In 2024, I began reading a book every week. I wanted to share what I’d read, so I posted a recap of my 2024 reading stats and lessons learned (see here). I was frustrated by how hard it was to share a list of all the book titles (see here), so I created a page about each book I read in 2024 (see here). I wanted to replace the Google Sheet I use to track all my reading, so I created a searchable library of all the books I’ve read (see here). I update it weekly.

Last year, 2025, was year two of consistently reading a book every week, and I want to share a recap of my stats and lessons learned. Sorry it’s late (the goal was January).

High-level stat for 2025:

• Books read: 51

2025 breakdown by month:

• January: 4
• February: 4
• March: 4
• April: 4
• May: 4
• June: 5
• July: 4
• August: 5
• September: 4
• October: 4
• November: 5
• December: 4

If you’d like to know what those 51 books were, see my 2025 reading list here.

Here are a few things I learned along the way:

• Reading for general information is critical if I want to generate new ideas—and I do. A Technique for Producing Ideas reinforced this. I have to learn about ideas so I can borrow from them when I’m trying to come up with a new one myself.
• Rereading high-quality books is sometimes better than reading new books. I reread a few books last year, and that helped me a ton. I’m now trying to reread at least one book every month.
• Synoptical reading is key to leveraging books to solve hard problems or deeply understand something. See more here.
• Framework books are a good fit for my personality, and they’re helpful. They give you the framework or process to use when you’re trying to accomplish something. They don’t give you the answer, but they show you how to get to the right answer.
• I get the most out of books when I read with intention; that is, with a clearly defined purpose for reading that book. That purpose should be a problem I’m actively trying to solve or a topic I want to understand better. This year, I’ve started writing down the problem I need to solve or the topic I want to understand before I choose a book. That’s helped me do more synoptical reading and get more from my reading that I can quickly put to use.
• There are no hacks with reading. I have to not only read but also do the work to understand what I’m reading. The best way to do that (that I’ve found so far) is to synthesize a book and share what I learned with others. But I haven’t found a way to be consistent with that.
• Learning through reading doesn’t feel like a chore anymore. It’s something I enjoy doing in my downtime. The personal-growth aspect of it appeals to my curious nature, and I feel like I can sustain it for a long time.
• Application of knowledge is the key to getting better outcomes. A priority of mine in 2025 is to apply what I’ve learned from reading, specifically around decision-making with imperfect information and probabilistic thinking.

Those are my takeaways and reading stats for 2025!

I’m a big fan of continual learning. It’s mentally stimulating and fun. Reading is my favorite method, but I also listen to lots of podcasts on YouTube while I’m doing other things. Over the last year, I’ve become more intentional about what I listen to. Here are a few rules I try to stick to:

• Experience sharing – I aim to listen to interviews with people who’ve done the thing I’m interested in learning. I want to hear about what they did, why they did it, what the outcome was, and what they learned.
• Frameworks – If I’m trying to learn something and there’s a method or approach that’s led to outsize success, I’ll listen to people discuss that framework.
• History  – I enjoy hearing recounts of what happened in the past, but I don’t want opinions. I want the facts and the timeline.
• How to think – I don’t enjoy podcasts where people are trying to convince listeners that the way they see things is the right way. I want to hear only the facts. I can then decide how to think about them (rightly or wrongly).
• Talking heads – I tend to avoid people who want the limelight or want to be famous. They talk even when they’re not saying anything substantive.
• Niches – I tend to enjoy podcasts that go deep into niches I’m interested in. Broad or generic podcasts don’t appeal to me. I’d rather listen to people who know a lot about a little than people who know a little about a lot.
• Predictions – Predicting the future is impossible, although many people try. I avoid listening to podcasts where people make predictions.
• Giving back – I really enjoy podcasts where people who’ve had outsize success share their story and what they’ve learned simply because they want to pay it forward.
• Authors – If I’m interested in a book, I’ll try to find interviews with the author. If I like the interviews and the author is a clear thinker, I’m more inclined to purchase the book.

This list isn’t static. It will change as my listening habits evolve. But with so much content out there, I’ve found it helpful to apply criteria to ensure that the things I’m listening to align with my goal of continual learning and I don’t consume mindless content.

I watched a clip from a speech Denzel Washington gave at the University of Pennsylvania in 2011. A few things he said stuck with me:

“If you don’t fail, you’re not even trying.”

“To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.”

He shared this analogy: Ghosts, which represent your unfilled potential, are gathered around your deathbed. They’re upset with you because you never brought them to life, and now they have to go to the grave with you.

It’s a great speech. If you want to watch the whole thing, it’s here.

Ever since I read Dangerous Dreamers last year and learned about the insight that led to Michael Milken creating a high-yield bond market, I’ve been curious about bonds. Wanting to understand this asset class better, I’ve bought several books, including a biography of Bill Gross by Mary Childs, The Bond King.

Today I learned more about bonds from an unexpected person: LeBron James. Bloomberg reported that James used a sophisticated strategy to borrow several hundred million dollars. LeBron has made almost $600 million in NBA salary (source), and he also has other revenue streams, including sponsorships by Nike and other companies.

James’s income from those non-NBA sources runs through his company, King James Funding LLC. In 2018, to get cash up front, King James LLC issued ~31-year bonds. Those bonds paid an interest rate of 4.8% and aren’t due until 2049. The total bond purchase by investors was reported to be almost $300 million; it isn’t clear whether that was the total amount sold over several years or the initial amount sold in 2018.

So why did this catch my eye? LeBron James basically borrowed several hundred million dollars backed by his future non-basketball earnings (and likely some assets too). He accomplished this by having his personal company issue bonds that were bought by insurance companies.

