Content Cure

A few years back, I picked up a book called “The Novel Cure”. It recommended books for any ailment that one might have — from loneliness to need for space, or from low self esteem to vanity. Imitation is the best form of flattery — so here I am, starting the ‘Content Cure’.

Content Cure will have recommendations on books (mostly fiction, and some non-fiction), tech/ startup goodreads (given my current tech investing job), podcasts and TV series/ documentaries/ movies.

MAY 2019

May has been an educative month for me — ironically when schools are off for holiday, I seem to be on a self-education drive. So what better recommendation to start with, than Education!

Education — by Tara Westover (Memoir, non-fiction)

Education is the real story of Tara Westover — raised as a Mormon in the US by a bipolar father and an abusive family, who at the age of 16 decides to finally leave and get an education. That decision catapults her life in an unexpected way, making her question everything she has learnt so far. Whoever I know who has read this book has found it unputdownable. I had to continuously remind myself while reading it, that it is not fiction, and that the timeline is early 2000s and not the 1960s — that is how crazy the plot feels.

If you are suffering from self-pity, read this to know what real battles are. You will hopefully start to acknowledge the mild headaches, or painful bosses, or fights with the spouse for what they are — minor skirmishes!

Becoming — Michelle Obama (Memoir, non-fiction)

Becoming needs no introduction. Michelle Obama’s memoir is broken into three sections — Becoming me, Becoming us, Becoming more — self explanatory enough? The first 100 pages or so seem slow, so have patience since it is worth it. I stumbled in the beginning, and then sprinted through the later pages, and then slowed down again. Don’t we all do that when we know a good book is about to end?

My biggest takeaway from the book was that ‘Becoming’ is never giving up on the idea that there’s more growing to be done. For the geeky, nerdy, self-improvement focused individual that I am ‘becoming’, this struck a deep chord.

If you are an ambitious woman, if you are driven, if you have been raised middle class, if you are a working mom, if you truly care about increasing diversity, read this. And if you are a mentor to strong women, perhaps gift them this.

Recode Decode — Scott Galloway on love, Chipotle, and the other forms of happiness (Podcast)

This is one of my favorite podcasts - I love the tech discussions (or more often, criticism), the humor, and just how cool Kara and Scott are! This episode is about Scott’s upcoming book — The Algebra of Happiness — which discusses the formula to achieve happiness. The book is slated for a June release (anyone looking to gift me?).

One of the levers that Scott mentions as being related to happiness = ratio of time you are sweating/ watching other people sweat. The higher the ratio, the happier you are. So all you ESPN watchers, vs all the CultFit/ Classpass goers — you know who is winning the happiness game! Given my current fitness enthusiasm, I totally bought this mathematical tip. Also just putting mathematics and happiness in the same sentence might have made me extra giddy!

If you are looking to be happy (basically all of you), or if you want to build better relationships, hear this one!

The Inventor (Documentary, Hotstar)

Based on the life of Elizabeth Holmes — the crazy founder of a now defunct unicorn, this documentary is brilliantly directed. The last one which came close to this quality was Senna. The common thread between both is the amount of real footage that the documentary makers had. This made the storytelling so much more compelling and real. No actors were needed — which is great since I think only Holmes could showcase how crazy Holmes was/ is!

Spoiler alert — Theranos was a big fat lie, and a slap in the face of multiple VCs, Silicon Valley, several old white men who trusted it blindly. Holmes took everyone for a crazy ride, and then had a crash landing. I guess some craziness runs in the Holmes name, eh Dr Watson?

If you are a VC industry proponent (or hater), if you work in a startup and want to know the telltale signs of crazy founders, if you are a startup founder, if you are an ambitious geek, if you love scams and conspiracy theories, then watch this!