This reading list lists ALL books I am reading or have read in the recent past. This includes both Technical and non-technical. (I don’t read much fiction books, as you can probably tell). Here goes:

Currently Reading:

Without Their Permission 

This is a very interesting book. I actually got this while I was reading two other books and shelved those to get going. I met Alexis at an event in DC last year where he was an invited speaker. He has an impressive presence and is an excellent speaker. He told stories of his early days at UVA and of starting Reddit. (His wearing a Redskins jersey won the crowd [and me] over too). The book is memoir + guide to startups in the mobile/social economy. A very good read.

David & Goliath

I am a Malcolm Gladwell fanboy. I have read the previous three books he wrote too – Outliers, What the Dog saw (this was my least favorite of the set), Blink and Tipping Point). This is as interesting a read as his earlier books. I would caution readers that Malcolm has been criticized as writing ‘pop-science’ books, that are steeped in deep scientific research, but his own ‘cherry-picked’ observations. Personally, I can live with that.

5 Elements of Effective Thinking

This is an excellent treatise on methods of effective thinking. I am ovine this one. Probably one I will re-read after I am done, to really grasp and absorb it.

Recently Read:

The Phoenix Project

A must read for all those in the field of DevOps. Written by DevOps guru Gene Kim.

Antifragile: Things that gain from disorder

Nassim Nicholas Taleb became famous with his book The Black Swan  (no, no relation to the movie on a egotistical ballet dancer). This book is a follow up to that. I actually lost interest in the Black Swan around 2/3rds of the way thru. It seemed to meander. This one is much better and his concepts seem to have firmed up. He does bad mouth a lot of people in the book. I loved his boldness. Do take it with a grain of salt.

5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize your potential

I own hard bound copies of every John Maxwell book. I am a great fan of his style of thinking and teaching leadership. Not every book is a winner. His 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership is a must-read. This one is one of his better books too.

The Lean Startup

Eric Reis’ masterpiece on the Lean movement and its impact of Startups. I have heard Eric speak at many occasions. He has recently been evolving his thoughts on how these have can be applied in enterprises. I just saw this book my Jez Humble coming out next year – Lean Enterprise: Adopting Continuous Delivery, DevOps and Lean Startup at Scale. Will add it to my reading list once it is out.

Running Lean

Ash Maurya took Eric Reis’ Lean Startup Principles and Alexander Osterwalder Business Model Generator and created his own take for an approach for Web-oriented Startups.

The Goal

A Classic. This is the original book on which The Phoenix Project is based. I read it in college. Re-read parts of it when Phoenix Project came out.

Design for Hackers

I love this books approach to design. For someone like me who is a ‘hacker’ this is a must read.

The Power of Habit

Charles Duhigg has written a masterpiece in this one. He goes into how habits are formed in our brains – without getting to technical and discusses how we can form new habits and lose old ones. Applying what he teaches is what I am working on…

Moonwalking with Einstein

This is an interesting read. The author learnt about the ‘memory contest’ world and decided to enter himself and learn the techniques of remembering random numbers, cards, words. He shares how he trained and became the US champion.

In my reading queue:

You are a Circle: A Visual Meditation for the Creative Mind

I read a book – Imagine by Jonah Lehrer from Wired. This book was debunked and withdrawn for being ‘too creative’ (read: made up). Jonah ‘created’ stuff about Bob Dylan and got caught. This was an alternate book on similar lines, but truthful, suggested to me.

The Startup of You

By Reid Hoffman founder of LinkedIn.

Thinking, Fast and Slow

By a Noble award winner. Highly recommended by people I know who have read it.

If you have any recommendations for me, please share by leaving a comment.