Things read - Week 06
India's prettiest library
Out of all the places, India's prettiest library exists in a place called Rampur and the library known as Rampur Raza Library. Somehow between the descent of Mughals and rise of Marathas and Sikhs, there comes an Afghan warlord Ali Muhammad Khan that served Mughals, got imprisoned but later got released when Nadir Shah won Delhi. After his death, his son Faizullah laid the foundations of Rampur. The library seemingly houses Akbar's zodiac scrolls and an original Jahangirnama.
If these reasons weren't enough to visit Rampur, the cuisine might attract you to it – an incredible fusion of Mughlai and Afghani. Link
List of powerful life hacks by Sahil Bloom
I'm guilty of falling in the trap of reading non-fiction, and especially self improvement text more than I should but this was a good read for reaffirmation. Like:
- Never think twice about making investments in yourself – books, quality food, fitness. These pay dividends over long time. The initial cost might seem steep, but think about the cost per use.
- To become interesting you have to do interesting things. You can't just read and become interesting. You have to actually do things. Go touch that grass.
- Meditate. John D. Rockefeller would take regular breaks from his busy schedule to attend his garden that was his personal escape. Be bored for 15 mins a day. And please, don't sleep with your phone.
- Don't ask how you can create value for others – that creates more work for other people. Spend some time figuring it out and then go do it.
- Be reliable. It can take you very far in life. Just being reliable – just making sure that people can count on you.
- The final one:
Show up early and stay late. In my experience, the most interesting side conversations and opportunities came up before meetings started or after they ended. When you're in the room, you're more likely to get pulled into a follow-up call, coffee, or discussion. Being in the room pays off handsomely in the long run.
Garmin 40B pivot
A deep dive into Garmin's history and business and how they have created their moat by investing heavily in research and development. Garmin's R&D spend is about 17% of sales - 2× of Apple and more than Microsoft. Meta spends 27% of sales on R&D and it shows how addictive their algorithm is. Link
Starting a company in China is hard
This hard hitting report by FT dives deep into the aftermath of failed startups in China that raised funding and were later unable to pay back. It's not pretty:
Once blacklisted, it is nearly impossible for individuals to start another business. They are also blocked from a range of economic activities, such as taking planes or high-speed trains, staying in hotels or leaving China. The country lacks a personal bankruptcy law, making it extremely difficult for most to escape the debts.
Link
An easier way to write
Seems like I have been employing these techniques for the past few weeks, where the premise is basically this: anything that I read (non-fiction), I read it with an intention to write. I do it weekly, but I would love to do it daily if time permits. I would have loved to scribble notes on my Kindle and have them synced in Readwise, but we will have to wait. The author suggests not starting from a blank state. Instead: Read (consume) → Take notes (collect) → Write (create).
When I start these weekly notes, I already have a list of articles I read in my Obsidian. I use the Dataview plugin to get the list of the highlights I had during the week in my reads. Then I go through them and just summarize those in my own words. Eons ago, I had read the book called How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens, and if there was one thing I took from it was to just summarize what you just read in your own words. Just doing something as simple as this can improve the retention. Otherwise, reading–on its own–for learning, is incomplete. Link