Books I’ve Read

I have read over 100 books. I'm starting to summarize them here.

If I’m any smarter, its by reading. That is my way of standing on giants.

In this page, I write summary of the books I read. I posted detailed notes for some of them in this blog. I’ll update this page as I read more, so bookmark it if you want to check back in a few months.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

by Stephen R. Covey / Amazon Link

This is one of the two books that changed my life completely. I read this book 20 years ago; yet, the concepts in the book are as valid today as then. The 7 habits are:

  1. Be Proactive: Always expand your circle of influence; don’t get bogged down with circle of concern.
  2. Begin with the End in Mind: Visualize your future and work backwards to achieve it.
  3. Put First Things First: Work on important matters prior to they become urgent.
  4. Think Win-Win: Don’t view others are competitors; view them as complementary for your success.
  5. Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood: Empathize with others to influence them.
  6. Synergize: Combine strengths of everyone for a positive outcome.
  7. Sharpen the Saw: Keep growing.

The McKinsey Way

by Ethan Rasiel / Amazon Link / Detailed Notes

There are three factors to problem solving: thinking comprehensively about a problem, solving the problem, and selling the solution. If you want to be an effective problem solver, you need to practice all the three factors.

Steve Jobs

by Walter Isaacson / Amazon Link / Detailed Notes

Want to change the world? Develop a deep understanding of these factors: empathy, focus, and impute.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

by Robert M. Pirsig / Amazon Link

There are two types of understanding: classical & romantic. Romantic understanding concerns itself with the immediate appearance; while classical gets into the underlying mechanics. Lines and numbers of a blueprint is dull and boring for a person of romantic understanding but they are fascinating for a person of classical understanding.

The industries of the future

by Alec Ross / Amazon Link / Detailed Notes

The future industries are:

  1. Robotics
  2. Genomics
  3. Digital Economy
  4. Cyber-Security
  5. Big-Data

He finishes with a poignant advice to world leaders: “there is great shame for society and its leaders when a life is made less than what it could be because of a lack of opportunity. The obligation of those in positions of power and privilege is to shape our policies to extend the opportunities that will come with the industries of the future to as many people as possible”.

The mythical Man-Month

by Fred Brooks / Amazon Link / Detailed Notes

Frederick Brooks wrote this book in 1975, with observations from managing development of IBM OS/360, an operating system for a mainframe computer. Even though it is four decades old, all the issues discussed by Brooks are surprisingly relevant today. If you are in software stream - as a developer or as a functional analyst or as a manager - you should read this book. It will avoid you going though the path of agony.

Books still to sort

  1. Everything I Know, Paul Jarvis
  2. How Will You Measure Your Life, Clay Christensen
  3. Warfighting, US Marines Guidebook
  4. Stop Stealing Dreams, Seth Godin
  5. THE BLUE SWEATER, Jacqueline Novogratz
  6. Time Management 2.0: 15 Secrets of a Self-Made Millionaire for Getting Things Done (Coffee With A Millionaire Series), H. Reardon, C. Kane
  7. On Writing, Stephen King
  8. Bank For The Buck, Tamal Bandyopadhyay
  9. Future Shock, Alvin Toffler
  10. E-Myth Revisited - Why Most Small Business Don’t Work and What to Do About It
  11. Seven Steps to Mastering Business Analysis
  12. Outliers, Malcom Galdwell
  13. A Game Plan for Life: The Power of Mentoring by John Wooden, Don Yeager, Don Yaeger
  14. Alchemist, The by Paulo Coelho
  15. Alexander the Great’s Art of Strategy: The Timeless Leadership Lessons of History’s Greatest Empire Builder by Partha Bose
  16. All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World by Seth Godin
  17. Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
  18. Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
  19. Bittersweet by Danielle Steel
  20. Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne
  21. Crucial Confrontations: Tools for Resolving Broken Promises, Violated Expectations, and Bad Behavior by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler
  22. Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why by Laurence Gonzales
  23. Discovering the Laws of Life by John Marks Templeton
  24. Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
  25. Every Business Is a Growth Business: How Your Company Can Prosper Year After Year by Ram Charan, Noel Tichy
  26. Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan Execution
  27. Fail-Safe Investing: Lifelong Financial Security in 30 Minutes by Harry Browne
  28. Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
  29. FREAKONOMICS: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. & Dubner, Stephen J. Levitt
  30. FREE: THE FUTURE OF A RADICAL PRICE: THE ECONOMICS OF ABUNDANCE AND WHY ZERO PRICING IS CHANGING THE FACE OF BUSINESS by CHRIS ANDERSON
  31. Getting Started in Consulting, Second Edition by Alan Weiss
  32. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
  33. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t by Jim Collins
  34. Halo Effect by Phil Rosenzweig
  35. Hindu Dharma by M.K. Gandhi
  36. How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff
  37. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
  38. How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clay Christensen
  39. In an Uncertain World: Tough Choices from Wall Street to Washington by Robert Rubin, Jacob Weisberg
  40. Indira: The Life of Indira Nenru Gandhi by Katherine Frank
  41. It’s Not About the Money: A Financial Game Plan for Staying Safe, Sane, and Calm in Any Economy by Brent Kessel
  42. LEADERSHIP. by RUDOLPH W. GIULIANI
  43. Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life by Martin E. P. Seligman
  44. Making Breakthrough Innovation Happen: How 11 Indians Pulled Off The Impossible by Porus Munshi
  45. Making India Work by William Nanda Bissell
  46. Making Of A Champion by SUMRALL LESTER
  47. Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century by Robert Lomas
  48. Marketing Metrics: The Definitive Guide to Measuring Marketing Performance by Paul W. Farris, Neil T. Bendle, Phillip E. Pfeifer, David J. Reibstein
  49. Million Dollar Consulting by Alan Weiss
  50. Money Talks: How to Make a Million As A Speaker by Alan Weiss
  51. More Than You Know: Finding Financial Wisdom in Unconventional Places by Michael J. Mauboussin
  52. Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham, Donald O. Clifton
  53. On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser
  54. Opposable Mind: Winning Through Integrative Thinking by Roger L. Martin
  55. Our Films Their Films by Satyajit Ray
  56. People Are Never the Problem Pb by Robert Watts
  57. Problem Solving 101: A Simple Book for Smart People by Ken Watanabe
  58. Project Management Disasters & How to Survive Them by David Nickson Sir
  59. Project Management Success Stories: Lessons of Project Leadership by Alexander Laufer, Edward J. Hoffman
  60. Rules of Thumb: How to Stay Productive and Inspired Even in the Most Turbulent Times by Alan M. Webber
  61. Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories by Christopher Booker
  62. Seven Steps to Mastering Business Analysis by Barbara A. Carkenord
  63. Seven-Day Weekend by Ricardo Semler
  64. Sex, Science & Profits by Terence Kealey
  65. Simply Fly by Gopinath, Captain G.R.
  66. Statecraft by Margaret Thatcher
  67. Stay Hungry Stay Foolish by Rashmi Bansal
  68. Strange Places, Questionable People: Updated With a New Chapter on Kosovo by John Simpson
  69. Taking Hold of Tomorrow by Jack W. Hayford
  70. Tell Me Your Dreams by Sidney Sheldon
  71. That Last Mountain by Terence Strong
  72. The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything by Guy Kawasaki
  73. The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures by Dan Roam
  74. The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
  75. The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gowande
  76. The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton
  77. The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman
  78. The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber
  79. The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels
  80. THE JONI STORY by JONI EARECKSON
  81. The Knack: How Street-Smart Entrepreneurs Learn to Handle Whatever Comes Up by Norm Brodsky, Bo Burlingham
  82. The Kneeling Christian by Unknown Christian
  83. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
  84. The Long Tail: How Endless Choice Is Creating Unlimited Demand by Chris Anderson
  85. The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy by Thomas J., Ph.D. Stanley, William D., Ph.D Danko
  86. The Minto Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing, Thinking, & Problem Solving by Barbara Minto
  87. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin S. Sharma
  88. The Personal Beliefs of Jimmy Carter: Winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize by Jimmy Carter
  89. The Road Less Traveled Set: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values, and Spritual Growth by Michael Scott Peck
  90. The Tough-Minded Optimist by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale
  91. The Two Minute Rule by Robert Crais
  92. Thinking in Systems: A Primer by Donella H. Meadows
  93. Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life’s Greatest Lesson by Mitch Albom
  94. Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
  95. What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith, Mark Reiter
  96. What Smart People Do When Dumb Things Happen At Work by Charles E. Watson
  97. What the CEO Wants You to Know : How Your Company Really Works by Ram Charan
  98. WHERE IS GOD WHEN IT HURTS?: BEYOND SUFFERING by PHILIP YANCEY
  99. Who Will Cry When You Die? by Robin S. Sharma
  100. Winning: The Ultimate Business How-To Book by Jack Welch and Suzy Welch
  101. Writing That Works by Kenneth Roman, Joel Raphaelson
  102. Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions by Brian Christian & Tom Griffiths
  103. 25 Need-to-Know Strategy Tools by Vaughan Evans
  104. The McKinsey Edge: Success Principles from the World’s Most Powerful Consulting Firm by Shu Hattori
  105. Predictive Analytics For Dummies by Tommy Jung, Mohamed Chaouchi, Anasse Bari
  106. Antifragile Systems and Teams by Dave Zwieback
  107. Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content by Ann Handley
  108. Soft Skills: The Software Developer’s Life Manual by John Sonmez
  109. The Best Software Writing I: Selected and Introduced by Joel Spolsky by Joel Spolsky
  110. Smart and Gets Things Done:Joel Spolsky’s Concise Guide to Finding the Best Technical Talent by Joel Spolsky
  111. Measuring and Managing Performance in Organizations by Robert D. Austin
  112. How to study? by George Fillmore Swain
  113. Rough Draft by Michael Robertson Jr.
  114. Everything is miscellaneous by David Weinberger
  115. The end of jobs by Taylor Pearson
  116. Traction by Gabriel Weinberg & Justin Mares
  117. The power of imagination by Kerry Kirkwood
  118. The Messiah Matrix by Kenneth John Atchity
  119. Do Improvise by Robert Poynton. Notice more, Let go, Use everything. Everything is an offer.
  120. The 4-hour work week by Tim Ferriss. Define your priorities, Eliminate waste, Automate your income, Liberate yourself from geography & time

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