Bibliophile
Notes on favourite reading — classical and modern fiction, science fiction, biography, philosophy, economics and business, with a pull-quote and note on each.
Bibliophile
Notes on favourite reading
Bibliophile
Introduction
Background
My experience in my 30s and 40s is that I have this chaotic life, with little time to reflect and think outside the immediate sphere of reaction; only at night and through reading, do I have a chance to explore other places. In the past I’ve wasted the small slivers of this ‘my time’.
Notes on books
Since turning 40, a resolution has been to read more, and get better at taking notes as I go along. I have discussed how I embrace the digital book and sync my reading notes in this article.
What follows is a list of books I love, which I will periodically update. For detailed write-ups on certain non-fiction books, please also see the Notes From page.
Classical Fiction
Enduring, high-quality literary works that have stood the test of time
Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes. You must look into that storm and shout as you did in Rome. Do your worst, for I will do mine! Then the fates will know you as we know you
A tale of wrongful imprisonment, escape, and elaborate revenge. Edmond Dantès is betrayed by his friends and sentenced to life in the Château d’If.
After escaping, he discovers a treasure on the Isle of Monte Cristo, which he uses to exact revenge on those who wronged him.
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
A dystopian novel that introduces Big Brother and the totalitarian state of Oceania, where the government exercises extreme control over its citizens’ lives, including their thoughts. It explores themes of surveillance, individuality, and rebellion.
I measured love by the extent of my jealousy.
Set in London during and just after World War II, the novel explores the story of Maurice Bendrix, a burgeoning writer, and his affair with Sarah Miles.
The narrative covers themes of love, obsession, faith, and the complexities of human emotion and relationships.
Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men.
A critique of the American Dream, set in the opulent world of the East Coast during the Roaring Twenties.
The story follows the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his obsession with the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, exploring themes of wealth, class, idealism, and the decay of social and moral values.
The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it.
Set during the Spanish Civil War, it tells the story of Robert Jordan, an American dynamiter attached to a Republican guerrilla unit. J
ordan is tasked with blowing up a bridge to prevent the Nationalists from responding to an upcoming attack. Throughout the novel, Jordan grapples with the brutality of war, the complexities of love, and the fleeting nature of life.
The Wolves are Running.
A children’s fantasy novel that follows the adventures of Kay Harker, a boy who is entrusted with the magical Box of Delights by an old Punch and Judy man named Cole Hawlings.
The box has the power to make one “go small” or “go swift,” and to travel into the past. Kay must protect the box from the villainous Abner Brown and his gang, who wish to use it to disrupt Christmas.
I refuse to apologize for my ability — I refuse to apologize for my success — I refuse to apologize for my money.
Set in a dystopian United States, the novel explores what happens when the world’s movers and shakers, the “men of the mind,” go on strike against the societal system that exploits their talents but offers them nothing in return.
It sets out Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism, emphasizing reason, individualism, and capitalism.
So it always is: when you escape to a desert the silence shouts in your ear.
A political and moral exploration set in Vietnam during the French Indochina War, examining innocence and idealism.
They can print statistics and count the populations in hundreds of thousands, but to each man a city consists of no more than a few streets, a few houses, a few people. Remove those few and a city exists no longer except as a pain in the memory, like a pain of an amputated leg no longer there.
A dark comedy and spy novel set in Cuba before the revolution. It follows Jim Wormold, a vacuum cleaner salesman turned reluctant secret agent, who starts fabricating intelligence reports to earn extra money.
The book satirizes intelligence services and their use of misinformation.
It is when we try to grapple with another man’s intimate need that we perceive how incomprehensible, wavering, and misty are the beings that share with us the sight of the stars and the warmth of the sun.
A story of a young man’s struggle to recover his honor after a moment of cowardice at sea.
“How did you go bankrupt?” “Two ways. Gradually and then suddenly.”
A tale of the post-World War I “Lost Generation,” focusing on the disillusionment and existential struggles of its characters.
There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
Wilde’s only novel tells the story of Dorian Gray, a young man whose portrait ages and shows the effects of his sins, while he himself remains young and beautiful.
Seduced into a lifestyle of decadence and moral corruption under the influence of Lord Henry Wotton, Dorian’s actions become increasingly cruel and hedonistic, yet his appearance remains untouched by the ravages of his lifestyle.
