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I assume you're asking about books for startup people.

Paul's essays couldn't hurt. I am not a karma whore. ;-)

Mindset, by Carol Dweck. It'll change the way you think about the way you think. Incredibly relevant for justifying your yes-I-can attitude.

The Four-Hour Work Week, by Tim Ferriss. You've never thought about life and how to live it quite the way Tim does.



Tim's a bit of an ass, though. His method is sort of like a Ponzai scheme -- most of it will only work for the first X% of people to adopt it, after which it's no longer sustainable.


What's his method?


Get others to do your work for you as much as possible, basically.


Gotta read the book -- totally worth your time.

For a sample: explore http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/. You have to ignore the stock photos. Tim doesn't realize that some of his promotion comes off as get-rich-quick. He is not a huckster -- nor is he promoting any kind of scheme. Just explore his world. Even if you don't do what he suggests (I haven't, so far, as a 44-year-old father and husband), you'll love living vicariously through him.


I don't know Tim, so maybe he's an ass, maybe he's not.

But I don't think he's suggesting that entire societies live according to his prescription. Obviously that wouldn't work. He's betting that only a small percentage will try his life (and he's probably correct), in which case it'll work just fine.

Example: if 25% of US citizens moved to Rio to enjoy the value of the dollar down there, it'd ruin everything. At least in Rio. Since <%1 of Americans are actually going to try living in Rio for any length of time, Tim's plan will work really well.


I don't know him either; I'm basing that on the perception I got of him from reading the book. And yeah, the plan just doesn't scale.




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