Beware of "the only British restaurant in Palo Alto" syndrome.

In 'Zero to One' the entrepreneur Peter Thiel argues that when you look beyond the attempts to project uniqueness, most business ideas are negligible alterations of previous ones.

Thiel imagines a billboard saying “we’re the only British restaurant in Palo Alto.” The implied question: whose culinary life was foundering until you guys came along?

The 'Zero to One' philosophy of starting a business:

•   Avoid competition

•   Do this by looking for secrets

•   Secrets remain hidden because of "mimesis." People desire what others desire. They want to figure out what others have already figured out.

•   "Avoid competition through authenticity" - Naval Ravikant. If your desires stay authentic for long enough, you will naturally drift into the land of secrets.

We read what our friends or favorite celebrity is reading. Obviously there’s nothing wrong that that, but it's not a great way to search for wisdom.

Seek Fundamental Knowledge

In a human life, an example of a fundamental fact is that they have a body. That's more fundamental than whatever their profession is. Problems in their profession remain (hopefully) localized to their profession. Medical problems affect everything.

It’s the same principle with knowledge, which is nothing more than a way of solving problems. Some problems are more fundamental than others. Each day’s pain in the neck is merely the latest manifestation of something deeper.

In The Fabric of Reality, David Deutsch argues that the four most fundamental strands of human knowledge are: quantum physics, computation, evolution and epistemology (the study of knowledge itself).

You can keep those subjects in mind, but really, the most fundamental problems in the domain of wisdom are whatever ones occupy most of your time and thoughts, most intensely. Given the nature of what fundamental problems are, books that help you solve these should incur a feeling almost like love.

So read what you actually want to read.

The fact that people spend precious time soldiering through mediocre books, or ones they're "supposed" to have read, makes me feel like Charlton Heston in the final scene of 'Planet of the Apes'

"... you maniacs! ..."