2020 redux : the books, audiobooks, podcasts, newsletters and products I relied on the most

Whilst 2020 had its rough parts, there was definitely a silver lining to the lockdown lifestyle which was the gift of time. More time than I’ve had in many years. The arc of life bent squarely towards time with my family and having time to myself. A silver lining in a year full of storm clouds.

My media diet — high level changes

What I cut out:

• WhatsApp (I’m not not on any Facebook platforms as a principled choice)
• My New York Times subscription — part of a wider shift away from MSM (not entirely successful).
• Consciously moving away from advertising-funded media/news models and into more long-form, subscription-based content.

What I cut down:

• LinkedIn — use is now minimal. Can’t wait for this platform to be unbundled — my signal to noise ratio sucks. I keep getting spammed by recruiters and marketing agencies. Also, so much cringe! 🤢 FML

What I started:

• Twitter — mainly consumption, primarily for financial investment ideas and to engage with authors whose books I have read. Curation of my feed is an ongoing struggle, and I still don’t fully “get” how it works.

What does 2021 look like?

Probably…

• Dropping my Medium subscription in exchange for some Substack subscriptions (sorry Medium)
• Writing more, owning my distribution (blog or email)
• More newsletters (Substack most likely)
• Little to no MSM — catch up rather than stay up to date
• Low engagement with LinkedIn — some updates, but mostly transactional.
• More twitter

My top 3 lists of the year 🥇

Below I’ve distilled my top 3 picks (and some “honourable mentions”) amongst books, audiobooks (reason for distinction below), podcasts, newsletters and products. I’ll make a note in each one of why I think you should take the time to consider.

Top 3 books 📚

The first two will be no surprise given the coronavirus pandemic (the archetypal “Black Swan” event) and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Nassim Taleb: Incerto series: Skin in the game, Anti-fragile, The Black Swan, etc

• Why? He’s crushing it on Twitter (he picks fights with Nobel laureates and distinguished professors — LOL). His books are ram packed full of wisdom, aphorisms and stories. You get the vibe that Taleb just “gets it” when it comes to understanding how the world works. His books sweep through probability and risk, understanding the “unpredictable events” that shape history, distinguishing who is “free” from who is not, how to survive the unpredictable, and loads more. A lot has been written about his books online. If you don’t have time to read them, you can pick up some of the ideas from his Youtube lectures — though he’s not as good a speaker as he is a writer IMHO.

Akala — Natives

• Why? Akala tells the story of racism, inequality and injustice in modern Britain through his own experiences. He’s eloquent, sharp, funny and has an ability to point out injustice in society that’s staring us in the face. This book changed the way I think about racism and inequality. His Fire in the Booth videos are some of the best lyrical performances of all time 🔥.
• Honourable mention: Ta-Nehisi Coates: Between the world and me — A letter written by Coates to his teenage son on the subject of race in America. Beautiful and shocking in equal measure. One of the best modern, short narratives on race in America.
• Honourable mention: Michelle Alexander: The New Jim Crow tells the story of racism and incarceration in the US, prison for profit, the “get tough on crime” agenda and how the modern history of the US has been systematically and structurally tilted against African Americans. Alexander features heavily in 13th on Netflix.
• Honourable mention: Roots by Alex Haley: I first came across Alex Haley through his Malcolm X biography. He’s a masterful writer. In Roots, he weaves the story of Kunta Kinte, a Gambian ancestor of his who was enslaved and taken to America in the late 18th Century. Long, but worth every page. Full of tribulation, triumph, love and pain.

Anand Giridharadas: Winners take all

• Why? Winners take all: The elite charade of changing the world. After college, Anand worked at McKinsey (his dad was a Director there) and was later a Henry Crown fellow at the Aspen institute. In Winners Take All, he tells the story of how society’s elite have used their money to prop up the systems that enabled them to dominate. It’s devastating. He dismantles “philanthro-capitalism” and describes how most corporate social initiatives stick plasters over the gaping wounds they’ve created.

Top 3 audiobooks (audible) 🎧

These books are “lighter listening” and so lend themselves well to audio. Having said that, if I had physical copies they’d be full of highlights and bookmarks!

• Trillian Dollar Coach tells the story of Bill Campbell and his leadership practices. Campbell was an outsider in tech (he started out as an American football coach), but became a legendary silicon valley executive and coach who had the ear of — among others — Steve Jobs, the Google founders and many others. He died in 2016.
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz. Whether you like it or not, Horowitz is one of the most influential people in technology. This book (and What You Do Is Who You Are) are cringey at times. But — as Taleb would say — Horowitz has skin in the game, so pay attention. His anecdotes from several decades in operator/investor roles in technology are the stuff of legend.
• Calmer, Easier, Happier Parenting by Noel Janis-Norton. An expert in child psychology and ex-head teacher, Noel’s books will help you nurture positive and empathetic behaviours in children. Janis-Norton doesn’t guarantee her advice will work for everyone, but given the general lack of good quality parenting books out there, this one stands out.

Top 3 Podcasts 🎙️

All In

• Why? Basically, 4 billionaires (Jason Calcanis, Chamath, David Sacks and David Friedberg) shoot the $hit about politics, business, investing and life in general. You’ll likely learn something interesting (and given these folks’ personal exposure/involvement in market-moving deals, they share incredible insights). But that’s not what keeps me coming back. What draws me back for each episode is the love between them. Yeah. I said love and I meant it! 2020 was a year of isolation and fragmentation. Listening to their bromance has been a wonderful anecdote. These guys are legendary operators, investors and now podcasters! Good vibes. They even have their own syndicate and merch!

