Jul 3, 2025 08:25 AM
(This post was last modified: Jul 3, 2025 08:27 AM by Dystortion.)
My Top Must-Reads
Hey everyone, I’ve burned through a ton of books over the my years both old and young, but these six books hit different for me.
![[Image: legends3.gif]](https://hackforums.net/images/groupimages/custom/legends3.gif)
1. Diary of a CEO by Steven Bartlett
Why I Loved It:Steven Bartlett rips back the business machine of his own rules and learnings with real world examples of how all the 'laws' he states in the book has allowed him to build an empire and leading him to become the CEO and founder of multiple businesses and a dragon on the BBC's Dragons Den.
Key Takeaways:
What’s one habit you swear by in your daily grind because we all have our struggles and perhaps someone else might learn from what you preach?
![[Image: divider.gif]](https://i.ibb.co/VYzpsSCJ/divider.gif)
2. The Smartest Person in the Room by Christian Espinosa
Why I Loved It:Espinosa dismantles the corporate cybersecurity BS and shows how culture, leadership, and psychology can sink or skyrocket your security program. Explaining how one bad apple ruins a box of good ones. A mastery for anyone leading their own business or is high up in the hierarchy of a company. The teachings Christian showcases in this book is profound, I've read through most top business books available to date and this one is by far top 3.
Key Takeaways:
3. Chip War by Chris Miller
Why I Loved It:A geopolitical thriller disguised as a technology history. From Silicon Valley to TSMC’s fabs, it shows why semiconductors are the backbone of modern economic and imo political tensions. It's a very in depth drawn-out book at times I think but it's a fantastic read if you could stick through it because of it's density. I wondered how a book could write so much about semiconductors without actually delving into the technicality of them just the origins of how they were inventing and their current placement in the world's demand and supply but I see now why it's dense.
Key Takeaways:
4. The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Why I Loved It:Timeless strategy moulded into battlefield aphorisms (I think is the correct word). Whether you’re negotiating a contract or out-maneuvering competitors, these 2,500-year-old lessons still hold weight in most fieldsl; the art of war isn't about "war" but more about the fight us humans endure against one another. A specific scenario that I think holds such powerful tactics employed by this book would be the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty Negotiations between the UKs delegates and the Irish plenipotentiary delegates.
Key Takeaways:
5. The Art of Invisibility by Kevin Mitnick
Why I Loved It:Legendary hacker - I don't think any introduction is needed to this icon who has been my inspiration to be involved in Cyber and technology as much as I am. The books premise is revealing how everyone from your ISP to marketers can track you and exactly how to vanish from their radars.
Key Takeaways:
6. Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo
Why I Loved It:I first read this as a kid and it wrecked me in the best way. The bond between brothers, the horrors of WWI through a child’s eyes, and the bittersweet ending still hits like a gut-punch every time. A huge reason for my love of WW1 and WW2, it's by far my biggest interest and this book is just a sweet return to innocence and peace of childhood. I remember reading this and then watching the movie to follow and it was my biggest reason for being happy for years. No idea as to why.
Key Takeaways:
7. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Why I Loved It:
I devoured this at age 9 and it blew my mind with its blend of art, history, and secret societies. The thrill of decoding puzzles that are years above your understanding has a sense of I am god.
Key Takeaways:
Through a Child’s Eyes
Childhood Misinterpretations & What I’d Missed
Hey everyone, I’ve burned through a ton of books over the my years both old and young, but these six books hit different for me.
1. Diary of a CEO by Steven Bartlett
Why I Loved It:Steven Bartlett rips back the business machine of his own rules and learnings with real world examples of how all the 'laws' he states in the book has allowed him to build an empire and leading him to become the CEO and founder of multiple businesses and a dragon on the BBC's Dragons Den.
Key Takeaways:
- Vulnerability is strength: sharing your failures breeds connection.
- Consistency > Inspiration: small daily habits compound into massive wins. (Kaizen philosophy which I'll go into deeper detail in another thread)
- Mental health matters: success without sanity isn’t worth chasing.
What’s one habit you swear by in your daily grind because we all have our struggles and perhaps someone else might learn from what you preach?
2. The Smartest Person in the Room by Christian Espinosa
Why I Loved It:Espinosa dismantles the corporate cybersecurity BS and shows how culture, leadership, and psychology can sink or skyrocket your security program. Explaining how one bad apple ruins a box of good ones. A mastery for anyone leading their own business or is high up in the hierarchy of a company. The teachings Christian showcases in this book is profound, I've read through most top business books available to date and this one is by far top 3.
