How I became a little more serious about reading books + 24 books that I read in 2023

Books are a great source of enligtenment and entertainment. It can teach you things in depth that (unlike a dopamine feeding Youtube video or worse - a reel in Instagram) can get etched in your mind for longer. It can teach you about people, emotions and human behaviour. It can blow up your imagination and greatly improve your vocabulary and diction (i.e. -it can help you express yourself and your ideas much better). It can give you tons of ideas and mental models. It can be your intellectual escape. It can subconsciously change you for the better.

Once you start reading books in a serious manner, it can get a little addictive and challenge. I use Goodreads as a tool to keep track of the books I’ve read (especially the Goodreads annual challenge) and a watchlist for future reads. Just like any other social media tool, Goodreads also now gives me a complex about wanting to match up to the standards set by serious readers (how can they read 40-50 books a year?) and unlike Instagram or LinkedIn, this is a relatively good complex to get. I always look up to people who have intellectual clarity far more than people who have gained material success.

Life is busy but even with this busy life, you can always find time for books - all it takes are a few hacks to save some money and cover books regularly. Naval Ravikant says “It almost doesn’t matter what you read. Eventually, you will read enough things (and your interests will lead you there) that it will dramatically improve your life.”

I read books in 4 different formats with some details as shown below:

• Kindle especially for books that require concentration

• Audiobooks especially for stories - this is a great way to get some coverage done when you’re driving or when you’re doing your chores or when you’re cleaning your car/house. I can listen to at least a dozen audiobooks in a year on Audible and barely pay for a 4 month subscription. How? By cutting some corners of course.

  • You can “return” a few books even after weeks and get new ones

  • My wife and I exchange our accounts and an unforeseen benefit of this is that it also leads me to listen to some great books that I wouldn’t have purchased by myself - I’m listening to a book called “Lessons in Chemistry” that is a classic case in point

  • You can cancel your subscription and take advantage of a 2 month free trial after you have run out of books to listen to

• Good old paper books. I once fantasized of one day having a large bookshelf that I can take great pride about. Alas, practical roadblocks makes me not purchase as many paper books but the fantasy remains - albeit a smaller one.

• I even read an odd book on my laptop if I can get hold of some pdf copy floating around

After a slow start to the year, I managed to read 24 books in 2023. I always though of myself as a non-fiction type of a person - I love books about travels, history, people/cultures, geopolitics and many other fact based categories. However, off late, I’m opening up a little more to other categories like fiction, science fiction, literary classics (especially Indian) and even some fantasy. My goal is to continue to read a mix of as many types of books as possible although my bias towards fact based genres will probably remain.

Here are the list of books I read in 2023.

1. The Only Plane in the Sky – The Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. Graff

   

   •What is the book about: I was a 11 years old watching TV on a Tuesday night transfixed at the sights of 2 planes that crashes into the WTC Towers – an event that changed the world. This book is amongst the best books I’ve ever read and takes us through the entire tragedy using first person narratives from 100+ people across New York, rural Penn state and Washington DC and makes you feel that you were there in person. A slightly difficult read at first but was stunning and gripping.

   •Rating: 5/5

2. Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe

   

   •What is the book about: The book reminded me a lot of “Bad Blood” which was about the Theranos saga. A stunning piece of deep investigative work about the relatively unknown Sackler family and their role in the rise of the Opioid Crisis that paralysed inner America for decades and still is. A classic example of American free market capitalist ambition gone wrong and how it ravaged the lives of millions of people largely due to the patronage and greed of one family.

   •Rating: 5/5

3. Chip War by Chris Miller

   

   •What is the book about: Winner of FT Book of the year 2022 – this is a must read for anyone who wants to understand how technology and geopolitics can be so interconnected in these times. I was fascinated by the history of chip development and how complicated the supply chain for chips are with relatively unknown entities in the Netherlands or Malaysia also playing a critical role in the mobile phones and devices that we use

   •Rating: 5/5

4. Same as Ever by Morgan Housel

   

   •What is the book about: I was blown away by the sheer simplicity and relatability of the author’s previous bestseller “The Psychology of Money” and bought this book as soon as it released. It didn’t disappoint and gives us a lot of mental models on how so much of humanity behaves the same as before and how we should learn from history and be able to build a better future

   •Rating: 4.5/5

5. Serious Men by Manu Joseph

   

   •What is the book about: I’m a regular reader of Manu Joseph’s column in the Mint newspaper on Monday and admire his sharp observations about Indian society. This book continues in the same line where he portrays various aspects about Indian society through this wicked satire and some devious characters

   •Rating: 4.5/5

6. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

   

   •What is the book about: I took a leap of faith and started reading this science fiction book (I usually read more of non-fiction) and found the book to be thoroughly enjoyable and vivid in terms of visualisation. Lots of clever chemistry and some concepts in physics!

   •Rating: 4.5/5

7. Six of Crows by Leigh Barbugo

   

   •What is the book about: The first fantasy book I’ve read after the 5 Game of Thrones/ASOIF books back in 2013. A  great prison break plot, vivid visualisations of a parallel world and a host of shady characters – what’s not to like?

