I saw this tweet this week from @typesfast on Twitter saying: “The difference between who you are today and who you’ll be in 5 years is almost entirely made up of the books you read between now and then.” I felt that.

If true (which I believe it is) that means 32-yo me will be partly the product of the books below. These are 8 books that I’ve read recently / am actively reading / am planning to read, in no particular order. Maybe you can sense some themes about this current era.. a window into the soul or whatever. Hope you might find 1+ of them interesting, and if you have recommendations please share :-)

8 Books I’m Reading

1. Wanderlust by Reid Mitenbuler ^[1] — Biography of early 20th century Danish adventurer Peter Freuchen, early explorer of Greenland, writer, movie star, and all-around eccentric, whimsical guy. Really makes me wish I grew up in the 1910’s, although I suppose maybe if he grew up today he’d be in my shoes.¹

2. The Five Types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom ^[2] — A self help book I didn’t want to read; saw it all over Twitter so I decided to give it a shot and I’m glad I did. Some of more useful, practical frameworks and advice for living a fulfilling life that I’ve read (spoiler: wealth = time, health, relationships, knowledge, money in that order). I find many of the concepts apply throughout my days.²

3. The Minimalist Entrepreneur by Sahil Lavingia ^[3] — A refreshing difference of opinion from all of the typical VC-oriented startup advice (ie. “raise a bunch of money an burn cash at all costs”). A credible playbook of how to build a profitable, sustainable business in 2025; I admire his work quite a bit³

4. Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam ^[4] — A book 20 years ahead of its time, unpacking how American community as we knew it has deteriorated over the past few decades + a roadmap for rebuilding it. Sobering perspective on how important in-person connections are (there’s also a matching Netflix doc)⁴

5. Endurance by Alfrid Lansing ^[5] — another polar adventure book, the historical retelling about Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 attempt to reach the South Pole. A book that has inspired so much hope and admiration for humanity in myself, it mesmerized me (they really spent a >1yr trapped on a ship stuck in the ice in the dark eating their dogs to survive and lived to tell about it).⁵

6. Empire of the Summer Moon by SC Gwynne ^[6] — adventure-adjacent, a brutal / beautiful historical depiction of the rise (and eventual defeat) of the Comanche empire in the American southwest throughout the late 1800’s, how they halted European expansion for generations and shaped the US today (great sparknotes tweet on their impact here)⁶

7. Zero to One by Peter Thiel ^[7] — alas, still the best book on startups ever written, full stop. I had never read it until recently (only heard the lore); now apparent how derivative most startup books that came after it are. I’ve reread a few times, each time you catch something new (the best interview questions, capitalism vs monopoly, how most businesses fail)⁷

8. The Lessons of History by Will & Ariel Durant ^[8] — the ‘sparknotes’ (if you can call it that) of a much longer series distilling human patterns thru history. The kind of book that puts today’s chaos into perspective and would make someone like Ray Dalio or Warren Buffett proud of you for having read it.⁸

1  This one popped onto my Facebook feed from a random books page (I rarely ever go on FB so it was quite serendipitous)

2  Saw it all over Twitter from every thought leader I’ve followed (from Bill Ackman to Elon) so I figured I should just read it and get it over with

3  I’ve followed Sahil for a long time and really enjoy a lot of his ‘antiwork’ theory; so when I learned he had a bookI thought I should read it

4  Referred to me by my friend and fellow community-builder Nick O’Brien

5  Sister-in-law got this for me for Christmas out of the blue

6  Heard a story about the Comanches on Joe Rogan and then saw the aforementioned Tweet

7  Everybody, but in particular @yungmacro on Twitter (Thiel-maxxer)

8  Listed by the aforementioned @typesfast in his list of top books on Twitter (now realizing many of these are coming from Twitter… hmmm)