Best of 2019
December 2019
It’s that time of the year again. And this time, you will
notice minimalism – I did not become more fastidious in ranking, I simply
listened, watched, and followed less stuff. Which is probably why for the
first time ever, I completed my Goodreads Reading
Challenge.
Books
- Antifragile
by Nassim Nicolas Taleb – This was the year of discovery and falling in
love with NNT. I devoured both The Black Swan and Antifragile, but found
the latter to have a better delivery of, more or less, the same
philosophical ideas. Next up, Skin in the Game, which, even though I have
not finished it during my latest attempt, influenced my worldview a
lot.
- The
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin – This book describes Franklin’s
years up until the American Revolutionary War, which is to say, it missed
the most interesting years of his life. Or did it? Benjamin Franklin is
the definition of “polymath” – writer, diplomat, philosopher, scientist,
inventor… I was so enthused by his life that I even tried to copy his way
of living – by having a glass of milk and a piece of bread for breakfast
and following Thirteen Virtues. Alas, both didn’t last long.
- Everything
is F*cked by Mark Manson – I marked this book with a tag “worth
re-reading”… because it is. Mark Manson in a talented, non-repetitive way
presented ideas some people could have previously read in Kaneman, Taleb,
stoic philosophers etc. I enjoyed reading all books by Manson, but I think
this is his best book yet.
Music
TV show
- Mr. Robot – Open letter to Sam Esmail: “Thank you, you genius
SOAB. Thank you.” This is my favorite show of all time. Sorry, Seinfeld,
The Office, and BoJack.
Movie
- Parasite by Bong Joon-ho – You know that the movie is good, when
you want to follow up with all of the movies by the same director.
Podcast
- Conan
O’Brien Needs a Friend – The only podcast, that was consistently
pleasant to listen to. The world’s best late night show host’s coming into
podcasting was an eventuality – long-awaited and well-received. Favorite
episodes: Bill Burr, Lisa Kudrow, David Letterman.
Perhaps, I listened to criminally small number of podcasts this
year. As a podcast creator, I should listen to more, but audiobooks stole the
bandwidth.
Blogs / websites
- Wait, but why – This year
Tim Urban has outdone himself coming up with a new, amazing series: The Story of
Us.
- Open Culture –
A hodgepodge of articles and links on books, music, movies, websites etc.
Truly, a rabbit hole for a curious (or, in my case, procrastinative)
mind.
- Hacker News
(and the self-titled newsletter) replaced the Reddit
as my go-to place for all things interesting. Most of the posts are
programmers-oriented. But from time to time, there are cool posts with
questions, book suggestions, apps/services recommendations. Do I recommend
the website? Maybe. Do I recommend the newsletter? Yes.
Best things I did
- Deleted Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp
- Did
a stand up
- Applied and got admitted to the Technical University of Munich.
Happy new year!