My Favorite and Most Impactful Reads From 2021 (IM 985)

This post includes some of my favorites and impactful reads (books, articles, journals, etc.) of 2021:

What I am reading.... (January 2021)

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius is one of best books I've ever read and will be re-reading in 2022. Every time when I read this book, I grasp different insight from this great Stoic Philosopher. The teachings like Memento Mori (Remembering you will die), Amor Fati (Loving your fate) and Pre-meditation Malorum (premeditating of evils/ negative visualization) are some worthwhile lessons that I am practicing daily. The idea that you'll die and those who know you will also die, and nobody remembers you or your doings is self-sufficient to life to the fullest. For everything we do, there will be a time we do it for last time. The most satisfying things about it is that we do not know for a fact that which will be the last doing. So, considering everything we do as our last doing is the best way to live the life. And this is the way to live the life of reason.

The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. This book was given to me by one of my college friends. According to Taleb, the human mind suffers from three ailments as it comes in contact with the history which he calls the triplets of history, and they are: The illusion of our understanding; The retrospective distortion or how we access matter only after the fact; and the over valuation of factual information. His ideas about Mediocristan and Extremistan are some valuable lessons moving forward. This book taught me to critically analyze and histories or events. He says," It has been more profitable for us to bind together in wrong direction than to be alone in the right one. Those who have followed the assertive idiots rather than the introspective wise have passed us some of their genes." "A life saved is a statistic; a person hurt is an anecdote. Statistics are invisible; anecdotes are silent. Likewise, the risk of Black Swan is invisible", Taleb says.

How it started.... (February 2021)

68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice by Kevin Kelly. Kevin Kelly, the founding executive editor of Wired magazine gave away 68-advices, in his 68th birthday as 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice which I found very helpful. Here are some of my favorites from this article:

•  Learn how to learn from those you disagree with, or even offend you. See if you can find the truth in what they believe.
• Don’t be afraid to ask a question that may sound stupid because 99% of the time everyone else is thinking of the same question and is too embarrassed to ask it.
• Don’t take it personally when someone turns you down. Assume they are like you: busy, occupied, distracted. Try again later. It’s amazing how often a second try works
•  The universe is conspiring behind your back to make you a success. This will be much easier to do if you embrace this pronoia.

To read more of my favorites go Here

The One Minute Manager by Spencer Johnson & Ken Blanchard. It’s a very brief book about 100 page long with a beautiful short story that highlights three techniques of and effective manager: One Minute Goal Setting, One Minute Praising and One Minute Reprimand. Not only does it provide these three techniques to manage people effectively, but also provides why each of these techniques works.

Re-learning The Lessons Learned a While Ago (IM 869) (sameerkhadka.com)

From Productivity to Psychedelics: Tim Ferriss Has Changed His Mind About Success | GQ

What I've started and still reading... (March 2021)

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. This historical masterpiece explains why the Western Eurasian Societies became disproportionately powerful and innovative? Why the modern world looks like the way it does? Why some societies advanced and some didn't at the same pace? Jared Diamond believes that it all falls down to Guns, Germs and Steel. Most of it has to do with the geography which favored the Eurasian people. This one of the most fascinating books which lays out the foundation for the understanding human history.

Death, Love and Stoicism by Donald J. Robertson. In this article, Donald beautifully explains what death is and what it means to the stoics. we are dying every day. This is not the body to which your mother gave birth, as the Stoic emperor Marcus Aurelius put it. The child dies to become the adolescent. The adolescent dies to become the man. The boy is father to the man but also predeceases him. We die every night when we go to sleep and awaken a different person, although we often barely notice what has been lost in the process.

You were born a mortal, and you have given birth to mortals: yourself a weak and fragile body, liable to all diseases, can you have hoped to produce anything strong and lasting from such unstable material? — Seneca, Moral

Psychological Resilience (IM 901) (sameerkhadka.com)

What I started and what taught me habits... (April 2021)

Tribe of Mentors by Tim Ferriss. In this 600-page book, Tim asked 100+ brilliant minds same 11 questions and summarized it in a book. This book gave an opportunity to have a conversation with the brilliant minds of this time.

