2020 Year in Review — Books

January 1, 2021
3 min read

This year I’ve made a public commitment of reading 20 books. I finished those in April and made my way through 19 more before the year ended. Mostly those were audiobooks, which were perfect fit for 2-3 hour walks with my daughter while she was sleeping. Here are the best out of 39.

I Can’t Make This Up: Life Lessons by Kevin Hart

Didn’t expect much going into this. I tried watching Kevin Hart stand-ups and couldn’t finish even one, although I enjoyed movies and some YouTube videos with him. But this book is so good, I think it should be taught in school. Seriously. It is that good. It’s about life and decisions you have to make along the way. And of course it is funny as hell.

No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings

Great read if you want to find out about an unconventional company culture and how it works even in a big company. There is just a bit of Netflix history (for that you will be better off reading another good book — That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea by Marc Randolph).

This one is mostly about how culture and processes were made. What’s even better — the book was written together with Erin Meyer, who studies company cultures, and she was given full access to the company.

Hitler by Ian Kershaw

At some point I’ve realised that I’m not very good at history. Of course, I know some major points, but dig just a little bit under the surface, and I’m lost. I decided that the best way to learn about World War II was through the lens of the most crucial figure. And as I understand this is THE biography. It covers everything available from the birth to the last breath of Hitler and shows how the decisions were made.

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain

This book was in my “want to read list” for a long time and finally, I found it on Audible read by the author himself. It is so good, it’s hard to explain. He writes with humour, without hiding anything. It’s as much a biography as a look into some of the best and worst kitchens in the world. And it is one of those times when the author is great at reading his own book, which is rare.

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of NIKE by Phil Knight

It’s a feel-good memoir by Phil Knight. There is very little controversy in this book, it actually reminds me of Ted Lasso. But I liked it, great story and humour.

The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company by Robert Iger

Same as the Shoe Dog, this is a very feel-good biography. But it is very interesting to read about the recent history of Disney. How decisions were made, especially regarding buying up all the competition. “Disney own entertainment”.

Now writing this — what would be even more interesting is to read a book about Disney during the pandemic. How it gets through and is it as loyal to their staff as it was before?

Sunday Endorsement – 31.05.2020

May 31, 2020
5 min read

📱 Tot Pocket

I was very skeptical at first. I mean, who wouldn’t be – €21.99 for a very limited note taking app. But after much consideration and keeping in mind the possibility to refund (yay Europe) I decided to give it a try. I’ve been trying to find an easy to use note app for a long time and nothing could come close to what I wanted. Notes.app was where I kept all my notes and didn’t feel like simple jotting app, I’ve tried Bear for a year, but it just replaced Notes and I never was a Markdown fan, I wanted something with rich text support. Drafts came close, but I always felt overwhelmed by it and after a week there would be tens of notes which I couldn’t remember what they were about.

Tot is light, colorful (it even changes the color of keyboard to match the dot and what surprised me most – even 3rd party keyboards get colored). I didn’t like icon at first, but recently they’ve added Mobius, which is now my favorite. I use all but one dots for something already and love it.

One disclaimer I have to add – I’ve had a data loss with the app. Just yesterday I was walking around town, listening to the audiobook and adding some notes, including citations I’ve transcribed myself. When I came home and opened an app – there was nothing. Just one word I’ve put as a placeholder when I created the note. And now I can’t shake the feeling of distrust. I hope it was a one time thing, but I’m not sure when I will be able to trust the application fully again.

I can’t recommend an app costing €21.99 to everyone, but if you look at screenshots and read the description you will know if the app is right for you. It is for me.

📺 Drive To Survive – Season 2

“Netflix are a bunch of cunts, aren’t they? I would love for them to play that.”

At the beginning of the season two they immediately let you know – this time it’s bigger, we have Mercedes and Ferrari now, but that somehow ruins it a bit. It became more pristine. The most controversial things were mostly when drivers and principals mentioned the documentary or Netflix.

But I still would recommend watching it. And I feel like it is much more interesting to those who have never watched F1, because otherwise you would already know what happened.

One additional note – I was the victim of advertising. After watching the show I went for a walk and had such a strong desire for a Red Bull I went to the store and bought one. Marketing works.

📜 Stratechery – The Google Squeeze

Half a year old article, but still very interesting. I never though how much advertising there is on Google. The screenshot which shows the results, where you have to scroll 3 pages in order to get to the organic results is worth the read alone.

I’ve compared the article with my own usage and it is the same in some instances and completely different in others. I hate the hotel module of Google. It always feels like some shitty websites want to give you a very bad deal. When I’m looking for a hotel I always go to booking.com. Always. And, as it turns out, that’s what they’ve tried to do – incentivize people to go straight to them. I guess it works.

⌚️ Pride California Watch Face

With the most recent update of the Apple Watch there are a couple of new Pride watch faces. One of them is California with Pride colors. It is my favorite watch face right now. I’ve been meaning to write about watch faces and how they all are bad for some reason or other. There are customizations, but it always feels like there could be more. But in terms of look – this one is just amazing.

One note – the process was a bit cumbersome. I had newest update on my Apple Watch, but new colors weren’t there. I updated my iPhone to iOS 13.5 and could choose a new California color, but it wouldn’t show up on my Watch. Only after restarting the watch did it work.

