Updated list of books maintained here. Recommendations are welcomed at faizan10114@gmail.com

• The Three-Body Problem (10/10, completed 01/12/2025): Amazing book, blown away by the storyline and the science. Captures incentives and human nature well.
• Bobiverse: We Are Legion (5/10, December 2024): Okayish book, too sci-fi for my taste. Found the consciousness backup concept and ship details excessive
• The Martian (10/10, November 2024): Loved the book and the science
• Project Hail Mary (9/10, October 2024): Loved the book, though the science was a bit iffy
• The Art of Resilience (7/10, Started 10/22/24): Felt a bit dragged, could have been a blog post. The author combined philosophy and science, with doing something hard.
• The Egg and Other Stories (10/10, October 2024): Short stories by Andy Weir
• Contact (10/10, September 2024): Amazing book, finished quickly though didn't like the ending
• Be Useful (9/10, Started 10/20/2023, March 2024): Didn't expect to like it, but found it interesting. I haven't read total recall by Arnold Schwarzenegger though.
• Bird by Bird (8/10, 10/24/2023-10/28/2023): Not as great as expected. Some wisdom and calming advice, could have been a blog post
• The $100M Offer (09/23/2023-10/24/2023): Overrated but good marketing advice
• Zero to One (9/10, 07/20/2023-09/23/2023): Dense with information, good thoughts throughout. More like a collection of essays than a coherent book, but valuable nonetheless
• The Book of Five Rings (8/10, 07/20/2023-09/10/2023): Abstract but insightful on training principles. Good post-transcript analysis
• Born Standing Up (7/10, completed 07/15/2023): Okay book, didn't meet high expectations
• The Confusion (7/10, 04/2021-07/2023): Part of the Baroque Cycle. This book was a bit of a drag, but the series is amazing
• Skin in the Game (9/10, Summer 2022-06/2023): A colleciton of ideas
• Excellent Advice for Living (10/10, 06/05/2023-06/10/2023): Amazing short book, read it in a few days
• Shoe Dog (9/10, 05/01/2023-06/12/2023): Inspiring biography of Phil Knight, amazing book.
• Make Your Own Mistakes (6/10, completed 06/13/2023): Normal book by Rich Cohen, notable only for its writing style
• Man's Search for Meaning (10/10, 11/2022): Amazing book, brought immense calmness
• Shannon (7/10, 07/10/2022): Interesting biography, glossed over the technical details though
• How to Become a High School Rockstar (10/10, completed 06/22): Strategic approaches to academic competition. Not sure why but I found this book incredibly motivating
• Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman (10/10, 03/21-04/21): Amazing book, detailed biography, not better than Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman though
• Hackers and Painters (10/10, completed 12/20): Perfect book. A must read. Read all of his essays afterwards
• The principles by Ray Dalio (6/10, 04/18): Could have been a blog post, not a book. One basic idea though
• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck (9/10, 12/17): it was philosophy which I liked, the writing style was less bullshit and straight to the point frank.
• Vagabonding (8/10, 11/10/17-12/10/17): A great book, overall a great idea, can be summarized into one paragraph, no need for reading the whole book.
• The Everything Store (8/10, 10/01/17-10/30/17): Just a timeline of what has happened and what is happening. Not like the elon musks biography.
• The Banana King (10/10, 07/03/17-09/29/17): The most awesome biography I have ever read. It's a real life story. The first part is a bit tough though.
• The Obstacle is the Way (8/10, 05/23/17-06/22/17): Stoic philosophy applied to modern challenges. Particularly helpful during the admissions process
• The Art of Learning (10/10, completed 05/17/17): Incredibly rich, beautifully written. Brought calmness in the chaos of the graduate application process
• Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman (8/10, completed 04/17): Entertaining memoir that captures Feynman's unique perspective
• Influence (10/10, completed 02/24/17): Robert Cialdini's comprehensive exploration of persuasion principles
• Do the work (9/10, completed 12/07/16): One idea explained in different ways, but gets you pumped to do the work.
• The art of non-conformity (9/10, completed 11/29/16): A great book, a bit repetitive, but a great idea. Clear writing style
• Think and grow rich (3/10): Old writing style, and archaic productivity ideas.
• Tribes (3/10): Could have been a blogpost
• Deep Work (8/10): Good idea and examples. Not sure how practical they are.
• How to Think Like a Freak (8/10): A collection of different ideas, explaining macroeconomics and relevant causation vs correlation issues.
• So Good They Can't Ignore You (8/10): Cal Newport's focused examination of career capital and skill development
• the Outliers (8/10): Okaish book
• Elon Musk by Ashley Vance (8/10): Found this one better than the old one