Bookshelf

This is my digital bookshelf. I’ll add books here that I’ve read and liked. Ideally with a tiny note on what I found interesting or what I learned.

General

Factfulness: In one of my favourite books of all time Hans Rosling shares his view of the world. It is a much more dynamic and ‘possibilistic’. Looking at the big trends in the world is insightful to say the least. He shows how things always change, and how certain views of the world is outdated. The 3rd world will not only catch up with us, it will surpass us in ways we can only imagine. An intro here.
Enlightenment Now: Another book in a similar spirit to Factfulness, but much more in depth on human well-being and how it has changed over time. I find one of the main messages of the book to be: Sure the world is not great right now and we want it to be better. But our current approach to improving the world is working in many ways. This means we should look at what has worked before and use that to improve the world even more.
Why We Sleep: A great book on a topic we urgently need to educate ourselves about. For a quick introduction here is a TED talk.

On effectiveness and efficiency

As a side project to become more effective and efficient I decided to educate myself on how to be more productive. This is a selection of the books I liked the most.

7 Habits of Highly Effective People: A classic. I found this a good and comprehensive introduction to effectiveness and efficiency. I liked the comparison of effectiveness to leadership and efficiency to management.
Getting Things Done: Another classic. The main aim is to remove ‘open loops’ from your brain. Open loops are things you remind yourself of. They take up valuable thinking time by simply reminding you of things you’ll have to do in the future. GTD is a system which aim to capture all open loops and free the mind to focus on productive thinking. It also makes one comfortable with overwhelming workloads. I apply a modified GTD strategy both in professional and personal life.
The 4 Hour Work Week: I see this book as two separate parts. The first half is a succinct overview on how to be effective, the second half includes tips on how to start your own business. I find the first half to be full of useful tips, I particularly liked the tip of setting an aggressive deadline and push towards finishing in time.
The Power of Habit: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” -- Will Durant. Since habits is such an important part of who we are and changing them is the key to be who we want to be. Add to that, that habits are unlikely to change from willpower alone, strategies on how to change habits are very valuable. This book offers insight into habits and how to change them effectively. I particularly liked the deconstruction of a habit into; cue, routine, and reward. This deconstruction allows for a more informed angle when aiming to change a habit.
Deep Work: “A focused life, is a good life”. Cal Newport is a professor in computer science and his insight into how to be efficient is highly relevant for a PhD student (me!). I particularly liked what he called ‘productive meditation’. I’d call it ‘structured thinking’, but the name isn’t too important. It is an interesting concept I’d like to apply more.
The Checklist Manifesto: Checklists or verify-do lists are great to semi-automate thinking around simple to perform tasks. Outsourcing remembering to a list makes it harder to forget essential steps. I’ve implemented verify-do lists for pre-flight (including packing) and evening routines.

On complex systems

Since network science is a sub-branch of the complex sciences and when I started my PhD I knew next to nothing about complex systems. So I decided that as a side project I’d educate myself on the larger context surrounding my PhD. These were the books I used for that. If you should read only one, I’d recommend “Thinking in Systems” it gives a great introduction to systems thinking and why it is important.

Thinking in Systems: A Primer
Linked
Sync
Chaos: Making a New Science
The Formula - The Science of Success