12 Books to Read in 2021 to Help You Become Steve Jobs’ Definition of Smart
A booklist to stretch your mind in unique ways.
‘Smart’ is a funny word. You cannot put a pin onto what it really means. And that is why the word can have many different definitions. One, in particular, changed my life. It was how Steve Jobs defined ‘smart’.
…but a lot of it’s the ability to sorta zoom out. Like you’re in a city and you could look at the whole thing from about the 80th floor down at the city and while other people are trying to figure out how to get from point A to point B reading these stupid little maps, you can just see it all out in front of you. You can make connections that just seem obvious cause you can see the whole thing. But the key thing is that if you’re gonna make connections which are innovative then you have to not have the same bag of experiences as everyone else does. Or else, you’re going to make the same connections and then you won’t be innovative. So… get different experiences than the normal course of events.
Wow. This definition changed my perspective. I was finally able to understand what it takes to be smart and innovative. Later in the interview, Steve gives some examples of what these different experiences could be —
- Going to Paris and being a poet for a few years.
- Or going to a third-world country.
- Falling in love with two people at once.
- Walt Disney taking LSD. That’s where the idea of Fantasia came from.
And Steve Jobs had a different bag of experiences as well. That is why he could be as innovative as he was. For instance, when he lived in India he swapped normal T-shirts and jeans with Khadi Kurta and Lungis while leaving his feet bare.
After watching this interview, I’ve been trying to chase a unique set of experiences in every area of my life. One of those areas is reading. The reading list I’m about to share with you is the outcome of that. I wanted to read different books that fulfilled my desire to become the Steve Jobs kind of smart.
Just look at the panel we have before us. This list has books by a diverse set of authors like — a spiritual endocrinologist, an American sensei, a programmer, a monk, a neurosurgeon who left us too soon due to lung cancer, a Navy SEAL, an astrophysicist, etc.
I won’t promise that any of these books will change your life altogether. But as a whole, I think this list may help you become the kind of smart Steve Jobs wanted you to be. Excited? Let’s dive in.
The Most Human Human
This book is inspired by the author, Brian Christian’s experience at the annual Turing test. The Turing test convenes a panel of judges who have chats with hidden figures — Artificial intelligence or actual humans — and later vote on whether what (or whom?) they were chatting with was a computer or a human.
The AI software who gets voted most as ‘Human’ is declared ‘The Most Human-Computer.’ On the other hand, the human who gets most votes as ‘Human’ gets the bizarre prize of being ‘The Most Human Human.’
AI is very close to defeating humans in being more human than, well, humans. And that’s scary. In this book, Brian talks about what he learned about being a human after studying AI in depth. I never thought I needed a book to understand how to be a human. I mean, I’m a human, right? Or is a bot writing this article? Do you have a way of finding out?
Don’t worry though. I am a human. In fact, I’m more human than I was before I read this book. As for Brian, did he win the prize of The Most Human Human? I’ll leave that for you to find out.
Like most conversations and most chess games, we all start off the same and we all end the same, with a brief moment of difference in between. Fertilization to fertilizer. Ashes to ashes. And we spark across the gap.
Astrophysics For People in a Hurry
Who has the time (and the brainpower) to learn about Astrophysics? I mean, it is as vast and as complicated as Rocket Science. But Neil deGrasse Tyson takes care of both of these hurdles. First, this book is overly simplified to help you understand the dark secrets of the universe you live in. Plus, it’s not as long as you would expect a book on Astrophysics to be — justifying the ‘In a Hurry’ part of the book title.
Neil is not just some geeky astrophysicist. He’s a master storyteller. The book is about curiosity, innovation, imagination, and more. It talks about how this universe started. It talks about Alien life and our innovative attempts to communicate with them. It talks about the mysteries of the universe that humans have failed to crack.
But most of all, it will also get you an idea of how these brilliant scientists approach the most insane cosmic mysteries. These people are trained to deal with problems at a cosmic level. Don’t you think the mindset will help you better deal with problems at a terrestrial level?
The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.
When Breath Becomes Air
This book is a Memoir of Paul Kalanithi. Paul Kalanithi was a Neurosurgeon who was detected with stage 4 lung cancer at 36. One day, he was a doctor trying to save people from death, the next day he himself was struggling to live. This book is his attempt to find the answer to the question — “What makes life worth living.” And stay assured when I say that he’ll give you plenty to think about.
I was sure I was going to love the book just because I loved the title. It moved me. But the book over-delivered. Even though he is not with us anymore, Paul over-delivered. The book moved me in a way I cannot put down in words. I’m a writer yet I cannot accurately describe how good this book is.
“Will having a newborn distract from the time we have together?” she asked. “Don’t you think saying goodbye to your child will make your death more painful?” “Wouldn’t it be great if it did?” I said.
Lucy and I both felt that life wasn’t about avoiding suffering.”
The Code of An Extraordinary Mind
The author of this book, Vishen Lakhiani, is the founder of the giant educational tech company — Mindvalley. In this book, Vishen provides blueprints to retrain your mind to hack everything in your life — your career, your relationships, your spiritual journey. Everything.
This book will introduce you to a bunch of new concepts like — Culturescape, Brules, Blissipline, etc. It will teach you how to think like the greatest creative minds of our generation. But what I personally love about this book is that it also goes beyond mindset and philosophies to give you practical tips to actually manifest the ideas of this book.
The book will motivate you to challenge everything you know about life and restructure your life from the ground up. In short, the contents of the book, justify the title of the book. Trust me on that.
We grow through discomfort or insight. But never through apathy.
