Books I read in September 2024: The Good, The Great and the Meh

The post reviews three books finished in September and sorts them into The Good, The Great, and The Meh. The author says the month was back to a regular pace of three books and keeps the discussion chronological.

Reading notes

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• Carrère’s book is presented as a collection of articles and essays whose value comes from his personality, literary knowledge, self-awareness, and presence in the text.
• The author says Carrère moves between Russia, Davos, and Romania, and that some pieces contain the seeds of later books.
• The book is described as hard to classify, with traits closer to high literature than to a standard nonfiction label.
• The Engineering Leader is described as the month’s main read and as highly useful, with dense material, reflections, personal experience, and references.
• Huston structures the book in three parts, moving from the leader’s own effectiveness to the team and then conclusions.
• The author highlights topics such as DRIing your career, energy management, hiring at scale, mission, and strategy for a team.
• The book is praised for its research, case studies, and long reading list in the appendix.
• The writing is described as clear and lively, mixing serious topics with humor.
• 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do is described as shallow, with a layout that feels affected and content that repeats obvious ideas.
• The author says they finished the book partly out of discipline and partly because negative examples can still teach something.
• The post closes by saying the book would only be worth recommending as an entry point into psychology and self-help, but not as a strong recommendation.