Happy Sunday Amigos
I regret not documenting the many books I’ve read. I'm sure some of you do too. But thankfully, others have. It has taken years, but now, I understand the importance of journaling. It serves as a guide you can always go back to. And it’s a guide not only for yourself but also for others. Over the past few months, I’ve gone through 100s of book notes written by some of the most interesting people on the internet. There are many more, but just so I don’t overwhelm you, here are my top 4.
Derek is the founder of CD Baby, which he sold in 2008 for $22 Million. There are thousands of stories of his generosity all over the internet. Here’s mine - I wrote to him 2 years back. I’d just finished reading his book, was fired from my job that very day, and was contemplating life, I guess. We exchanged this email in 2018. I emailed him back again this year. We often forget how crazy this called the internet is. If it wasn't for Sivers, I wouldn’t have started the podcast. He’s written a comprehensive collection of 200+ book notes, each one summarized in mesmerizing detail. I’ve spent hours going through them. You could too, here.
Dickie is a frameworks guy and he’s always optimizing for growth. He’s also into journaling and has written 500 words for 500 days in a row. Quite a feat if you ask me. I love going back to his book notes. He finally convinced me to read The Boron Letters. I’m going through Atomic Habits these days, but I’ve already chosen my next book. I also started journaling, making my own notes on Atomic Habits. Hopefully, they’ll be good enough to share here someday.
I interviewed Arvid last month, and many listeners have reached out to me to share their appreciation for Arvid. Everything he’s built is built on top of his kindness. His bookshelf is a great resource to find your next book. For each book, he writes a few important takeaways for bootstrappers and writes a small personal note. Arvid has gone through an interesting journey of bootstrapping FeedbackPanda to $55,000/month. When everyone and their brother is building a billion-dollar unicorn, go small. The riches are in the niches :)
Nat Eliason has published his notes on books, articles, and speeches. Each one is worth a read and I often find myself taking my own notes. I can only imagine how much effort he's put into the notes, it's like reading those books again but in 15 minutes. We live in an age of information overload. Great curators are the saviors of Information 2020.
Going through these collections is also a very humbling experience. Always reminds me of how dumb I am haha. But also of how far I have to go.
Thanks Abhishek,
I have been reading books but I have learned something I need to write a journal of what I read. At first, I had a problem I could start a book and not finish it simply because I could get another better book and another one. So I am working on that and also didn't write notes but now slowly I am writing notes. My goal is to read 1 book per week that is 52 books a year. Hope it works out. Add Daphne the publication coach to your list. https://www.publicationcoach.com/recommended-books-winter-2020/
Thanks for the inspiration