I think it’s an interesting case of a private company using future revenue streams to raise immediate capital. I’ve been thinking about bonds in relation to public companies, but this has me thinking about them in relation to private companies too. I definitely want to learn more about LeBron’s deal structure. Hopefully I can find public filings that shed more light on the bonds he issued.

This weekend I caught up with a friend who’s an entrepreneur. His company builds single-family homes. I love chatting with him because we operate in completely different worlds. His world is coordinating with skilled laborers building million-dollar-ish homes. But this weekend our conversation was different. He was excited to tell me about how he and his peers have embraced AI.

My friend shared that another builder was struggling to sell his completed spec homes. The carry costs were adding up, so the builder was anxious to sell them. The builder’s granddaughter told him to use ChatGPT to help him with his problem. The builder isn’t tech savvy (he’s in his 70s), but he figured he didn’t have anything to lose. He fired up ChatGPT, and after some dialogue it suggested a marketing strategy that included offering rate buydowns and other incentives to incentivize buyers and their real estate agents. These types of incentives aren’t new, but they were foreign to the builder because he left the marketing and financing to his real estate agent and banking partners. Nevertheless, he took the advice, instructing his agent and bankers to follow the strategy ChatGPT suggested. The result: the homes sold in a few weeks. The builder’s mind was blown, and he now uses AI regularly to talk through ideas and problems.

My friend is more tech savvy, but he hasn’t needed to use AI for work. Recently, though, he’s been using AI to build a side-hustle e-commerce business for his wife. Within a week or two, he had a name, branding, a strategy, and a manufacturing plan. He and his wife are now aiming to launch the brand soon. He was amazed that AI was able to take his wife’s idea, help him work through the unknowns, and get it to a stage where it’s close to launching. This normally would have taken months and thousands of dollars paid to designers and other contractors. AI now has him thinking about other business ideas he can test cheaply. In his free time, he’s using AI regularly now.

This weekend confirmed something I’ve been thinking for some time. When Main Street entrepreneurs (i.e., not tech entrepreneurs) learn how to leverage AI, a massive wave of entrepreneurship will be unleashed. As more people who deeply understand problems and how to solve them pair with AI that can turn their ideas into reality, we’ll see more people embrace entrepreneurship.

Current Project: Reading books about entrepreneurs and investors and sharing what I learned from them

Mission: Create a library of wisdom from notable entrepreneurs that current entrepreneurs can leverage to increase their chances of success

Cumulative metrics (since 4/1/24):

• Total books read: 129
• Total blog posts published: 868

This week’s metrics:

• Books read: 1
• Blog posts published: 7

What I completed in the week ending 8/23/26 (link to the previous week’s commitments):

• Read The Heart of Innovation by Matt Chanoff, Merrick Furst, Daniel Sabbah, and Mark Wegman, a framework book on finding authentic demand in potential customers. Two of the authors, Furst and Chanoff, founded Flashpoint, Georgia Tech’s start-up engineering studio.

What I’ll do next week:

• Read a biography, autobiography, or framework book

Week three hundred thirty-four was another week of learning. Looking forward to next week!

Below, I share content I consumed and learned from last week. I spent time doing general learning about a variety of topics.

What I consumed last week and what I learned from it:

• Turning risk appetite to entrepreneurship – YouTube interview with finance technology entrepreneur Tom Sosnoff. His appetite for taking risks and his parlaying of his risk appetite into starting financial technology companies caught my attention. Sosnoff is 69 years old but doesn’t look it. He attributes his youthfulness to not believing in retirement (he loves building stuff) and to hanging around young people and continually learning. His belief that your decision-making speed and the speed at which your brain processes information are key to creating wealth resonated with me. Sosnoff sold his first company for $600 million and then sold his second company for $1.1 billion.

That’s what I learned from what I consumed last week.

Today I had an interesting chat with an entrepreneur about his new businesses and the trends that led him to start them. Here are a few trends that stuck with me:

• Big brands – Younger consumers don’t want to buy from big chains or brands. They want local brands they can relate to. He thinks chain restaurants will suffer massively.
• Analog – People are tired of screens and craving real-life experiences and connection. Products that enhance in-person engagement or experiences will win.
• Alcohol – People, especially young people, are drastically reducing their alcohol intake. Places where people can socialize that aren’t bars or clubs are needed.
• Tech – Technology isn’t a moat anymore. What’s important now are brands that resonate with people and distribution that puts those brands in front of people.

Interesting insights. I definitely see anecdotal evidence of these trends around me in Atlanta, especially with young adults.

A few days ago, I shared that the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers are being sold for the second time in a year. This time, they’re being sold for $12.5 billion, up from $10 billion last year. There are lots of reasons for that transaction that have come to light since the news broke (see here). But it feels like the pace of deals to buy controlling or minority stakes in professional sports teams has accelerated rapidly in the last few years.

That feeling was reinforced today when it was reported that the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons are selling 10% of the team at a valuation of $10.6 billion to Arctos Partners, a private equity firm owned by KKR (see here). It’s a minority stake, so Arthur Blank will still have the majority stake and control of the team. It’s not a bad return considering he bought the entire team in 2002 for ~$545 million. But the trend of ownership stakes in sports teams changing hands continues.

As ownership moves from individuals and families to private equity, I wonder if that will have an impact on how teams are run or if more financial data about teams will become public. I’m curious to see how this plays out.

Yesterday I shared two big takeaways from reading George E. Johnson’s autobiography, Afro Sheen. Today I read a quote that’s pertinent to one of them. It sums up how Johnson overcame a fear:

When you fear something, learn as much about it as you can. Knowledge conquers fear.

~Edmund Burke

Yesterday’s post (see here) describes how Johnson overcame his fear of flying.