Money-Master the Game by Tony Robbins. I read this book back in 2019 but I needed some advice from this book in 2021 which is why I re-read some of the important lessons of this book. It taught me the habit of investing and brought me into realization of the power of compounding. It provided me an opportunity to learn from the masters of investment from Jack Bogle to Paul Tudor Jones to Charles Schwab to Warren Buffet to hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio. The principles learned from these billionaire investors made me realize what Sophocles said, "You must wait until the evening to enjoy the splendor of the day."

The Modern Struggle (IM 932) (sameerkhadka.com)

What made me believe in universal intelligence... (May 2021): 

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. This month was most about self-reflection and self-analysis. I was introduced to the idea of this book a while ago. And it was the time to get into the book itself. This book taught me that thoughts are magnetic, and they have a frequency. As you think thoughts they are sent out to the universe, and they magnetically attract all the like things that are on the same frequency. And everything sent out returns to the source (in this case Us). This book taught me to achieve anything, we must first ask and then believe.  It also taught me the power of the choice. Every result or everything that is happening to us or for us is just the result of our choice.

The Virtue of Being Wrong: An article by Donald Robertson

Reminding The Four Virtues of Stoicism (IM 961) (sameerkhadka.com)

What I'm fortunate enough to read.... (June 2021)

The Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne. This book revealed that there is two kind of market space: 1. The Red Ocean, which is the known market space, where the competition exists and where the companies try to outperform the rivals. And 2. The Blue Ocean, which is an unknown marketspace, where competition does not exist, where there is a high profit and growth because it's an untapped market space. In the Blue Ocean, competition is irrelevant because the rules of the games are waiting to be set and those who enter here are the one who sets the rules. The cornerstone of the Blue Ocean Strategy is the Value Innovation. For any startups, both value and innovation play an "equal" important role. Value without innovation is focused on the value creation which will improve the value but is not sufficient to make you stand out in a marketplace. Innovation without value tends to be technology drive, market pioneering, often beyond what buyers are ready to accept for. This books also details on how to enter into such blue ocean market. According to the Authors, it falls by undergoing the followings:  Reconstructing market boundaries, Drawing the Strategy Canvas, reaching beyond the existing demand, getting the strategic sequence right, overcoming the key organizational hurdles, and building execution into strategy.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I listened to this fictional audiobook which teaches to follow our heart and our dreams.

These Three Things Can Make Anything Possible (IM 968) (sameerkhadka.com)

When Philosophies came into play... (July 2021)

Stoicism: I have been learning and practicing this philosophy for almost two years now introduced to me by the book Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. It teaches us the moral maxims. The idea that wise men live according to the nature and not afraid of pain, death or any human condition. The three philosophers from whom I learned are Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus and Seneca.

Hegel's philosophy: The philosopher who tells us the meaning of history, significance of human life and the true purpose of human existence. His idea of the owl of Minerva flies only at dusk is so interesting and true.

Heidegger Philosophy: Being & Time. It was really moving when he said there is to beings: being and "Being", one with capital B and one without. 'Being' not the being, we know about. His idea of three Human qualities: Facticity, Fallenness and Existence is so true, yet we are unaware of it.

Likewise, the philosophies of Socrates, Plato, Immanuel Kant, Ludwig Wittenstein, Soren Kierkegaard, Voltaire, Blaise Pascal are fascinating and breathtaking.

I cannot write all that I learned from the philosophies here as it will be a really big. Here I have summarized what I've learned from Philosophies: 8 Lessons Learned From 15 Philosophy Books

(The Ideologies That Matter (IM 977) (sameerkhadka.com)

Autobiography that I read.... (August 2021)

Autobiography of Lee Iacocca by Lee Iacocca. Lee Iacocca is a person behind the invention of Ford Mustang Series. He rose through the ranks of Ford leading the development of some of the most successful cars ever produced and also became the President of Ford Motor company. He was also famous for being one of the first CEOs to take just $1 a year in salary in exchange for a higher equity compensation. After getting fired from the Ford Motor company where he spent 32 years, he was hired by the Chrysler Corporation, which was in the verse of bankrupt. After joining the Chrysler, he revived the Chrysler Corporation as its CEO during the 1980s. Cawrol Deck, Ph.D., author of "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success," describes Iacocca as an exemplar of the "fixed mindset," a CEO leader whose inability to accept responsibility and learn from his mistakes ended up harming the companies he led and the people he employed.

