Books that Gift

Following is a list of a go-to books that, when asked for advice, I would recommend and sometimes gift (if I know my potential “giftee” actually takes time to read books). But it’s not me who is gifting – it’s these books. The gifts contained within each of them are often transformational to the mindset, but only to those who are willing to listen 🙂

Each one of these books is kind of like a 101 for each broad topic, prevailing mindset, or mental model.

Personal finance and investing

  1. Personal finance, financial independence, relationship with money – Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin
  2. Investing lazy portfolio-style in Singapore – Rich By Retire by Joshua Giersch

The corporate rat race

  1. Understanding what is work, and a job, really – Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber
  2. Excelling in the corporate rat race – The Rules of Work by Richard Templar
  3. Another one on excelling in the rat race – Work Smarter Live Better by Cyril Peupion

(As a side note – some of you may be wondering why it’s worthwhile to excel at the rat race, when it will cost you your time, your youth, your health, your passion, and your energy.

The fact remains that no matter how much you scrimp and save and how well you invest (your time and money) into your portfolio, for most folks, the most stable and consistent wealth accumulator is indeed paid employment in a corporate environment. No matter how big you dream and/or how much you dread your job, this is a hard truth you will likely have to come to terms with.

And since most of us spend most of our time navigating in the rat race, it only makes sense to pay attention to running the rat race well so as to come out on top and as soon as possible. I belong to this lay and ordinary majority class of unsophisticated Singaporean retail investors who thrives relatively well in the corporate environment.)

Writing and journaling

  1. Bullet Journaling, getting started in journaling and writing – The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll

Modern Stoicism

  1. Living life, bringing focus to what’s important and ignoring the rest – The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson

Data science and machine learning

  1. Overview of Big Data and data analytics technologies available in industry, up till 2016 – Disruptive Analytics by Thomas Dinsmore
  2. A non-technical exploration of machine learning and its future – The Master Algorithm by Pedro Domingos