DuRegger
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What I'm reading...


I've been a book worm since a young age. From Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys to Encyclopedia Brittanica, I've always had a book in my bag or on my nightstand. I have found reading to be one of the cheapest and most worthwhile investments you can make in yourself. #librarycard

2023

Let's go!!

Light Bringer: A Red Rising Novel by Pierce Brown

Giddy... pre-ordered, arrives July 25th!

Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism by Daniel Pinchbeck

Recommended by Jordan Peterson on his Biblical Series Podcasts

A Place of My Own: The Architecture of Daydreams by Michael Pollan

Recommended by Bradford Ulrich

The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin

Rick Rubin is uniquely his own.

The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross by John M. Allegro

Text book... not peer reviewed.

Good Prose

Always trying to get better as a writer.

Born to Run 2 by Christopher McDougall and Eric Orton

Loved Born to Run! This is helping me see running as more a lifestyle than something to do to be fit/lose weight. Working on core and form.

The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World by Max Fisher

Incredible so far... found this author through the Rich Roll Podcast, must read if you've got kids entering into mobile phone season!

An Instinct for Dragons by David E. Jones

Really fascinating read on our instinct for dragons. It unpacks the β€œthree prey theory,” which is that evolutionary hardwiring on our DNA of predatory recognition and response to: Birds of Prey, Snakes, and Large Cats.

Religion and the Rise of Capitalism by Benjamin Friedman

Started in 2022. Text book. I may have found my tribe... the other readers of this book!

Bored Lonely Angry Stupid: Changing feelings about Technology, from the Telegraph to Twitter by Luke Fernandez and Susan J. Matt

Started in 2021. Text book. Very thick, slow going, but great information and research oriented view on Digital Technology and Social Media.

Maps of Meaning by Jordan Peterson

Started in 2021. Text book. Slow going, need to be caffeinated with highlighter in hand.

It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy by Captain D. Michael Abrashoff

Introduction had me humming!! Fantastic read for any manager, leader, and team member.

Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization by Scott Barry Kaufman

Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries by Safi Bahcall

Managing innovation is about organizational structure and managing the communication phases between operations and innovation teams.

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk M.D

Empowered by Marty Cagan

Marty's first book on Product Management, "Inspired" has been required reading, we'll see how this lands.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
The Rebel by Albert Camus
Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil
Chapterhouse Dune by Frank Herbert
The Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert
Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert
American War: A Novel by Omar El Akkad

2022

Not the year I had hoped, as far as πŸ“š goes! Was able to get few new ideas and concepts stuffed in my 🧠!

The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World by Max Fisher

Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness by Steve Magness

For those interested in the psychology around performance in athletics or your career, Do Hard Things by Steve Magness is a refreshing course on not grit, but observation and selective decisioning. Knowing your body, your motivations, and your goals... being able to navigate between the nuance and the big picture to get through the toughest race, project or season of life. Great insights, I highly recommend.

The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly

Quick read, good things to think on... how do we invest in and launch our employees into their dreams?

Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant

Good research and historical biographies of Originals and how they create change (and fail at creating change).

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant

Heavy research oriented, many research pieces I had read in other more books, seemed like a rehashing of data that has been around a while. A bit disappointing, IMO.

Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design by Kat Holmes

Great resource for designers and product managers to work through and understand.

Religion and the Rise of Capitalism by Benjamin Friedman

I may have found my tribe... other readers of this book.

Range by David Epstein

The opposite of the Malcom Gladwell 10,000 hours concept.

One Long River of Song by Brian Doyle

Introduction by David James Duncan, one of my favorite authors. Collection of essays.

Nightfall by Isaac Asimov
Quiet

Almost a research paper in its depth and sources.

Iron Gold by Pierce Brown
Dark Age by Pierce Brown
Gamification by Yu-Kai Chou

Thick text book on Gamification strategy. Using it for work on Monifi app and gamification of goals.

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Using this as a foundation for spurring savings in Monifi users via the Monifi app. It will feed into how we talk about save to save and save to spend goals.

The 5am Club: Own your morning, elevate your life by Robin Sharma

Trying to build morning habits... I'm kinda πŸ˜‘ about this book. I finished it, but definitely skimmed parts. A lot of quotes. A lot. Story form with some good habit building takeaways.

Maps of Meaning by Jordan Peterson

Started in 2021. Text book. Slow going, need to be caffeinated with highlighter in hand.

Children of Dune by Frank Herbert

Started in 2021. Good, not as great as Dune and Dune Messiah. Interesting last quarter of the book... did not see that coming.

