Panashe Fundira
There are definitely some interesting and useful questions in this book. But it feels pretty verbose for what it is (part 1 was a bit of a slog). The part on decision making is nothing new if you've read decision making/rationality/critical thinking books of the last couple of decades. Ultimately not what I was looking for - a resource on formulating helpful questions for my specific situation.
This isn't an especially well -wrotten book (the author basically directly quotes Naval for 100% of it's length, sorting the quotes thematically). The content is pretty good though. Going in, I had no idea who this Naval was, but it's pretty clear that he knows some things about business and happiness (even if I don't agree with absolutely everything, I find his perspective fascinating).
Decent, and even good, but doesn't live up to the hype. Harry is smart but arrogant and unwise, and has no real character growth arc. He never faces consequences for his foolishness, or use of his “dark-side”. Several interesting threads (like Harry seeking to understand how magic actually works with Hermione) are dropped without resolution. Dumbledore and Voldy's plotting is mostly done off-screen, which is unsatisfying.
The story is overlong for its plot content.
All that being said, there are some genuinely clever or funny moments in this, and the final battle has a great deal of tension.
Pretty interesting. You'll probably learn a lot, assuming you aren't an expert in cosmology already. It's pretty dense, so not the easiest read to get through. I like that the author lays out at the beginning which parts of the book are controversial, and which uncontroversial, at the beginning of the book.
It's arguable that I'll actually hold on to any of the physics discussed in its pages, but good to peer into the mind of a top cosmologist.
Audiobook version, audible.
At times hilarious, and at times tragic, with a great ending. Noah's performance as the reader is great - you get all the Zulu, Xhosa, and Tsonga with proper pronunciation, and his undeniable charisma shines through.
It is kind of weird that there's barely a mention of Noah's career in comedy. How did he make the leap from hustling in Alexandria? Maybe he's saving that for the next memoir.
I was also a little surprised by Noah's racial essentialism, he reifies the racial categories of the apartheid state. Maybe I'm just in a very universalist mindset at present from listening to a lot of Kmele Foster and reading Racecraft.
DNF, got 30% of the way through the audio book.
Like much of the self help literature, heavily reliant on anecdotes (not even interesting ones - the common ones like Jobs, Musk, etc) without accounting for survivorship bias.
I did see some interesting ideas about redundancy and reliability that overlap with my own field (software), but I think I'd better off just reading about those topics directly, instead of a watered-down popular treatment.
The best idea I'll take away from this book is the concept of adversarial thought experiments. Ask how you can make your system fail, or imagine being your boss and try to build a case for why he should not promote you. This kind of perspective taking is reminiscent of Superforecasters by Tetlock.
A really good guide to advancing in a software career. Draws back the curtain on how senior engineers approach their craft. This book particularly shines in its discussion of soft skills - leadership, setting an example, effective communication, project management, and so on.
It does have some weaknesses: there's a lot of repetition around many of the core principles, and the section on software design is somewhat superficial (see The Art of Unix Programming or A Philosophy of Software Design for more on that topic).
Really short book, worth a quick skim read (consumed in a single sitting over a couple of hours).
The author assumes a particular organizational context - lots of emails and unclear expectations, you don't already regularly meet with your manager, people regularly work late, presentation is a central part of your work - that sort of thing. As such, it doesn't seem super applicable to my day job as a software engineer. Still some, things are here are useful.
Overcommunicate. If your boss/peers have to ask about the status of a project, it signals some anxiety on their part, and a missed opportunity to proactively communicate on your part. Increase your outbound communication to limit the need for inbound communication (questions, follow ups, etc).
Set the agenda and take the lead in your meetings with your manager. I do wonder how one generates good agenda items every week, especially if you're already giving daily updates to your team in a standup.
If you want to be promoted, set clear goals and check-in with your manager frequently (you set up a weekly 1:1, right?) Track your accomplishments against these goals, and build a ‘case' for your promotion like a case lawyer would .
