Reading

Finished 27

• Red Rising, Golden Son and Morning StarPierce Brown

  Loving this series – tore through the first three.

• East of EdenJohn Steinbeck

  Really good.

• Kitchen ConfidentialAnthony Bourdain

  Loved it. Bourdain’s a big role model – I try to live and travel the way he did.

• The Untethered SoulMichael A. Singer

  Great read – similar space to The Power of Now but it landed better for me.

• The Courage to Be DislikedIchiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga

  Didn’t rate it – the back-and-forth dialogue format didn’t click and not much stuck.

• Lonesome DoveLarry McMurtry

  One of my favourite books now – got completely lost in it and didn’t want it to end.

• Waking UpSam Harris

  Mindfulness without the fluff – rational and grounded the whole way through.

• The Creative Act: A Way of BeingRick Rubin

  Reads more like meditation than advice – helped me slow down and respect the creative process more.

• The Power of NowEckhart Tolle

  Some solid messages about presence, but it leans spiritual. I picked out what worked and left the rest.

• Notes from UndergroundFyodor Dostoevsky

  Starts off unhinged but actually dives into some heavy psychological stuff. First taste of Dostoevsky and existentialism.

• Can’t Hurt MeDavid Goggins

  Makes you want to go for a run at 5am in the rain. Relentless mindset – no excuses.

• Ego Is the EnemyRyan Holiday

  Helped me recognise that ego creeps in quietly – especially when things are going well.

• The Obstacle Is the WayRyan Holiday

  Reminds you that hard stuff isn’t bad – it’s usually the path. I think about that often when things get messy.

• The Psychology of MoneyMorgan Housel

  More about mindset than money – helped me realise how emotional money really is, not just numbers.

• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ckMark Manson

  Easy read with solid points – basically: stop caring about stuff that doesn’t matter.

• How to Win Friends and Influence PeopleDale Carnegie

  Old-school but timeless. Shows how listening to people and being genuinely interested in them goes a long way.

• Four Thousand WeeksOliver Burkeman

  Made me rethink the whole productivity game – good reminder that time’s finite and that’s not a bad thing.

• The Lean StartupEric Ries

  Taught me how to approach building a business without wasting time – test fast, learn faster.

• 11/22/63Stephen King

  Great idea, decent execution. Bit slow in the middle and the ending didn’t quite land for me.

• The Lord of the RingsJ.R.R. Tolkien

  Classic. Read The Hobbit and LOTR 1 & 2 – loved the sense of adventure and the whole good vs evil journey.

• DuneFrank Herbert

  Big universe, big ideas – politics, religion, destiny. Read it after watching the movie and I just enjoyed getting lost in the world-building.

• MeditationsMarcus Aurelius

  Timeless Stoic wisdom – I try to apply bits of this in day-to-day life.

• Harry Potter SeriesJ.K. Rowling

  Read the entire series over winter break. Books definitely beat the movies.

• The Almanack of Naval RavikantEric Jorgensen

  So much value in here – mindset, leverage, wealth, happiness. I go back to this often.

• The 4-Hour WorkweekTim Ferriss

  Didn’t retain much, but the general idea of automating and redesigning your life definitely stuck with me.

• Deep WorkCal Newport

  Made me rethink how I approach focus – I get way more done when I work in deep, distraction-free blocks.

• Atomic HabitsJames Clear

  Simple but game-changing – genuinely helped me build better routines without overthinking it.