📚 Reading List

Last updated: 7 September 2024

Welcome to my personal reading list – a collection of books that have shaped my thinking, career, and personal growth across various fields.

Over time, I’ll update this page with book summaries, notes, and takeaways, as I revisit my book highlights and share the most valuable insights.

If interested in how I read multiple books a month, you can check out this post.

Table of Contents

1. Data Science & Machine Learning

Designing Machine Learning Systems: An Iterative Process for Production-Ready Applications

Chip Huyen

Rating: 4.49 ★ | Ratings: 622

I highly recommend this overview for building Machine Learning systems that work in the real world. Has tips on how to turn your experiments into resilient, scalable, maintainable, and adaptable ML systems with MLOps best practices. Not a book for beginners to ML though.

The Hundred-Page Machine Learning Book

Andriy Burkov

Rating: 4.25 ★ | Ratings: 1,242

A concise and accessible overview of machine learning essentials, covering everything from basic algorithms to complex techniques. It explains the intuition behind key algorithm and doesn't skimp out on the mathematical theory either. Useful as a quick refresher.

Hands-On Machine Learning with Scikit-Learn and TensorFlow

Aurélien Géron

Rating: 4.55 ★ | Ratings: 2,553

Packed with examples and code, this book is a hands-on dive into machine learning and deep learning. Great if you want to go from theory to implementation quickly.

Numsense! Data Science for the Layman: No Math Added

Annalyn Ng, Kenneth Soo

Rating: 4.15 ★ | Ratings: 587

An easy-to-understand guide that strips the math out of data science. Useful for explaining key concepts to non-technical folks and explaining what I do to my parents.

Approaching (Almost) Any Machine Learning Problem

Abhishek Thakur

Rating: 4.07 ★ | Ratings: 142

A practical guide to tackling ML problems from a Kaggle Grandmaster. Contains many tips and code snippets but is more catered towards Kaggle-like problems and not production applications.

2. Computer Science & Decision Making

Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions

Brian Christian, Tom Griffiths

Rating: 4.13 ★ | Ratings: 32,120

This book blends computer science and everyday life, showing how algorithms can optimise decisions, schedules, and even friendships. A fascinating read for anyone curious about the intersection of life and logic.

3. Business

The Personal MBA

Josh Kaufman

Rating: 4.11 ★ | Ratings: 42,812

This book distills the essentials of an MBA into one accessible book. If you want to understand business better, this is a great starting resource.

4. Entrepreneurship

The Millionaire Fastlane

MJ DeMarco

Rating: 4.31 ★ | Ratings: 21,990

This book challenges the slow path to wealth mindset and shows how entrepreneurship can fast-track financial freedom (still takes about 10 years). The writing is a bit blunt and direct but refreshing at the same time. It'll alter your mindset and make you see life through the lens of an entrepreneur. Have a vision and make small choices that align with it.

The Million Dollar Weekend: The Surprisingly Simple Way to Launch a 7-Figure Business in 48 Hours

Noah Kagan

Rating: 4.20 ★ | Ratings: 2,730

A new read for those looking to get into entrepreneurship and launch a business within 48 hours. It holds your hand in overcoming your fears, finding ideas, validating them quickly, provides example cold email templates, and provides challenges to take action.

The E-myth Revisited

Michael E. Gerber

Rating: 4.07 ★ | Ratings: 88,397

This book reveals why most small businesses fail and how to structure your business so it runs like a well-oiled machine without you. Hint: treat them like a franchise from the beginning. It will change how you think about entrepreneurship.

5. Company Culture and Productivity

Measure What Matters

John Doerr

Rating: 3.99 ★ | Ratings: 33,706

This book reveals the goal-setting system behind Google's success - OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). It shows how setting clear goals and tracking progress can help companies, teams, and individuals achieve explosive growth.

No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention

Erin Meyer, Reed Hastings

Rating: 4.28 ★ | Ratings: 28,384

A fascinating read into Netflix's culture and explains the thinking behind those infamous slides and quotes such as "Adequate performance gets a generous severance package". Don't treat your company as a family, but as high-performance sports team instead. It's all about talent density and radical candour.

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

Peter Thiel

Rating: 4.15 ★ | Ratings: 362,258

The go-to book on startups, venture capital, and what separates the winners from the crowd. Notes: be a contrarian, power law is everywhere, have secrets, build cult-like organisations, believe in yourself and your mission, have a product that is 10x better than the next competitor, need only one amazing distribution channel, best founders are technical and salespeople, co-founders should be people you know already - it's like a marriage, and aim to monopolise a small market and then expand.

