The Highly Sensitive Parent by Elaine Aron

Could you be highly sensitive person? A highly sensitive person is someone who can get overwhelmed by various senses such as noise, smells, clutter that would not bother most people.

I got two kids and sometimes they both are crying and screaming at the same time. Their screams causes my neck, shoulders and arms to get stiff and I feel tingling or pins all over my arms. This sounds like heart attack and I am going to doctor to have it checked but quick search showed that this might be due to High Sensitivity towards noises or screams. And that’s when I learned about Highly Sensitive People aka HSP.

It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War by Lynsey Addario

“It’s What I Do” by Lynsey Addario is probably in my top 10 favorite books. As someone who always wanted to be a serious photographer who would use images to make the world better place, I felt a real connection while reading this book. While reading it, I imagined myself being in the situations that Lynsey was in and I really don’t know if I would have been able to handle those situations.

Ask HN: What book changed your life?

Saw this post on Hacker’s News. A lot of interesting books to read.

Developer Hegemony by Erik Dietrich

I am not sure how I found this book by Erik Dietrich. Maybe Google or Amazon recommended it. But I found it very inspiring. There are so many things in it that I agree with and so many new things that I am still having hard time believing.

As a developer, who is having a hard time figuring out his career, this book provided an interest perspective. The basic idea in it is that in any big corporation, developers are unlikely to find fulfilment. They may truly believe in their employer’s mission and try to climb corporate ladder. When they do that they will get stuck in middle management. They will keep working hard, hoping to move on to executive roles but very few would do by believing and hard work alone.

The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber

My biggest takeaway from this book was that most people start business to create a job for themselves. For example, a person who enjoys baking may start a cake shop. The problem with this approach is that one is working in the business, not on it. The right way to start a business is with a goal of eliminating one’s job. For example, the person above should figure out a way to hire someone else to do baking.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

I learned of Mark Manson through his blog, especially this post, 7 Strange Questions That Help You Find Your Purpose. Since then I have been on and off following his blog. He usually has a lot of good advice, so finally I decided to get his book. Makes it easier to have all information in one place.

I had no idea what Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck was about. It was an impulse purchase, perhaps to support his blog. It turns out to be a really good book. As a semi-regular reader of his blog, I sort of knew what his philosophies were. Still it was good to read everything in one place.

The War of Art

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield. It shows up on Hacker’s News and other entrepreneurs’ forums regularly as a recommended reading. Steven Pressfield is a novelist but this book is popular reading for anyone who is pursuing a goal.

The author’s main point is that the most important and the hardest thing is doing. Weather that be sitting down at desk to write a novel or software. Once you are at your desk, or at your office, the hard part is done. This can apply to anything; fitness, painting, photography, etc.

How to Fail at almost Everything & Still Win Big

How to Fail at almost Everything but still Win Big by Scott Adams (affiliate link) comes up on Hackers’ News a lot. Finally, I had a chance to read it.

This is a little different kind of book compared to my regular reads about ultra-successful business titans. I had no idea who Scott Adams was until I heard about this book. He created Dilbert comic. He gave very down to earth perspective on how he achieved success in this book.

4 Hour Body by Tim Ferris

Slow Motion Workout

The technical term is 5/5 Cadence (5 seconds up, 5 seconds down). I tried this for the first time on Sunday, it is really intense. Momentum is not there to help you. You will feel every part of your muscle throughout the motion.

Weights

Tim Ferris showed a simple formula to figure out what should be the starting weight to workout with. Simply do regular sets. If you can do 5 rep, wait a minute & then increase the weight by 10 lb or 10%. When you fail a set, then take 70% of last 5 rep set and use that weight for slow motion workout. You can figure out weights to use by trial and error. This should prevent injuries or wasted time.