Brian Yahn > Recent Status Updates

So far, this book is surprisingly straightforward. Although I love Tartt's voice and style, and I do like the protagonist a lot, I'm kind of shocked at how... plain? This story is so far.

The story is definitely keeping my interest, but at the same time, I'm scratching my head wondering how this won a Pulitzer. So far - The Secret History seems to be in different (much higher) league from this book.

Time will tell.

Hot damn - do I believe the mom or the rest of the family?

In the first act - I had this sense that I was *going* to like this book and the characters, but I didn't yet. I was just intrigued. After Act 2a and 2b - I can't stop thinking about these characters.

Somehow I get the sense that a lot of families had similar dynamics. There's something about reading this that just feels like you've been there before.

Umm, this is one of favorite plays, and I'm not really sure why. Excited to reflect on it, but I am LOVING the character that pretty much only randomly screams quotes from a poem:

The day grows hot, O Babylon! 'Tis cool beneath thy willow trees!

At the end of Act 1, this is bringing back memories of Of Mice and Men in a very good way! I'm invested in most of the characters, and I am really excited to see where Hickey takes the drunks in The Palace of Pipedreams!

Dust Theory is one of the most interesting things I've ever read about. It gives you a whole new way to think about the world - like Einstein's theory of General Relativity. This book is one of the most enlightening books I've ever read, plus it's a page-turning thriller. As a fiction, this is hard to beat.

This book is THE BOMB.

It's a thriller like Inception, but -- I think -- with a much more interesting high-concept premise. It's especially interesting to read as a dated speculative sci-fi to see how well this book has aged.

Philosophically - this is one of the more interesting world's and thought experiments that I've encountered. The fact that it's wrapped up in a good thriller is a nice bonus.

This is refreshingly different. The narrator goes into too much description at times and not enough at others, but overall the story is constantly moving in surprising and exciting directions, and I'm loving the voice.

I am getting sucked into Anna's life, and I'm really liking her friends.

This book is pure entertainment for me.

Anna creates a great atmosphere with her tone, and it's perhaps the perfect way to describe the culture of Silicon Valley.

As an insider, it's fun walk down memory lane. I can't really judge it from an outsider's perspective, but I suspect it wouldn't be too eye-opening or enjoyable.

The new characters didn't pique my interest in the first couple of chapters, and this story was seeming like it would feel like a rehash of the last books, but in the next few chapters -- the characters have really drawn me in. I love where this is going. It's a fresh twist on the games, and the world has changed a lot. But the book has the same vibe & mood from the original series that I loved.

The vast majority of people are in debt to a few rich creditors. Debt shapes so much or our individual lives and our collective society. I'm really glad I'm reading this. It's sort of like when people say you spend 1/3rd of your life asleep, so you should have a nice car. Most people spend their whole lives in debt, so you should probably learn about it! It's eye opening, to say the least.

I spend a lot of time thinking about if what I'm doing is a good use of my time -- ironically.

I haven't spent much time thinking about why we as a society dedicate so much of our lives to "making money".

But this book spells out how big of a role debt plays into that, and how we've been trapped into debt from birth, basically forever. So much of our beliefs revolve around escaping debt. But we only get deeper.

Wow, the title sounds like this book would be a major snooze, but hot damn it's absolutely fascinating.

But it's equal parts depressing. So much of human life revolves around the economy. We like to think the economy exists because it suits our needs. But we've more or less built our life around the economy, even though it's orthogonal to our wants and needs.

Best of all, the narrative is great!

I picked an interesting time to read this book. It's about how feedback loops affect the market. When someone buys a stock at a higher price, more people will buy the stock, because the price is growing. As more people buy, it grows farther and farther. But there's really no reason. This is feedback. It's similar to how epidemics cause chaos. Good read while the Coronavirus outbreak is in progress. Stay safe, readers

This is reminds me of Of Mice and Men so much. I'm hoping the ending is as good. It's not anywhere near as dramatic so far, but I'm liking the characters just as much.

Basically, a few guys go Frogging to make some money to throw a friend a party. Doesn't sound like the setup for a good story, but it's great!

Steinbeck strikes again.

I was CONVINCED for the first 20% that I had finally found a Steinbeck book that I wouldn't like. But I kept reading, because this bastard has done this to me enough by now to know better... And I'm pretty sure this is going to be one of my favorite books.

I'm not sure why I hate all of his books in the beginning and then love them by the middle, but I do. Never give up on Steinbeck!!!

Excited to be reading my favorite author again, with one my best friends 🕺🕺

Excited to be reading my favorite author again, with one of my best friends 🕺🕺🎉🎉

I shouldn't have skipped half the books in this series...

I'm not completely sold on this book. But I do plan to read the entire series -- which is something I never thought I'd say about non-fiction.

Nassim Taleb is definitely one of my new favorite authors.

People criticize Nassim for being a hypocrite writing this book. He says never take advice from people without skin in the game. Yet he's giving advice, they say, without skin in the game.

This is ridiculous. He warns about someone who has something to gain if you take their advice and nothing to lose. In that situation, be very skeptical.

Nassim has nothing to gain. Be skeptical, sure. But he's not hypocritical.

This book is so good it's making me not hate Java. It's almost making me like Java 🙀

I love the idea this book presents:

Always think of the incentives and exposures a person has when giving advice. If a person has nothing to lose by giving you bad advice, and nothing to gain by giving you good advice, you should be skeptical they'll put in any effort to give you good advice.

I love Nassim's way of telling stories, but so far it feels like he's saying a bunch of stuff without making many points.

This is one of the rare books that was nothing like what I expected but is turning out to be better than I could have imagined. In a lot of ways, it was exactly the opposite of what I thought it would be. In a lot of ways, it's just another first-hand account of WWII and the concentration camps. But just the fact that it focuses on feelings makes all the difference. It's incredible!

Well.... I thought I was both smart and good at my job until I started reading this book... And then I realized that I'm neither ]=

I thought this book would center around HOW Victor Frankel found meaning in life while in a concentration camp. It's more just about what it felt like to live there. I probably wouldn't have started the book if I knew that, but I'm glad that I did. It's really good.

Compared to Sapiens and Homo Deus -- this is a bit of a disappointment. So far, it either 1) reiterates on topics he covered in the previous two books, or 2) covers issues commonly discussed without adding much to the conversation.

I'm enjoying the book a lot, but it does feel a bit like reading inside my own echo chamber. The last chapter, about God & religion, was actually really insightful. Hoping for more...

I've read a lot of good books. This might be the best one ever. As Taleb says, it's the right combination of insightful and non-dull. At times, it's hilarious. Always it's insightful. Potentially discovering a new favorite author in Taleb, and he's got me really excited to read Umberto Eco as well. I'm officially in love with this book. It's changing my entire world view.

I'm loving the premise of this book. I'm a sucker for quest stories and mysteries and high-concept premises, so I tore through the beginning of this book in no time.

Unfortunately, I think the narrative style -- the psuedo-epistolary nature -- isn't allowing for the characters to have enough depth to keep me wanting more.