Reading List
Category: Books Last updated: 2026-04-06
Jack’s reading list is tracked in Notion’s “Jotion V4 Media List” database. It covers technical, business, self-improvement, AI, philosophy, fiction, and history. Books are rated 1–5 stars with status (Finished / In Progress / To Read) and Jack’s own summaries where provided.
5-Star Reads (Exceptional)
| Book | Author | Category | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Courage to Be Disliked | Ichiro Kishimi, Fumitake Koga | Improvement | Finished |
| Agents in the Long Game of AI | McShane, Nirenburg, English | AI | Finished |
4-Star Reads (Highly Recommended)
| Book | Author | Category | Status | Jack’s Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Billion Dollar Whale | Tom Wright, Bradley Hope | Business | In Progress | “Jho Low is probably one of the most interesting guys that I have had the honor to read…” |
| System Design Interview | Alex Xu | Technical | In Progress | — |
| Life 3.0 | Max Tegmark | SciFi/AI | Finished | — |
| Models | Mark Manson | Improvement | In Progress | — |
| Deep Learning Illustrated | Krohn, Beyleveld, Bassens | AI | In Progress | — |
| Essentialism | Greg McKeown | Personal Development | Finished | “This book is about being able to do less.” |
| 50 Political Ideas You Really Need to Know | Ben Dupré | History | Finished | “More like an encyclopedia than engaging.” |
| Understanding Deep Learning | — | AI | In Progress | — |
Currently Reading (In Progress, Unrated)
| Book | Author | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Grokking Deep Reinforcement Learning | Miguel Morales | Started |
| Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don’t | Jeffrey Pfeffer | Started |
| Outline of Classical Chinese Grammar | Edwin Pulleyblank | — |
| Taking Charge of Adult ADHD | Russell Barkley | — |
| The Rare Find | George Anders | — |
| The Art of Strategy | Dixit, Nalebuff | — |
| Elements of Programming Interviews in Python | Aziz, Lee, Prakash | — |
| The Power to Compete | Ryoichi Mikitani | — |
| Why Nations Fail | Acemoglu, Robinson | — |
| Models: Attract Women Through Honesty | Mark Manson | Duplicate entry, same as above |
Notable Observations
The ADHD book: “Taking Charge of Adult ADHD” by Russell Barkley appears in the active reading list. This is the only direct health/neurology reference in the reading list and likely connects to self-diagnosis or exploration.
Classical Chinese Grammar: Unexpected. Jack is either studying classical Chinese for language depth, philosophical reading (Confucian texts, Taoism), or as part of his Japan/Asia cultural interest.
The Power to Compete: Co-authored by Ryoichi Mikitani (founder of Rakuten), this book is about Japan’s struggle to compete globally. Given Jack’s Japan affinity and his Asia travel ambitions (Shanghai, Tokyo, Osaka), this is a pointed choice.
DRL + browser agents connection: Jack is reading Grokking Deep Reinforcement Learning at the same time he wrote his 3-star technical essay on using DRL for browser agents. The book is feeding the essay.
Power (Pfeffer): Jeffrey Pfeffer’s Power is a hardheaded, amoral analysis of how power actually works in organizations — not how it should. Jack’s reading this alongside Essentialism (do less) and Models (authentic attraction). An interesting triad.
Pages
Detailed pages exist for selected books: - The Courage To Be Disliked - Billion Dollar Whale - Essentialism - Life 30
Related
Revision history
| Date | Commit | Edit summary |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-04-06 05:04:20 | c3410fe8 | expand: books section (4 pages), projects (4 pages), fitness (3 pages), dreams (3 pages), concepts (3 new pages), nav updated to show all 9 sections |