Books remind us that tiny pages can hold entire universes | 5Y New Year Reading List
Here's to discovering an even bigger universe in the year ahead.
It's year-end again. For many, 2022 brought its share of turbulence. But reading still managed to surprise us and expand our imagination.
The following list comes from recommendations by our colleagues at 5Y Capital. The selections are diverse and deeply personal — much like reading itself. There are no fixed criteria, but often it acts as a compass, pointing toward uncharted territory. These reading experiences from others might offer you some inspiration.
Irene Vallejo, author of The Infinites in the Palm of Your Hand, wrote that books remind us how a few pages can hold an entire universe: words that would otherwise vanish on the wind; fiction that imposes meaning on chaos and gives us faith to live by; and knowledge — true and false, forever provisional — chipped away from the bedrock of our ignorance.
A new year means a fresh start. May you discover an even larger universe through reading in the year ahead.
Also, don't miss the special surprise we've prepared at the end :)
The list is ordered alphabetically by title.
- 1 -
Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software
Author: Charles Petzold
Recommended by: Addison
This book offers an exceptionally clear explanation of how computers work at their most fundamental level. Highly recommended for anyone looking to understand the first principles of computing.
- 2 -
An Extraordinary Time: The End of the Postwar Boom and the Return of the Ordinary Economy
Author: Marc Levinson
Recommended by: David Wu
The alternation between prosperity and depression is a pattern validated countless times throughout history. And the productivity revolutions born of human ingenuity always manage to reveal the first light of the next boom, even in the harshest winters.
- 3 -
Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China
Author: Ezra F. Vogel
Recommended by: Haichuan Hu
Through exhaustive research, interviews, and verification, this book reconstructs the legendary life of Deng Xiaoping. It has been called a "monumental" work in Deng scholarship. As the chief architect of reform and opening, Deng shaped an era that, in some sense, we still inhabit today. Understanding this period undoubtedly helps us grasp contemporary China more deeply. Deng experienced three rises and three falls — how this great leader repeatedly emerged from his darkest hours to steer his organization through crisis toward historic achievement remains instructive for every leader even now.
- 4 -
Jesse Livermore: World's Greatest Stock Trader
Author: Richard Smitten
Recommended by: Kai Liu
As the most notorious short-seller in stock market history, Jesse Livermore lives in the imagination of every fund manager.
- 5 -
Fireside Chats
Author: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Recommended by: Yuan Ye
Roosevelt pioneered the Fireside Chat as a form of communication. The book records how, amid the complex economic and political conditions of decades past, he assessed situations, made decisive calls, and clearly communicated execution strategies during crises. Exceptional business leaders need acute abilities to identify and analyze information, to project confidence internally and externally, and to transmit unwavering conviction when facing setbacks, challenges, or even defeat. Information, confidence, and conviction together form the foundation of high-quality strategy formulation and execution.
- 6 -
Destiny
Author: Chongda Cai
Recommended by: Yi Sun
My first reaction to this title was: how could anyone choose something so grandiose? But after finishing it, the name felt exactly right. Destiny isn't abstract — it's made of vivid, lived chapters. The book's central theme is death, yet it never explicitly mentions life, even as every word depends on it. Behind this lies that distinctive question of beginning with the end in mind: if death is a ceremony, what footnotes do we add during life? The writing is lively, with its ups and downs, its cycles, its varied characters. I believe there will always be one or two passages that help you see the present, and see yourself.
- 7 -
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
Author: Eric Jorgenson
Recommended by: Liqiang Wang
Everyone has their own path. "Rational Buddhism" might be mine. "For me, rational Buddhism means understanding the internal practices Buddhism advocates, using them to become happier, more prosperous, more present, more emotionally controlled — a better person." I recommend The Almanack of Naval Ravikant to you, and I'll pass along something a friend once told me that stuck with me: "Build the coolest products, become a better you!"
- 8 -
The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History
Author: Gregory Zuckerman
Recommended by: Kai Liu
Obscure for the first half of his life, he single-handedly engineered the most profitable single trade in financial investment history. The birth of this legendary trade is worth studying.
- 9 -
Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Author: Max Tegmark
Recommended by: Ran Zhao
If we view life as a self-replicating, iterative information-processing system composed of hardware and software, evolving through both natural selection and design, we can identify three stages. Life 1.0 cannot design its own software or hardware; it iterates slowly through replication and evolution, as with single-celled organisms. Life 2.0 can design its software but not its hardware — humans, for example. The invention of writing, printing, and the internet allowed knowledge to accumulate and be transmitted; human learning is essentially a process of "installing software," with iteration accelerating exponentially. The limitation is that our physical hardware can only change through slow evolution. Life 3.0 can design both software and hardware — AGI that emerges in digital environments, which will then define its own physical forms across different scenarios, eventually becoming capable of designing and manufacturing its successors. Bits will become the primary medium for perpetuating life, directing the arrangement of atoms to evolve living systems. The only constraint will be the laws of physics themselves, which can serve as an anchor for judging the pace of technological evolution.