📚 Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight

I’ve laughed a couple of times while listening to the book. It is probably the best memoir by a businessman I have ever read. It is more about motivation and drive and less about the decisions themselves. I’m sure that in order to build such a monumental company there have to be more controversial stories, but this book is not the place for them.

Ending is just beautiful. The book itself is very personal, but ending takes it to the new level. I didn’t want for it to end. One of the strongest recommendations I can give. Everyone should read it.

Sunday Endorsement – 24.05.2020

May 24, 2020
4 min read

📚 Samsung Rising: The Inside Story of the South Korean Giant That Set Out to Beat Apple and Conquer Tech by Geoffrey Cain

“Fuck Steve. He’s dead and we were right. Samsung was right.” – this quote says quite a lot about Samsung culture. The story told in this book shows what happens when a company becomes too big to fail. When the whole country is depended on Samsung doing well.

If you’ve never been to jail, you’ve probably not worked hard enough – could be the mantra of Samsung management.

There are very interesting anecdotes and stories. But by the middle of the book you realize it’s mostly stories about mistakes, investigations, corruption charges etc. and less so the story of the company. I don’t like Samsung as a company, never owned a Galaxy phone, because I felt like they were just copying Apple, but even for an Apple fanboy, this book is a bit too much.

After finishing it, I was not sure on the history of the company, but I sure as hell knew that the dynasty has fallen.

📺 Drive To Survive – Season 1

“To finish first, first you have to finish”

Great documentary with an outstanding access to the drivers and teams, in the middle of the season, I’ve had a longer review written here, but can’t recommend it enough. And I’m already looking for ways to watch F1 season when it comes back.

📺 The Last Dance

Another great documentary I’ve finished this week. Again, never watched basketball, but enjoyed it so much. It’s about personality, team and most importantly leadership. Very different in style from Drive To Survive. It talks about the history, while Drive To Survive is more similar to the reality TV.

🎙 Dithering Podcast

Two of my favorite people in tech blogging got together and created a podcast. I had a little bit of doubt before subscribing as it is a paid podcast and there is no “demo” or even one free episode, but decided to try it out, I can always unsubscribe if I don’t like it and loose just $5. But of course I liked it. I’ve now listened to all the back catalogue and am listening as the episodes get out – three times a week. If you know John Gruber and Ben Thompson, you probably will have a feeling what a podcast is about and it will probably be correct.

This paid podcast model is very interesting and the first one I’ve tried. Almost all of the podcasts I listen to are ad supported with some help from listeners in form of Patreon or something similar. This though, paid up front subscription with no ability to try it out before is something I didn’t see before. The one time I’ve paid for a podcast was with a No Agenda show, which is totally listener supported (they even call listeners producers), but it is optional. They call it “value for value” model and I like the idea of it.

📰 Halide – Year 3

I started using Halide long time ago, probably as soon as it got released and it was on my home screen ever since. And I love reading their blog. It is interesting and honest. Reading about the struggles that current situation has brought (who would have though that nobody is traveling and using photo capturing app) made me realize that I can’t even fathom the real impact the virus had on all of us.

📸 My Photo From Thailand

This week my photo (at the top), got picked by the editorial team of Unsplash and my stats got crazy for a couple of days. More than 300,000 people saw it and some of them even saved it. An amazing result which gives the motivation to take more photos.

Sunday Endorsement – 17.05.2020

May 17, 2020
3 min read

Starting today I will write weekly post about things I’ve enjoyed over the week. It could be a movie, TV show, book, article, photo, app, experience, absolutely whatever.

This week is mostly about TV shows as I’ve finished a couple.

📺 Westworld – Season 3

I’ve finally finished the latest season and the thought I had throughout it stayed with me by the end – it became a victim of its own success. The story is a bit too much. Almost like a matryoshka, a story, in a story, in a story with “holy shit” and “turns out” moments all the time. A bit too much for my taste, but still the picture is great, actors are amazing. Worth a watch.

📺 Outlander – Season 5

We’ve started watching this TV show a couple of years ago with my wife. In the beginning it was great for both of us. My wife liked the love story and story about old times, I liked battles and violence. In the last two seasons especially there is just too much of a love story. Series became very slow, there are whole hour long episodes with nothing happening at all. Story became too simple and predictable. Although picture in 4K HDR is stellar.

📺 Narcos: Mexico

I’ve watched all two seasons in a couple of weeks. Great show, almost as good as the original Narcos. The one thing that surprises the most – it’s based on the real events. And it scares you all the time. I’ve caught myself watching the show thinking, “very nice imagination those writers have”, just to be surprised by a narrator and historical footage. I can’t even imagine people living the way it is portrayed in the show.

📚 Deadpool: The Adamantium Collection

This is a collection of all the comic books about Deadpool from the very beginning until the year 2016. 25 years of stories about my favorite superhero. After watching the second movie about my favorite superhero, I’ve bought the comiXology version of the collection. I’ve started reading it about a year ago, but somewhere along the line just stopped. Picked it up this week and finished all of it. This is the first comic book I’ve read as an adult and probably the first series I’ve finished.

I’m not sure this is the medium I enjoy a lot, but some issues were fun. Also, reading comic books on the 12.9’’ iPad is amazing.