Reading List for July 2025
Author Shane Parrish once pointed out that everyone wants the summary. But the summary is what's left after someone else decided what matters. Their priorities aren't yours. Their filters aren't yours. When you operate on summaries, you're thinking with someone else's brain. I keep coming back to this as I read and explore books and recommendations. Which is why I find that the best way to read the right things is a combination of knowing yourself, understanding your threshold for complex ideas and how far you have explored your own sources for what to read next. It’s kind of what I try to achieve every month by sharing my reading list. It’s kind of what I love to discuss with others too. I hope you enjoy my reading list for this month!
Travels with Epicurus: Meditations from a Greek Island on the Pleasures of Old Age by Daniel Klein - This might be one of my favorite reads ever, and is perfect for an accessible yet profound entry into philosophy. I discovered it through Ryan Holiday, who highlighted this powerful passage: “I remember one long-ago evening, on an overcrowded train to Philadelphia, hearing a young woman moan to her mother, ‘God I wish we were there already!’ Her white-haired mother replied eloquently, ‘Darling, never wish away a minute of your life.’” Klein combines an academic background in philosophy and lived experiences, exploring the merits of old age while actually traveling to a Greek island. He covers a lot of ground in Epicureanism in very relatable terms with close to 150 pages. His journey explores existentialism, our interpretation of time, moderation, solitude, relationships, among others.
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson - This work is one of the best explorations I’ve read on wealth and happiness and I reread it every six to twelve months. I learned about it by following one of my idols, Tim Ferriss. We can categorize this as a business book, but it also feels like self-help and fundamental thinking. I know Naval as the founder of AngelList, a platform successfully connecting startup founders with investors to connect ideas. But he has also been behind investing in very successful startups like Uber, Twitter and Postmates. This book gives you a glance to challenge the status quo and also knowing where you want to stop. It is a good reminder that, in a goal-oriented life, 99% of our efforts are wasted, and only 1% pays off. It is also a good reminder that both wealth and happiness are intertwined, that both are choices and that they are also skills that you need to develop. This book is also available to download for free here.
Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan - This is one of the most technical books I’ve read this month and my interest grew in understanding what does product management mean in organizations and why is the variance so meaningful. It’s a “how-to” 101 book on product management. I’ve learned about Cagan by trying to explore the most exhaustive books on the topic. Despite it references case studies on Amazon, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Tesla—I actually found more value in his exploration about how to create better roadmaps, how to manage technical expectations, how to build the fundamentals of a leader that wears multiple hats, how to drive a successful product design, and last but not least, a summary of Ben Horowitz’s Good Product Manager / Bad Product Manager. I’d recommend this book for starting product managers and take an approach to follow up referenced books inside the text. I hope to continue exploring these topics in my next reading lists too.
Only the Paranoid Survive: How to exploit the crisis points that challenge every company and career by Andrew Grove - There is a proverb that I turn to often when facing challenging situations: "anyone can steer the ship when the sea is calm”. This book brings a strategic view on recognizing a shifting environment and what to do about it. Grove was the third employee and eventual CEO of Intel Corporation, the largest semiconductor company in the world. His famous work High Output Management is said to have revolutionized the business world for its focus on things we can measure. But whether you own a company or you are taking an introspection in your own skillset, this book takes a different, humble approach on our ability to recognize points of change. He brings one of the most eloquent views by saying that the best tools to recognize shifting signals are “instinct and judgement”. For me it feels like both concepts are intertwined. On the one hand, instinct feels like a result of your continuous ability to learn from experience and take decisions with leverage on outcomes. On the other hand, judgement helps us remain flexible to the changing environment, building wisdom by becoming really good at something and understanding the signals when they happen. Outside of this topic, another book I’d recommend to learn more about global semiconductors development after Grove’s Intel experience is Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology by Chris Miller.
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse - A 1922 masterpiece. “Knowledge can be conveyed, but not wisdom” is the blurb in this famous work by Hesse. It is a fictional tale of a young man who was born around the same time as Buddha and makes an exploration to find enlightenment and inner peace throughout Eastern philosophy. Hesse beautifully explores points on Buddhism and Hinduism in a simple but deep way. One dialogue struck me in Siddhartha’s journey when he meets a merchant, and the merchant in his commercial interest asks “what is it now what you’ve got to give? What is it that you’ve learned, what you’re able to do?” And Siddhartha responds “I can think. I can wait. I can fast.” Interpretations of this answer can vary, but how much do we undermine those three things, yet how crucial they are in our own journeys?
The Coaching Habit: Say less, ask more & change the way you lead forever by Michael Bungay Stanier - If you are looking to understand a model on how to improve your relationships with colleagues throughout crucial conversations, this book is a great starter. The author categorizes coaching under two branches: that for performance and that for development; this book is an exploration of the second. He points out that the hardest part to recognize in coaching is our irresistible ability to try to give advice to others when situations turn difficult. Even more, what’s harder to recognize is what does “help” mean once the real challenge comes through. Bungay brings seven questions to recognize how the person you are looking to help can find a fundamental solution to problems, and once that’s clear, to identify the best ways that you can help. “People don’t really learn when you tell them something.” writes Bungay on learning, “they don’t even really learn when they do something. They start learning, start creating new neural pathways only when they have a chance to recall and reflect on what just happened.”
Right Thing, Right Now: Good Values. Good Character. Good Deeds by Ryan Holiday - I have explored Holiday’s series on the four cardinal virtues of Stoicism: Courage, Discipline, Justice and Wisdom. Holiday explores the strength of the hardest virtue, “Justice,” with multiple historical events and people to relate to philosophical learnings. This time, using the lives of the U.S. President Harry Truman, Mahatma Gandhi, the emancipation, women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights, and many other history-changing events. Rather than waiting for perfect moments to act justly, Holiday shows us that the Stoics believed we should see every person we meet as an opportunity for kindness. A strong aphorism that I am still thinking about: “It’s easier to be a great man than a good one.” In our hunt for material gains and accomplishments, what would the world look like if more people decided to try to see who helped the most people? Or who could forgive the most grievous wrong? Or who prevented the battle instead of won it?
I'd love to hear your thoughts on these ideas. The best books you can read come to you through word of mouth, so if you know good titles that relate, please share them! If any of these resonate with you, pass them along.