If you’d like to know what those 51 books were, see my 2025 reading list here.

Here are a few things I learned along the way:

• Reading for general information is critical if I want to generate new ideas—and I do. A Technique for Producing Ideas reinforced this. I have to learn about ideas so I can borrow from them when I’m trying to come up with a new one myself.
• Rereading high-quality books is sometimes better than reading new books. I reread a few books last year, and that helped me a ton. I’m now trying to reread at least one book every month.
• Synoptical reading is key to leveraging books to solve hard problems or deeply understand something. See more here.
• Framework books are a good fit for my personality, and they’re helpful. They give you the framework or process to use when you’re trying to accomplish something. They don’t give you the answer, but they show you how to get to the right answer.
• I get the most out of books when I read with intention; that is, with a clearly defined purpose for reading that book. That purpose should be a problem I’m actively trying to solve or a topic I want to understand better. This year, I’ve started writing down the problem I need to solve or the topic I want to understand before I choose a book. That’s helped me do more synoptical reading and get more from my reading that I can quickly put to use.
• There are no hacks with reading. I have to not only read but also do the work to understand what I’m reading. The best way to do that (that I’ve found so far) is to synthesize a book and share what I learned with others. But I haven’t found a way to be consistent with that.
• Learning through reading doesn’t feel like a chore anymore. It’s something I enjoy doing in my downtime. The personal-growth aspect of it appeals to my curious nature, and I feel like I can sustain it for a long time.
• Application of knowledge is the key to getting better outcomes. A priority of mine in 2025 is to apply what I’ve learned from reading, specifically around decision-making with imperfect information and probabilistic thinking.

Those are my takeaways and reading stats for 2025!

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: 102
• Total blog posts published: 679

This week’s metrics:

• Books read: 1
• Blog posts published: 7

What I completed in the week ending 2/15/26 (link to the previous week’s commitments):

• Reread Limping on Water, the memoir of Philip Beuth about his time building Capital Cities Broadcasting and ABC along with Tom Murphy

What I’ll do next week:

• Read a biography, autobiography, or framework book

Asks:

• No ask this week

Week three hundred seven 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 related to this project this week.

What I learned:

• No material learning related to this project this week.

That’s what I learned and struggled with last 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

Cumulative metrics (since 4/1/24):

• Total books read: 101
• Total blog posts published: 672

This week’s metrics:

• Books read: 1
• Blog posts published: 7

What I completed in the week ending 2/8/26 (link to the previous week’s commitments):

• Reread A Man for All Markets, the autobiography of mathematician, card-counting pioneer, author, and hedge fund manager Ed Thorp

What I’ll do next week:

• Read a biography, autobiography, or framework book

Asks:

• No ask this week

Week three hundred six 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:

• Same as the last few weeks: I had trouble getting started on synthesizing another book. I’ve scratched this for now. I need to come up with a better approach.

What I learned:

• This is more an acknowledgment of the obvious than something I learned. My approach to synthesizing a book I’d read and writing a blog post about it weekly didn’t work. Well, it worked only during a holiday (Thanksgiving). It doesn’t work during a normal week, and I need to figure out another way.
• Video software (e.g., Zoom) removes geographical barriers and drastically expands the potential size of book clubs. I attended a book club meeting with more than 250 attendees (I was amazed). It taught me a lot about the potential of virtual book clubs (see more here).

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

I’ve been thinking about new projects, ideas, and things to work on. I looked at what I’ve done in the past and sought themes or patterns. I think there are three high-level buckets that capture everything I’ve done (and want to do going forward):

• Building – Creating new things. It could be starting new companies or just doing fun personal projects. I like building things that interest me. Even if they’re not commercially viable (or successful), I enjoy the process because I learn a ton along the way. This category includes helping or supporting entrepreneurs who have a vision for what they want to build.
• Investing – Investing, for me so far, means investing in other companies—most enjoyably, early-stage start-ups and publicly traded companies. The process of digging into a company, its market, and the people running it is fun, and I always learn a lot from that analysis. Change is constant, so there’s always something to learn (you never master it), which I love too.
• Learning in public – Sharing online what I’ve learned (or what I’m trying to learn) has accelerated my learning, expanded my curiosity, and, hopefully, helped others along the way. Many times, I thought I understood something until I sat down to write a post or record an audio pod about it. The act of explaining something to other people exposes gaps in my understanding and crystallizes my thinking. Learning in public has also been a great way to stimulate my mind and exercise my brain.

Building companies, investing in companies, and learning about people who build or invest in companies. The common thread is entrepreneurship. That’s it. Those are my interests in a nutshell. If something falls into one of those buckets, I’ll likely be interested in it.