Books – Gabriel Coarna

By Yuval Noah Harari.

Sapiens is a fantastic —and fantastically-readable— summary of our history.
If —like I did, when I saw this book being recommended by others— you’re now asking yourself “Just how ‘fantastic’ could a summary of our history be?”, here’s why you should start reading:
(1) It’s not just a summary of things you know. It is peppered with some of the latest research results, study findings, and archeological discoveries — and it presents the really novel/interesting (re)interpretations that result.
(2) It is, I’m pretty sure, the most well-written and most-readable history book I’ve ever read. The story’s arc ebbs and flows effortlessly; and, throughout, the author’s narrative voice is just exquisite.
Me

Becoming Steve Jobs

By Brent Schlender & Rick Tetzeli.

I was almost angry, a few years ago, when I finished reading Walter Isaacson’s official biography of Steve Jobs.
The book was well-researched, yes. But Isaacson only used that research to “prove” well-known cliches that he —and, sadly, many other people— already believed about Jobs. On top of that, the book’s tone was stark and cold and distant; and, most striking of all, it was almost mean. Overall, I kept feeling like I was reading about the myth of “Steve Jobs, the evil warlock” — Isaacson uses the term “reality distortion field”, in a serious way, an upwards of 20 times throughout the story.
“Becoming Steve Jobs” isn’t perfect. But it’s so much better than Isaacson’s book that I can’t even find an analogy that would capture the difference. If you read that book and you don’t read this one, you’re doing yourself a great disservice.
Me