Nat Eliason
Writer and novelist; publishes book notes and essays at nateliason.com and wrote the novel Husk and Crypto Confidential.
Husk by Nat Eliason
If you liked Husk , you'll also like Recursion!
on nateliason.com · 16 May 2025
Recursion by Blake Crouch
But for anyone who enjoyed Dark Matter, Inception, or any story that plays with perception and reality, Recursion is a must-read.
on nateliason.com · 16 May 2025
Armor by John Steakley
But otherwise, yes, absolutely. This is one of my favorite Sci-Fi novels I've read.
on nateliason.com · 11 Oct 2024
Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse
It’s an oddly written, extremely concise, very thought-provoking book. It definitely needs to be re-read 2-3 times. Make sure you’re thinking on the plane of infinite play.
on nateliason.com · 23 Aug 2023
End the Fed by Ron Paul
It's a book by a politician, about what you expect. Some interesting tid bits on the history of the Fed but you could get it from Wikipedia.
on nateliason.com · 22 Jun 2022
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
It's incredibly written, deeply complex, confusing as hell, and you'll probably throw it at the wall when it's done. But then you'll kinda go "okay... I'm glad I did that" and maybe start it again.
on nateliason.com · 22 Jun 2022
A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton G. Malkiel
A fine intro to investing if you think you can reliably beat the market or that active trading is a good use of energy. If you're already bought in on index funds though, you won't find much here.
on nateliason.com · 1 Dec 2021
Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The book that’s had one of the greatest influences on my thinking. If you enjoy the content on this site, you’ll love Antifragile.
on nateliason.com · 23 Nov 2020
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat
Such an incredible book on becoming a better chef, with little tricks and methods I use almost every day now. Plus the recipes in the back are delicious!
on nateliason.com · 3 Sep 2020
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
Everyone needs to read this book. The observations were made in a pre-internet era, and they’re 10x as relevant today. Nothing will do more to help cure your information addiction that the healthy dose of reality provided in these pages.
on nateliason.com · 7 Feb 2020
Brain Rules by John Medina
A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking
on nateliason.com · 7 Feb 2020
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Absolutely beautiful, a must read. No crazy plot, but there doesn’t need to be.
on nateliason.com · 7 Feb 2020
Endurance by Alfred Lansing
Holy shit what a ride! Absolutely amazing story of perseverance and leadership, a must read. Whatever struggles you think you are going through simply cannot compare.
on nateliason.com · 7 Feb 2020
Gödel Escher Bach by Douglas R. Hofstadter
This book stretched my mind more than almost any other book I’ve read. It’s tough at parts, it’s long, but you’ll come out of it thinking about brains, minds, intelligence, and AI in an entirely new way.
on nateliason.com · 7 Feb 2020
Letters from a Stoic by Seneca
A massively influential work of philosophy, I've enjoyed this book every time I go back to it. Great entry point for anyone into virtue ethics.
on nateliason.com · 7 Feb 2020
Perennial Seller by Ryan Holiday
Fairly shallow marketing and writing advice, I’d recommend reading something else.
on nateliason.com · 7 Feb 2020
Principles by Ray Dalio
Much better organized and fleshed out than the original PDF. It gets very slow in the work principles, definitely skim those based on your interest. The life principles are phenomenal, though. Would highly recommend.
on nateliason.com · 7 Feb 2020
Seeking Wisdom by Peter Bevelin
Simply the best book on improving your decision making there is. It’s dense and hard to get through if you’re not truly interested, but it’s well worth it.
on nateliason.com · 7 Feb 2020
The 12 Week Year by Brian Moran
It’s okay, didn’t feel like there was anything groundbreaking here in the planning, productivity, or business space though.
on nateliason.com · 7 Feb 2020
Fantastic, many similar ideas to Stoicism and Virtue Ethics, though with more mystical elements thrown in. Would highly recommend it as a “first taste” of eastern religion.
on nateliason.com · 7 Feb 2020
The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker
Phenomenal book on how our fear of death is the core of our psychological disturbances, and our motivation for life. It will make you think about why we do things and behave in certain ways in an entirely new fashion, and the language within it is delicious.
on nateliason.com · 7 Feb 2020
Socrates remains the greatest foundational influence on philosophy, and to understand his method, you have to read his dialogues. The rhetoric is brilliant, and at times, even hilarious.
on nateliason.com · 7 Feb 2020
The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker
The best book on getting your most important work done. Read this instead of every other “productivity” book.
on nateliason.com · 7 Feb 2020
The Elephant in the Brain by Robin Hanson and Kevin Simler
A phenomenal book on understanding your own "hidden motivations in everyday life" and why we do what we do. Widely applicable to all parts of life, and the kind of explanations you can't stop thinking about after reading.
on nateliason.com · 7 Feb 2020
The First 20 Hours by Josh Kaufman
This is basically a much worse version of 4-Hour Chef. Kaufman doesn’t bring nearly as much to the table as Ferriss, and it feels a little rushed and under researched. Wouldn’t recommend it if you’re trying to quickly develop skills, I’d read 4-Hour Chef instead.
on nateliason.com · 7 Feb 2020
The Fish that Ate the Whale by Rich Cohen
One of the craziest, most impressive stories of business smarts I’ve come across and from someone otherwise unknown. Like a real-life Francisco d’Anconia from Atlas Shrugged.
on nateliason.com · 7 Feb 2020
Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss
I was disappointed. I love Tim’s work, but this didn’t deliver in the way his past books have. There’s zero thematic organization, so you can’t reference certain topics you want to learn more about except in a few cases. While this has some interesting pieces, I doubt I’ll refer back to it like I have with Workweek, Body, and Chef.
on nateliason.com · 7 Feb 2020
Everything Nat Eliason recommends — not just books — on rcmnd →