What we loved reading last year
One of our values at Matter Supply is to always improve by constantly absorbing and sharing new ideas.
Our reading list from last year covers a lot of ground. Books like Sprint and Competing Against Luck helped us refine specific business processes. The Content Trap, Thinking Fast and Slow, and Irresistible, touch on themes of interconnectivity, evidenced based decision making, and the ethics of building digital tools — all central concerns in how we operate. We also read more than just business books. From history to fiction, we look for lessons about the world we can bring to the company we are building.
Below are some of our favorites from last year. We think you’ll like them too.
One of our deepest insights at Matter Supply is how the connections between things are often more important than the things themselves. The Content Trap lays this principle out in great detail, showing how people, products, industries, and more are all highly interdependent.
We‘ve found a lot of value in the Sprint methodology used by Google Ventures (GV). Going from concept to prototype in five days seems impossible but the GV team does a great job of not only showing you the how but the why. This process has helped us work through important problems in record time.
We’ve been practicing the awkwardly named “Jobs-to-be-done” theory for some time now. Christensen and crew, in their book, Competing Against Luck, lay out the theory through examples and frameworks. They help illustrate that the best products don’t begin with features, but by understanding the need the product is meant to solve. This book is a must-read for anyone who has a hand in creating products or services.
As organizations grow, the systems that emerge often prevent good people from doing important work. Time is wasted in meetings and on new forms of communication and talent isn’t allocated to the right projects. Meanwhile, engaged and inspired employees are far more effective than those who are merely satisfied. Based in a large body of evidence, this book guides the way for attaining excellence in this environment.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
An enlightening tale that speaks to our most profound fears and hopes. This book allowed our more stoic team members to reflect once more on inner demons - how to approach and embrace them.
While we wait for Season 8 of Game of Thrones and for George RR Martin to finish the Winds of Winter (George, hurry!), you can start this nice long multi-book epic with the knowledge that the story has a beginning, middle, and an end. For those of you who don’t like Horror or Steven King, don’t worry, this story isn’t a scary one.
Steven Pinker explores how although we perceive rising levels of violence and conflict, this is largely the influence of media. Data on the subject show a persistent decline in violence around the world.
Hooked give insights into the addictive nature of products and what secret tricks organizations employ to make this happen. Leaning about these techniques provides ammunition to protect oneself against these tactics.
If you find yourself checking your phone first thing in the morning, just before falling asleep, and a million times in between, that’s no accident. So many successful products including Facebook, Netflix, email and video games, take advantage of addiction vulnerabilities in our brains. Understanding these mechanisms makes some companies rich, while failing to subjects all of us to some real dangers.
This instant classic simplifies a lot of complicated processes happening in our minds by using an analogy of the fast acting brain and the slow acting brain. How do people perceive situations, what helps them make decisions, how are long term decisions different from short term ones, what are fallacies we commit almost daily — all of these questions are explored in great depth.
This book forms a good contrast to Thinking fast & slow — by showing how our intuition about numbers and probabilities is often wrong. It’s filled with detailed analyses that build into ever more complex examples. It might take you a while to trust your own intuition again after reading this book.
Superintelligence explores the prospect of having artificially intelligent agents all around us. It asks where humans are located on the evolutionary scale of intelligence. Currently we’re at the top, but perhaps we’re only marginally smarter than a common house fly when placed on a scale that includes distributed intelligences. It’s a cautionary tale that doesn’t just follow the current AI hype, but instead paints a clear picture of where we’re at right now.
A more connected world has produced a number of shifts we are still trying to digest. Three of the most relevant in the business world are machine learning, the development of platform businesses such as AirBnb and Uber, and channeling the wisdom of the crowd. All three are discussed with intelligent analysis in this book.
Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich
Drugs played a huge part in the Nazi story. The famous Blitzkrieg that almost ended WW2 in a matter of days wasn’t about a superior Aryan race, but about large quantities of a legal Methamphetamine called Pervatin. Hitler was dependant on constant injections of a custom cocktail. A fascinating read shining light on the Nazi myth.
Countless theories have been put forth to explain why some nations prosper and others fail. Is it geography, culture, knowledge, religion? With compelling examples throughout history, often times of rich and poor nations emerging side by side, the authors make a convincing case that the real difference is the presence of extractive or inclusive institutions.