The novel explores themes of vanity, moral duplicity, and the pursuit of beauty.
What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours.
A novel about teenage rebellion and alienation, following the experiences of Holden Caulfield in New York City.
Modern Fiction
Recent-ish fiction I’ve enjoyed.
Two days before I decided to kill myself, I decided to live forever.
Follows the life of Daniel Weir, a former rock star who looks back on his life, career, and the people he has lost. It’s a story of fame, music, and the search for happiness beyond the trappings of success.
If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.
A nostalgic story of loss and burgeoning sexuality. The novel is a memory tale of a young man’s life in the late 1960s Tokyo, and his relationships with two very different women.
Caring too much for objects can destroy you. Only — if you care for a thing enough, it takes on a life of its own, doesn’t it?
A young boy in New York City, Theo Decker, survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by a wealthy friend’s family and clings to a small painting that reminds him of his mother, leading him into the art underworld.
Slough House is where the slow horses end up — spooks who’ve messed up, marking time until they quit.
A spy novel that follows disgraced MI5 agents relegated to Slough House, where they handle mundane tasks. However, they get caught up in real danger and intrigue, challenging their skills and redemption.
“I have a theory which I suspect is rather immoral,” Smiley went on, more lightly. “Each of us has only a quantum of compassion. That if we lavish our concern on every stray cat, we never get to the centre of things.”
A masterful espionage thriller set during the Cold War. The story follows George Smiley, a disgraced British spy, as he seeks to uncover a Soviet mole within the MI6’s ranks. It’s a tale of intrigue, betrayal, and complex moral ambiguities.
It was the day my grandmother exploded.
A coming-of-age story mixed with a family saga and a mystery. Prentice McHoan embarks on a journey to uncover the secrets and truths about his eccentric Scottish family, dealing with love, death, and the complexities of life.
Memories and thoughts age, just as people do. But certain thoughts can never age, and certain memories can never fade.
A surreal narrative that weaves together the mundane and the mystical. Toru Okada’s search for his wife’s missing cat evolves into a quest that leads him into a web of interlocking stories and a complex examination of the human psyche.
Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it.
A group of classics students at an elite college explore morality beyond the boundaries of the law, leading to tragic consequences. The novel explores themes of beauty and horror intertwined within the lives of intellectually gifted students
Her hand touched me at the wrist. “If I gave you my life, you would drop it. Wouldn’t you?” I didn’t say anything.
A lyrical novel set in Italy during World War II, it tells the story of four people — a nurse, a sapper, a thief, and a badly burned Englishman — who come together in the shadow of war’s devastation. It explores themes of love, identity, and the scars of conflict.
You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino’s new novel, If on a winter’s night a traveler.
An experimental novel that begins with you, the reader, attempting to read the novel “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler” by Italo Calvino. However, you find yourself embroiled in a literary mystery that involves reading the beginnings of ten different books, each leading you to the next.
The novel explores themes of reading, writing, and the nature of narrative, as you and a fellow reader, Ludmilla, try to uncover why the books keep interrupting and who is behind it.
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Futuristic and supernatural adventures
It’s like the people who believe they’ll be happy if they go and live somewhere else, but who learn it doesn’t work that way. Wherever you go, you take yourself with you. If you see what I mean.
A young boy named Nobody Owens, who is raised by ghosts in a graveyard after his family is murdered, learns about the living and dead worlds. The novel explores themes of family, friendship, and growing up.
You have to be a bit of a liar to tell a story the right way.
The first part of the story of Kvothe, an adventurer and musician. From his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, to years spent as an orphan in a crime-ridden city, to his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic.
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
Set in a distant future amidst a feudal interstellar society, it tells the story of young Paul Atreides, whose family accepts the stewardship of the desert planet Arrakis. As the only source of the universe’s most valuable substance, control of Arrakis is contested fiercely, leading Paul to become the mysterious man known as Muad’Dib, destined to lead a revolution.
Adults follow paths. Children explore.
A man returns to his childhood home and recalls events that began forty years earlier. The novel delves into memory, magic, and the complexities of childhood from an adult perspective.
There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.
The second part of Kvothe’s story, going deeper into his life at the university, his ventures into the wider world, and the search for knowledge about the mysterious Chandrian who destroyed his family.
