A random list of books I've read lately:
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Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World - Michael Lewis. If you read "The Big Short", you will love this book. Lewis looks at the financial meltdowns in Iceland, Greece, Germany and finishes with a scathing look at the U.S. and California (made me think about moving!). Like most Lewis books, well researched, very informative and complex/obscure concepts are explained so layman can understand them.
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The Hunger Games, Catching Fire
, Mocking Jay (trilogy) - Suzanne Collins. Ok, this is supposed to be a series for teenage girls. And yes, there are certainly parts of it that are exactly that. However, when I started reading the second book, I was amazed to find the strong undercurrent of rebellion, anti-government drive and the power of the individual. Great series, but I found the ending pretty weak.
- It's So Easy and Other Lies - Duff McKagan. Yet another rock star bio. Must be my fifth one this year (grin). Great book, good insight into the mess that was GnR and Velvet Revolver. Interesting last third of the book where Duff talks about how he redeemed himself.
- The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses - Eric Ries. Ah, one of my favorite subjects (startups, entrepreneurship) this book has it all: MVP, CI, CD, Measure-Test-Learn, vanity metrics, you name it. Directly applicable to a start-up as well as projects that want to innovate in a large company.
- In the Long Run: A Father, a Son, and Unintentional Lessons in Happiness - Jim Axelrod. I randomly heard Jim Axelrod (news reporter) talking about this book in a radio interview. He focused on the relationship he had with his father (not always easy), which caught my attention. Axelrod went from couch potato to runner in his mid-40's and decided he would run the NYC Marathon and try to beat his father's PR. He discovered a lot about his father which was interesting, however, the last quarter of the book (NYC training and the marathon) was a snoozer.
- Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard - Chip Heath, Dan Heath. This is the best book on organizational theory I've read all year. How to steer the ship (even if it is big) in the right direction without destroying an org. Lots of interesting anecdotes and ideas.