Books which taught me a new way to operate... (September 2021)

Show Your Work by Austin Kleon. This book taught me to operate in a new way which is to share the ideas that I learned in my journey. It taught me to share my creativity. It showed me that process is important not the product.

Amateurs: that's all any of us are. We don't live long enough to be anything else.

- Charlie Chaplin

Audiobook: Tao Te Ching by Laozi: This is a book I have read many times and find new meaning in my every read. This idea of doing nothing might sound something like an intellectual terrorism but it’s not. When you stop and introspect about all the things happening in your life the idea of non-action makes a lot of sense. Basically, it means doing nothing and going with the flow. Laozi once said, “When nothing is done, nothing is left undone.” And it’s powerful. Don’t get me wrong here. It does not mean acting nothing, but it means “effortless action” or “actionless action”.

What made me think... (October 2021)

The Prince by Machiavelli. It is is a political treatise by the Italian diplomat, historian and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli. He composed The Prince as a practical guide for ruling (though some scholars argue that the book was intended as a satire and essentially a guide on how not to rule). This goal is evident from the very beginning, the dedication of the book to Lorenzo de’ Medici, the ruler of Florence. Some of the moving words from this masterpiece are:

“There is no avoiding war, it can only be postponed to the advantage of your enemy.”

“Princes and governments are far more dangerous than other elements within society.”

“There is no other way to guard yourself against flattery than by making men understand that telling you the truth will not offend you.”

"Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception."

"The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves."

“Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good.”

There are some of the contradicting thoughts of Machiavelli with the present world. Some of them may be difficult to digest but if we stop and think about it we will find truth in them.

The One that Moved me.... (November 2021)

Frederich Nietzsche's Philosophies

His Autobiography (Ecce Homo) where he answers four questions: Why I'm so clever? Why I'm so wise? Why I write good books? Why I'm a destiny?

On the Death of God: In one of his books, The Gay Science, he wrote of the most controversial and fascinating thing by declaring the death of God. He says," God is dead. God has been dead; and we have killed him." This 19th Century German philosopher is perhaps the most widely misinterpreted philosopher of our time and is considered as the “intellectual terrorist“. His thoughts towards Christianity, Nihilism, existentialism, Übermensch, is really fascinating.

On Nihilism:

The idea of meaningless world goes when Nietzsche writes “Everything lacks meaning.” He also declares that the suffering has no meaning. The world is moral chaos. The idea that suffering has meaning just makes suffering infinitely worse. Nietzsche after his loss of faith, wrote to his sister, “if you wish to strive for peace of soul and pleasure, then believe; if you wish to be a devotee of truth, then inquire.”  In “The Will to Power” he writes:

Every belief, every considering something true, is necessarily false because there is simply no true world

The one that is Surreal, and I keep re-visiting (December 2021)

Letters From Stoic by Seneca. This book is a collection of letters written by Seneca in 1st century to his friend Lucilius. Here in this book, Seneca writes all of his thoughts on living the life, death, philosophies and how to react to the circumstances. In these 124 letters, Seneca expresses, in a wise, steady and calm manner, the philosophy by which he lived - derived essentially from the Stoics. For several years of his turbulent life, Seneca was the guiding hand of the Roman Empire. It taught me what is enough as he said, "It is not the man who has too little who is poor, but the one who craves form more." He also talks about death, loving the fate and negative visualization like all the stoics do. he writes:

Why be concerned about others, come to that, when you’ve outdone your own self? Set yourself a limit which you couldn’t even exceed if you wanted to and say good-bye at last to those deceptive prizes more precious to those who hope for them than to those who have won them. If there were anything substantial in them they would sooner or later bring a sense of fullness; as it is they simply aggravate the thirst of those who swallow them.

His concept of the best part of the life are flitting by and the worse are to come is a contradiction to a present world belief system and is tragic but this visualization is what makes us alive and live the present moment peacefully and happily.