Favorite Books, Music, and Film

Key Narrative

This is a living document—a running list of books, music, and films that I return to, recommend, and find myself thinking about. Not a canon of “the best” but a personal inventory of what has mattered to me.

Updated periodically as I encounter new work or revisit old favorites.

Books

Non-Fiction

On Thinking & Decisions

• Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow — The foundation for understanding how we actually think. Dense but essential.
• Philip Tetlock, Superforecasting — How to be less wrong about the future. Practical epistemology.
• Richard Feynman, Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! — Curiosity as a way of life.

On Business & Strategy

• Andrew Grove, High Output Management — The best book on management, period. Short, clear, practical.
• Ben Horowitz, The Hard Thing About Hard Things — Honest about what leadership actually feels like.
• Hamilton Helmer, 7 Powers — Strategy distilled to its essence.
• Clayton Christensen, The Innovator’s Dilemma — Still the best framework for understanding disruption.

On Technology & Systems

• Tracy Kidder, The Soul of a New Machine — How technology gets made, at the human level.
• Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb — History, science, biography—the best non-fiction book I’ve read.
• James Gleick, Chaos — Introduced me to complex systems. Still readable.

On History & War

• John Keegan, The Face of Battle — What combat actually looks like. Changed how I think about war.
• Barbara Tuchman, The Guns of August — How catastrophe unfolds through miscalculation.
• Robert Caro, The Power Broker — Power, cities, ambition. Requires commitment; rewards it.

On Economics & Society

• Tyler Cowen, The Great Stagnation — Short, provocative, important.
• Thomas Sowell, Basic Economics — Clear thinking about how economies work.
• Albert Hirschman, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty — A framework I use constantly.

Fiction

• Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina — The novel as complete world.
• Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov — Wrestling with meaning. The Grand Inquisitor chapter alone is worth it.
• Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian — Horrifying, beautiful, unforgettable.
• Marilynne Robinson, Gilead — Quiet, profound. Grace in prose.
• Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day — Restraint as tragedy.
• Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire — The most inventive novel I know.

Essays & Short Form

• George Orwell, Collected Essays — Clarity of thought, honesty of observation.
• Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem — Sentences that cut.
• Nassim Taleb, Incerto (series) — Irritating and essential.

Music

Classical

Orchestral

• Mahler, Symphony No. 9 — The end of everything.
• Beethoven, Symphony No. 7 — Joy through structure.
• Ravel, Daphnis et Chloé — Color, sensuality, orchestration.
• Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring — Still radical.

Piano

• Bach, Goldberg Variations — Architecture in sound. Gould’s 1981 recording.
• Beethoven, Piano Sonatas (esp. Op. 111) — The late sonatas are inexhaustible.
• Chopin, Ballades — Romantic perfection. Zimerman’s recordings.
• Ravel, Gaspard de la nuit — The limit of piano music.
• Debussy, Préludes — Impressionism, but that word doesn’t capture it.

Chamber

• Beethoven, Late String Quartets (Op. 131, 132, 135) — The summit.
• Ravel, String Quartet — Economy, elegance.
• Schubert, String Quintet in C — The slow movement is transcendent.
• Brahms, Clarinet Quintet — Autumnal beauty.

Jazz

• Miles Davis, Kind of Blue — Modal jazz, perfect equilibrium.
• John Coltrane, A Love Supreme — Spiritual intensity.
• Bill Evans Trio, Sunday at the Village Vanguard — Intimacy and interaction.
• Keith Jarrett, The Köln Concert — Improvisation as composition.

Other

• Radiohead, OK Computer / Kid A — Alienation, technology, beauty.
• Brian Eno, Music for Airports — Ambient as concept.
• Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters — Rage, rhythm, originality.

Film

Drama

• Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood — Greed, ambition, America.
• Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life — Memory, grace, cosmos.
• Akira Kurosawa, Seven Samurai — The template.
• Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather (I & II) — Power and family.
• Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey — Still mysterious.

Documentary

• Werner Herzog, Grizzly Man — Obsession and nature.
• Errol Morris, The Fog of War — McNamara and the limits of rationality.
• Joshua Oppenheimer, The Act of Killing — Evil examined.
• Frederick Wiseman, High School — Institutions, observed.

Favorites to Revisit

• Andrei Tarkovsky, Stalker — Time, space, meaning. Requires patience.
• Michael Mann, Heat — Craft at the highest level.
• Wong Kar-wai, In the Mood for Love — Longing, restraint, beauty.
• Hirokazu Kore-eda, Still Walking — Families, quietly observed.

Updates

Last updated: January 2026

Recent additions:

• [To be added as I encounter new work]

Removed:

• [Works that I’ve reconsidered]