books | Adam Fuller

The Biggest Bluff

Notes and excerpts from the book, The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win, by Maria Konnikova

This book opened my eyes to the interesting connections between poker and psychology, human behavior and strategic learning. My big takeaway is that learning poker can be a great way to learn about yourself.

Breath

Notes and excerpts from the book, Breath by James Nestor

I highly, highly, highly, very, very, really, really, highly recommend the new book, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, by James Nestor.

I finished it earlier this week and it’s the first new book I’ve read this year — new in the sense that it was just released a couple months ago.

It’s one of those jaw-dropping, underlining nearly every page, change-your-life kind of books.

Waking the tiger

Reflections on racism, free speech, front running, guilt, innocence, hypocrisy, healing trauma, our responses to recent events, and other aspects of these unprecedented times

This article is my way of thinking through, slowing down, digging into the nuance, and voicing my opinions on some of the big issues we’re working through these days.

War and Peace

Notes and excerpts from the novel War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy

These times keep getting stranger and stranger.

The COVID-19 pandemic keeps us socially distant, digitally dependent, and teetering on an edge of uncertainty.

The economy is in shambles.

The geopolitical relationship between the US and China is disintegrating.

And over the past week the tragic killing of George Floyd, protests, and riots have ratcheted up local, racial, and political tensions.

It’s like we’re living in a big tinderbox and every day presents another series of sparks.

There are many ways to respond to these conditions, and I plan on putting some thoughts together on that topic in a future article.

In the meantime, in today’s article, I’m going to highlight one place I found peace, truth and inspiration in this storm: Tolstoy’s brilliant novel, War and Peace, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.

Antifragile and COVID-19

Book recommendation, insights and inspiration to get stronger during the crisis

I spent most of the past two weeks devouring the book, “Antifragile: things that gain from disorder” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. I highly recommend you pick up a copy for yourself and dive in too, sooner rather than later.

I cracked this book open after my Winter Expedition in Iceland and spent most of the past two weeks poring over its pages as I adjusted to COVID-19 changes and hunkered down to figure out my next steps in the new world we’re living in.

Antifragile is a dense and inspiring read that’s particularly powerful and relevant in this time of great disorder and uncertainty.

In this article, on top of passing along a book recommendation, I’m going to list out some of my takeaways and excerpts from the book that I think are particularly useful as we all work through this COVID-19 crisis.