2020: 64 Lessons from 64 Books

Books expand your knowledge and let you escape your prison of thoughts. Capture the main learnings within minutes, not days.

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Only a few people have the opportunity to exchange in-person with the shapers of past and present. Books provide an excellent way to learn from world-class thinkers in a structured way.

Coming up with a one-sentence lesson from a several hundred-page book was challenging, but a fantastic way for reflection. All of the books were read cover to cover, no summaries. There is no specific order. As we all perceive reality differently, the lessons I took from the books might wildly deviate from yours. If you do not agree, that’s fine. Actually I read 82 books, but 18 novels do not count.

My personal top 10 books are marked with * at the beginning. Enough talking, let’s jump into the lessons!

1. The Happiness Advantage — Happiness leads to success, not the other way.
2. Die Flüchtlingsrevolution — Human traffickers operate in network-driven organizations.
3. Prisoners of Geography — Environment shapes culture.
4. *The Courage to Be Disliked — All problems are interpersonal relationship problems.
5. *Lifespan: Why We Age — There is no biological limit to our age.
6. Essentialism — Do less, but better.
7. The Hard Thing About Hard Things — Be clear on what you want, get it done by others.
8. The Richest Man in Babylon — Invest 10% of everything you make.
9. *Mastery — Combine intuition with rationality to perform at peak.
10. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century — The human mind wants to worry.
11. The Goal — Think in constraints (time, cost and quality).
12. Let My People Go Surfing — Do what you love, money will follow.
13. Wer den Wind sät — US interventions caused the Middle East conflict.
14. Die den Sturm ernten — Good and bad are matters of perspective.
15. *Hacking Darwin — Accelerate evolution by giving birth to your great-grandchildren.
16. *Psycho-Cybernetics — Detach yourself from the outcome to perform better.
17. What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars — Rationality beats emotionality.
18. The Game — Attraction is psychological, not physical.
19. *Future Shock —Dramatic change has a negative impact on health.
20. The Psychedelic Experience — Whenever in doubt, turn off your mind.
21. The Way of The Iceman — Breath work influences the immune system.
22. Venture Deals — Ask your VC for references from entrepreneurs.
23. Getting Real — Copywriting is interface design.
24. The Four Steps to the Epiphany — Product development in isolation is deadly.
25. Atomic Habits — Building a habit by making it part of your identity.
26. Zero to Sold — Anyone can build a bootstrapped SaaS business.
27. *It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work — Productivity is not more hours. It’s less waste, distraction, and persistent stress.
28. Actionable Gamification — Design products around core human drives.
29. Get Together — Communities need a shared purpose, identity, and responsibility.
30. Holacracy — Design an organization in circles.
31. How to Win Friends and Influence People — People are only interested in themselves.
32. The End of Jobs — Our world becomes more chaotic and requires entrepreneurial thinking to strive.
33. What You Do Is Who You Are — Culture is behaviour.
34. Explore Like a Pirate — Turn learning into a game.
35. *Antifragile —Fixing a system makes it more fragile in the long run.
36. Steve Jobs — Human biases are useful tool.
37. The Laws of Human Nature — Become aware of your mortality to experience a taste of true freedom.
38. The 5 AM Club — Morning exercises increase cognitive performance.
39. The Bullet Journal Method — Physical note-taking improves mental clarity.
40. Shape Up — Work in 6-week sprints.
41. The Black Swan — The bell curve misrepresents real risk potentials.
42. Der Ernährungskompass — Eat real (unprocessed) food.
43. Mit Ernährung heilen — Fasting prolongs healthy lifespan.
44. Factfulness — Our world gets better, we just do not realize it.
45. *Range — Break-through innovation comes new perspectives on old problems.
46. The 5 Love Languages — People express sympathy in different way and want to be appreciated with their way.
47. Flow — Flow is deep enjoyment.
48. Happiness — Happiness can be learned.
49. Remote — A one hour meeting with 8 people costs 8 hours work time.
50. Rework — Plans are harmful. Say no by default.
51. Stillness Is the Key — Slow down to charge ahead.
52. The Mind of the Leader — Leadership is about being a servant, not a ruler.
53. *A Mind for Numbers — Learning happens when toggling between focused and diffused mode.
54. Homo Deus — Human biology runs on algorithms.
55. A New U — University degrees are no longer a good value proposition.
56. Body by Science — Short, intense resistance-training with long regeneration works optimally for muscle-building.
57. Genius Foods — Food changes the way the brain ages.
58. Bold — Leverage community for co-creation.
59. The Cockroach — Kafka in reverse.
60. Trillion Dollar Coach — Do frequent 1:1s with employees.
61. Theory of Human Learning —Learning is existential.
62. Mit 50 Euro um die Welt — Faith beats money in the pursuit of happiness.
63. Smartcuts — Question the basic assumptions of a problem.
64. Mastering the VC Game — Understand incentives reduce power imbalance.

You made it!

Which books made you think? Happy to hear what you have learned!