- 10 -
The Order of Time
Author: Carlo Rovelli
Recommended by: Yiran Cao
Carlo Rovelli's work reads less like physics popularization than like poems dedicated to physics, to science, to the nature of the universe itself. While reading, one constantly senses the author's boundless reverence for the world we inhabit but have yet to truly understand. Closing the book feels like awakening from a poetic dream, or having just completed an odyssey through space and time.
- 11 -
The Billion-Dollar Molecule: One Company's Quest for the Perfect Drug
Author: Barry Werth
Recommended by: Kang Jian
The founding story of Vertex, a $100 billion pharmaceutical company born in the aftermath of the 1987 stock market crash. The dramatic arcs of every biotech startup, the journey of each drug from nothing to something — none are less compelling than film or fiction. In any era, there will always be geniuses who are obsessive, pure, and just crazy enough to persevere through prolonged failure and uncertainty.
- 12 -
Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams
Author: Matthew Walker
Recommended by: Yujie Zhao
I used to believe "you can sleep when you're dead." This book scientifically slapped me with the consequences of poor sleep habits. While the author doesn't provide convincing evidence that sleep deprivation directly causes Alzheimer's, he uses neuroscience and experimental science to show how good sleep makes you more efficient and happier. The book doesn't just lecture with science — it offers practical, actionable methods. There are too many toxins in life; good sleep really is the best antidote. Here's to sleeping well every day in the new year.
- 13 -
Siddhartha
The Details of Rule of Law
Author: Hermann Hesse | Author: Xiang Luo
Recommended by: Mengqi Ji
We can never draw a perfect circle, yet it exists objectively. People must always pursue something that transcends the span of a single lifetime. Two books about "courage" — one offering a worldview, the other methodology. Best taken together.
- 14 -
The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America
Author: George Packer
Recommended by: Xuechen Wang
Spanning 1978 to 2012, the author captures the lived experiences of figures from across American society — Rust Belt workers, Biden aides, Wall Street elites — with a chapter devoted to writer Raymond Carver. The prose is cold and precise, surgical. "Like sitting in the front row at the midnight funeral of the American Dream." You see the anxiety, pain, fragmentation, and drift of an entire society. The reading experience is immersive, like watching a documentary — perfect for holiday deep reading.
- 15 -
Instant: The Story of Polaroid
Author: Christopher Bonanos
Recommended by: Peter
Edwin Land, Polaroid's founder and the inventor of instant photography, is considered a world-class inventor on par with Edison and Bell, and was Steve Jobs's entrepreneurial mentor. This compact account of the Polaroid story captures that legendary history and demonstrates the magical chemistry when science, art, and commerce converge — worth pondering for every founder pursuing perfection and excellence.
- 16 -
The Education of a Value Investor: My Transformative Quest for Wealth, Wisdom, and Enlightenment
Author: Guy Spier
Recommended by: Fei Zhang
I read this book by a value investor long ago. My impression then was that the author spoke many unvarnished truths, writing about his journey of setting up a fund, how he evaluated businesses, how he assessed people. After experiencing the brutal markets of 2022, revisiting my own investment methodology, I found myself resonating with much of the author's thinking. His reflections and adjustments following the 2008 financial crisis offer valuable lessons for the present. Becoming a simple, principled investor requires continuous practice.
- 17 -
Inside the Chinese State
Author: Xiaohuan Lan
Recommended by: Yin Ying
A slim volume you can finish in one evening. It concisely explains what local governments have done in advancing urbanization and industrialization, why they've done it this way, and how these actions shaped our present. Though it doesn't elaborate on details, its clarity and brevity are strengths, and each chapter includes recommended further reading — making it a valuable reading list in itself.
- 18 -
The Deep Structure of Chinese Culture
Author: Lung-kee Sun
Recommended by: Kai Liu
In an era of dramatic transformation, this book offers the most profound interpretation and answers for understanding contemporary Chinese society.
- 19 -
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Author: Carol S. Dweck
Recommended by: Kai Liu
The best method of self-cultivation is to shed fixed-mindset thinking and become someone with a growth mindset.
Giveaway :)
What have you gained from reading this past year? Share your reading experiences in the comments — we'll select 3 readers to receive a "5Y Capital New Year Book Blind Box" (books sourced from this list's recommendations).
Note: The deadline is 18:00, January 9, 2023. Please reply with your shipping information within 24 hours of notification.
5Y Capital seeks out, supports, and inspires lone entrepreneurs, providing support from spirit to all operational matters. We believe that if the world begins to believe in the "crazy" you that others see, things will become remarkable.
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