Saying Goodbye to 2023 With 19 Books | 5Y New Year Reading List
Happy New Year!
As 2023 draws to a close, looking back on the year there are probably many unforgettable moments — perhaps unexpected surprises, real-time unknowns unfolding, or changes no one saw coming. So much feels uncertain, but stumbling upon a good book is always a stroke of luck. Books don't hold answers about the future, but they might offer you some anchors.
The following list comes from recommendations by colleagues at 5Y Capital, covering a wide range: insights into frontier technology, lessons from history, and some moving stories. They are the pleasant surprises our team discovered in 2023. We hope you find some reading joy in them too.
Wishing you a happy new year, a smooth 2024, and more time to read.
(Listed alphabetically by title)
-01-
AI Is Good for You
Author: Eric Jang
Recommended by: Yunfeng Shi
AI is really good for you. Learn insights from one of the smartest young researchers, Eric Jang.
-02-
Blades of the Guardians (Biao Ren)
Author: Xianzhe Xu
Recommended by: Liqiang Wang
For a light break when the entrepreneurial grind gets exhausting.
-03-
A Guide to the Viral Universe
Author: Marilyn J. Roossinck
Recommended by: Xiaoyu Xu
This invisible world constantly shapes our society and civilization. Understanding the past and future of viruses is also understanding ourselves as humans — and where we might be headed.
-04-
Born a Crime
Author: Trevor Noah
Recommended by: Junfang Li
I was drawn to this book through my love of Trevor Noah's stand-up. It's both a moving coming-of-age story and a unique lens into South African history and culture. Trevor's mother plays a crucial role — her courage, wisdom, and unwavering beliefs profoundly shaped his character. With his signature humor and captivating voice, Trevor recounts vivid childhood stories: how his mother, under the oppression of apartheid, still pursued freedom and equality, creating a loving environment that made him the optimistic, open, confident person he became. These true stories reveal their fierce resilience and longing for a better life. May this positive energy inspire you to embrace life more fully and chase your dreams boldly.
-05-
Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting
Author: Robert McKee
Recommended by: Liqiang Wang
The book describes five story components: inciting incident, progressive complications, crisis, climax, and resolution — which align with Campbell's Hero's Journey. The entrepreneurial journey is itself a hero's journey; you'll feel resonance when you hit those "progressive complications." Moreover, facing dominant domestic brands and incumbents, or going global — the principles of story may also underlie the next great brand: "Chinese writers (indeed all writers) must understand that cultural texture is merely the surface expression of universal truths. We are all human, we all face the same fundamental human dilemmas, ask the same fundamental human questions, and live under the shadow of ever-diminishing time. Story addresses the fundamental principles of narrative art that transcend all societies and histories."
-06-
The Fading Dividend (Jian Xing Jian Yuan De Hong Li)
Author: Wensheng Peng
Recommended by: Mengchen Liu
Published in 2013 during an era of great economic prosperity, its predictions for the future proved largely accurate ten years later — covering real estate, foreign exchange, the easing of family planning policies, savings, insufficient domestic demand, and aging. Taking a structural view of long-term economic and social development reveals that truths, laws, and order are objective and hard to shake. Yet at the same time, any designed social/economic/political system cannot withstand technological disruption and historical contingencies. So riding the wave while creating variables is the hard but right thing to do.
-07-
The Jiǎn Shāng (Cutting Down Shāng)
Author: Shuo Li
Recommended by: Bosen Xu
Through archaeological reports and textual analysis, it digs deep into the darkness and secrets buried in history, unearthing another portrait of the Yin-Shang transformation. Consider: isn't investing itself a repeated practice of excavating the present through the past?
-08-
The Impossible Climb: Alex Honnold, El Capitan, and the Climbing Life
Author: Mark Synnott
Recommended by: Xuechen Wang
Many may know the documentary Free Solo; this book reveals far richer detail. The author himself is a professional climber, and the book records not only that epic El Capitan ascent but also the history of climbing culture, its various schisms, and the stories of numerous climbers. The most extreme sport demands the clearest, most careful mind: "No one can operate at the cutting edge of their sport for twenty years on adrenaline alone. He is a cautious and conservative person. He pushes limits bit by bit only when mentally and physically prepared."
