What We Read in 2021
It's that time of year for me to share the books I read/liked over the year. Here are my earlier lists:?2018 ,?2019 and 2020 . I had high hopes of reading more books, and a return to normality in 2021. But both didn’t pan out.
This year I included book recommendations from the smartest people I know.?Take a look below ??
How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need by Bill Gates ?
My favorite book of the year. Gates did a great job of dissecting the climate crisis, available technologies, and a practical plan to reach our climate goals - zero emissions by 2050. You don’t need any prior background on climate technologies. Gates explains all those in an easily comprehensible way. He ranks these technologies based on green premium, which is the cost of clean alternatives relative to fossil fuels. We should work hard to quickly bring down these premiums through R&D and better policies… and need to expedite electrification of many industries (transportation, manufacturing, etc.), decarbonization of the grid, and carbon-neutral construction & agriculture. These are massive challenges. I agree with Gates on the potential of technology to solve humanity’s existential crisis. Highly recommended book.
Different from the other two climate books I read, it focuses on the subtle and stalling tactics (inactivism, doomerism, deception, etc.) of climate change denying corporations. Fossil fuel industry deflects the blame and shifts the responsibility to individuals (recycle, no meat, fly/drive less) will not solve the problem at scale: “Doomism and the loss of hope can lead people down the very same path of inaction as outright denial.” Mann is the climate scientist behind the famous hockey stick chart showing the rise in global temperatures. He outlines an actionable and hopeful plan to tackle the crisis such as addressing false narratives, carbon pricing, and revising government incentives. I’d strongly recommend reading this after Gates’ book.?
This is a set of interviews with Noam Chomsky and economist Robert Pollin on the climate crisis. I’m a big fan of Chomsky. I like his well-articulated contrarian approaches to almost any topic. Unfortunately, this wasn’t his typical style. His section reads a bit politically biased and dry. It gives a good overview of the climate crisis and shares meaningful plans (carbon tax, green bond, expiring fossil fuel subsidies, etc.) on how the Green New Deal could work to meet net-zero emission targets by 2050. I’d not recommend this as the first book to read on climate.???
This was highly recommended by a good friend who is a therapist himself. Even though the title of the book sounds a bit clickbait, it has a lot of sensible parenting advice. As a psychotherapist, the author emphasizes common-sense points such as how children deserve to be understood as an individual, and how parents should not treat their children as projects to be perfected. We’ll all make mistakes when raising our children. Hence, “It is not the rupture that is so important, it is the repair that matters.” I like the focus on repair. However, I don’t appreciate the author's somewhat simplistic approach to some complex situations. Regardless, this is a great read. I have already given this to a number of friends.?
This is an excellent science fiction book. It’s the first Chinese SF book I read. I loved it. Three-Body Problem is the first book in the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy. The story slowly unfolds, but it grips as you read further. I like how the plot goes through different timelines. The book exposes you to the events of China’s Cultural Revolution and many scientific concepts such as astrophysics and quantum mechanics. The metaverse where scientists hangout to explore mysterious incidents is impressive. You better read this one quick before Netflix releases the adaptation for the trilogy .?
This is an exciting action-packed sci-fi novel about an organization that trains gifted students to control people’s minds with specific words after they categorize people with only five questions. The persuasive power of words turning into a secret weapon to manipulate someone’s brain is an interesting concept. If you like thrillers with twists and turns, you will enjoy this one.?
领英推荐
Hiring is the number one challenge with all the companies I work with. I’ve seen well-run methodical hiring processes such as Google’s, but also have seen “voodoo hiring” methods that lead to B/C-players. The book focuses on processes to hire A player who is “a candidate who has at least a 90% chance of achieving a set of outcomes that only the top 10% of possible candidates could achieve.” This is a quick read (one would argue that it could be a 3-5 page article/blog post) with many pragmatic hiring solutions for sourcing to selling.?
Here are great recommendations from founders:
Yuriy Bulygin - Co-founder/CEO of Eclypsium
Cetin Mericli - Co-founder/CEO of Locomation
Mayank Mehta - Co-founder/CEO of Pulse
Tony Beltramelli - Co-founder/CEO of Uizard
Jack Vines - Co-founder/CEO of Measured Insurance
Marty Kagan - Co-founder/CEO of Hydrolix
John Rodkin - President of Hydrolix
Life Long Learner, Generalist Engineer, And Rational Optimist, EXploring, Chaos Theory And Playing An Infinite Game
2 年Very insightful Baris Aksoy
ex-Sr. Director of Product Marketing at McAfee; NortonLifelock; U.C. Berkeley MBA; consumer, small business, B2B marketing; SaaS and hardware monetization; loves building teams. Terra.do Climate Fellow.
2 年Thank you Baris, can't wait to read some of these!
Great list, thanks for sharing