Books Recommended by Nick Janetakis

Who Moved My Cheese - I'm a sucker for parables (stories to illustrate a moral lesson) and this book really delivers. I wish I found it years ago. It's super short but it has so many insights about dealing with change. It teaches you how to avoid over complicating things and to constantly be aware of what's going on around you so that you can adapt before things get problematic. It's one of those books where you feel sad that it's over, surprised how you managed to go your entire life without reading it and excited to move forward with whatever journey you're on.

I remember reading Seneca’s On the Shortness of Life which is filled with epic quotes and insights but one quote stuck with me, which is:

“People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.”

This is so true. I’m generally pretty cheap when it comes to spending money but I’m also that guy who will spend 3 days planning out and building a custom desk instead of buying one.

However, after reading that quote, it woke me up to the reality that I’m going to die eventually and if I want to accomplish everything I want to accomplish then I should stop screwing around with my time.

I'm going to start reading Ghost in the Wires by Kevin Mitnick this week. I used to go to 2600 meetings back when he was arrested for wire fraud and other hacking related shenanigans in the mid 1990s. I'm fascinated by things like social engineering and language in general. In the end, I just want to be entertained by his stories. For someone who is into computer programming, a book like this is pretty close to porn!