Bookshelf
I love reading, and sometimes I get asked for books I recommend. Here is a list of a few books I have read and really liked, with short notes on why they matter to me:
- Principles: Ray Dalio — Taught me about radical transparency (a MUST in OrderEAT) and the importance of explicitly writing down the core principles that guide your decisions and actions.
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Ben Horowitz — Great for understanding how to navigate unsolvable problems when you’re the one in charge. Brutally honest about many things like layoffs, pivots, crises, and the mental cost of being a founder. I try to read it once a year.
- Venture Deals: Brad Feld & Jason Mendelson — A clear and practical guide to the world of venture capital. Helped me understand how VCs operate.
- Capital in the Twenty-First Century: Thomas Piketty — Helped me understand how wealth and income inequality evolve over time, why capital tends to concentrate, and how this shapes modern democracies.
- The Debt Squads: Sue Branford & Bernardo Kucinski — A powerful critique of how the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s was managed. It made me think about sustainable ways countries can finance themselves, and how to avoid traps that still echo 40 years later.
- The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: Robin Sharma — Inspired me to start meditating (didn’t stick, but still). Really liked its approach to slowing down, finding purpose, and reframing life’s priorities.
- Education: W. O. Lester Smith — Its an accurate description on the main challenges education faced back in 1957, many of them still present now. Made me realize how little innovation happened on education.
- The Entrepreneurial State: Mariana Mazzucato — Changed how I see the role of the state in innovation, taking the biggest risks before startups or VCs in the past. It made me wonder how we can get that state back.
- The Prosperity Paradox: Clayton M. Christensen, Efosa Ojomo & Karen Dillon — Made me realize that innovation isn’t just helpful but necessary for nations to overcome poverty. Inspired me to think how can we improve LATAM being a founder.
- Zero to One: Peter Thiel - First book I read on how to build a company. challenged me to ask: what do I know to be true that almost everyone else disagrees with?.
- Leading: Alex Ferguson & Michael Moritz — Stuck with me: his obsession with discipline, culture, and long-term thinking. A well, as how to lead by example.
- Steve Jobs: Walter Isaacson — With this book I understood the power of relentless vision, obsession with detail, even if people call you delusional.
- Elon Musk: Walter Isaacson — Obsession + execution. How to build not one, but several life-changing companies. It will be interesting to see how things evolve in the coming years for Elon and his companies.
- Shoe Dog: Phil Knight — The power of grit. A very different story on how to build a company, told from 60 years ago.
- The Ballerina of Auschwitz: Edith Eger — Great read. A reminder that no matter what happens, you can always choose how you respond, even in hard circumstances.
- Eragon Series: Christopher Paolini — Four books. One of my favorite fantasy series, wish I've read it when I was older.
- The Accursed Kings: Maurice Druon — An amazing series on medieval France, I read it in less than two weeks. One of the best historical novels I’ve ever come across.
- The Name of the Wind: Patrick Rothfuss — Great storytelling. Even if the promised third book never comes out, I’d still strongly recommend this story.
- The Lord of the Rings: J.R.R. Tolkien — A classic. A must-read.
Personal ones
When it comes to more personal reading, I’ve always loved science fiction, fantasy, and history novels, among others. Over the years, I’ve read dozens (maybe hundreds) that shaped the way I think. I won’t list them all, but here are a few pearls that stand out to me as especially meaningful.