Reading

This page contains a curated list of resources (mostly books and essays) that have either changed how I see the world and ultimately approach life, or that I consider great general advice, all of which I regularly recommend.

This is a work in progress, I'm slowly going through my book shelves and Kindle...

Living well

• Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life As Play and Possibility — James P. Carse If you view life as an infinite game, chances are you'll have a good time. "Finite players play within boundaries; infinite players play with boundaries."
• The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness — Morgan Housel I've never really been interested in or motivated by money, and I found this book to be a great 80/20 read. I use insights from it on a daily basis. "Money's greatest intrinsic value [...] is its ability to give you control over your time."

Risk & character

• Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness — Steve Magness A book I believe everyone should read, especially (young) men. "My hope is that this book [...] teaches our children that acting tough isn't the same thing as being tough." "True confidence is quiet; insecurity is loud."
• Never Play It Safe: A Practical Guide to Freedom, Creativity, and a Life You Love — Chase Jarvis The title says it all, and I pretty much highlighted the entire book. "Playing it safe is the biggest risk you'll ever take."
• The Right Stuff — Tom Wolfe Calm-under-pressure is a trait of character I've always aspired to, and I've found stories of astronauts to be great sources of inspiration. "He was a man... with the right stuff."
• On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything — Nate Silver Most of us are too risk-averse. This book is a great glimpse of the most risk-taking places and people. "Successful risk-takers take a raise-or-fold attitude toward life. They abhor mediocrity and they know when to quit."

Love & relationships

• Looking for Alice — Henrik Karlsson Arguably the best dating advice I've come across. "[...] show the inside of your head in public, so people can see if they would like to live in there."
• Relationships are coevolutionary loops — Henrik Karlsson A somewhat nerdy essay about the way great relationships enable you to flourish and unfold. "By home I don’t mean just the physical structure, but the emotional space in which the coevolutionary loop plays out."
• Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters, And How to Get It — Laurie Mintz Reading this book alone will likely make you a more thoughtful lover than the vast majority of people. Although aimed at a female audience, I often recommend it to male friends. "There’s a huge pleasure gap between women and men. Men are having way more orgasms than women are."

Doing great work

• Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! — Richard Feynman One of the funniest books I've ever read, about one of the most brilliant scientists of all time. A testament that play is serious business.
• You and Your Research — Richard Hamming [recording] A classic talk about doing important and impactful work. "It’s that simple. If you want to do great work, you clearly must work on important problems, and you should have an idea."
• The Bitter Lesson — Richard Sutton A short essay from one of the fathers of modern reinforcement learning about the realization that "building in how we think we think does not work in the long term."

Scientific writing

• Writing Science: How to Write Papers That Get Cited and Proposals That Get Funded — Joshua Schimel Everyone working in academia should read (or skim) at least one book on how to write well. This one is great.
• Scientific Papers Made Easy: How to Write with Clarity and Impact in the Life Sciences — Stuart West, Lindsay Turnbull Similar to the previous one, but more recent and geared towards the life sciences.