Rating: 6.9/10. A bullshit job is one where the worker feels does not contribute anything useful to society, but is obligated to pretend otherwise. About 40% of all jobs in the USA are bullshit by this definition. People feel unhappy in these jobs because they must pretend to work, yet ultimately the work is pointless,…
Category: Nonfiction
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
Rating: 7.7/10. Book that discusses various aspects of how habits work. On a high level, habits have three components: cue, routine, and reward. The cue is a set of conditions, such that you automatically perform a routine in order to get a reward. After a while, you will crave the reward when given the cue,…
My Warren Buffet Bible by Robert Bloch
Rating: 6.8/10. A bunch of quotes by famous investor Warren Buffett about principles of investing. They follow a few basic motifs, like invest based on fundamental long-term value, avoid speculation, keep control of your emotions. [redacted] got this from the bookstore and I decided to read it too. Most of the advice is trivially true…
How Your Brain Works by New Scientist
Rating: 6.3/10. A fairly short book (200 pages) by a team of neuroscientists that covers various aspects of neuroscience like memory, intelligence, emotion, perception. The subject should be very interesting but the book was a dull read, it basically gave a bunch of facts and lacked character, with no attempt to string them together in…
Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker
Rating: 7.7/10. This book gives a comprehensive scientific overview of sleep. Although there are still many unanswered questions, there’s been a lot of research lately and this book sums it up. Sleep is a very necessary function of life. Every living organism requires it, although in different amounts, and total lack of sleep very quickly…
The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan
Rating: 4.5/10. A classic book by astronomer Carl Sagan about how to distinguish science from pseudoscience. The beginning is really interesting and talks about a man who seems well-read, but his knowledge is completely wrong. Stuff like aliens, UFOs, ghosts, Atlantis, crop circles, other supernatural stuff. The book proceeds to debunk all of these in…
Factfulness by Hans Rosling
Rating: 8.4/10. This book was written by Hans Rosling (the same guy that made The Joy of Stats documentary) just before he died in 2017. [redacted] recommended it to me. It uses stats to show that despite what the media portrays, and despite popular conception, the world is not such a bad place. Extreme poverty…
Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Rating: 5.7/10. This is the third Taleb book that I’ve read, and it was recommended by [redacted]. I’m disappointed in this book, and felt it was downhill from Black Swan, then to Antifragile, then this book. Compared to the previous two books, it’s a lot less structured, and he kind of throws out a mix…
Getting to Yes by Fisher, Ury, and Patton
Rating: 8.5/10. This book tells you how to negotiate more effectively. A common negotiating mistake is to use positional negotiation, which is each side picking an arbitrary position (eg: buy the car for $5000), and going back and forth until you’re tired and agree, or you both walk out. Positional negotiation is highly arbitrary, and…
Trump: A Graphic Biography by Ted Rall
Rating: 8.3/10. A biography of Trump in graphical novel format. This book was written after Trump won the republican primaries (May 2016) but before he won the presidency (Nov 2016). First, the book describes the political and economic circumstances that led to Trump coming into power. After the 2008 financial crisis, many low-skilled Americans felt…
12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson
Rating: 8.2/10. Jordan Peterson’s new book that quickly hit #1 on the bestsellers lists after being released this year. He’s famous around UofT for speaking out against social justice warriors, but [redacted] told me that he’s got a lot of interesting videos on philosophy of how to live your life. This book summarizes a lot…
Visual Intelligence by Amy Herman
Rating: 8.0/10. This book uses art to teach you to notice your surroundings more, which is very interesting. The basic premise is there’s a lot of things that we miss, but can be quite important. The two biggest ideas in this book for me: Train yourself to be more visually perceptive by looking at art,…