The Vital Question
Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life. By: Nick Lane Published: 2015 Read: 2019 Summary: Why is life the way it is. Complex life on earth probably arose once only from a single common ancestor. We don’t know how
Tag: Book summary
The Spy and the Traitor
The greatest espionage story of the cold war. By: Ben Macintyre Published: 2018 Read: 2019 Summary: As the Cold War heats up, Oleg Gordievsky, a KGB agent, becomes disappointed with the brutalities of the Soviet system, develops an appreciation of
Bad Blood
Secrets and lies in a Silicon Valley startup. By: John Carreyrou Published: 2018 Read: 2019 Summary: The rise and fall of Theranos, a Silicon Valley startup that tried unsuccessfully to develop a miniature blood testing device. Pursuing a “fake-it-till-you-make-it approach”,
Why Information Grows
The evolution of order, from atoms to economies By: Cesar Hidalgo Published: 2015 Read: 2018 Summary: The concept of entropy dictates that disorder, randomness and chaos should increase over time. Yet, in the universe we see pockets of growing order,
Ubiquity
Why Catastrophes Happen By: Mark Buchanan Published: 2000 Read: 2018 Summary: Are there general rules in situations where scientists have so far failed to find predictable patterns (for instance, the timing of the next big earthquake, the form a snowflake
Tribe
On Homecoming and Belonging. By: Sebastian Junger Published: 2016 Read: 2019 Summary: Tribal behavior is an evolved human trait. Humans have a need to belong, to be part of a larger whole. Solidarity, making sacrifices and acting in the group’s
The Gene
An Intimate History. By: Siddhartha Mukherjee Published: 2016 Read: 2019 Summary: Story of the birth, growth and future of the gene, the fundamental unit of heredity and the basic unit of biological information. Interwoven with the his personal experience with
12 Rules for Life
Zero to One
Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future By: Peter Thiel Published: 2014 Read: 2017 Summary: Book about the challenges of vertical progress (creating new things, going from zero to one) instead of horizontal progress (copying, going from 1
Range
Why generalists triumph in a specialized world By: David Epstein Published: 2019 Read: 2019 Summary: In an increasingly complex and competitive world with a ballooning knowledge base, people are pushed to focus and specialize early (in education, music, sports, jobs,