Adam TikTok test

I'll read anything Kathy Sierra writes. I actually ordered this book when I was out of town, having it delivered to a hotel because I was looking forward to it that much. What I got was a book that inspired me to think differently about how I plan features, UX, and everything else for users.

What stuck with me the most was the concept of putting users into different “buckets” of ability on your product – beginners, intermediate and advanced. If you aren't moving users up in their abilities on multiple features at once, then people will leave your product. Thinking about things in this perspective was incredibly helpful for me.

If there was a book about stereotypes for how the brain works this would be it. In most cases though, the stereotypes are true unless you're actively aware of the decisions you're making. This book elaborates on the decisions we make without knowing it. For most of them I was nodding along thinking “yeah, that's true, I knew that was a bias I held”, which left it mostly skin deep for me.

If you're interested in what you can do to lower your taxes by starting a business, this one is a good read. Real estate, side businesses, stocks, bonds and other investments are described in a dry, but useful detail. The most useful suggestions for me were some of the elaboration about real estate tax savings as well as differences between tax advisors, CPA and wealth advisors.

What makes great olive oil? What makes it poor? Although I'd love to answer those questions with an answer that I could bring to the store and use, I didn't end up with a satisfactory answer. The taste and smell notes that make a oil great are elaborated on, but are tricky to understand without being there. A more useful exploration into olive oil would be finding a local place to hear about olive oil from someone who can be a guide to understanding the difference between lamp oil (which is what is in many supermarkets) and real extra virgin olive oil.

What would happen if all men on the planet died – except one? With every other post-apocalyptic story involving the same struggles, exploring an entirely new take on the world offered a refreshing change. For the entire series, I was thinking “one more...”, and enjoyed the eventual payoffs.

The final installment of the Gameshouse series focuses around the big game - the game of chess between two skilled opponents where the goal is to hunt the other down. The board - the entire world. I very much enjoyed how the first two books led up to this one.

Expanding on the Gameshouse premise, the “game” for this installment focuses on “hide and go seek” – but where an entire country is the boundary and there is no time limit. The relationships made throughout the story, and hints at a larger picture.

The Gameshouse is more than a place for chess. It's a place where you can wager your skills and memories against others where the game takes place in life itself. What drew me into this story, besides the world and the main character, was the succinct conversation style. It felt as though every word was calculated and organized by the characters - which fits right into the games story.

The first Sherlock Holmes book, and the start of one of the most iconic characters of all time. Unlike movies and TV shows, a flashback to Utah plays an important role in the book. Although it came as a surprise, I did enjoy the payoff in the book moreso than in the video form. There was much more background to the murders that gave the villain more of a heart – and a real motive.

Mailchimp does some amazing things. This book has UX in the title, but uses it as a jumping off point for all parts of their process. A number of chapters towards the beginning talking about the discovery process were interesting, but when it got to code it went a bit specific for me to get too much from.

In “A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy”, “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius was mentioned as a source material for Stoicism. If “Guide to the Good Life” was easy to read, Meditations was Stoicism on hard mode. Often I can give a book partial attention, I needed full concentration on this one to make it through. It features a number of one off lines that are inspiring and influential, but often hidden away in a few paragraphs that wander around a subject before jumping in.

An interesting take on the history of monogamy in humans, our ancestors and our relatives. The important thing to put aside when reading this one is any preconception of ethics or morality. This is a scientific and historical study of how societies have structured societies in different cultures.

The Mistborn trilogy, and the following Wax & Wayne series, are one of the most elaborate and interesting magic worlds I've ever read about. As a hardcore fan of the world, Secret History shows an alternate take from the end of Book 1 up until the end of Book 3. I appreciate that Sanderson had a bit more in mind than we were able to see in those books, but I didn't feel like this added as much to the world as I was hoping for.

I've always been a sucker for time travel. When the author highlights very specific rules for how it works in that universe and sticks to them it makes for even more interesting stories in my eyes. King does an amazing job in this one of setting up the structure needed to explore his main objective – what would happen if someone stopped Lee Harvey Oswald from assassinating JFK?

How do you validate your product and business ideas? If it's by making them, then you'll probably not going to be able to get much feedback. This book focuses on that question, tackling it with a variety of suggestions. From MVPs to user interviews, this was a great reminder of how to inspire innovation and track it in companies that have learned how to reproduce an entrepreneurial spirit.

