01 / recommendation

10 Aug 2023

Likes Chop Wood Carry Water.

“Truthfully, I don't read a ton of books. Got a one and a half year old. I also probably didn't read a ton of books before, but it's a nice excuse to have. That's why I don't have time to read today. But when I think of books that I think about a lot still, there's a book called Everybody Lies, and it's a book... I believe the guy who wrote it was a data scientist at Google. And part of the message is that everybody's a data scientist and really trying to democratize the idea of using data in your everyday lives to make decisions and demystifying the idea of data science. But the way he kind of does this is through comparing Google search data and what we know people to be actively looking for answers for, with sort of qualitative survey data. And people lie on surveys all the time for a variety of different reasons, but no one lies to Google because it's transactional. If I lie to Google, I'm not going to get what I want. And so it kind of really explores what it means to tell the truth and how honest we are with ourselves and with the internet. And so I really love that book. The other book I really love is Chop Wood Carry Water, which it's like a parable about a young boy who wants to become a samurai. But the sort of message of the book is about falling in love with the process, especially the most mundane parts of a process of becoming great at something. And that's something I... It's a good reminder about patience, humility, and sort of taking things one step at a time. And I often reference Chop Wood Carry Water a lot.”