This book was recommended to me by a coworker after an in-depth discussion about how society influences our behavior patterns. In the beginning, a plane full of kids crashed on a deserted island, and the thought of no rules/parents was very exciting to them at first. However, as their days continued with a lack of structure and order, the boys started to turn on each other and become violent beasts. What I loved about this book is that it reminded me of my primal instincts, which are often suppressed in today’s culture of America. This made me realize that I love sports so much because it is the closest thing you can get to violent competition among men without the killing. I viewed society around me as somewhat unnatural when I was reading, as we have set up this system with so much order that life is almost too predictable. However, there are still things I can use my primal instincts for, such as working out and educating myself in order to be better than the others around me.

Peterson is a speaker that I thoroughly enjoy listening to on Podcasts, so I decided to read his book where he incorporated a majority of his teachings. While reading this book, I would often come across an idea and stare at the ceiling for five minutes as I reflected/processed it. One of my favorite points he brought up was that the Man had no conception of time when we were first put on this planet, but we soon realized that there will be a future. This seems obvious, however that is only because we are taught what "the future" is and that we know that we will be alive an hour from now. That being said, the men that prepared for the future were the ones that became most successful. Men could have killed their meat and eaten it all, but they realized that they could save it for later so that they do not have to go hunting again. This concept is reflected in today's world if we observe the work ethic of successful people. Those who suffer in the present in order to be more prepared for the future are the most successful. I am going to college right now to spend countless hours in the library, do thousands of practice problems, and go to lectures all because I am setting myself up for the future. I was only subconsciously aware of this concept before I read this book, but now I am able to analyze my everyday actions and make sure each of them has a purpose. Peterson had hundreds of other points just like this one that I could write all day about.

Although this book was written close to a century ago, it is still considered one of the most intelligent books with regards to how we as humans interact with each other. Everyone around us is interacting with each other, yet we do not want to talk about why we act the way we act or what makes us awkward. Carnegie made me question my actions as I did simple things such as going to work or ordering at a restaurant. My favorite point that he made in the books was that there was absolutely no reason to ever talk poorly about someone behind their back. First of all, if you really have an issue with somebody, confront them about it so that you can directly fix the problem. Then you will not have to worry about the issue and it is resolved. Second of all, we as humans (including myself) tend to talk badly about people because it makes us feel better about ourselves. If we have to exert our energy and time of day to hate on somebody, then time is being wasted that could be going towards learning or improving ourselves. Third of all, you will just cause more conflict if the person finds out you are talking behind their back and you look like a coward. We all have experienced this type of situation. This realization has allowed me to have better relations with friends and coworkers because I am able to carry myself with positive energy throughout my day and decrease the amount of drama in my life. I have started to recognize that people just talk bad on others to boost their own ego because they are insecure. Again, there were so many points made in this book that I could write all day long, but this is just one thing that has changed how I go about my everyday life.

In this wonderful world of distractions, I have had trouble focusing on my work for long periods of time. The increased amount of distractions in this world compared to when I was little is unbelievable. The internet can give me anything on demand and I often find myself nose-deep in my phone. One of the most interesting points made in this book was the concept of the Distraction Economy. The Distraction Economy involves companies making money simply off grabbing your attention. YouTube and Snapchat do this by making highly addictive algorithms that keep users glued to their screens. They throw in ads every once in a while, which generates revenue for them. In other words, people are taking your attention and focus out of your day so that they can make money when you receive almost nothing of value in return. Being able to put your attention towards the correct things is one of the most important skills you can have in this current world. So many people cannot control their attention and are not living up to their greatest potential. I have been inspired to flex my focus muscle by saying no to my brain when it wants to be interrupted by a distraction. After frequently doing this, my brain has become nearly immune to getting distracted while everyone else is wasting their time on “braindead” activities such as the YoutTube algorithm and Snapchat.

I was able to finish this book in a week by spending every spare second of my time reading it. Not only was this the most engaging book I have ever read, but it had a huge effect on my mindset as I read. The author, David Goggins, describes his life journey of transforming from a 300 pound man to a Navy Seal. He describes his mindset at every point in his journey and how he overcame many obstacles. Goggins has an incredible amount of “want” and “heart.” The biggest thing I took away from this book is that there are two voices in your head: the good and the bad. Sometimes one of them will win, but you can fully suppress that bad voice in your head by focusing on what you are able to do in the present moment. Tell that voice no. Focus on proving that bad voice wrong rather than other people. Life is a mental battle with yourself constantly, and if you allow yourself to be lazy or give up, it will be a constant lifestyle that you adopt. This has made me much more aware of how I think and has motivated me to keep grinding. I live by this way of life, where I am constantly hungry for self-improvement and success. This mindset has improved so many aspects of my life and has been building me up into a prosperous young man.

