Book Notes, Summaries, and Reviews

After seeing Nat Eliason’s Page, I loved how he kept all his book reviews, notes, and summaries public.

Not only does this help you guys find good books, or stay away from the bad books (in my opinion), but also if you don’t want to read an entire book I include my major takeaways from every book I read; my notes.

I NEVER give a book a rating of 7/10 because a 7/10 book you may or may not read. A 6/10 or below book I wouldn’t read. An 8+/10 book I would read. Don’t be wishy-washy (even that word sucks), “HELL YEAH!” or “no.”

• The Magic of Thinking Big
  6/10 The Book in 3 Points Should You Read It? I don’t see the hype. I would have given it a 3/10, but one chapter saved the day, chapter 12 on creating an action plan actually to do something. Some good lessons throughout but too many boring stories with broad advice. … Read more
• Goodbye, things
  8/10 The Book in 3 Points Should You Read It? Yes, read it, there are novel approaches. This guy can move out of his apartment in 30 minutes that’s crazy. Many new ideas on minimalism inspired me to actually try minimalism and it has improved my life. My rating, however, … Read more
• Letters from a Stoic
  5/10 The Book in 3 Points Should You Read It? Some great points, but it is mostly repeats with unfollowable rambling, further complicated by difficult language. It was somewhat funny at points which was surprisingly nice. I found myself losing track of his points throughout the text. If you are … Read more
• A Guide to the Good Life
  4/10 The Book in 3 Points Should You Read It? The book relays the points of stoicism nicely, however, mainly rewriting of original concepts. You are better off reading the source materials from Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, and Epictetus. He is a good writer and relays the essential points nicely. However, … Read more
• The Millionaire Fastlane (10/10)
  10/10 The Book in 3 Points Should You Read It? 100% yes. This is one of those books that shake the frame of life. It forced me to think differently. Who knew 401ks were actually trash? Well, they aren’t trash, but until you have real money, like at least $1 … Read more
• Meditations
  8/10 The Book in 3 Points Should You Read It? One of the most hyped stoicism texts there is, and rightfully so. The middle, however, was dull and highly repetitive. If the book was just the first two chapters and the last two chapters, it would be a 10/10. The … Read more
• Vagabonding
  8/10 The Book in Three Points Should You Read it? How do you live in different countries across the world out of only a backpack? Do you even want to do that? This book inspired me to plan a 6-week trip to Buenos Aires and a 10-week trip to Italy, … Read more
• Steve Jobs
  9/10 The Book in Three Points The Review Recently, I’ve been reading a lot of biographies. Anne Franke, Benjamin Franklin, and Leonardo Da Vinci are all excellent. This is one of the best ones I’ve read; maybe it’s because this biography is more relatable. Steve Jobs only died ten years … Read more
• Musashi
  10/10 When I was a teenager, never did I ever think I would read a 1000-page historical fiction but, but I did and oh boy, am I so glad I did. Musashi is one of the best books I have read in a long time. A tranquil yet exciting book … Read more
• Open
  9/10 Emotional, gripping, and somber, why is it that all good artists have some aspect of sadness in their life? Open, an autobiography of Andre Agassi, chronicles his fantastic tennis career as he became one of the best tennis players ever, all the while “hating tennis.” Andre’s book, in the … Read more
• All Quiet On The Western Front
  9/10 Beyond just being a good story, All Quiet On The Western Front provides a good lesson on history. We are in the trenches, missing our family and contemplating life. There must be something to it for a book to last nearly 100 years, and there was. I’ve read about … Read more
• How to Influence Anyone – The Psychology of Persuasion
  8/10 How do you convince someone to listen to you? Offer you a job? Buy your product? To most people, including myself, getting better at even one of these things would greatly benefit not only my career but also my personal life. In Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence, time-tested (and academic … Read more
• The Prince
  8/10 A frequent contender in “X books to read in a lifetime,” should you read The Prince by Machiavelli? Will you be fighting any wars, controlling any colonies, or governing any people? Probably not. Is this book useful at all then? I think so and here’s why. The Review Initially, … Read more
• Essentialism
  Rating: 6/10 How do you eliminate non-essential and focus on the essential? Greg McKeown argues essentialism will improve your life. I agree. My issue with the book, however, is that these topics seem to have been discussed in detail in many other places with no new insight (I ran into … Read more
• Man’s Search for Meaning
  9/10 What is the meaning of life? Man’s Search for Meaning provides a very good answer to that question. Victor Frankl’s masterpiece describes how he survived Auschwitz, a one in twenty-eight chance, through mindset as opposed to physical ability. One particular story stood out to me: In the depths of … Read more
• Can’t Hurt Me
  9/10 David Goggins is a badass. It makes me want to be a badass. It makes me want to keep saying “badass.” In Can’t Hurt Me we learn that we all can be badass because how far we go is not based on how physically strong we are, but on … Read more
