Books that stay.
A small selection of works worth returning to, because they clarify thought, challenge assumptions, or open new ways of seeing across disciplines.
Each appears here not for popularity, but for the durability of its insight.
Here, I will be reflecting on books I have read, or wrote. If there is a book you believe belongs in this space, you are welcome to get in touch.
A two-part work: first, a candid account of how Dalio built Bridgewater from an apartment bedroom into one of the world’s most influential investment firms; second, a distilled set of operating principles forged through repeated failure, reflection, and iteration. Beyond business, the book proposes a disciplined framework for reality-based learning, decision-making, and continuous adaptation in complex systems.
What stayed with me most is a simple but demanding diagnostic: “If you’re not failing, you’re not pushing your limits; if you’re not pushing your limits, you’re not growing.” Framed not as motivation but as evidence of exploration, failure becomes less a mark of incompetence and more a signal that genuine learning is underway.
Based on a true story, Buddy the Fluffy offers a quiet exploration of loss, reassurance, and the slow return of emotional light. Through the simple, faithful presence of a real companion dog, the book shows how healing can begin not with answers, but with connection, warmth, and time.
Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life refuses the comfort of easy recovery, choosing instead to witness suffering across time, friendship, and memory. Its power lies not in resolution, but in asking whether care, dignity, and human presence can endure even when healing does not.
Blending humour, irony, and imagined dialogue with artificial intelligence, DEAR AI, WTF? explores burnout, modern pressure, and the quiet emotional cost of living inside always-on systems. Its strength lies not in offering solutions, but in naming the confusion, fatigue, and fragile resilience many people carry silently.
