Every weekend since the Memorial Day Challenge (see here), I’ve been adding all the books I read before 2024 to the Library section of this site. As of this past weekend, I’ve officially added all the books I’ve read from 2020 through today—roughly five years’ worth of reading.

I still need to add books from the years before 2020, and I’ll continue to do that over time. But getting 2020–2025 done felt like a nice milestone. I now have a place where I can go back and see how my reading and learning have evolved over several years (and they’ve evolved a ton!). This project isn’t going to win awards or generate any revenue, but I’ve put a ton of energy into it over the past few months, and I’m proud of how it’s turned out.

As of today, I’ve added a total of 110 books, and I’m excited to add more as I continue learning.

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: 74
• Total blog posts published: 483

This week’s metrics:

• Books read: 1
• Blog posts published: 7

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

• Reread T. Rowe Price, a biography of Thomas Rowe Price Jr., founder of T. Rowe Price Group (having read it earlier this year) because I was curious about how Price navigated the 1968–1982 period of high inflation and a volatile stock market
• Added two more books that I read in 2020 and 2018, these about building daily habits and Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and his rise to power, 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 that I read before 2024 to the library on this site—see more here
• Create a digest of one biography, autobiography, or framework book

Asks:

• Seeking technical lead or cofounder – I’m looking for a senior full-stack developer skilled in AI retrieval. If you know one who’d have an interest in working on the software project related to books, please introduce us!

Week two hundred seventy-nine 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 this week

What I learned:

• I met with a software engineer who’s actively trying to learn more about the non-engineering side of the business he works for. He expressed interest in my project and how it could help fill his gaps. I haven’t seriously considered this use case because non-entrepreneurs’ ability to create value from what they learn isn’t clear to me. I’m still not sold, but this developer has me thinking about this more, along with several feature ideas.

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: 73
• Total blog posts published: 476

This week’s metrics:

• Books read: 1
• Blog posts published: 7

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

• Read Inside the Nixon Administration, the personal diary of Arthur F. Burns, Richard Nixon’s top economic adviser in 1969 and Federal Reserve chairman from 1970 to 1978
• Added two more books that I read in 2023, these about thinking in probabilities and technological deflation from Annie Duke and Jeff Both, 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 that I read before 2024 to the library on this site—see more here
• Create a digest of one biography, autobiography, or framework book

Asks:

• Seeking technical lead or cofounder – I’m looking for a senior full-stack developer skilled in AI retrieval. If you know one who’d have an interest in working on the software project related to books, please introduce us!

Week two hundred seventy-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 this week. Other projects took priority this week, but I should have more time for this one starting next week.

What I learned:

• No material learnings this week

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

Last Friday, I shared that I was behind on my reading and might miss my book-a-week target (see here). I’d read a book every week for 71 consecutive weeks, and breaking that streak didn’t sit well with me.

I’m happy to report that it didn’t happen. I buckled down last weekend and finished the book.

This week, I’m back on track. I’m in good shape to finish number 73.

The streak continues!

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: 72
• Total blog posts published: 469

This week’s metrics:

• Books read: 1
• Blog posts published: 7

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

• Read Expectations Investing, an advanced value-investing framework by Michael Mauboussin and Alfred Rappaport
• Added two more books that I read in 2023, these from Gautam Baid and Bill Carr and Colin Bryar, 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 that I read before 2024 to the library on this site—see more here
• Create a digest of one biography, autobiography, or framework book

Asks:

• Seeking technical lead or cofounder – I’m looking for a senior full-stack developer skilled in AI retrieval. If you know one who’d have an interest in working on the software project related to books, please introduce us!

Week two hundred seventy-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:

• A lot was going on this week, so I didn’t read as much each day as I should have.

What I learned:

• No material learnings this week.

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

I set a goal to read a book a week, and I’ve hit that target for 71 consecutive weeks since March 2024. But this week, there’s a decent chance that I won’t. It’s been a busy week. I’ve read every day, but fewer pages each day. I’ve spent some of my morning time designated for reading instead thinking about another project.

The streak of 71 weeks is something I’m proud of, and it motivates me. I don’t want to break it. I’ve told myself I’m going to do everything I can this weekend to keep it going. I’ll wake up extra early and cut out some other stuff I had planned so I’ll have more reading time.

Hopefully, this will do the trick and I’ll finish the book. Wish me luck!

Every once in a while, I have a crazy day that makes it hard to focus and think clearly. When this happens, the rest of my day is unproductive. It feels like I wasted a day.

This week, something hit my radar in the morning that threw me off mentally. I tried, but I couldn’t get back in the zone to finish working. I needed to think clearly because I had important decisions to make later that day, so I tried something different. I went to the gym. I do this regularly, but not in the middle of a work morning. But I figured I had nothing to lose since I couldn’t focus. I did a heavy-weight workout for about an hour, ate a snack, and then returned to my computer.

When I began working, my head was clear. I was extremely productive. The rest of the day was smooth, and I felt great about the decisions I made that afternoon.

I can’t explain why the workout helped so much (I plan to research the science behind this), but it felt like a 180 that put me back where I needed to be mentally.

I haven’t tried this before, and I’m glad I gave it a shot this week. It’s a new hack in my toolbox. If something throws me off to the point where I can’t focus, I’ll close my computer, go to the gym, and hit the weights.