Books

Here is who I am through the books I've read. Books followed by * are my favorites. Some books are linked to my Goodreads review. According to ChatGPT, I'm "drawn to stories of personal transformation, big ideas, and the messy beauty of being human. Your bookshelf reveals a deep appreciation for both narrative and nuance—where philosophy, technology, resilience, and emotional honesty intersect."

2025

• Why Fish Don't Exist by Lulu Miller
• On Writing by Stephen King
• Normal People by Sally Rooney
• Stay True by Hua Hsu
• The Philosopher of Palo Alto by John Tinnell *
• The Overstory by Richard Powers
• Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

2024

• Everything Is Obvious: Why Common Sense Is Nonsense by Duncan J. Watts *
• Slow Productivity by Cal Newport
• The Empathy Diaries by Sherry Turkle *
• What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami *
• Pushing Limits by Ted Hill
• Hell Yeah or No by Derek Sivers
• When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel Pink
• Living History by Hillary Clinton
• The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
• Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life by Dacher Keltner
• Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
• Tools for Thought by Howard Rheingold

2023

• The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI by Fei-Fei Li *
• Wild Problems: A Guide to Decisions That Define Us by Russell Roberts *
• Mastering ‘Metrics: The Path from Cause to Effect by Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke
• Steve Jobs by Walter Issacson *
• The Passion Paradox by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness *
• Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
• Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant
• Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell by Eric Schmidt
• The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies by Scott E. Page
• Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins
• Happy City by Charles Montgomery
• The Pathless Path by Paul Millerd
• Discipline is Destiny by Ryan Holiday
• The Stranger by Albert Camus

2022

• How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens *
• Deep Work by Cal Newport *
• The Structure of Scientific Revolution by Thomas Kuhn *
• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl *
• Exhalation by Ted Chiang *
• A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William Irvine
• The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness by Eric Jorgenson *
• Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
• The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris
• The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
• Neuromancer by William Gibson
• The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

2021

• The Ride of a Lifetime by Bob Igor *
• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
• Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath *
• Beloved by Toni Morrison *
• Circe by Madeline Miller
• The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
• The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
• I Think Therefore I Draw: Understanding Philosophy Through Cartoons by Thomas Cathcart
• Big Data: A Very Short Introduction by Dawn Holmes
• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
• Lore by Alexandra Bracken

2020

• Educated by Tara Westover *
• How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster *
• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
• Creativity, Inc. by Edwin Catmull and Amy Wallace *
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
• The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald