Reading List

This is a list of books that I have read over the last couple of years. Going forward, I will try to add a short summary for each book that I have read.

2021

• Thinking in Systems: A Primer by Donella Meadows

  A good introduction to systems thinking and how we can apply it to model complex behavior of e.g. companies. The whole world exhibits system properties and understanding these and their interactions is crucial to bringing along positive change.

• The Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail by Ray Dalio

  A good primer on the macro-trends that have led to the rise and fall of nations over the last 2000 years. Ray Dalio tries to find patterns in the major events that have occured in the past and how they can be used to explain what we are experiencing the present (e.g. debt crisis or the struggle for influence and power between the US and China)

• Letters from a Stoic by Seneca

  This books provides a great introduction to Stoic philosophy. It’s a collection of Seneca’s letters in which he gives advice on how to live a good life - many principles can also be followed in modern-day society!

• Influence: Science and Practice by Robert B. Cialdini

  Reading “Influence” will help you become aware of the tricks and tactics that marketing uses in order to sell you something / convince you of something. The book describes how under certain conditions, our mind switches to auto-pilot mode - in this mode, we behave in a very predictable (and exploitable) way.

• La llamada de la tribu by Mario Vargas Llosa

  In this book, Mario Vargas Llosa shares his experience of reading and thinking about some of the greatest philosophers of the last century (Karl Popper, Isaiah Berlin and many others). He describes how reading these philosophers have helped him in developing his own ideas as well as shaping his views of the liberal agenda.

• Option Volatility and Pricing: Advanced Trading Strategies and Techniques by Sheldon Natenberg

  This book is a good textbook introduction into option trading. I just skimmed over the majority of the content, but my main takeaway is that option trading is a very complex and risky activity and that, as a non-professional trader, you should better stay away from it (and instead directly invest in the underlying security)…

• Elephant in the Brain by Kevin Simler, Robin Hanson

  A good read to gain a bit more understanding of human psychology. The book first dives into the topic of animal behaviour and social norms that lead us to rely on signaling and self-deceptition. It then covers a variety of aspects in our lifes (such as body languange, religion and politics) in which our behaviour can often be explained by very different motives than those that we claim to follow.

• Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder by Nassim Taleb
• Deep Work by Cal Newport
• Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Taleb
• Schrödingers Katze auf dem Mandelbrotbaum by Ernst Peter Fischer

2020

• One Up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch
• La Tierra de las Papas by Paloma Bordons
• Flash Boys by Michael Lewis
• Lab Rats by Daniel Lyons
• Against the Gods - The Remarkable Story of Risk by Peter Bernstein
• EDGE: Value-driven digital transformation by James Highsmith
• The Go Programming Language by Alan Donovan
• 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Harari
• Line by Line - How to edit your own writing by Claire Cook
• Die 5 Sprachen der Liebe by Gary Chapman
• Upheaval by Jared Diamond
• Lifes per Gallon by Terry Tamminen
• The great reversal by Thomas Philippon
• The Triathlete’s Training Guide - Joe Friel
• The prosperity paradox by Clayton M. Christensen
• Zero to One by Peter Thiel
• How to build a billion dollar app by George Berkowski
• Why we sleep by Mathew Walker
• Beruflich in Australien by Lea Joskowicz
• Escape from Freedom by Erich Fromm
• In a sunburned country by Bill Bryson