2018 Holiday Book Gift Guide For The Reader That’s Read Everything

Even as a father of two and CEO of a startup, I still find time to read a book each week. Here are some of my favorites this year, grouped in holiday gift bundles for your fellow reader. I’ve tried to pick books that are not only excellent, but are also less well known, so you can be more likely to give a book they haven’t read.

For the futurist

A Planet for Rent: An allegory of Cuba, future Earth is a tourist destination for aliens. For the full human experience, aliens use human body spares as "horses". Ultimately, a particularly philosophical alien notes about Earth: "...how sad it was that such a rich planet should also be so poor."

Robot-Proof: This is a manual for us to avoid the future depicted in A Planet for Rent, and lays out the President of Northeastern University’s (my former boss) vision for humanics which combines the best of what we as humans can contribute in a world with artificial intelligence.

The Sovereign Individual: I’ve been wrong before and I’ll be wrong again but I’m still a hodler and believe bitcoin, or other cryptocurrencies, will replace fiat currencies. If you’re interested why, read this book, published over a decade before Satoshi mined the genesis block.

For the (aspiring) startup founder

The Courage to be Disliked: A Japanese translation of a Socratic dialogue on the teleology espoused by Alfred Adler. The key takeaway is that happiness is the feeling of contribution and not to concern yourself with how others perceive your actions. In other words, you be you.

Astroball: This chronicles how the Astros went from dead last to World Series champs in just a few years, using a mix of ‘moneyball’ and a willingness to override the data with their collective experience.

Creative Selection: This book provides a unique view of Apple about how small teams of developers worked and how decisions were made, including by Steve Jobs. Everything built had to work intuitively, with weekly demos given to management for them to choose based on taste.

For the philosopher

Finite and Infinite Games: How do you on the one hand play the game you want to play, according to your own rules, while being prepared for "surprises" in the future? The answer is vulnerability through expecting and embracing surprises.

American Philosophy: A Love Story: A depressed philosopher finds salvation in a forgotten library on a deceased Harvard academic’s homestead. There he finds a treasure of musty first editions spanning from René Descartes to William James and tells the story of his search for the meaning of life.

The Death of Expertise: In a world where everyone is an expert, no one is. People seek to confirm their opinions and the Internet provides everyone with something to hang their hat on.

For the educator

The Diversity Bargain: "When more Americans have a better understanding of the role race has played and continues to play in our society, we will be better able to reframe how we justify affirmative action to emphasize unequal opportunities and historical exclusion, especially of African Americans.”

Unequal Colleges in the Age of Disparity: Incredibly well researched book on the last 40 years of higher education and how and why the landscape of colleges has changed.

The Case Against Education: I’m as long higher education as I am bitcoin. This books takes the opposite view, arguing that while higher education makes sense for the individual, it may not for the taxpayer.