The best books i read as of 2022
As you may have seen in the About Me page, I really enjoy reading about many different topics in order to nurture my curiosity. A book contains the thoughts and conclusions of an individual who is far more knowledgeable than you in the topic in question, and, evidently, more experienced. You get to learn from years of experience by reading a mere 200-400 pages per book. This is the primary reason I have been reading books for years and will continue to do so.
In this article I will give a brief overview of the books that most resonated with my thoughts and those that impacted me the most in different areas of my life.
The idea behind this post is to make you understand why these are very high-quality books and what you can learn or take home by reading each of these books.
By the way, they are not in a ranking order.
Let´s start.
SuperIntelligence, by Nick Bostrom
This is probably one of the best books out there when it comes to discussing the future of Artificial Intelligence by looking at all the possible perspectives from many different angles. It also talks about the possible dangers, situations, and future outlooks if humanity manages to reach AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) as well as giving very thought-out predictions on when this could happen.
Reading this book you will think A LOT. For those of you who enjoy being mentally challenged and thinking out of the box when reading a book, this is for you, and If you also love imagining how the future could be, you will like it even more.
On a final note, reading the thoughts of such a talented Cambridge-educated AI researcher like Nick Bostrom, is a no brainer.
Elon Musk, by Ashlee Vance
This very likely my favourite entrepreneurial story I ever heard of. Despite Elon Musk’s controversial tendencies, he is a man everyone should respect for what he has become and specially how he has become what he is today.
This book perfectly encompasses his story since he founded his first company. It is the type of book that you can´t stop reading, at least that is what happened to me. Honestly, a movie should be made out of this man.
You will learn a lot about a different approach to business, the high-risk high-return one. You will also resonate with many of the life values inside the book and even find yourself similar to Elon’s way of thinking. In short, It is a fantastic read, give it a try.
48 Laws of Power, by Robert Greene
I find it hard to describe this book. In a way it is one of the best books I read, but also one of the most cruel. There are many «laws» that are utterly cruel, but, on the other hand, there are many others that you will 100% feel connected to.
In my opinion, this book is a must read for any type of person. Be careful with it, and question your thoughts. Actually, I would say you do have to be someone with the sufficient emotional intelligence to understand the reasons behind each of the laws and knowing the scenarios where these should be used. At the end of the day, It depends on your personality. Machiavellians will love everything about the book.
To conclude, It is a great book and you will question a lot of your current values.
Prisoners of Geography, by Tim Marshall
This book is so damn good. It’s the best history lesson you will have. I couldn’t stop reading the book, every time I turned the page, I wanted to know more and understand the reasons behind certain points the author made. It was a very captivating book.
Specially in uncertain times like these days, with the macro environment and geopolitics being even more important than day-to-day micro events, reading a book like this will make you understand how our planet works and why it works. You will understand topics like why the Ukraine war is happening, why Africa is so conflicting, why China can’t become as powerful as people believe or why the US is the most powerful country.
This book should be read by anyone who wants to understand how our world is structured.
A Random Walk Down Wall St, by Burton G. Malkiel
I was given this book as a welcome gift when I got into EDEN Fund. I have to say that I didn´t have high expectations from it, having read classics like «The Intelligent Investor» before. However, it has undoubtedly become my Investing Bible. Value investing, long-term planning, and a more passive take on investing.
You will learn a lot from different investing strategies. The author compares them with lots of statistical information, ranking each of the strategy’s performance in the long-run. It also talks about all the existing financial assets an investor can posses and when each of them are appropriate to hold depending on the macroeconomic situation.
Basically, you will know more about investing than 90% of people, and that really sets you apart when generating wealth. Read this book, investing is a must.
Endurance, by Alfred Lansing
This is the best real adventure story ever. Some of you might have heard of it. It is again one of those books that you can’t stop reading because of the many things that keep happening and the tension you feel on every chapter.
It is the story of how captain Shackleton and its crew on board of the Endurance, survived in the Antarctic for 497 days after the Endurance crashed into an iceberg. This happened in 1914. Without all the gear and technology available today. Completely real story, sounds unreal everytime I think about it.
If you want to connect to a story and feel as if you are living it too, you will really enjoy this book. Knowing that everything you are reading is real will make you enjoy it even more.
Atomic Habits, by James Clear
I am pretty sure most of you know this book, it is one of those classics that everyone reads nowadays. Nevertheless, there is a clear reason to this: it provides a very practical approach to habit creation and retention, with many people having changed their habits because of this one book.
You probably have bad habits, everyone does, as well as some good ones. What this book is helping you to do is to create habit systems that stick in the long-term so that you don’t return to your bad ones.
I highly recommend this book as one of the basics to have in your bookshelf. You will read it more than once and implement its systems more than once too, I guarantee you.
Life 3.0, by Max Tegmark
I would describe this book as a compelling guide to the challenges and choices in our quest for a great future of life, intelligence, and consciousness on Earth and beyond. This book discusses the most important conversation in our time and I recommend you get a hold of it to join the conversation.
This is a more advance take on AI and the future, if you want to understand how big AI really is and will be you need to read this book. It is also the type of book were you think a lot and challenge your own thoughts. It is very likely you stop reading in the middle of a chapter, to just think and imagine, after reading a particular phrase that really impacted you.
Essentially, this is a rich and visionary book that everyone shoud read.
