These books aren't in any specific order.
Show Your Work! taught me the importance of getting your work online — specially in the internet age — which eventually led me to start publishing this blog.
Steal like an Artist gave me freedom to embrace the idea that everything is a copy. You should start literally copying and emulating those you admire, but not pretending you are the genius behind. Eventually your uniqueness will separate your work.
I must confess, I never finished the The Artist's Way 12 week program. However, thanks to the book I created the habit of writing my thoughts down almost daily since 2019. This helped me a lot to make decisions and resolve personal issues.
The Checklist Manifesto showed me how a personal obsession was really a gift in disguise and more necessary than expected, and showed me the power of the clarity a simple checklist can give.
On Writing Well taught me writing is a constant process, you don't need to get it right the first time and how writing and communicating in a clear and simple way is one of the most important skills for life.
Writing to Learn, of the same author, showed me that instead of using any advanced techniques for learning, most of the time you only need to write it down what you are trying to understand and this process will force you to fill the gaps in your understanding. I use extensively when writing, especially in Obsidian, to make my thoughts clearer.
After reading How to Take Smart Notes, every time I see someone reading without a pen in their hand, I know this person is probably wasting a bunch of time. It taught me the importance of really engaging with the reading material. It embraces the concept of writing like Writing to Learn.
Every chapter in The Psychology of Money taught something important, I think it's the first book on finance everyone should read.
Atomic Habits was the first habits book that really stuck with me because of the 2-Minute Rule and how working consistently even if for 2 minutes a day on a habit, focusing on the system behind, changing your Identity first and the template to make the habits easier.
The Lean Startup stopped me from starting projects and writing software that I knew deep down nobody would use — including myself — and the importance of having real customers with real problems you can help solve.
Ultralearning provides a nice framework for learning anything new. I used the principles to learn most of what I know about cloud architecture, application security and performance testing. I'm obsessed with the idea of project based learning instead of relying completely formal education. The book also cites Eric Barone who I'm fascinated, alongside other solo game developers like Toby Fox, the creator of Undertale, and Daisuke Amaya, the creator of Cave Story.
Nonviolent Communication and Crucial Conversations, despite being really hard to apply on every situation helped me handle conflict a couple of times. But I warn you it's not guaranteed to always solve the problem because malevolence exists and some people really just want to screw your life.
Crime and Punishment made me realize how much of our ideas simply control ourselves and we can't consciously get rid of them.
The Nineties opened my eyes to how much culture can change in just 10 years and how everyone is byproduct of that.
More to come...