Books are connected to other books, but it’s not easy to see the connections unless you read an entire book. That makes how books are networked, or connected, invisible. The primary way I discover books is seeing them mentioned in another book. I’m constantly making mental connections of ideas, periods, events, or people mentioned in several books. This blog shows the connections between books, but it hasn’t been easy to understand how many connections a book has . . . until now.

Starting today, when you view the Library page, you’ll notice that next to each book is the number of other books in my library with a connection to it. It’s an easy way to quantify a book’s network. If the quantity of connected books is interesting, you can easily see each connection by clicking “Learn more” to see the book’s profile.

I’m excited about this. I haven’t seen anything like it on other blogs. It’s helped me think more deeply about book connections. I hope that understanding how networked a book in my library is will help people find books they find useful.

If you want to see for yourself, check it out:

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: 76
• Total blog posts published: 497

This week’s metrics:

• Books read: 1
• Blog posts published: 7

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

• Read The Most Important Thing, a framework by Oaktree Capital co-founder and investor Howard Marks about the guiding principles of investing
• Added two more books that I read in 2019, these an inside perspective on venture capital from a seasoned investor and a biography about a software engineer who became a crime lord, 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

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 eighty-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 this week

What I learned:

• Understanding what has happened helps us understand what’s happening now and what might happen in the future. However, it’s not always easy to get context on historical events or periods. Reading multiple books to piece together history is often necessary. Giving people historical context from multiple books in a way they can access quickly is tremendously valuable to them.

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: 75
• Total blog posts published: 490

This week’s metrics:

• Books read: 1
• Blog posts published: 7

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

• Read Warren Buffett’s Ground Rules, a framework for how Warren Buffett ran his pre–Berkshire Hathaway partnership, Buffett Partnership Ltd., from 1956 to 1969
• Added two more books that I read in 2020 and 2023, these about venture capital deal structures and financial crises, 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

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 eighty 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:

• Books often link to concepts in other books, but those connections aren’t visible. You have to read a book to uncover them. This week, with the help of a friend, I added to the library the ability to see the number of each book’s connected books. This simple quantification of the number of connections added a lot of value for me—and I read the books! I suspect it will add tremendous value to others. If this can be done on a larger scale, not just the books I’ve read, I think this could create.

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

A friend read my post yesterday about adding all the books I read years ago to the Library section of this site. Their question was, “How do you know which books you read, and when, from so many years ago?”

Great question. The simple answer is that I remember most books I’ve read but I don’t remember exactly when I read them if it was before mid-2023. The detailed answer is that I buy all my books (mainly used) on Amazon.com, so my purchase history is there, going back over 10 years. I went through that history and noted all the books I’ve bought and the date of purchase. Some of them are still in the to-be-read pile. I’m adding those that I’ve read to the Library and using the Amazon purchase date as the month and year I read them. It’s not precise, but it’s roughly accurate, which is good enough for me. Done is better than perfect.

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!