Episode · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2024-02-27
Books mentioned on #724: Claire Hughes Johnson — How to Take Responsibility for Your Life, Create Rules That Work, Stop Being a Victim, Set Strong Boundaries, and More
Claire Hughes Johnson currently serves as a corporate officer and advisor for Stripe, a global technology company that builds economic infrastructure for the Internet.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Awareness
Awareness by Anthony De Mello is a widely praised spiritual and self-improvement book that offers insights into human consciousness, perception, and personal liberation.
Recommended“The book I've probably gifted most to my friends and house guests and so on in the last few years is actually a very short book called Awareness by Anthony de Mello, which is outstanding. I need to read it again. I read it probably once or twice a year.”
Where to get it
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To the Lighthouse
To the Lighthouse is a landmark modernist novel by Virginia Woolf that explores themes of loss, subjectivity, and the passage of time through the experiences of the Ramsay family.
Discussed“Let's talk about a non-business book, and that book is To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. What is your history with this book and why do you recommend it?”
Where to get it
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A Room of One's Own
A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf is a groundbreaking feminist essay that examines the historical, social, and financial barriers limiting women's access to creative independence and literary production.
Discussed“But if you read A Room of One's Own, it's basically one of the earliest feminist manifestos that exist.”
Where to get it
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Mrs. Dalloway
Mrs.
Discussed“I will be honest with you and say when I wrote my thesis in college, I was going to write it on To the Lighthouse, and then I actually decided to write it on Mrs. Dalloway, which is another one of her novels because I love the parallels from Mrs. Dalloway with a book called The Passion by Jeanette Winterson.”
Where to get it
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The passion
The Passion is a historical novel by Jeanette Winterson set during the Napoleonic Wars, weaving together themes of obsession, gambling, and identity through the eyes of a young French soldier and a web-footed woman.
Discussed“I actually decided to write it on Mrs. Dalloway, which is another one of her novels because I love the parallels from Mrs. Dalloway with a book called The Passion by Jeanette Winterson.”
Where to get it
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Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
Discussed“So Jeanette Winterson is a female British writer, more in the modern era who had broken through with a memoir called Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit.”
Where to get it
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Sexing the Cherry
Discussed“And then had published this book, The Passion, and then a book called Sexing the Cherry, and she's published now several books, but Jeanette Winterson I think is a descendant, in my opinion, of Virginia Woolf.”
Where to get it
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Little, Big
Little, Big by John Crowley is an intricate, epic fantasy novel that follows the mystical, generations-spanning history of the Drinkwater family and their eccentric estate near the edge of a magical realm.
Recommended“The one that blew my mind, and nine out of 10 people hate this book, so it's a very strong caveat, but it's Little, Big by John Crowley, who's actually a poet by training. It is so unbelievably good. You have to slog through the first 150 pages but, beyond that, it's absolutely stunning.”
Where to get it
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Exhalation
Exhalation by Ted Chiang is a critically acclaimed collection of philosophical science fiction short stories.
Recommended“So for folks who are male, also female, but if they're male tech on the spectrum over performers, I'll usually steer them to, say, Ted Chiang short stories like Exhalation is his second collection.”
Where to get it
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One Hundred Years of Solitude
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez is a landmark multi-generational chronicle of the Buendía family in the fictional town of Macondo.
Recommended“If you said to me, what's the other To the Lighthouse, I would say One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez, and my introduction to magical realism.”
Where to get it
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Scaling People
Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building by Claire Hughes Johnson is an actionable guidebook designed to help leaders navigate organizational growth, team management, and personal professional development.
Recommended“Your book, which I highly recommend to folks, it's incredibly tactical, Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building. Tons of templates. Tons of frameworks. Lots of specifics that you can apply immediately.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (5) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“I mean, I would say that early on I was an avid fiction reader. So as a kid there were books like The Neverending Story, and then later Dune, for instance.”
“So as a kid there were books like The Neverending Story, and then later Dune, for instance. Science fiction.”
“Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein, which were also very condensed thought experiments.”
“My working-with-me document was published in Elad Gil's book, High Growth Handbook, and it went a little bit viral.”
“Her book is Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building.”