Reading Stories.
Things I jot down while reading a book. They may not always make the best summaries or synopses, but will give you a good sense of my thoughts on the book.
Ramachandra Guha — India After Gandhi, Pts. I to III
For all sorts of reasons wholly to do with the state of the State of India today, I’ve felt compelled to immerse myself in the history of India and the story of what it means to be Indian. The most popular and exhaustive history of post-independence India is Ramachandra Guha’s India After Gandhi, a book that’s graced several of my bookshelves from college to today.
JD Vance — Hillbilly Elegy
I liked this book. It isn’t particularly political. It’s mostly a memoir, and like any good memoir, it’s a window into a world inhabited by only one person, but tells you something about the world we all inhabit. Here are excerpts from it that I found particularly insightful.
Sally Rooney — Conversations With Friends
I feel like it’s best to go into books ‘cold’. Like I feel if I told you anything at all about the characters or the story I’d be telling you something you shouldn’t know. I feel like it’s best to leave you with general tags and have you use that information to decide if you want to read the book.
The Right It by Alberto Savoia
The central theme of the book: before diving into running a venture or building expensive prototypes, make smaller pretotypes that help you get your own data to validate your business’s market hypothesis. A pretotype is different from a prototype in that it’s quick, easy, inexpensive.
Basquiat — A Graphic Novel by Paolo Parisi
Full marks for style, low marks for substance. Maybe it’s to do with the fact that I’m getting older and am losing my patience for misunderstood geniuses. It seems to me that the pursuit of goodness is a lot more meaningful than the pursuit of greatness. It’s just not as sexy a story to tell.
The 4D Songwriter — How To Dominate The New Music Industry
a self-help book for musicians + reinforcements of things you’ve considered if you’re a creative type, especially about promotion. simple summary: if you consider yourself a musician, you’re not, you’re more than that. the way you get your music into every pair of ears it should reach is by focusing on 4 dimensions: Music, Personality, Branding, Lifestyle.