Five Books Every Human Should Read
I’m sorry. You were looking for a listicle, but instead you are going to have a brief existential crisis. There have been more books published this month then you will ever have the chance to read in your lifetime. This is why this is an extremely curated list that will never grow above 5. It only includes those books that I believe every human should read given their limited time on this earth.
- On Writing Well by William Zinsser
Writing well is one of the most important skills. I think it will become even more important as we enter the age of AI generated garbage. Even if you’re not a professional writer, the lessons in this book will help you throughout life.
- I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
Ignore the cheesy title, this is the personal finance education that I wish I got when I was a teenager. This book changed my life.
- Principles by Ray Dalio
A field guide for how to build a life you are proud of.
- How to Live by Derek Sivers
I think if Derek Sivers started a cult, I’d join it. A book of contradicting philosophies, it inspires me, makes me angry, and provokes lingering thoughts every time I read it. Reading this book is how to live.
- [still searching]
Thank you for reading! Share your thoughts with me on bluesky, mastodon, or via email.
Check out some more stuff to read down below.
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Recent Favorite Blog Posts
This is a collection of the last 8 posts that I bookmarked.
- Pluralistic: bunnie's piggyback hack (09 Jan 2026) from Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
- Clicks Communicator from Chris Hannah
- A Year Of Vibes from Armin Ronacher's Thoughts and Writings
- Pluralistic: A perfect distillation of the social uselessness of finance (18 Dec 2025) from Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
- Moving from WordPress to Substack from charity.wtf
- Grow, Like a Tree Not a Cancer from Jim Nielsen’s Blog
- Pluralistic: All the books I reviewed in 2025 (02 Dec 2025) from Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
- DEP-18: A proposal for Git-based collaboration in Debian from Optimized by Otto
Articles from blogs I follow around the net
Bandcamp is Taking Slop Head On with Unequivocal Ban, to the Cheers of Music Lovers Everywhere
’Tis But Some Quick News for January 16, 2026 Bandcamp read the room. It is the hero we need in our hour of darkness. Amidst an onslaught of horrendous AI-generated slop pretending to be music (Spotify is rife with this garbage, though they keep claiming …
via The Internet Review January 16, 2026Pluralistic: Catch this! (16 Jan 2026)
Today's links Catch this! Email is good, actually. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: LDS excommunication; King Foundation v "I Have a Dream"; "Lat-stage capitalism" v "Christ, what an asshole"; Pelosi …
via Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow January 16, 2026Liberating the ASUS CX1100CN Chromebook with OpenBSD
Liberating the ASUS CX1100CN Chromebook with OpenBSD 2026-01-16 I’ve always enjoyed the idea of having a portable, lightweight, 11 inch laptop for my personal use for around the house and small trips. A device that I wouldn’t have to be concerned about just…
via btxx.org RSS Feed January 16, 2026Generated by openring