Biography & History
Looking back
‘The longer you look back, the farther you can look forward. This is not a philosophical or political argument – any oculist can tell you it is true.’ Certainly it was true of him. He was no mere fogy.
A multi-volume biography of Winston Churchill, covering his entire life from his early years to his leadership during World War II. It’s a detailed account of Churchill’s political career, personal life, and the impact he had on Britain and the world
The Great Game, as this shadowy struggle for supremacy in Central Asia came to be known, was to last for most of the nineteenth century, and only ended with the Russian Revolution in 1917. It was a secret war, fought largely by brave and resourceful individuals, and its battlefields were the passes, deserts and glaciers of the Himalayas, the Pamirs and the Hindu Kush.
On the 19th-century clandestine rivalry between the British Empire and Tsarist Russia as they vied for supremacy in Central Asia.
Full of daring explorers, spies, soldiers, and adventurers, it reads like a real-life thriller while explaining the origins of today’s “Great Game” in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Central Asian republics.
A multi-ethnic global society is forming over and above the individual states. Entrepreneurs, engineers, bankers and scholars throughout the world speak the same language and share similar views and interests.
A narrative history of humanity, from the emergence of Homo sapiens in Africa to the present. Harari explores how humans have shaped the world through cognitive, agricultural, and scientific revolutions, raising questions about where we might be headed.
Cheap booze is false economy: it’s like being stingy with lubricant during anal sex; you’ll end up paying much more in the long run.
Hitch-22: A Memoir is Christopher Hitchens’ unflinching autobiography.
Part intellectual coming-of-age story, part rogue’s gallery of the 20th century’s most famous (and infamous) figures, it chronicles his journey from Trotskyist firebrand at Oxford to the contrarian, whisky-soaked polemicist who became one of the English-speaking world’s sharpest and most fearless voices.
Philosophy, Productivity & Wisdom
Learning from the greatest humans
If you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room. Hang out with, and learn from people smarter than yourself. Even better, find smart people who will disagree with you.
A collection of short Insights and principles to live by.
When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
A philosophical book that tells the story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who dreams of discovering a worldly treasure. His quest leads him to riches far different — and far more satisfying — than he ever imagined, exploring themes of destiny, personal legend, and the essence of the universe.
A collection of insights from entrepreneur and investor Naval Ravikant, covering wealth, happiness, and the philosophy of life. It distills Ravikant’s wisdom on building wealth and achieving happiness into practical advice.
Take a simple idea and take it seriously.
A compilation of speeches and wisdom from Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s long-time business partner. It covers decision-making, investment strategies, and life philosophies, emphasizing a multidisciplinary approach to thinking.
You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.
An exploration of the tiny changes that lead to remarkable results, focusing on how habits are formed and how they can be changed to achieve success and improvement in all areas of life.
Humanity is experiencing an extraordinary burst of evolutionary change, driven by good old-fashioned Darwinian natural selection. But it is selection among ideas, not among genes.
A counter to pervasive pessimism, Ridley argues for optimism by demonstrating how innovation and the exchange of ideas have historically led to progress and prosperity, suggesting this trend will continue to solve current global issues.
Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.
A series of personal writings by the Roman Emperor, offering wisdom on Stoic philosophy. Aurelius writes on virtue, rationality, and the universe, providing guidance on how to live a good life amidst the chaos of the world.
To teach how to live without certainty, and yet without being paralysed by hesitation, is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy can do for those who study it.
Russell’s comprehensive account of Western philosophy from the pre-Socratic philosophers to the early 20th century, discussing the major thinkers and movements with clarity and depth.
A minority of causes, inputs, or effort usually lead to a majority of the results, outputs, or rewards.
Explores the Pareto Principle, which posits that roughly 80% of effects come from 20% of causes. Koch applies this principle to business and personal life, suggesting ways to focus on the most productive activities.
Economics, Investing & Business Management
Books relevant to running companies and making money
The whole secret to winning big in the stock market is not to be right all the time, but to lose the least amount possible when you’re wrong.
The best book re fundamental and technical investing in stocks; introduces the CANSLIM mental model.
Your culture is how your company makes decisions when you’re not there.
A great read for anyone interested in improving teamwork and culture.
The biggest mistake most people make is to judge things based only on what they’ve experienced in their own lifetimes.
Dalio analyzes historical cycles and patterns to offer insights into the changing world order and principles for navigating the economic and geopolitical shifts.
