Nadia's Reading List Email for June 2021

In the past I used to stress out about all the books I still had to read and watched my “to-read” shelf grow, with increasing horror. I will never get to read all of this, I thought, and the more books I read, the more I still had left to read. Or so it seemed.

Not sure exactly when this shift happened, but now I think about all the unread books with joyful anticipation. I see years of happy reading in front of me, and chances are some of my favorite books are among those I haven’t even heard of yet. Isn’t it exciting?

With so many great books out there how can we ever feel bored? Or lonely, for that matter.

Emma by Jane Austen

Last month I tried (and failed) to read “Infinite Jest”, and as often happens when I interact with post-post-modernist literature, the pendulum swings back and I have to urgently read something as “normal” as possible, and what can be more normal and more linear than Jane Austen? I went with “Emma” this time because I’ve seen it described as “the best English novel ever written,” and yes, I have to admit it is exceedingly wonderful. On the one hand, I feel slightly ridiculous reading about people obsessing about matchmaking when the world is on fire and come on, who cares about all of this in 2021... On the other hand, I understand full well that this exact quality of being “outside the world” is something that makes Jane Austen not less, but more popular and more relevant with time. Austen herself lived through some turbulent times in British history, but her books give us a glimpse of a different, seemingly tranquil world, where someone’s word or gesture could be mulled about for weeks. There is calmness and beauty in the world that Austen captured as it was in that exact moment, and then that world disappeared without much of a way to remember it, but for books like this. I wonder who is capturing the world we live in and how will future generation learn about our lives and our loves...

This is an exquisite, beautifully written book, where simultaneously much and nothing happens, which is so very true of our lives as well, is it not? Most of what happens to us is mundane, but mundane is also meaningful, especially if it happens daily: it is essentially what life is made of.

The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness by Eric Jorgenson

I got on Naval Ravikant’s fandom bandwagon only a month ago, and how I wish I learned more about him and his philosophy earlier! It is not that he has an especially unique philosophy or that I’m hooked either on buddhism or stoicism (not really), but the way he patched all of the different thought traditions together with his own life experience into a way of thinking that is uniquely his own, made a strong impression on me. Naval is a person who is very successful but also really smart, not in a superficial kind of way, but someone who has thought deeply about many issues, and his depth shows in everything he says and writes.

I’m nowhere near the peace and wisdom that Naval exudes, I’m still anxious and angry way too often, and the pain and evil of human existence is still too often overwhelming for me, but I felt more hope when reading Naval’s thoughts than I felt in a while.

Alternatively, you can listen to Naval’s interview on The Tim Ferris Show, the 2-hour podcast is well worth your time.

Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits and Millionaires Trying to Reinvent Money by Nathaniel Popper

Reading this book about the early years of bitcoin helped me realize why it has been hard for me to get truly excited about this technology for a while (apart from the obvious reason of the underlying tech being too complex for me to understand): it felt too abstract and too out of touch with the world I lived in. Thanks to this book, I saw the people behind this amazing technology, I learned their stories, I understood their hopes and their ambitions much better, and I got inspired by the underlying ideas of personal liberty and the potential blockchain has for one day freeing people from the everpresent boot of the state. I wonder what the future will bring for this technology, and I’m excited (and scared) to live through times like ours, when authoritarianism seems to be on the march (as it tends to do, more or less always).

Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life by Nir Eyal

It might not be the most well-written self-help book, but definitely an important one. I’ve been worried about my diminishing attention span for years, and although building strong reading habits has helped me stave off the process of my brain turning into mush, I still find myself distracted much more than I care to admit. I know I’m not living the life I could be living and squandering what little energy I have each day on meaningless doom scrolling, notifications, slack emojis, and all the bullshit that modern life increasingly consists of. 

If you feel the same way, I think “Indistractable” can be a useful tool for starting the process of controlling your attention and ultimately controlling your life. Note: it is just a start. It’s not like my life completely changed the moment I finished this book, not really. I’ve tried adopting some of the tips described in it, and some worked for me, many didn’t, but most importantly, I’ve become more aware of how awful I’m with battling distractions. I guess time will show how much of what the book teaches will stick with me. Let me know what you think if you decide to read it.

The Start-Up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career by Reid Hoffman

If you grew up in the former USSR like I did, you are likely to have been brought up with mental models about careers that are fully out of whack with reality. I was completely unprepared for starting a career or in general making something of myself after finishing high school, and I’m still learning my ropes at 29. This book is something I would love to have read at 20, when I was so lost and uninformed… Your career can indeed be seen as a startup, iterated on, managed and invested in a more structured way. It’s difficult to be successful, but also it is not as difficult as we are taught to believe. There are tricks you can use to hack your way through life, and this book is full of very, very useful advice and actionable tips. A must-read.

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Quite a few new people joined my reading list last month: welcome, and I’m glad you have read this far. I hope you found something that piqued your interest in this newsletter. If not, feel free to browse through previous editions or reply to this email to ask me for a book recommendations. I’ll be glad to help.

If you have been reading this newsletter for a while and have benefited from it, may I please ask that you share it with someone who is also a reader. Newsletters are hard to grow, and it will mean a lot to me if you took a few minutes to spread the word. Thank you ❤️

Happy reading,

Nadia.

P.S. If you don’t know any readers, you can still thank me by buying me a coffee or purchasing my book (readers seem to like it a lot).