Books I have read in 2020 — Part 2
Here goes part 2 of my 2020 reading list. You can read Part 1 here.
Football
- The Mixer by Michael Cox
If you love football, especially the English premier league, I think that this is one of the best books you should read. It beautifully explains the tactics teams use during 25-year of EPL history (1992–2017).
The author, Michael Cox, brilliantly narrates the different eras, from the classic long ball tactics to the early number 10 role in the formative days of the Premier League, the evolution of the Makelele role, the usage of false 9, the tiki-taka passing game, all the way to the current pressing game.
In between the eras, we’ll learn about the anatomy of Blackburn’s winning team, Liverpool’s several near champions, the treble-winning Man Utd 1998/1999, the Arsenal invincibles, what the riches of Chelsea and Man City brought to the Premier League, the modern developments in football that fits Pep Guardiola’s character perfectly, among many other analyses, from top to mid to bottom table clubs.
We’ll also read about all the mishaps along the way, like how Diego Forlan never quite fit in at Man Utd but brilliant in La Liga, how that title losing Gerrard slip vs Chelsea was a culmination of several things going on few matches prior, how chaotic was Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle United, the curious case of Georgi Kinkladze’s rise and fall at Man City, how underrated Matt Le Tissier was and whether he would be phenomenal in today’s passing game, how Leeds United spectacularly fall from their European heights, and the background stories of why the mighty England midfield quartet of Beckham-Gerrard-Lampard-Scholes never quite clicked.
The book also serves as a fond nostalgia, with the likes of Vieira vs Keane fights, the Michael Owen early Liverpool days, the Paolo Di Canio antics, THAT Aguero goal at Man City v QPR title-winning match, everybody’s favorite underdog Leicester City in their incredible 5000/1-odd title-winning season, and many, many more.
It remains gripping from the very first word till the end, with the nice delicate touch of the very last word on the postscript chapter explains the brilliant meaning of the book’s title. Absolutely enjoyable to read! MUST-READ.
2. Fear and Loathing in La Liga — Sid Lowe
A brilliant book which tells you all you need to know about the history of the two clubs, Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Barcelona is good, Madrid is bad; Barcelona independence; Madrid Franco buddies. Very much the opinion I held when I started to read this. The author tries to portray the story of the two as impartial as possible and slowly explains how similar the two are and goes on to destroy many of the myths associated with them.
There’s some great stuff on Cruyff, how Di Stefano could have played for Barca; and Barca’s current embrace of Catalan nationalism might be more political than idealistic.
Would definitely recommend it to football fans in general, and for F.C. Barcelona and Real Madrid C.F. fans in particular, this book is a must-read to have a clear and educated view about these clubs they love and hate so much.
3. Football Hackers by Christoph Biermann
Football is like a game of chess but played with dice. These words perfectly summarize what this book is about. Football is a game of singular events, where 1 mistake or bad luck will completely change the course of the match and the result.
These are the things I learned from this book or started to think about:
1. How do you rate football players on their performances?
2. Why really good teams go through bad patches even if they are not playing that badly?
3. Or why then some good referees go through bad games and decisions?
4. Is there a fairer way to measure the quality of a team's performance over the result or standard things like possession and attempts of goal? like Expected Points or Expected Goals? Packing? (pass which bypassed more players)“Dangerousity”? (how much danger did a team create and how much were they exposed to)
The author also talks about the role data plays in scouting, one of the most underrated roles in the footballing world.
Overall, it was an exciting read for me as I learned a lot about what goes behind the screens when a coach/team analyzes their performance or prepares for a match. Fascinating.
Psychology, Decision Making
- The Biggest Bluff by Maria Konnikova
Maria Konnikova, a writer for the New Yorker, and a Ph.D. in Psychology, went on a mission to learn poker. With a reporter’s curiosity, a psychologist's knowledge, and a sharp committed intellect she became a pro and even won a tournament. The lesson, pay attention. It’s a great lesson.
I like playing poker. I love reading about psychology. I like decision theory. The book does bring excellent insights on those three topics.
2. Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
Its a blog post that turned into a book (https://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/the-psychology-of-money/)
One of my best reads of this year. Morgan Housel explains the basics of the psychology of money which is very difficult to recognize even if you are in the right way of “saving and investing”.
“Risk is what’s left over when you think you’ve thought of everything.” And this strongly correlates to that everyone’s life is a continuous chain of surprises. Savings that aren’t earmarked for anything, in particular, is a hedge against life’s inevitable ability to surprise the hell out of you at the worst possible moment.
My best quote from this book — Wealth is what you don’t see
It made me think about these questions: What is my relationship with money? What do I want from money? When to listen and when not to listen to the experts on money? Why we should not give financial advice to anyone.
The book is short, easy to read, and full of real-life stories and examples. MUST-READ
3. Alchemy by Rory Sutherland
If you need to improve public transport service, the rational option is to invest in new roads, tracks, vehicles, stations -and this will set you back tens/hundreds of millions. The alternative is to invest a couple of hundred grand into better displays that tell you exactly when the next train/bus is due. Less anxiety > increased perception of quality for a fraction of cost.
Rory Sutherland calls this lateral problem solving “alchemy”, and the book is full of related anecdotes and examples. And Rory is not just some branding guru telling you to be “creative” but a direct response guy who has decades of results and case studies to back his claim up.
If we allow the world to be run by logical people, we will only discover logical things. But in real life, most things aren’t logical — they are psycho-logical (i.e. involve emotion with posthoc rationalization). MUST-READ
4. The Tall lady with the Iceberg by Anne Miller
A good book on how metaphors can be used in many situations. Provides basic guidelines on what to look out for when building them. Gives directions for building presentations with metaphors and how to hook audiences with them. It would be useful to anyone who’s looking for information and tips to build effective metaphors.
Blockchain and Bitcoin
- Digital Gold by Nathaniel Popper
I picked up this book after seeking recommendations on what to read to gain a better understanding of bitcoin and how it works. I didn’t expect it to be a blow-by-blow account and history on the invention of bitcoin by the still mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto and the numerous personalities (and quite a few oddballs amongst them) behind the success story of cryptocurrency. To be fair, even though the book did not meet my expectations of what I am looking for, this is a very thorough and well-researched book on the rise of bitcoin, which can be pretty entertaining at times.
2. Blockchain Basics by Daniel Drescher
This book teaches the basic concepts that make up the blockchain in a nontechnical fashion and in a concise and comprehensible. It addresses the three big questions that arise when being introduced to a new technology: What is it? Why do we need it? How does it work?
A good read for anyone who wants to understand the technology behind cryptocurrencies.
To be continued…
