Letter #9: 📚 Book Recommendations

From Product Management to Science to Science Fiction

I do maintain a Book Recommendation section on my website where I talk about books from Science fiction, to Product management, to other non fiction categories.

Will start sending out some infrequent recommendations on email as well. I hope you find these valuable.
PS: The links below are referral links

PPS: Amazon is running a Prime day sale and it might be a great time to load up. Apparently they are also offering a 4 month subscription of Audible for onlyRs 2. You can get 4 audiobooks for free, which I think is terrific deal.

Product management and Other Non Fiction

Cracking the PM interview: I recommend this book even if you are not interviewing. I find this a good primer to what a product management role looks like

Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth: This was recommended by the CEO of a previous company and I have found it super helpful to think about interesting ideas and strategies to grow your startup

Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love:Pretty good commentary on how large product companies build products and also the role of product manager.
Tip:The hardcopy seems pretty expensive, but its available on audible, if you signup on audible you essentially get it for FREE. I also took the audio copy for the same reason

HBR’s 10 Must reads on Communication: Product Managers need to be great communicators. This collection of essays by HBR is a great read and can be referenced periodically

The Hard Thing about Hard Thing: Building a Business When There are No Easy Answers : A fascinating read on how building a company is not an easy thing. I particularly loved the “Peace time CEO” and “War time CEO” analogy. Since Product managers are in centre of the storm many times, I think this book gives a great perspective which can be handy in your professional life
Also this is written by Ben Horowitz, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz. I am planning to read his new book What you do is who you are soon

On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction: A great guide on how to write well. Written communication is super important for product managers and it pays to hone this craft

Elements of Style: Another book on writing. This book is fairly technical

Design of everyday things : A classic on basics of design. As product managers it is important to understand and appreciate the design process and this book is a good primer to help you understand what is design.

Zero to One: Notes on Start Ups, or How to Build the Future: A book on startups and creating value by none other than Peter Thiel. Its interesting to see his take on “Monopoly can be good”

Super Thinking: Upgrade Your Reasoning and Make Better Decisions with Mental Models : A really good handy book on mental models. I saw this recommendation in a talk by Shreyas Doshi

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft Kindle Edition: This is a part memoir, part writing instruction by none other than Stephen King. It inspired me to pick up a pen and write more

Checklist manifesto: The power of a simple checklist. Post this book you would have new found respect for something so simple

Dale Carnegie:Art of public speaking: I was incredibly lucky to have come across Dale’s work early in my career . Becoming a better speaker will serve you well irrespective of what work you do.

Science

The order of time : Narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch :Did you know even time is possibly quantised? It does not flow, but rather takes steps. Who better to talk about TIME than Dr Strange himself. (you can get this and 4 more audio book free if you signup for audible during this sale).

Something deeply hidden: Everything from how did space time come about, to how does multiverse theory fit nicely, to how we can view the world as a single wave function. I listen to an audio version of this book often just before bed. It’s fascinating and much more updated to reflect the current understanding of the universe

Brain : How our experiences shape the brain, and how the brain shapes us

Sapiens: A brief history of humankind : A thrilling read about how humanity evolved. My big takeaways were about how our society functions on multiple figments of imaginations and social constructs. Money, bank, government, and even morality don’t really exist, except in the shared imagination of all of humanity

A Brief History Of Time: From Big Bang To Black Holes : When one of the most brilliant minds of our times, Stephen Hawking, explains science to common folks, you listen.

Science Fiction

Foundation Series: Issac Asimov’s classic, this series is considered one of the best works in science fiction. It is an intricate multi generational plot that shows the birth, death, and rebirth of a civilisation with science and tech being the background of the story rather than the centre piece

Remembrance of Earth’s Past: I was introduced to the works of Cixin Liu recently and have become an enormous fan. He is like a living legend and no one has grabbed my attention like his work except the work of great Asimov. His works pushes the boundary of what’s possible. Super heavy on tech and science. It consists of three books
Three body Problem, The dark Forest, Deaths End

The Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide to Galaxy: Smart and funny. Who knew science fiction can be this hilarious.