Not overthinking

• Why? Brothers Taimur and Ali meet weekly to discuss ideas, books, and their musings on life. What I like most about Not Overthinking — like All In — is being able to dip into their relationship. Yes, they’re both smart, accomplished and have some interesting views… but more than anything it’s the opportunity to tune into the deep, intimate relationship and all the life experiences they’ve shared. It manifests in different ways — finishing each others’ sentences, the “in jokes” and they way they tease each other, their candidness..

Sacred Text Messages

• Why? Shaykh Hamza Yusuf Hanson has been one of the West’s most influential muslim thinkers for a long time. Sacred Test Messages are short and profound reflections on the challenges of modern life and the relevance of ancient wisdom. Each episode is approximately 30 minutes. I grew up listening to Hamza Yusuf, and so I’d probably pay attention if he was talking about what he had for breakfast. I strongly recommend STM for young muslims living in the west.

Top 3 newsletters 📨

• https://notboring.substack.com/ — Pachy McCormick — regular teardowns of what’s happening in tech + investor memos for his angel syndicate. Good content. Great images. Subscribe now.
• https://boundless.substack.com/ — Paul Millerd — ex-managment consultant writes about the past, present and future of careers, “workism”, and living an uncharted life. Paul practices what he preaches. A great example of skin in the game — his advice carries a lot of weight in my book
• Exponential view — by Azeem Azhar. A great roundup on the technologies, trends and events shaping the past, present and (of course) the future. Azeem also runs a great podcast linked to the newsletter where he goes deep on specific topics with top tier guests.

Top 3 Products 🌟

These are the products that helped me get fitter, smarter and created countless moments of joy this year!

Wattbike Atom + Peloton App:

• Peloton has been all the rage this year and the stock is on a tear. However, the bike costs £2k and the subscription is £40/month. Most people don’t realise it but the Peloton bike itself sucks — just read the reviews online. “Real cyclists” consider it a toy.
• Wattbike however is the best exercise bike in the world, and the Atom is a bargain at a mere £1800 (! Finance plans available). However, the best bit about combining this with the Peloton app, is you get most of the benefits of Peleton through the app for only £10/month, and a much much better bike, for less money (turns out if you use the Peloton app without the bike, the monthly cost is 1/4 of the full subscription). The app also includes a host of other workouts including yoga, stretching and strength training.
• With 3 kids, this setup has been a lifesaver as I can squeeze in a devastating workout in 30 minutes, any time of day… come rain or shine. I’ve also been able to measure the improvements in my fitness, with a 20% increase in my average power output since August. 💥 Buuut, I’m now getting to the point where the Peloton workouts aren’t pushing me hard enough, so I suspect I’ll move onto the native Wattbike plans next.

Rancilio Silvia + Iberital MC2 grinder + any coffee beans:

• I love coffee, so being able to make barista-standard coffee at home has been a lifesaver this year. The Rancilio Silvia coffee machine set me back £550 in 2015, and has been used between 3–5 times/day since then (1–2 cups for me on a standard day, and the same for others in the household plus 1 babychino/day for each of our 2 eldest kids). There’s no substitute for freshly ground beans, and the MC12 is a safe bet. You can throw any beans into it and it’ll do a great job. Lifesaver.
• Estimated usage: 6–8k cups of coffee. Considering a decent flat white is £2.50-£3 in a hipster joint, my Silvia has paid for itself many times over. I can now make coffee as good as I can buy pretty much anywhere. I’m convinced it’s the only reason my mother-in-law lets me live in her house.

My home working setup (some affiliate links below):

• Having a good home working setup has made working from home a joy. Here’s what I use:
• Standard office chair — not sure where it’s from (hand-me-down), but it swivels, has good lumbar support + arm rests and goes up/down.
• Standing desk converter like this one. Basically makes my desk a standing desk. Amazing.
• 24" 2nd monitor: a bargain at less than £100
• Logitech G213 Prodigy Gaming Keyboard £60 — mechanical, great backlights.. works great
• Apple magic mouse: £79, retain “gestures” that work so well on mac
• Wireless headphones: £100 Sony WH-CH700N. Use for taking calls when walking outdoors, podcasts/audiobooks
• Wired Plantronics headset — use for Zoom calls. Super reliable. Good sound quality. One-sided means I can hear what else is going on around me if required. In-line mute enables me to sit back and relax during calls. No bluetooth pairing issues!
• Speaker: Bose soundlink — the model we have has now been replaced by this one — £150

Bonus section: Top 3 things I’m most worried about in 2021 ⚡

1. Misinformation: whether it be COVID/vaccines, elections/politics or nationalist agendas, misinformation is rampant, growing and will continue to have devastating consequences.
2. Semiconductors, technological sovereignty in the West, TSMC on the geopolitical front lines in a conflict with China. Read more here (2 part article): https://aishwaryanagarajan.substack.com/p/my-semiconductor-conspiracy-theories
3. Climate change: standard. But has taken a back seat due to COVID, and a beating from Trump. Any short term impact of the pandemic on emissions was transient. If you know any young entrepreneurs bio-engineering sea algae that will sequester carbon from the atmosphere, get heavy and sink to the bottom of the ocean, let me know.