Welcome to bookmark

Thank you so much for your email. Welcome to my private list of monthly book recommendations! At the end of each month, I'll be sending you a roundup of the books I've read recently and think you will enjoy. To get you started, here's a list of a few of my favourite books:

1. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

This book sits on my bedside table. Any page I flip to, I am again blown away by the insight. If I had to choose one book to recommend, this would be it.

2. 4 Hour-Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

This book changed the way I think at an impressionable time in my life. I clearly remember picking it up off the shelf, intrigued but skeptical of the title. Choosing to pick up this book and discover more about its author has lead to much expansion of my thinking. It's about being effective. I read the notes I took from this book once a quarter, and it's a constant reminder to question assumptions.

3. Poor Charlie's Almanack by Charlie Munger

My “start here” recommendation for anyone wanting to learn about business or thinking in general. Even as I flip through my notes, fireworks go off in my brain at each sentence. It’s just so good. In an ideal world, I'd want everyone I work with to have read this book. I’m always on the lookout for what economist Tyler Cowen calls “quake books”, pieces of writing that are so powerful they shake up your entire worldview, and this is definitely one of those books. One take away that I wanted to share: "Self-pity is always counter-productive, It's the wrong way to think. And when you avoid it you get a great advantage over everybody else or almost everybody else, because self-pity is a standard response. And you can train yourself out of it."

4. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Haruki Murakami is one of my favourite fiction authors. I use fiction as a way to wind down at the end of the day and think in different ways. Reading Murakami seems to bring up ideas I didn't know existed, often making me laugh out loud with realization.

5. A Work in Progress: A Journal by René Redzepi

This book took me DEEP down a rabbit hole of curiosity, and it came about in such an unsuspecting way (like all great things). As I do on the weekends, I was moseying through one of my favourite Vancouver shops (Old Faithful), when I happened to pick up this unassuming pale blue book with simple black writing on the front- “A Journal”. I would have set it back down and moved on had something not caught my eye at the last second- Lars Ulrich. I could feel the gears turning... Lars, like Metallica Lars Ulrich?! What the heck is he doing writing the forward to a book that seems to be about cooking by some dude named René?

What I would quickly come to discover is that René is one of the most (if not the most) highly regarded and respected chefs, with his restaurant Noma being voted the best in the world for three consecutive years. The book gives an outstanding glimpse into his mind and how he views creativity, with all of its struggles and triumphs. Experiences like this always make me wonder- how many worlds are out there to experience that we know currently nothing about? More than anything, it is this curiosity to know and discover more that drives me. As an example of following my curiosity, I uncovered this wonderful exchange between Jiro Ono (of Jiro Dreams of Sushi) and René (watch it). My favourite part was when René asked Jiro about when he felt he was a master, how many years it took until he felt he was doing a good job- Jiro's answer? 50! 50 years! This reinforced to me the importance of playing the long game.

Some of my greatest satisfaction in life has come from discovering connections between ideas. Browsing in a bookstore and feeling the possibility that exists in the words around me. I look forward to connecting with you, and it's my hope that you find value in these books. Please don't hesitate to send me an email if you discover something meaningful or if you have any related recommendations.