Mindfulness in Plain English
Bhante Gunaratna, the author of this book is a monk from Sri Lanka. He’s 93 years old and he’s been a monk since he was 12 years old. This book is the definitive guide for anyone who’s on the fence about getting into mindfulness.
The book is an exceptional guide to start meditation and mindfulness from scratch. Filled with ideas that allow you to examine every minute detail of your life, the book will install a permanent microscope in your mind to see life as it is. It will help you zoom out and see life stretched on a map, while at the same time help you to carry out the most mundane day to day actions of life with mindfulness.
You see the way suffering inevitably follows in the wake of clinging, as soon as you grasp anything, pain inevitably follows.
Algorithms to Live By
Forgive me but I absolutely love the author. This book is another one of Brian Christian’s miracle creations. The first thing I learned from this book is that computer software doesn’t make perfect decisions, they make optimal decisions. Computers do this using algorithms that have been curated over decades of work.
Brian, in his infinite interdisciplinary wisdom, brings those same algorithms to help us untangle tricky decisions in our own lives. It will help you think like a computer to make optimal decisions while keeping your human side intact. Now, who wouldn’t want that?
To try and fail is at least to learn; to fail to try is to suffer the inestimable loss of what might have been.
Metahuman
The word ‘Meta’ means beyond. Metahuman by Deepak Chopra, therefore, is a book about going beyond the limitations of the human mind. It may sound like it, but this book is not science fiction. Metahuman is simply a concept to help you jump the walls of the boundaries of your mind and enter a new state of awareness — one with no walls.
This book will help you liberate yourself from the mental constructs that underlie anxiety, tension and our ego-driven demands. The limited human minds we have embody limited potential. Metahuman is about helping you unlock your infinite potential and achieve your wildest dreams.
According to an ancient Upanishad, the human mind is like two birds sitting on a branch. One of the birds is eating the fruit of the tree while the other lovingly looks on.
Mastery
This book by George Leonard is hands down one of the best books I’ve ever read on the subject. Having practised and taught Aikido for decades, George Leonard has done the most thorough examination of what it takes to be an elite in your craft — any craft. If you’re looking to learn how to become the best at what you do, then your search is over. This is the book.
In this book, George uses the help of various graphs to teach what the journey to mastery does not look like and also what it does look like. These graphs suddenly put everything in perspective. Following that, George shares the 5 keys that when applied to your craft, will help you gain amazing results. Further, he also shares the pitfalls to avoid as well as tools to stay on the path. In short — it’s the definitive guide to mastery.
Perhaps we’ll never know how far the path can go, how much a human being can truly achieve, until we realize that the ultimate reward is not a gold medal but the path itself.
Discipline Equals Freedom
In this book, Jocko Willink shares his greatest gift to the world — the mindset of a top Navy SEAL. I’ve read a lot about discipline, but nothing tops this. It’s no secret that soldiers are more disciplined than civilians. But even amongst them, there’s got to be someone who’s the most disciplined. And Jocko is that guy.
This book is a field manual — concise and to the point. Jocko shares the mental strategies he used to make himself what he is and also the strategies he used to train his soldiers. For Jocko and every other soldier, discipline is a question of life and death. Which is why, if you’re going to learn to be disciplined, it might as well be from someone like him.
Motivation is fickle. It comes and goes. It is unreliable and when you are counting on motivation to get your goals accomplished — you will likely fall short.
Power vs Force
I read this book after Ayodeji Awosika suggested it in one of his articles. The book is by a Dr David Hawkins who has worked as a healing psychiatrist for a long time. This book is an attempt to use theoretical concepts from particle physics, nonlinear dynamics, and chaos theory to support Hawkins’ study of human behaviour.
This book shares various levels of consciousness and how to move to higher levels of consciousness. At low levels of consciousness, we operate from a ‘forceful’ and ‘needy’ position to chase our desires. However, when you operate from higher levels of consciousness, you operate from a ‘powerful’ position. A position where your desires manifest much more easily. The perspective shift is liberating.
We change the world not by what we say or do but as a consequence of what we have become.
Boundless
How awesome would it be if your brain and body were 17 years younger than your chronological age? That may sound impossible, but Ben Greenfield has achieved just that. At the age of 37, Ben’s biological age as tested by Telomere lengths came out to be 20 years!
Ben’s book Boundless is the compilation of the entirety of his wisdom to achieve a body and mind that is filled with energy. Mind you, this is not just a book about health. It’s a book to help you find harmony with your own body and brain to optimize all walks of your life.
You have to leave behind the exhausting pursuit of exercise for the sake of exercise and discover the beautiful balance between health and performance.
Steve Jobs
Last but not least — The autobiography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. Walter is a master. He’s a guy who’s written several autobiographies and knows how to capture someone’s true essence. And Steve Jobs was no ordinary person, and Walter captured that precisely.
Jobs is the ultimate icon of imagination. With stories and interviews from people who knew Steve, through the window in his life that Walter provides, this book will give you a very close experience of Steve’s imagination. The mindset that Steve had was extraordinary. And from this book, if you’re able to tap into even a fraction of that, I’m sure it will do wonders for you in your own career.
Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
Final Thoughts
This year, my aim was to go beyond the regular self-help and execute on Steve’s advice to chase a different set of books. You may have heard of some of these books but I’m sure some of these books will take you by surprise and widen your perspective in unique ways.
As I said, these books won’t change your life massively. But as a whole, since this list has authors from various disciplines, you’ll get very different perspectives on the same very mysterious thing we’re all trying to make more sense of — life. And I truly hope they help you become smarter — the Steve Jobs kind of smarter.
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