At my work (Pluralsight / Code School), I noticed this book was on the list of recommended reading for leadership. After reading it, I realized just how many of the core concepts of this book have found their way into our culture and behavior here. Some of the top takeaways to me that this one recommends include: know why your organization exists, have monthly 1-on-1's with everyone on your team or your top people will leave, have a solid leadership team, inspire vulnerability based trust, understand core values, have productive and targeted meetings.

This is what I was waiting for when Season 6 of the TV show ended. Compendium Three covers issues 97-144, which go from the last ~2 episodes of Season 6 up to who knows where. With how different the series has been from the comic, I'm looking forward to being surprised and annoyed in all new ways as my expectations are dashed by the writers.

Some of my favorite stories center around con-men – people who find a way to take advantage of others. In the movies this is generally robbing from the rich, but back here in reality this is people praying on the weak. This book is half history lesson of scams, and half analysis of them. The constraints and structure of a con is explored and deconstructed many times over, evaluating cons of different types.

The definition of “stoic” and the pursuit of stoicism aren't something I was able to differentiate before reading this book. After, though, I realized how much close to home the concepts of stoicism are to strive to behave. It's not often that I encounter a philosophy, or a belief that rings so completely true with my core self.

There were a few concepts that were the most poignant to me. Having a “philosophy of life” is an interesting idea – a way of living. “Negative visualization”- spending time thinking about what could go wrong to appreciate what you have, and be less affected when things don't go your way. The idea of “control” over - things you have complete control (yourself), limited control how over, or no control over – and spending time on those you have complete control over. Asking if you're guided by own values, or following others. There were a few things I disagreed with, but those were usually authors interpretations of the original works, which I more agreed with.

Having used the online alias Dyogenez for 20 years, and having read everything by Diogenes before this, it was amazing to hear such a deep dive into the cynics way of life - and how similar it is to Stoicism.

Compendium 2 covers issues 49-96 of the comic. This is almost all Alexandia time. Issue #100 of the comic is where Season 6 of the comic ends, leaving this as the events leading up Neegan. Of the story arcs and compendiums, I think the TV show did this era a bit more justice with a number of side stories that weren't in the comics but were even more interesting. Still a page turner that kept me up at night saying “just one more issue”.

Despite it's awful reviews, I enjoyed the movie for WWZ. It's hard to read a review of it without people mentioning how much it butchered the book. For what it was it was great – but the book is able to explore on a level that would never work for a movie. The book itself takes place after World War Z, the zombie war. The narrator interviews a series of people from around the world as they elaborate on how they participated in the war. These range from the origins of the disease and how it spread, to how countries adapted with it, to submarines, to how humans faced off and eventually cleaned up after the war.

If you've ever wondered “I like zombies, but what would it be like if we did ?”, then you'll truly enjoy this book. It's much less about action and more about strategy and motivations to keep on living.

After the ambiguous ending to the TV show for The Walking Dead, I couldn't help but want to see what would happen next. Sure, the TV show is different from the comic, I get that, but still there's so many similarities that I immediately started reading through the comic to see what might happen.

The Compendium #1 covers the first 48 issues of the comic - up until after the prison arc. Everything happens so fast compared to the show, that it took some getting used to. This was the first comic I've read, but I can say it was addictive from the start. Even re-reading parts I'd watched in the show and determining the small differences between the comic was a lot of fun.

This one had interesting points, but as someone who focuses around systems and order, it was hard for me to imagine structuring systems in this way. The examples were interesting – things like the human body and vaccines as an example of a system that grows stronger after trauma.

After watching Browns Ted talks and hearing a number of recommendations, I knew I had to check out her books. Browns openness sets a tone for the reader, staying vulnerable and staying curious on how she can adapt. The core concept of the book - that embracing vulnerability is a path towards many things is best conveyed by one line from the book:

“Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.”

While Daring Greatly focuses on vulnerability, Rising Strong takes a look at this too, but adds on compassion, curiosity, love, generosity and more as a route to happiness and integrity. A few months out I can't say I remember much about this book verbatim, but my Myers Briggs did change from “Thinking” to “Feeling”, so I think it had a bigger impact than I can put into words.