Get lit(erature) 🕯️

Hey everyone,

This is a bit of a special one.

About a year ago, we compiled a collection of books and articles popular among our readers and shared it for everyone to see.

Last year, it was a mass email from Ahmed's Gmail account with about 50 people on the BCC line.

Now, we're revisiting the list for our new subscribers, all 200 of you.

In the upcoming weeks, we'll gather feedback and unveil the Strategic Bites Reading List for 2024.

We appreciate you. Thank you.

OH ALSO -

We’re on Instagram. We started experimenting with short-form video. Check it out. Give us a follow. Maybe throw a pity like in there (or two).

Books

1. Dickens and Prince by Nick Hornby (Ahmed S.)

“I didn’t give a shit about Prince and I didn’t give a shit about Dickens. Now I’m hooked on both. A really fun read.”

2. Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen (Ahmed S.)

“A return to form after Purity (his last book). You’ll spend the entire weekend reading it, and the entire week thinking about the characters.”

3. All the Light We Cannot See and Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr (Sameer K.)

“Two of the best books I’ve ever read.”

4. Flash Boys by Michael Lewis (Kara T.)

“Classic Michael Lewis. Entertaining, well researched. This should have been the movie the Big Short ended up being.”

5. The Billionaire’s Folly: The Untold Story of Ethereum and the Unicorn that wasn’t by Faisal Khan (Harris S.)

"It is fantastic Ahmed read it"

Magazine Articles and Tweet Threads

1. The Incredible Story of How Nike Signed LeBron James by James Benedict (Harris S.)

“Like Air (the movie), except better”

2. Why a Former Marine Returned to Afghanistan to Photograph Street Style (Harris S.)
   

3. American Pie by Alan Rickman (Renee F.)

“This article is 10+ years old and I still haven’t found a better piece of food writing on Pizza. It’s my life’s goal to eat this list. I’m about halfway through.”

4. Tweet Thread on Dalio’s “The Changing World Order” by Vuk Vukovic (Daniel R.)

“Great analysis on a viewpoint that everyone in my world seems to blindly adopt. Vuk is a thoughtful follow on Twitter.”

5. Liz Holmes Wants You to Forget About Elizabeth (Shazia B.)

Youtube Videos

1. Anything on the MyMechanics Channel (Daniel R.)

“Everything this guy creates/restores turns to gold. No music, no explanation. Hours of rabbit hole content.”

2. The Mise En Place Series by Eater (Katherine A.)

“This is pretty much a copy of Chef’s Table…only it’s not and it’s much better.”

Weekend Projects

1. Pressure Cooker Mushroom Risotto Recipe on Serious Eats (Sandra W.)

“This is fantastic. It takes 15 minutes and boom! Weekend dinner in advance of the high is done.”

2. How to Build a Backyard Fire Pit on Popular Mechanics (Jameson D.)

“I did this with my Dad. We argued a lot. And then he told me he loved me at the end of the day. I WAS BROKEN.”

Have a great Sunday,

Ahmed and Peter