Key Takeaways:
- Tech is just one piece: people and processes are the real game-changers.
- Leadership buy-in beats any flashy tool.
3. Chip War by Chris Miller
Why I Loved It:A geopolitical thriller disguised as a technology history. From Silicon Valley to TSMC’s fabs, it shows why semiconductors are the backbone of modern economic and imo political tensions. It's a very in depth drawn-out book at times I think but it's a fantastic read if you could stick through it because of it's density. I wondered how a book could write so much about semiconductors without actually delving into the technicality of them just the origins of how they were inventing and their current placement in the world's demand and supply but I see now why it's dense.
Key Takeaways:
- Tiny transistors = massive global leverage.
- Supply chains are national security.
- Tech supremacy is as strategic as any battlefield.
4. The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Why I Loved It:Timeless strategy moulded into battlefield aphorisms (I think is the correct word). Whether you’re negotiating a contract or out-maneuvering competitors, these 2,500-year-old lessons still hold weight in most fieldsl; the art of war isn't about "war" but more about the fight us humans endure against one another. A specific scenario that I think holds such powerful tactics employed by this book would be the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty Negotiations between the UKs delegates and the Irish plenipotentiary delegates.
Key Takeaways:
- Know yourself & your opponent: prepare by understanding strengths and weaknesses.
- Win without fighting: the highest form of victory is subduing the enemy’s strategy.
- Adaptability rules: rigid plans die under real-world pressure.
5. The Art of Invisibility by Kevin Mitnick
Why I Loved It:Legendary hacker - I don't think any introduction is needed to this icon who has been my inspiration to be involved in Cyber and technology as much as I am. The books premise is revealing how everyone from your ISP to marketers can track you and exactly how to vanish from their radars.
Key Takeaways:
- Privacy is a practice: tools alone can’t fix bad habits.
- Social engineering rules: humans remain the weakest link.
- Layer up: combine VPNs, burner devices, & opsec routines to stay hidden.
6. Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo
Why I Loved It:I first read this as a kid and it wrecked me in the best way. The bond between brothers, the horrors of WWI through a child’s eyes, and the bittersweet ending still hits like a gut-punch every time. A huge reason for my love of WW1 and WW2, it's by far my biggest interest and this book is just a sweet return to innocence and peace of childhood. I remember reading this and then watching the movie to follow and it was my biggest reason for being happy for years. No idea as to why.
Key Takeaways:
- Empathy for the soldier: you feel every step in those muddy trenches.
- The power of narrative: simple language amplifies raw emotion.
- Questioning authority: sometimes bravery is about standing up for what’s right.
7. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Why I Loved It:
I devoured this at age 9 and it blew my mind with its blend of art, history, and secret societies. The thrill of decoding puzzles that are years above your understanding has a sense of I am god.
Key Takeaways:
- The power of symbols: Every painting, every sculpture can hide layers of meaning.
- History as mystery: Real-world locations (Louvre, Westminster) become playgrounds for adventure.
- Curiosity drives discovery with question everything
Through a Child’s Eyes
- Pattern Recognition: At 9, I didn’t know the term, but I was learning to spot recurring motifs - keys, roses, mirrored text and link them to solutions. This sharpened my attention to detail long before I understood deduction in school.
- Critical Thinking: I took every “fact” at face value: the Priory of Sion, Opus Dei until I reread it years later and caught Dan Brown’s playful nod to how fiction can masquerade as history. Lesson to always question your sources.
- Global Curiosity: That book was my first geography lesson. I mapped the Seine, sketched the Mona Lisa’s hidden smile. Even if I misunderstood the religious backstory, I loved that history could be a living treasure hunt.
- Emotional Resonance of Myth: The tale of Mary Magdalene felt larger than life, and at 9 I assumed it was gospel. Later I learned about historical debate versus legend and understanding myth’s power taught me to separate narrative magic from academic fact.
- Problem-Solving Confidence: Solving puzzles in a book gave me a rush, even if I misinterpreted a clue or glossed over the Vatican’s politics.
Childhood Misinterpretations & What I’d Missed
- I believed every conspiracy. I spent lunch convinced my teacher was part of some secret order. It taught me about confirmation bias - see what you want to see.
- I glossed over the moral questions: Robert Langdon’s ethics around secret-keeping flew over my head. Only later did I ponder whether withholding truth can ever be justified.
- I assumed symbols had one meaning: The ambigrams, Fibonacci sequence; I thought they were universal codes, not artistic choices. It taught me that context matters symbols shift with culture and intent.
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