I’m excited to start sharing my detailed book summaries more widely, via Substack.

More than a decade ago, I was feeling frustrated. I love reading, but most of the moments of clarity and inspiration I experienced while reading excellent non-fiction books were … fleeting. I would read voraciously, only to have the ideas quickly fade into vague impressions. Within 6 months it was up to luck whether I could actually remember anything. This feeling of loss was magnified when I spent 18 months living as a nomad (and gave away most of my library as I left my apartment in NYC).

So, I ran an experiment.

I started distilling the essence of the excellent non-fiction books that ended up on my (digital) shelf. I delight in detail, and it became fun to summarize the rich nuance that makes any good book truly three-dimensional. This takes a lot of effort - capturing and editing these notes takes easily three times as long as just reading the book itself - but my payoff was enormous. I still find myself able to recall ideas from 10 years ago, and my understanding of the underlying materials has improved just as significantly.

Oh, and I was left with an actual summary I could share with you.

Back in October 2021, I started sharing these notes while hosting an informal book club within Lenny Rachitsky’s awesome product management community (which, if you’re at all involved in product, is essential). I’ve received a strong positive response from sharing these notes. So here I am, following their encouragement.

If you subscribe, you can expect an eclectic mix of non-fiction books, with an emphasis on product management, business strategy, decision making, learning theory, and self development.