Book 1: The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves by Matt Ridley
This seemed like a good choice to start 2017. Ridley makes a simple case: based on historical data, humanity is doing significantly better than ever and he sees us only going up. Indeed, there’s less abject poverty, fewer plagues, more people are being fed, and we have access to more information than at any point in human history. Based on that alone, we should be rational optimists.
Read My Notes on The Rational Optimist
Book 2: Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance
This has been called “one of the six books to understand Trump’s win.” It’s about the social, cultural, and economic decline of America’s white working class from someone who grew up in the Rust Belt. I first read Mr. Vance’s work in The Atlantic and it was excellent. This is a book I have been meaning to get around to for a while now, so I am excited to read it.
Book 3: Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
Grit is frequently touted as one of the best business books of 2016. Duckworth, a psychologist, makes the case that grit, not talent, luck, or “genius,” but passion and perseverance, are the ultimate keys to success.
Book 4: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing Marie Kondo
It never hurts to be more organized or to live a life with less clutter (ask my mom what she thinks about hearing that from me). This will be a short read and will hopefully help me become more organized in 2017, or, at least, sometime in the future (sorry, mom).