I recently purchased an Arduino Uno kit and decided to read this book for an introduction. This book only took me about five hours, but it was able to jumpstart me into the world of Arduino programming. I had never read a programming book before, and it was surprisingly not dry at all. It had some awesome interactive projects that I was able to do along the way which demonstrated the concepts that were discussed in each chapter. This hands-on characteristic of the book made it much more engaging and allowed me to get a better visual representation of their code. The Aduino is coded in a modified C programming language and it can be used to do all sorts of projects. As an engineer, it is my job to submit an input into a device in order to obtain a desired output. Stacking these input/output combinations on top of each other will eventually create a huge chain reaction, and a final product is developed. I am excited to experiment around more with the Arduino and apply the concepts that I learned in this book.

When it comes to watching movies, I will never watch a movie until I have read the book. This was something that I was very strict about with the Harry Potter series, and I am very glad that I was able to read the books first. I never got around to reading them when I was a kid, so I sheltered myself from the story line for nearly 20 years. I read the first two books a couple summers ago, but then I binge read the last 5 during my sophomore year of college. After every book I read, I would watch the movie so that I could see another visual representation of what actually went on. This allowed me to keep the storyline fresh in my head, and I was more motivated to read so that I could watch the movies. Now that I have completed the series, I am an absolute Harry Potter NUT! Every book got better and better, and the way the series ended was the biggest plot twist of the century. I won’t go into the storyline because I don’t want to spoil it, but I would highly recommend this book series for anyone that has not read it. Everytime I see the movies on TV, I get very excited and it reminds me when I read the books without a clue about what was going to happen next.

In this old western novel, the two main characters, Gus and Call, travel across the United states to New Mexico. This book is realistic fiction and takes place in the Cowboy era, where the Native Americans roamed throughout the country as well. Gus and Call leave their small town with over 100 men and horses, and only about 10 of them survived. Many of the men died on the hardest part of the journey, which was a long stretch of land that had no food, water, or trees. This stretch was called the Dead Man’s Walk, which is where the title came from. This book was so fascinating because of the historical accuracy that it portrayed. Buffalo Hump was the head of one of the bloodthirsty Native American Tribes, and is actually a real person that lived during this time. The book went in depth about how the Indians would scalp their enemies, and the spiritual thinking that they used to navigate the wild country. There are a couple more books in this series and a television series to go along with it, so I am excited for them in the future.

Siddhartha is a classic and is a book that I think everyone should read during a difficult time in their life. The book tells a story of a man who is constantly changing lifestyles and cannot figure out which one works best. At one point he is a Buddhist Monk, where he does nothing but meditate and fast in order to remove all external motivations. The man eventually transitions over to a life with a beautiful wife, where he becomes rich and falls in love. This is an ironic part of the story because the man said he would never become materialistically motivated or fall in love. He again starts to question what he is doing and by the end of the book, he is in the forest again. He looks in the river and hears many voices, some bad ones from his life and some good ones. The man realizes that these voices/memories make up his life and that they are beautiful, even though there are some bad times. There is so much more to this story, but that was just a brief summary of the parts that I really enjoy. Buddhism is a very interesting religion. I do love the meditation aspect of it, where they always take time out of their day to simply be with the mind alone, something that our world cannot do. Everyone has to constantly be stimulated and when they are not, they get thoughts of depression or lack of self-worth. This is because they do not know who they truly are without the environment around them. If you are reading this, I challenge you to take 10 minutes out of each day to simply sit and think about nothing in a quiet area. You will soon see that you can control your thoughts better and learn more about yourself.

This book was recommended to me by my friend’s dad, Kenneth. We were discussing exactly what I wanted to do with my computer engineering degree, and he was explaining to me how a traditional developer job may not be the route to go. He emphasized how a lot of companies have their code written by people in India, where they can do it for cheap. Friedman uses this as the first example in the book to explain what he means by “the earth is flat.” Technology has become so advanced and embedded into our world that we can have software written 24/7 in India, where the workers are paid less and arguably work just as hard. That being said, Kenneth suggested that I should think about a career involving more communication between tech teams and solving problems within the company related to technology. I imagine this career to be some sort of businessman or manager with a great understanding of how computers work. Friedman’s book gave me an amazing explanation of how technology has changed how humans interact and how business is done. In an office now, nearly everyone has a computer and all of the important information is stored in databases rather than file cabinets. One point that absolutely blew my mind was that everyone has technology, but that does not make your company great. Technology will make your company great if you use it in the best way possible. Everyone in developed countries has the chance to connect with people around the world and to show the world what they are capable of by simply putting it on the internet. Never has there ever been a time like this. However, that also makes the world more competitive, especially if you do not have the internet. We have seen big name companies such as Sears go out of business in this new era because they did not translate to online shopping fast enough. Technological advancement is inevitable and it is just getting started, so those who adapt well to it and use it to their advantage will be the most successful.