Cities
Order without Design — Alain Bertaud is the Indiana Jones of urban planning. He brings economic logic and predictive models to the planning discipline. Held up against the syllabus from my education in planning, this may well be the best book on the subject that I have ever read. Alain examines planning with quantitative rigor while maintaining an appreciation for cities as complex systems that are best understood when planners and economists work together.
Market Urbanism — There a thousand reasons why you should visit Tyler Cowen’s blog, Marginal Revolution. But his posts on Market Urbanism, a popular planning ideology that calls for the deregulation of building in the name of affordability and productivity, have been particularly useful in exploring how to plan sustainable cities. Tyler provides a nuanced and evolving perspective that supports building deregulation while questioning it’s ability to make cities more affordable.
Agglomeration Effects — Check out Devon Zuegel’s blog for the City Review’s but stay for the thoughtful commentary on the YIMBY-ism. By increasing the supply of housing in cities, the two key goals of the YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard) movement are (1) to lower housing prices and (2) unlock economic, cultural, and social potential. In noting the distinction between these two goals and how they may or may not conflict, Devon’s writing has helped me navigate this approach to city building and inspired new questions.
Financialization of Cities — Alan Walks is a former professor of mine. He has a deep understanding of Canada’s housing market and the role financial actors play in the structural transformation of the economies of cities and households. I could spend 4 years studying under Alan and still be learning something new each day.
Three Cities Within Toronto — David Hulchanski’s landmark research illustrates growing income inequality in Toronto over a 30 year period. Three distinct cities have formed within Toronto that cluster based on income - low, mid, high. The most striking trend is the looming disappearance of the average, mixed-income neighbourhoods that once defined Toronto. A must read for any Torontonian or urbanist. Also see his 2016 update here.
Thinking & Learning
Farnam Street — Shane Parrish’s Farnam Street has become one of my most valuable resources. Shane has built a platform that offers a world class multidisciplinary education by exploring the ideas, lessons, and methods that help us truly understand what works, what doesn’t, and why.
The Great Mental Models — As a subscriber to Farnam Street, I got my hands on an early hard cover copy of the first of five books on mental models. This beautifully made book offers a fantastic introduction to the foundational mental models and will be one I revisit often.
The Shape of Human Capital — You can’t make a difference unless you’ve acquired a useful set of tools. In an interview with Shane Parrish, author and professor, Scott Page, urges us to develop a strategy for what sort human capital we can develop. Some people’s human capital is in the shape of a T, they have deep knowledge in one area and are proficient in a number of related areas. For others, it’s the symbol π. They know two areas well, a range of things that connect those two areas of knowledge, and a little bit out to each side.
Business & Investing
The Almanack — At risk of being a cliché, I’ve included Poor Charlie’s Almanack because it’s been key to my multidisciplinary learning and I’m always surprised by the number of people who haven’t read this book. Peter Kaufman has assembled the talks and speeches of renowned investor Charlie Munger. Drawing from the study of psychology, economics, physics, biology, and history, among other disciplines, Munger develops his system of “multiple mental models” to cut through difficult problems in complex social systems.
Seeking Wisdom — Peter Bevelin began writing as a way to retain the wisdom he was learning from the works of Charlie Munger and others. The result was a the distillation of their ideas and a great companion to the primary sources. Munger uses narrative to sketch an outline of a concept or idea; Seeking Wisdom helps give those concepts colour.
Moats — A structural (or inherent) characteristic that insulates a business from competition. I was introduced to Pat Dorsey through Patrick O’Shaughnessy’s podcast, Invest Like the Best. Pat considers moats as intangibles (like brand), high customer switching costs, network effects, or cost advantages/economies of scale. His investing framework has improved my ability to carefully, logically, and creatively think through the economics of my own business.
Base Rates — Michael Mauboussin is essential reading for investors. Michael uses Daniel Kahneman’s work on the inside versus the outside view and the application of base rates to improve the quality of forecasts in decision making. The inside view is when we are presented with a problem, we cope by gathering information and combining it with our own experience and then project it into the future. A better, but less intuitive, approach is to consider the question “What happened when other people where in this situation before?” and discount our own views of the world.
Negotiation — Life is a series of negotiations you should be prepared for. Never Split the Difference by former FBI hostage negotiator, Chris Voss, has helped me better understand the person on the other side of a situation (almost any situation) through empathy and active listening. The book is worth a read but this cheat sheet has been useful on many occasions.
Science
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics — “The very foundation of science is to keep the door open to doubt.” Carlo Rovelli has a captivating way of conveying the essence of the most important scientific theories of our time through poetic descriptions without overloading us with elaborate details.
Thing Explainer — Complicated things explained simply. Big concepts can be striped down to their basic components. You shouldn’t need fancy words to convey an idea. Complex concepts like the mechanics of the Saturn V rocket (aka the Up Goer 5) are explained using drawings and a vocabulary of the 1,000 most common words.
Climate Change and Critical Thinking — Glenn Loury is a professor of economics at Brown University. In his interview with climate scientist, Patrick Brown, Glenn asks important questions that many are too embarrassed to ask. How do we know that the climate is changing? What are the sources of the change? How do we know human activity is contributing to this change? What can be done about it? How do we know what to do? How do we balance the costs?
History
Hardcore History — Dan Carlin is the best history professor I never had. His ability to weave complex histories into a digestible narrative is stunning. His podcast covers topics like the reign of Genghis Khan and gruesome combat of World War I in epic detail. Each podcast requires months of preparation and is recorded from his home in small chunks with no guests or interviews. Beware these are long! The Wrath of the Khan (my personal favourite) is 8.5 hours over 5 episodes but I guarantee you will find yourself cleaning up your apartment so you can listen.
Spirituality
Waking Up - Sam Harris’ book and app have been enormously useful in my own search for meaning and meditation practice. The “meaning” of one’s life isn’t coming up with answers to badly poised questions like, “what does it all mean”, it comes from finding good enough reasons to be deeply immersed in the present moment, to create and discover new and interesting things and ideas, and to connect with the people around us.
Jiu Jitsu
The Pleasures of Drowning — As a student of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ), Sam Harris’ description of martial arts really resonates. BJJ offers a unique window into concepts such as truth versus illusion, self-knowledge, and overcoming fear.
Becoming a Conscious Competitor — Emily Kwok is an elite grappler and colleague of the chess prodigy and author of The Art of Learning, Josh Waitzkin. Emily’s BJJ journey embodies the importance of personal relationships, cultivating confidence, believing in the process, and embracing your true nature. She describes what is takes to be elite like few can.