Bored Lonely Angry Stupid: Changing feelings about Technology, from the Telegraph to Twitter by Luke Fernandez and Susan J. Matt

Started in 2021. Text book. Very thick, slow going, but great information and research oriented view on Digital Technology and Social Media.

Anxiety: Meditations on the anxious mind by Alain de Botton

Started in 2021. Really interesting book on managing anxiety in a digital world.

The Christian Agnostic by Leslie D. Weatherhead

Started in 2021. On my brother's recommendation, interesting take on the failings of dogma and doctrine for an learned culture, written over 50 years ago.

This Is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan

Started in 2021. Great chapter on caffeine!

The Coddling of the American Mind by Jonathan Haidt

Started in 2021. Ugh, as a dad of four daughters, this one is hitting too close to home. #girldad #technology READ CHAPTER 17

2021

Build mode at work... lots of coaching and hiring new team members, left little time in the margins to read.

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
Dune by Frank Herbert

Re-reading Dune to get a kick into the remaining series.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Such a good story and amazingly introduced characters. Loved it.

Product Leadership: How Top Product Managers Launch Awesome Products and Build Successful Teams

I read this one every year or so, as I take new Product Owners through the book.

Inspired by Marty Cagan

Collection of Product oriented essays, good for teams beginning their agile journey.

The Stranger by Albert Camus

What are your convictions? If you have none, what could you be capable of?

The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus

"One can imagine Sisyphus happy." is one of my favorite quotes to end a book.

The Heart Aroused by David Whyte

"A poetic call for the heart of Corporate America.

Renegades: Born in the USA

"Collection of speeches, songs and transcribed conversations between Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen.

Our Only World by Wendell Berry
This is it by Alan Watts
Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline

Loved the first book! Ready Player Two takes a more dire course but if your an 80's baby the references kill.

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

I'm not one for biographies, per se, but this 700+ page book had me hooked, so much to learn from in the subtle wisdom of a self-taught lawyer.

Master of None by Cliff Hudson

Having worked under Cliff, I can attest to his dedication to hiring entrepreneurial minded leaders and empowering them towards collaborative success.

The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle
Pitching Ideas by Jeroen van Geel
Transform: A rebel's guide for digital transformation by Gerry McGovern
Bank 4.0 by Brett King

Catching up on the evolution of Banking technology and experience. #dayjob

2020

The year of Isaac Asimov and Pierce Brown!! Lot's of fiction to get me through the stress of the pandemic!!

Forward the Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov
Foundation Edge by Isaac Asimov
Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Foudnation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Artemis by Andy Weir
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Absolutely loved it. Book is great!! Movie takes much more visual approach to the themes of the book, not much consistency between the two.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Bank 3.0 by Brett King

Catching up on the evolution of Banking technology and experience. #dayjob

Bank 2.0 by Brett King

Catching up on the evolution of Banking technology and experience. #dayjob

Answer to Job by Carl Jung
Draft No. 4 by John McPhee
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
Song of Myself by Walt Whitman
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Golden Son by Pierce Brown
Morning Star by Pierce Brown
First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through Anxiety by Sarah Wilson
The Great Mental Models by Rhiannon Beaubien & Shane Parrish

2019

Solid year... caught up on some authors, whose sentiments and philosophy I've found to be sticky! #Ogilvy #Lanier

The Martian by Andy Weir

So, so, so good.

Dune by Frank Herbert

1st time reading Dune!!

A New City O/S by Stephen Goldsmith & Neil Kleiman
Citizenville by Gavin Newsom
Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy
Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy
Ogilvy on Advertising in the Digitial Age by Miles Young
Rework by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson
Remote by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson
It doesn't have to be crazy at work by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson
The Soul of Man Under Socialism by Oscar Wilde
Who Owns the Future by Jaron Lanier
Ten  by Jaron Lanier
You are not a Gadget by Jaron Lanier

Recommendations

Books I've read through the years, that have had an impact.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
1984 by George Orwell
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
The Count of Monte Christo by Alexander Dumas
On The Road by Jack Kerouac
Big Sur by Jack Kerouac
Thin Red Line by James Jones
Telling the Truth: The Gospels as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale by Frederick Buechner
The Magnificent Defeat by Frederick Buechner
Hopeful Imagination by Walter Brueggemann
The Prophetic Imagination by Walter Brueggemann
The Mystery of Marriage by Mike Mason
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Rilke
Where Silence Reigns by Rainer Rilke
A River Runs Through It by Norman MaClean
The River Why by David James Duncan
The Shape of Design by Frank Chimero

"A room without books is like a body without a soul."


- Cicero

© 2023 | Sam DuRegger | HT: Bradford Ulrich for the Reading List code.

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