Batched Books Reviews: #1

This is my batched books review. If you’re here for the first time see the intro.

• When Breath Becomes Air (4/4) — A memoir of a doctor and a patient. An excellent book about death and dying. It’s definitely worth reading, but why? Maybe because it allows you to reflect on your life? Maybe because it gives insight into an element of life that is hard to participate in? Hard to say why you should read it. But I recommend reading it anyway.
• Metabolical (4+/4) — I bought this book at random, on sale, with no expectations. It turned out to be the book I really needed. Initially, it gave me the vibe of a conspiracy theory (big pharma and big food are your enemies), but in the end, I was very satisfied with the lecture. It explains how human metabolism works and shares two very simple rules about food that can’t really hurt you: don’t eat sugar and eat as unprocessed food as possible. You’ve probably heard those ten times over, but here it comes with (sometimes very deep and technical) scientific explanations of “why”. I was not able to verify the claims from the book myself, but: 1) the author seems to be a professor of endocrinology and 2) the book’s content matches exactly what my own doctor (PhD) told me recently.
• High Output Management (3-/4) — This is a good book with a lot of very valid advice for both management and leadership. So why good and not great? For two reasons that the author had no control over: 1) It’s a bit outdated — e.g. there is a fragment about promoting IC’s to manager roles. By now, we have learned that it’s not necessary and it’s better to have a separate IC path; 2) Many of the advice were incorporated into “good management” baseline over the years and are no longer so “novel”. It’s still worth reading if you want solid management fundamentals.
• Earthcore (3-/4) — The first part of the book is about mining with a heist movie vibe (selecting the crew and planning/organization). And it’s surprisingly good and not so boring (pun intended). Then it becomes more of a sci-fi book. Characters are not bad but… a bit too exceptional. Genius scientist, black-ops forces guy, ex-NSA agent, extraordinary manager — this felt a bit artificial to me. The plot and action are also not terrible. In the end, it’s a decent book but only slightly above the recommendation line. It would be a great short novel (~5h?) but in the current format (20h) it’s only an alright book.
• It’s Your Ship (3/4) — This book can serve two purposes: give a bit of insight into the navy and act as inspiration for good leadership. I generally like military-originating leadership books but don’t expect a lot of practical advice there. I see it primarily as a source of motivation and inspiration. It’s well-written though and not very long so worth checking out. Primary motive? Team (crew) empowerment.

Stats

• Books read this year: ~46
• Books on the shelf: 14
• Books on the wishlist: 148