The Bezos Letters: 14 Principles to Grow Your Business Like Amazon

Steve Anderson, Karen Anderson

Rating: 3.96 ★ | Ratings: 798

This book breaks down Jeff Bezos’ famous shareholder letters into 14 principles for growing a business like Amazon. An essential read for entrepreneurs aiming for scale and success and understanding how Bezos thinks about business.

6. Building in Public & Solopreneurship

Show Your Work!

Austin Kleon

Rating: 4.12 ★ | Ratings: 53,089

This book is a game-changer for anyone hesitating to share their creative process. This book will inspire you to put your work out there and build an engaged audience along the way. It helped me create this blog.

MAKE: Bootstrapper's Handbook

Pieter Levels

Rating: 4.12 ★ | Ratings: 717

Pieter Levels is perhaps the most famous indie "solopreneur" on X. This quick read shares his hard learned lessons on how to to ship digital products as an indie bootstrapped developer.

7. Career & Personal Development

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

Cal Newport

Rating: 4.18 ★ | Ratings: 162,558

Great book on producing deep and meaningful work and why it's becoming more valuable today in a distracted world. I've implemented several ideas, such as the physical time blocking and having a daily shutdown routine.

So Good They Can't Ignore You

Cal Newport

Rating: 4.08 ★ | Ratings: 45,683

Another great read by Mr Deep Work himself; answers the question of "How do you find a job you love?" You don't. You work hard and build career capital and develop highly sought after skills. Harsh wake-up call for those who want to "follow your passion".

The Startup of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career

Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha

Rating: 3.82 ★ | Ratings: 10,093

A career guide for the digital age, the book teaches you to manage your career like a startup. Modern advice for navigating an uncertain future by staying adaptable and investing in yourself.

8. Productivity & Time Management

Feel-Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You

Ali Abdaal

Rating: 4.01 ★ | Ratings: 10,267

Famous productivity YouTuber flips the script on traditional productivity advice, focusing on enjoyment as the key to getting things done. Helps you to accomplish more while actually enjoying the process. A book to help align your values and goals, plus jam-packed with tips and experiments for you to try.

The 12 Week Year

Brian P. Moran, Michael Lennington

Rating: 3.88 ★ | Ratings: 14,169

A book to reframe your thinking away from annual planning and to take advantage of deadlines to get things done. Get more done in 12 weeks than most people do in a year by focusing on short-term goals and relentless execution. Seems to be the "Measure What Matters" and "The 4 Disciplines for Execution" catered towards individuals rather than organisations.

Four Thousand Weeks

Oliver Burkeman

Rating: 4.22 ★ | Ratings: 90,018

A refreshingly realistic take on time management and productivity. A must-read for everyone at some stage of their lives, makes you realise how time is not something to be used but that we _are_ time (a bit abstract, I know). Focus on what truly matters in your finite life - being present in the moment.

9. Behavioural Change & Habits

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

James Clear

Rating: 4.35 ★ | Ratings: 961,356

An actionable guide to building better habits, the book shows how small, incremental changes lead to massive transformations. A must-read for anyone looking to create lasting change.

Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career

Scott H. Young

Rating: 3.95 ★ | Ratings: 13,761

Reveals the principles behind rapid skill acquisition used by world-class learners. This book will equip you with strategies to learn anything faster and more effectively, giving you a massive advantage in work and life.

Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life

Nir Eyal, Julie Li

Rating: 3.75 ★ | Ratings: 22,126

Learn how to master your attention in a world full of distractions. A simple 4-part framework: traction, distraction, internal and external triggers. It's not about being completely indistractable but questioning and understanding why you were distracted in the first place.

10. Communication & Influence

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Dale Carnegie

Rating: 4.22 ★ | Ratings: 1,020,553

A timeless classic on mastering social interactions, this book shows how empathy, listening, and genuine interest in others can unlock success in both personal and professional life.

Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling

Matthew Dicks

Rating: 4.27 ★ | Ratings: 6,309

A guide to captivating storytelling from a winning competitive storyteller. This book will transform how you communicate, helping you engage, persuade, and connect with any audience.

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It

Chris Voss, Tahl Raz

Rating: 4.36 ★ | Ratings: 170,082

A former FBI hostage negotiator’s guide to negotiation, the book teaches field-tested tactics to get more of what you want without settling for less. Learn how to gain the upper hand in any conversation, from salary talks to resolving conflicts. The key is tactical empathy.

11. Relationships & Personal Growth

Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

Brené Brown

Rating: 4.29 ★ | Ratings: 222,132

World famous shame researcher shows that vulnerability is the true measure of courage, not a weakness. This book encourages you to embrace imperfections, build deeper connections, and lead with authenticity.