   •Rating: 4.5/5

8. Red Notice by Bill Browder

   

   •What is the book about: A thrilling book written by an early “look east” investment manager Bill Browder where he goes into detail of how the Russian economy and deeps state works and is harrowing experience battling the Russian government while he fought for justice of this employee who was a victim of Russian state sponsored murder. The author does paint himself to be an angel which appears too good to be true

   •Rating: 4.5/5

9. Orienting – An Indian in Japan by Pallavi Aiyar

   

   •What is the book about: Globetrotting Indian author pens her thoughts about living in Japan for a few years. I learnt so much about Japan and Japanese society/culture from this book. A nice easy read that can be seen as a travelogue

   •Rating: 4/5

10. More Money than God by Sebastian Mallaby

    

    •What is the book about: I was blown away by Mallaby’s previous book “The Power Law” which is a magnum opus on the history of Silicon Valley. This book was not as gripping as the former but was an informative read nonetheless with details of the inner working of a somewhat secretive industry and stories about the biggest fund managers and entities in modern history such as Soros or Citadel.

    •Rating: 4/5

11. The Five Rules for Successful Stock Investing by Pat Dorsey

    

    •What is the book about: A lovely throwback to my MBA days that starts with explaining the numbers, metrics and jargons behind valuing companies and then goes on to give a perspective of how we can evaluate companies in various industries. Great if you like a primer on equity investing that does not get too technical

    •Rating: 4/5

12. The Body by Bill Bryson

    

    •What is the book about: A book in typical Bill Bryson still that informs us about the functioning of the human body and entertains us at the same time. The stye was a little too whimsical at times and he uses “never” and “impossible” way too many times.

    •Rating: 4/5

13. The Power of Geography by Tim Marshall

    

    •What is the book about: I am an absolute sucker for books on geopolitics and insights on the functioning of various countries and Tim Marshall delivers another good read on this topic after “Prisoners of Geography”

    •Rating: 4/5

14. Raag Darbari by Shrilal Shukla

    

    •What is the book about: I have been wanting to read a book in Hindi for a while and downloaded this book at an impulse – turns out that it was the English translation!
    Raag Darbari is a classic nonetheless with witty satirical takes on Indian society back in the older days. I am sure the Hindi version would have been much more enjoyable to read

    •Rating: 4/5

15. The Emergency by Coomi Kapoor

    

    •What is the book about: I’m fascinated by contemporary Indian history and Coomi Kapoor takes us through the darkest days in post Independent India – the Emergency from 1975 to 1977. We learn of the political turmoil and terror that was prevalent in the 70s, the iron rule of Indira and her tyrant son Sanjay Gandhi and their cronies. A great perspective on how our country has improved in the last 4 decades but a warning about the dangers of excess power in the hands of a few

    •Rating: 4/5

16. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant

    

    •What is the book about: A collection of tweets from tech entrepreneur and investor Naval Ravikant that is a rage amongst the “tech-bros”. The book had a lot of concise wisdom on wealth, happiness and society to ponder over but I found some of it to be self-contradictory, limited to a narrow domain and too self-important at times.

    •Rating: 4/5

17. Factfulness

    

    •What is the book about: While the book is probably better suited for western readers who may have narrow views about the developing third world, it still does open you up to a lot of biases in our thinking. I loved how he inserts so many of his own experiences and stories while trying to give us many mental models of how we should look at the world factfully

    •Rating: 4/5

18. Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken

    

    •What is the book about: A hot topic off late – this book dives into the psychological and chemical hacks employed by the food industry to make us eat more of ultra processed foods. It is an engaging book and gives a lot of stories and examples of how we get addicted to ultra processed foods and how it physically and mentally affects us

    •Rating: 4/5

19. Alchemy by Rory Sutherland

    

    •What is the book about: Former Ogilvy Chairman Rory Sutherland gives us lots of stories and examples of how we need to think irrationally (i.e.- Alchemy) and against conformist ideas to build and market generational products.

    •Rating: 4/5

20. Walking the Himalayas by Levison Wood

    

    •What is the book about: Levison Book takes us on his travelogue where he decides to walk across the Himalayas from west to east. It starts from the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan, moves via the remote Pamir Knot, heads into Pakistan and then to India, inches slowly across a tumultuous Nepal and ends in the Kingdom of Bhutan.

    •Rating: 4/5

21. This Land is our Land by Suketu Mehta

    

    •What is the book about: “Maximum City – Bombay Lost and Found” was a memorable book written by Suketu Mehta. I’ve been interested in reading more about immigrants and the Indian diaspora and picked up this book. Mehta passionately defends global migration and brings to us the human side of migrants that often gets missed out in the big statistics and news pieces

    •Rating: 4/5

22. Desperately Seeking Shahrukh by Shrayana Bhattacharya

    

    •What is the book about: The author, who is a big Shahrukh Khan fan, narrates the stories of many common Indian women (all SRK fans), across all strata of society and their tales of loneliness and neglect and how they find common comfort in the charm of SRK. The book often turns into a rant of sorts but does a good job of bringing the unspoken tragedies in the lives of ordinary women who feel overlooked and unloved

    •Rating: 4/5

23. A Monk’s Guide to a Clean House and Mind by Shoukei Matsumoto

    

    •What is the book about: I bought this very short book because it was recommended in another book that is a part of this called “Orienting”. This book was written by an Japanese Monk who happens to be a grad from ISB, Hyderabad. While it may appear to be a book meant for a child, it left me with some profound thoughts – what else can I expect in return from a child’s book?

    •Rating: 3.5/5

24. The Tyranny of Merit by Michael Sandel

    

    •What is the book about: The author argues that Meritocracy is an obstacle for social mobility of the not-so-fortunate and that merit favours the already well off. For example – it’s much easier for someone well-off to train themselves and build a profile for an Ivy league application than someone brilliant who is born into a poor family. While the book makes some compelling arguments, I feel it stretches for too long and got repetitive

    •Rating: 3/5

Target for 2024 - 25 books at least and no slow starts again. Maybe one day I’ll have the bragging rights for 40+.