-09-
The Making of China (Jing Wei Hua Xia)
Author: Zhuoyun Xu
Recommended by: Dan You
A "biography" of Chinese civilization. Seeing China from the world, and the world from China.
-10-
On China
Author: Henry Kissinger
Recommended by: Ye Yuan
Dr. Kissinger studied China over the long term. The book records and shares his understanding of China through an international lens and long-term perspective — respecting history, understanding the present, knowing where we came from and where we're going.
-11-
Poor Charlie's Almanack
Author: Peter Kaufman
Recommended by: Ye Yuan
Munger generously shares his life wisdom in this book. Whatever confusion or challenge you face, you can find mental answers here. It rewards rereading — every time, you'll feel that sensation of "if only I'd known this sooner."
-12-
The Many Faces of Power
Author: Hongjie Zhang
Recommended by: Fei Zhang
A fascinating book where a historian critiques a dozen-odd emperors, bringing them vividly to life — with much relevance for understanding the present. From the bisexual Emperor Wu of Han, to the idealist Wang Mang who persisted to the end, to the Yongli Emperor of Ming who fled to Burma — each evokes deep sighs and rueful reflection.
-13-
The New Biography of Su Dongpo
Author: Yibing Li
Recommended by: Mengqi Ji
"Life is but a journey, and I too am a traveler." Author Yibing Li, while wrongfully imprisoned, found his life overlapping with Su Shi's — transcending the one-sided romanticization of earlier admirers to record and judge with greater objectivity and restraint. It allows people in different states of mind to find their own poetic comfort when facing "fate" as grand narrative.
-14-
Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction
Author: Philip E. Tetlock / Dan Gardner
Recommended by: Adison
Predicting the future is utterly fascinating. This book offers not just a framework for high-quality decision-making, but a deep dive into how people who push beyond conventional thinking boundaries work and think. It explores future uncertainty, challenging traditional notions with science and wisdom, offering fresh perspectives that redefine the boundaries of risk and opportunity.
-15-
The Collapse of the Celestial Empire: A Re-study of the Opium War
Author: Haijian Mao
Recommended by: Jing Li
To understand and evaluate any phenomenon, decision, or event, one must stand in the environment and position of that time, analyzing through the moral concepts, modes of thinking, behavioral norms, and objective conditions then present — what seems reasonable may yield different conclusions, thought-provoking indeed. In any situation, trying to understand people and things from different perspectives, mastering information, conveying correct information, and avoiding misunderstanding — this truly matters.
-16-
The Dream Machine
Author: M. Mitchell Waldrop
Recommended by: Kai Liu
Just as history is propelled by countless contingent events, the birth and evolution of the computer industry — or modern technology at large — was catalyzed by countless seemingly unrelated events, with countless individuals playing decisive roles behind them. On the eve of the generative AI explosion, revisiting the important events and figures in computer science history gives us entirely new perspectives and understanding of the future.
-17-
Emergence: From Chaos to Order
Author: John H. Holland
Recommended by: Kai Liu
One of the rare masterpieces in the nearly century-long history of computer science — understanding the Cambrian era of intelligence's birth.
-18-
What Is ChatGPT Doing... and Why Does It Work?
Author: Stephen Wolfram
Recommended by: Kaiyan He
It explains ChatGPT's technical principles and underlying ideas in an accessible way, distilling core points into this compact book. Whether you're an AI professional or simply a curious general reader, you'll find inspiration here.
-19-
Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap?
Author: Graham Allison
Recommended by: Fei Zhang
Recommended. An American political scholar studies the conflicts and confrontations that occurred during more than a dozen historical shifts in great power,推演ing various scenarios for US-China confrontation.
Giveaway : )
What reading insights have you gained this past year? Share in the comments what you've read, and we'll select 3 friends to receive a "5Y Capital New Year Mystery Gift Box."
Note: Deadline is 18:00, January 9, 2024.
5Y Capital seeks out, supports, and inspires lone entrepreneurs, providing support from spirit to all business operations. We believe that if the crazy you in others' eyes begins to be believed in, the world will become refreshingly different.
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