Mid Year Update on My Reading in 2026

At the end of last year, I set myself a modest goal: 12 books for 2026. With bigger changes coming at work, I knew it would be a busier year. Now that we’re halfway through, it feels like a good moment to look back at what I’ve read so far.

The short version: I’m on track, and there have been some real surprises along the way.

Image created in cooperation with DALL·E 3

What I’ve read so far

Supremacy by Parmy Olson was first. For an AI book published in 2024, it already feels a bit dated (which says a lot about how fast this field moves). But it’s a great resources summarizing how companies like DeepMind and OpenAI came to be, and the people and rivalries behind them. It is less of a forecast and more of a history book: just one that’s only a few years old.

Educated by Tara Westover I also finished early this year. It reads like a novel. One of those books where you forget it’s actually a biography. A nice change of pace between my usual non-fiction reads.

Strong Ground: I wrote more about this one here. It’s a leadership book, but not the usual kind. Instead of pushing you to move faster and do more, it’s about building a solid foundation first: knowing your values, being self-aware, finding stability before speed. I liked that angle.

The Art of Spending Money by Morgan Housel: I was really looking forward to this one. His first book is still the best personal finance book I’ve come across, so the bar was high. It didn’t quite get there. Good book, but his first was better by some distance. More thoughts here.

Deep Work by Cal Newport was probably the biggest surprise. I’ve read enough articles about the concept that I figured the book wouldn’t add much. I was wrong. There’s a lot more in there than the summaries suggest, and it’s actually fun to read. Five stars on Goodreads. I’ll write a separate post with my personal takeaways (coming soon).

The Formula by Albert-László Barabási was another highlight. A network science professor lays out what the research actually says about success and it’s not what most people assume. Individual performance matters, but less than you’d think. Networks and how others perceive you turn out to be surprisingly important. Full write-up here.

Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson I finished most recently. I went in thinking it would be something like Bill Gates’ How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: a big-picture case for technology and optimism. It has some of that, but I found it very US-heavy. A lot of the policy discussion is specific to the American context, which made it harder to connect with (based in Europe). Interesting, just not quite what I was hoping for. More here.

What I’m reading now

A few things going in parallel at the moment.

I started The Pathless Path by Paul Millerd a few days ago. It reads differently to most career-books I pick up: more reflective, less structured. I am not far in yet, but it’s already making me think.

Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green is probably the most unusual thing on my list right now. A book about humanity’s deadliest disease doesn’t exactly sound like a page-turner. But it is. It is very well written and I’m learning a lot. Don’t let the topic put you off.

And then there’s War and Peace. I haven’t moved much further with it. That one needs a long, quiet stretch (maybe a solo road trip).

How about you: do you have any recommendations for the second half of the year? Please share your thoughts with me at LinkedIn!