'Follow Your Passion' Is Newport's Favorite Punching Bag
Cal Newport's career-capital idea beats the usual follow-your-passion fight. Use it to test whether your work is compounding.
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Books
A focused shelf of PickyFox posts on books.
Die With Zero Is a Trap for Most Freelancers
Die With Zero has useful ideas. For freelancers with irregular income, the popular version can be financially reckless.
How to Actually Read a Book
How to actually read a book using Mortimer Adler's four levels, without turning reading into homework with nicer stationery.
Hari Is Right About Focus - Most People Are Quoting Him Wrong
Stolen Focus is not just a phone-shaming book. Hari's stronger point is that attention is being attacked from more than one direction.
Re-Reading The Alchemist at 40 (It Hits Differently)
I loved The Alchemist at 22. I rolled my eyes at it at 32. I picked it up again at 40 and found a third book hiding inside the first two.
Kalanithi's Memoir Will Reset Your Priorities
A dying neurosurgeon wrote a book about how he spent the last year of his life. I read it twice and rewrote my calendar both times.
Money Habits Beat Money Math
Money habits beat money math because behavior pays the bills. Housel's best lessons for freelancers: survive, save, and know enough.
Your Brain on Cheap Dopamine (And How to Reset)
Your brain on cheap dopamine is not broken. It is trained. Reset the loop by adding friction, choosing better rewards, and protecting focus.
What Harari Got Right (and Wrong) About Work in 2026
Yuval Noah Harari predicted a lot of things about work and AI. Some of it held up. Some of it aged like milk. Here's the mid-decade audit.
Goleman's Take on Why EQ Beats IQ at Work
Daniel Goleman's emotional intelligence framework is older than most people quoting it. It is also sharper than the LinkedIn version.
Books That Help You Sit With Uncertainty
Books that help you sit with uncertainty do not hand you fake certainty. They teach you to move with partial information and fewer lies.
Career Advice From a 1637 Jesuit
Career advice from Baltasar Gracian, the 1637 Jesuit who understood reputation, timing, rivals, and ambition too well.