What I'm Reading & Why It Matters
I don't read for productivity theater. I read to make fewer expensive mistakes in business. Here's what's currently shaping my thinking and how it applies to building companies.
Updated since July 2025
Currently Reading:
How Countries Go Broke: The Big Cycle by Ray Dalio
- Why I picked it up: After my Bogleheads discovery, I want to understand macro debt cycles and how they affect long-term investing strategies
- Key takeaway so far: Government debt isn't just a policy issue - it's a business planning issue. If Dalio's right about the debt cycle, I need different hedging strategies for ANC's 30-year horizon
Recently Finished:
The Sovereign Individual by James Dale Davidson & William Rees-Mogg
- The insight: Nation-states will lose power to technology and individual sovereignty - written in 1997 but predicting crypto, remote work, and jurisdictional arbitrage
- How I used it: Influenced my decision to structure ANC across multiple jurisdictions (Canada, US, UAE). The "cognitive elite" concept validates my focus on high-skill, low-headcount teams
Get Rich with Dividends by Marc Lichtenfeld
- The insight: Dividend growth investing can work, but requires more active management than I want right now
- Why I'm not implementing: Conflicts with my Bogleheads simplicity approach. Valuable for future consideration when I have more capital to manage actively
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel (re-read)
- Why I re-read it: Wanted to revisit after my quant trading failure and Bogleheads conversion
- New takeaway: "Being reasonable is more important than being rational" - explains why simple index funds work better than complex algorithms for most people, including me
Books That Changed My Business:
Zero to One by Peter Thiel - Why I focus on monopoly-like positioning instead of competing in crowded markets
The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz - Framework for making decisions when there are no good options (like walking away from the $3-5M partnership)
Disciplined Entrepreneurship by Bill Aulet - 24-step process I used for early SimpleDirect validation, though I simplified it heavily
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries - MVP thinking, but I learned customers often want simpler solutions than your MVP
Principles by Ray Dalio - Radical transparency concept influenced how I structure team feedback at ANC
The Sovereign Individual - Why I'm building ANC as a global entity instead of just in one country
What I'm Looking For:
- Macro economic cycles and how they affect 30-year business planning
- Jurisdictional arbitrage strategies for tech companies
- Simple systems that compound over complexity
- Historical patterns of technological disruption and individual adaptation
Books That Disappointed Me:
Most productivity books - Generic advice you could find in any business blog. I prefer books with specific frameworks and real failure stories.
This tracks books that actually influenced business decisions, not just ones I finished. Updated as new reads impact how I build companies.
-1754757174784.jpg)
