Books that changed my thinking.

Growing up, my parents handed me the standard script: get a good education, find a stable job, and grow your wealth. So that's what I did. I maxed out every retirement plan I could, invested aggressively, put money aside for eventual what-ifs, and lived off the remaining 25%.

Perkins challenged that whole narrative. He argues that money is meant to be converted into experiences and that hoarding it to the end is a life not lived to the fullest. I won't pretend ten years of aggressive saving changed overnight, but Perkins helped me enjoy — and feel less guilty about — spending my money, especially during my work sabbatical, when I felt the pull between my financial responsibilities and my desire to create meaningful memories.

I read this book at the end of 2024, when my life looked great on paper but in reality felt like a cage. Millerd's story of walking away from a prestigious consulting career (after a health scare and his grandfather's passing) without a grand plan gave words to my own struggle: I'd been chasing the milestones everyone else expected of me and mistaking motion for direction.

A few months later, I left my anesthesia career and moved to Shanghai. I'm not saying everything was due to this book (it was a long time coming, and that's a story for another time), but this is the book I'd hand you if you need a bit of courage to step off the default path.