Joey Koh

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Books

4 min read

A non-exhaustive list of books I’ve read.

I'd welcome any recommendations : )

I like reading fiction as a bit of balance to all the non-fiction I had in school and university. Fiction also helps keeps the childlike wonder alive and the imagination active.

I strongly believe in the concept of play for adults. E.g. we see mini-golf, escape rooms…etc aren’t these just playgrounds for adults? seed

Later on, I reignited my appreciation for non-fiction to deepen my perspectives. Especially when being deliberate in the areas to grow in.

Being Read

(in the gym bag or on the table)

  • Principles by Ray Dalio - I totally get what he means especially from all the hackathons I’ve done (e.g. alignment)

Pending

Non-fiction:

  • The Defining Decade by Meg Jay
  • MAKE by Pieter Levels
  • The Algebra of Happiness by Scott Galloway
  • Designing Machine Learning Systems by Chip Huyen

Fiction:

  • Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin

Read

  • 2024

    • The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
    • I will Teach you to be Rich by Ramit Sethi - wrong country context, but somewhat useful for personal finance
    • The Subscription Playbook by Robert Coorey (came with a hackathon prize) – tl;dr subscription business model is overpowered

  • 2023

    • Atomic Habits by James Clear
      • Good Habits
        1. make it obvious
        2. make it attractive
        3. make it easy
        4. make it satisfying
      • Bad habits
        1. make it invisible
        2. make it unattractive
        3. make it difficult
        4. make it unsatisfying
    • Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel
    • How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

  • 2021

    • Smart Work by Dermot Crowley - still using those email inbox optimisation tricks

  • Uni

    • Hands-on Machine Learning with Scikit-Learn, Keras, and TensorFlow by Aurelien Geron
    • 2019
      • Harvard Business Review on Effective Communication
      • Harvard Business Review on Developing Leaders
      • Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
        • recommended by Jacob, my mentor
    • Translated Webnovels: a lot. Webnovels are Eastern fiction literature published online. They explore an entirely different set of tropes and sub-culture of literature.
      • Korean
        • one of the most beautiful forms of linguistic expression I’ve read - is here
      • Chinese
        • Interestingly, power levels of characters are well-defined just like Software Engineering levels (Staff Eng > Junior Engineer = “Junior, you dare?!“)
      • Japanese
        • among a lot of wish-fulfilment novels and worn-out tropes – there are some gems

  • During military service

    • Gone Fishing with Buffet by Sean Seah - introduced me to fundamental investing and sent me on a spree of attending many investing meetups at an early age
    • How to Write and Speak Better by Reader’s Digest - this book is an absolute goldmine even to a native English user

  • High-school

    • Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think by Peter H. Diamandis - time to go mine asteroids
    • George Orwell
      • 1984
      • Animal Farm
    • The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
    • The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
    • a few from here

  • Early-teens

    • Enough newspapers I knew enough current affairs to discuss with adults, then I realised current affairs never ended 😆
    • Chicken Soup for the Soul
    • Authors
      • Eoin Colfer
        • Airman - one of my favourites, still waiting for the movie
        • Artemis Fowl series - this is what triggers Chūnibyō in teens
        • The Supernaturalist
        • The Wish List
      • Paul Jennings - great short stories with a twist
      • Anthony Horowitz
        • Alex Rider series
        • The Power of Five
        • Diamond Brothers series
      • Rick Riordan
        • Percy Jackson series
      • Eragon series by Christopher Paolini

  • Childhood

    • Reader’s Digest Singapore editions
    • The Young Scientist - that was some great early STEM
    • Roald Dahl
      • Matilda, the BFG, James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, The Witches, The Twits, George’s Marvellous Medicine, Fantastic Mr Fox
    • by Edward Stratemeyer
      • The Hardy Boys
      • Nancy Drew
    • by Enid Blyton
      • a lot
    • Asterix and Obelix
    • Tintin
    • 老夫子 (funny Chinese comic) always available at the hairdresser

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