Reading in the time of COVID-19
I managed to read 6 great books during this pandemic and would highly recommend all of them. An ultra-brief summary below.
1. ‘Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World — and Why Things Are Better Than You Think’ by Anna Rosling Rönnlund, Hans Rosling, and Ola Rosling
The authors paint a much better and brighter picture of the world than the one we have in our minds and back it up with strong supporting data.
Book recommendation from Bill Gates’s GatesNotes
2. ‘The Mom Test: How to Talk to Customers and Learn If Your Business is a Good Idea when Everyone is Lying to You’ by Rob Fitzpatrick
Do you have a product idea which you think is great but don’t know if anybody will buy it? This book is for you. The mom test is a pithy read on how to get the maximum learnings out of your customer interactions.
3.’Why we sleep’ by Matthew Walker
A terrific read on the highly detrimental effects of lack of sleep on the human body. Get 8 hours of sleep every single night or run the risk of harming your precious brain.
Book recommendation from Bill Gates’s GatesNotes
4. ‘Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love’ by Marty Cagan
This book is sort of like a Product managers bible. If you dream of building products which will transform the lives of people, you might want to give this book a go.
5. ‘Summer lightning’ by PG Wodehouse
Quintessential Wodehouse. British humour at it’s finest.
6. ‘The Ride of a Lifetime’ by Robert Allen Iger
Disney’s ex CEO Bob Iger takes the readers on a wonderful ride through his illustrious career where he rose from the very lowest level to being the CEO of the biggest media company in the world. I can’t stop admiring this man’s humility. During his time as the CEO, Bob lead the company through mega acquisitions like Pixar, Marvel entertainment, Lucasfilms and Fox and turned Disney into the media behemoth that it is now.
Once upon a time, during a conversation on Bob Iger, Steve Jobs told his wife that ‘I love that guy’. Read this book and you’ll too!
Book recommendation from Bill Gates’s GatesNotes
Here are some of the books that I’m planning to read next. Would love to hear your thoughts!
1. The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman
2. The Godfather by Mario Puzo ( Re-read because I love it)
3. Good Economics for Hard Times, by Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo
4. 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy by Tim Harford
5. Open by Andre Agassi
6. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
