book

Rated Persepolis Rising 9/10

Rated The Mercy of Gods 9/10

Rated Tithe 8/10

Rated The Way of Kings 10/10

Wants to read To Live and Die in El Valle

Rated Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea 10/10

Nothing to Envy is one book that changed the way I see North Korea for sure. I try to read this book once a year, just to revisit the clarity of thought that it gave me.

I remember (and still hear) people throwing out North Korea as the villain to any sort of plot that might be going on. Because, in essence, North Korea hates the United States. I remember thinking this myself as a younger man, and believing that they hated the U.S. and all things freedom. I never stopped to question that, or try to understand why North Korea is treated as the pariah of the world (among others).

This book really changed how I view North Korea and North Koreans. I can see how easy it could be to get stuck inside that system for fear of what may happen to their family, or just by buying into all of the propaganda. I think this story is especially relevant in recent times. This book makes it clear how propaganda can be used to control an entire country, and continually reinforce that the rest of the world are evil.

With all that said, this book made me look on North Korea with a lot of empathy. Imagine growing up in state ran schools that teach you that the Great Leader saved you from the evil of the world, and that you should grow up to do your best for the Workers’ Party. It takes a lot of life experience, and critical thinking to break a grip that tight.

This book follows a few different main characters, their experiences growing up in North Korea, and what led to them finally defecting to South Korea or China. It is absolutely interesting how these stories progress. I would rather not give away some of the plot, so I won’t say much more. I would like to tease one idea though. Imagine that your parent is a die-hard believer in communism, but of course you love them. What lengths would you go to, in order to bring them to safety? Would you deceive them?

Rated The Strength of the Few 9/10

Rated This Inevitable Ruin 10/10

Rated Tiamat's Wrath 9/10

Finished reading The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds

Rated Wind and Truth 10/10

Reading The Pragmatic Programmer: Your Journey to Mastery

Rated The Wicked King 9/10

Finished reading What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture

Rated The Lazarus Heist: From Hollywood to High Finance: Inside North Korea's Global Cyber War 8/10

Rated The Narrow Road Between Desires 8/10

Rated The Last Wish 9/10

Rated The Queen of Nothing 10/10

Rated The Blacktongue Thief 9/10

Rated The Ransomware Hunting Team: A Band of Misfits' Improbable Crusade to Save the World from Cybercrime 9/10

Finished reading The Making of Modern Economics: The Lives and Ideas of the Great Thinkers

Finished reading The Bullet Journal Method: Track Your Past, Order Your Present, Plan Your Future

Rated Season of Storms 9/10

Rated The Big Short: by Michael Lewis 8/10

I find that there are a lot of people who don’t really understand what happened during the Great Recession, and just rattle off keywords that they heard from their favorite news outlet. Regardless of what your political views are on bank regulation and “Too Big to Fail”, everyone should read this book.

This book is great for two very different reasons. One, it breaks down very complicated financial jargon to a level that most people can understand. Two, it is very entertaining. The book follows the path of a few different people who made a LOT of money from the greatest financial crisis of my lifetime. How did they do that? They literally placed bets against home owners in the United States.

I know what you’re thinking, these guys sound like unpatriotic businessmen who took advantage, but they are actually the heroes of this story. These guys saw that the banks were creating huge risks from giving customers incentives to take on debt they couldn’t necessarily afford. If all of this sounds boring to you, just wait until you hear some of Mark Baum’s outbursts (there will be f-bombs, you have been warned).

I put The Big Short in my “World View” section, because this was a substantial moment in time for a lot of people from several generations. This shaped my world view specifically because it pointed out to me that the financial industry may not have the best intentions at heart when they are approving loans, and quite frankly they might not even have sound business interests at heart. In all likelihood, the industry may be so hungry that at times it might even take a bite of itself.

If you are looking for more of a summary of the entire book, not just a review of the audio book, check out this summary I wrote in 2017 for a book club.

Finished reading The Battle for Your Computer: Israel and the Growth of the Global Cyber-Security Industry