I read 6 books this year. Lot lesser than the 22 in 2021. Here’s the list in no particular order.
Roar of the Ganges is the autobiography of Swami Tadatmananda. A good read for the seekers. Swamiji talks about pre-monastic life, his travels through Indian subcontinent and shares nuggets of experience. I later picked up the book on Meditation by the same author.
Samkhya Karika by Swami Virupakshananda provided a deep insight into the philosophical thoughts in Sankhya. I loved the bottoms up of methodology of the teacher starting with the elements of proof and proven. The topic is exceedingly hard because we’re studying effects and trying to ascertain the cause. All the time the cause may appear to be non-existent. It goes into the details of manifest and unmanifest, and the three gunas - sattva etc. Each of the 24 principles of Sankhya exists for another. Prakriti exists for the emancipation of the Purusha.
The Almanack of Naval Ravikanth is a collection of wisdom from the works from Naval Ravikanth. Short and easy read. Three ideas I loved the most: power of leverage, long-term games with compounded returns, taking risks under own name and letting the society reward you for that. Recommended.
The Psychology of Money provides a treatise on the role of our thinking and actions on financial growth. Several eye openers: role of sense of completeness, or the fallacy of hiding own bad decisions under the guise of risk. Ability to stick around for a long time pays its dividends. Learned the importance of sleeping peacefully over night over churning mathematical models and staying in anxiety. Understand the game you’re playing and never try a move from another game.
Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win was a bit dry to my taste. Passable.
Radical Candor is a fantastic book for leaders. Core idea revolves around relationships, caring for people and helping them succeed with actionable feedback. Author discusses several anti-patterns. Completed this in Q1 and again re-read my notes in Q4. Highly recommended for the to the point and practical advice.
Colophon: a few changes I’m making for 2023.
- I lost bunch of book notes during a migration of operating systems and the reader software in Kindle. Committing to transfer the notes as soon as I complete a book.
- Decision on what to read next is very tiring. For 2023, I’m making this a static list with all books earmarked for this year in Kindle. No more decision paralysis; new books discovered go into to-read list for next year.
- 23 books for 2023.