Pandemic Books
The pandemic gave me a lot of reading time, and the modern wonder that is ebook technology gave me access to basically every book ever written. It was as if the Twilight Zone library guy wore contact lenses.
Tech / Management / Leadership
Fooled By Randomness - Nassim Taleb
Our hunter/gatherer brains are bad at reasoning about probability. Randomness has a much bigger impact on our lives and society than we think. Avoid watching noisy signals (like the stock market) because it will drive your irrational brain to unhappiness.
This book spends a lot of time looking at Daniel Kahneman’s work and its effect on markets and society at large.
Takeaway: If you work in a Results Only Work Environment, make sure you aren’t just rewarding the lucky.
4/5 stars
Black Swan - Nassim Taleb
Covers a lot of the same ground as Fooled By Randomness, but gets more technical and spends more time on the concept of a “black swan” - an event that everyone thought could never happen that ends up happening.
Takeaway: Make sure you are not mistaking “has never happened” with “could never possibly happen”
3/5 stars - much longer and denser than Fooled By Randomness and I’d recommend skipping it unless you are real Taleb head (like me apparently)