• How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
  8/10 Applied consistently these lessons will reduce stress and improve life. Throughout How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, by Dale Carnegie, I realized that I use many of these methods to de-stress and focus, my favorite lesson from the whole book was actually the first one: Live in day-tight … Read more
• Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk
  Rating: 5/10 Can you crush it? Will you hustle and drive and turn $75 dollars of Hot Wheels cars to $1000? Gary Vaynerchuk’s claims to guide us to success on the internet. Unfortunately, however, Crush It is a biography that doesn’t age well. It is more of a motivational pamphlet … Read more
• Shoe Dog
  8/10 Nike is an “Oregon firm founded by running geeks.” Shoe Dog is how this group of geeks, specifically Phil Knight, built Nike from a basement. Shoe Dog is not about good times. It’s about the bad times and how one man got out of them. The amazing belief Phil … Read more
• What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20 by Tina Seelig
  8/10 I wanted to give this book a 6/10, but Tina’s tactical use of stories on crafting and executing ideas makes What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20 worth the read. Initially, I cringed at the idea of a book on “entrepreneurship,” but, really, I just cringe at … Read more
• The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
  Rating: 6/10 Would you rather get $3 million instantly or a penny that doubles in value every day for 31 days? It seems unlikely, but by the end of those 31 days, that penny will be worth $10,737,418.24. The Compound Effect, by Darren Hardy, argues that difficult daily disciplines, compounded … Read more
• It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be by Paul Arden
  Rating: 5/10 A pretty book that doesn’t deliver. That’s all there can be said about It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be, by Paul Arden. It has nice ideas, but is too short. I want to learn how he came to these conclusions, why … Read more
• Being Mortal
  8/10 The best doctors are constantly learning, constantly improving, constantly finding the errors in their ways. Atul Gawande, in Being Mortal, describes his personal journey through dealing with death and suffering. This is a heavy topic, but Dr. Gawande argues, it must be talked about. Doctors, healthcare providers, have an … Read more
• Atomic Habits by James Clear
  9/10 If you do small changes, daily, you can have life-changing results. This is what Atomic Habits promises. What Did I Learn? How To Create a Good Habit He released a cheat sheet here, this is what it outlines: Habits I Want to Add How To Break A Bad Habit … Read more
• Zero to One (10/10)
  Create something new, don’t go from 1 to 2, or 895 to 896, go from 0 to 1.
• The Third Door
  9/10 An 18-year old was told to be a doctor by his parents. He didn’t want to. He left college and went on to interview Bill Gates, Lady Gaga, and Larry King to learn why people are successful. The Third Door, by Alex Banayan, reads more like an action story … Read more
• You are a Badass
  Rating: 5/10 I was led astray by the amazon reviews of You are a Badass, by Jen Sincero. Jen begins the book by complaining about the self-help world. She says most self-help books are crap. She says they really don’t provide any real advice, that, these books, just blow smoke … Read more
• ReWork
  Rating: 6/10 I read, ReWork, by Jason Fried, in one day. No, it was not that good, it was just short. Really short. It took me 75 minutes to read. The principles are sound: Eliminate the unnecessary Know why you are working on what you are working on Be simple … Read more
• Anything You Want (10/10)
  10/10 From a struggling musician to selling a $22,000,000 company. Derek Sivers, of CD Baby, had that meteoric rise many dream of. More importantly, however, he kept his head straight. He says there are really only two important things to think about when creating something: Do you enjoy doing it? … Read more
• Show Your Work! (10/10)
  10/10 What are you learning? What do you want to learn about? Learn those things. Then share what you learn. Consistently. Austin Kleon advises you to show your work. I loved this book. This was the book that inspired me to start this website and the YouTube channel. I am … Read more
• Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh
  Rating: 8/10 What’s more important: company culture or company profits? The founder of Zappos says, culture, by a wide margin. Tony Hsieh, the founder of Zappos, seems to always be excelling. He started a profitable button-making business in middle school. A profitable Pizza joint while studying at Harvard, and, at … Read more
• The Dip by Seth Godin
  Rating: 3/10 “Winners Never Quit, Quitters Never Win.” – NOPE, says Seth Godin. The Dip, Seth Godin says, is the extra mile part, the extra grind, the extra work it takes to succeed. When everyone else is quitting if you push that extra mile you can succeed. The problem with … Read more
• Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon
  Rating: 8/10 Is it ok to steal someone’s ideas? Someone’s art? Yes (as long as you do it right). This is the main question answered in the short book “Steal Like an Artist.” As a new YouTuber, and blogger, I certainly draw my inspiration from others. At certain times I … Read more