Reading List

This is a pamphlet arguing Truman should not receive an honorary degree from Oxford on account of his decision to drop the atomic bomb. Talks about the meaning of murder in war, what things are worth protesting, and how to think about slippery slopes.

What I find most refreshing is that it avoids much of the shallow "pacifism at all costs" vs "obliteration at all costs" discourse that exists today. There's also a couple predictions that she says are far-fetched that have nonetheless become frighteningly true.

G.H. Hardy finds himself at the tail end of a renowned career as a pure mathematician and asks the question "why do abstract math?" The answer (which is a subset of "why do anything") is something along the lines of "because mathematicians—and only mathematicians—can.

There seems to be some overlap in qualities between mathematics and startup-ness (youth, anyone?) and so I find the question relevant.

The version I posted has a delightful foreward that describes G.H. Hardy's relationship with Ramanujan.

I love this email exchange. Zuck emails his CFO saying "should we buy Instagram?" and his CFO replies with a very convincing, well thought out, perfectly reasonable "no."

And Zuck goes ahead and does it anyway. His rationale, "there are network effects around social products and a finite number of different social mechanics to invent" is just pure insight.

Richard Hamming (Bell Labs scientist, inventor of the error correcting code) tries to answer two questions: How do you do great work? and Why do work at all?

His answer to the second is very different from Hardy's. Says Hamming: the chief gain is in the effort to change yourself.

Another essay on the question "what should you do with your life" (I think there's a theme here). In this one, Evan makes an argument about why you shouldn't start a startup—or why at the very least you should be very skeptical about it and not drink the cool aid.

I read this for the first time right when I was starting my first company, and revisited it again 10 years later (after a career in the top 5% or so). A lot of what he says is absolutely true, but not all. Good guidance, nonetheless. I wish there were a companion piece written 10 years later as well.