Early Retirement Extreme

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1. markvdbMay 2026
   In this subject area, I recommend Jacob Lund Fisker[0]'s Early Retirement Extreme book [1]. Don't let the title fool you. The man has a surprisingly level-headed and refreshing approach to spending.

   [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Lund_Fisker [1] https://archive.org/details/earlyretiremente0000fisk

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2. badpunOct 2022
   "Early Retirement Extreme" by Jacob Lund Fisker. It's not your typical "rich dad/poor dad" financial advice book, but rather a systematic approach to seeing the economy aspect of your life in a new way. Interesting read just to see his perspective and have one or two takeaways from it, if nothing else.

   [1] The author was a highly credentialed career physicist before abandoning that for thinking about alternative paths through life.

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3. martttJan 2022
   "A Confession" by Leo Tolstoy [1]. An autobiographical story of Tolstoy's "search for meaning" when he was, I believe, around the same age. A masterpiece in around 80 pages.

   From a more practical angle, I wish I had had "Early Retirement Extreme" by Jacob Lund Fisker [2] in my shelf at that age. Don't get fooled by the title, this is by no means a "highway to financial independence" book; rather, it's a really deep book about, well, sensible living strategies, considering the world we're in.

   The author holds a PhD in theoretical physics, and by living with around $7,000 a year as a scientist and postdoc, he retired in around 5 years in his early 30s.

   It's a book on thoughtful frugality, if you will.

   1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Confession

   2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Lund_Fisker

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4. foucJun 2021
   Your cost of living sounds kind of high if you only have a 2 year runway on your current high salary. If you reduce it a bit, it wouldn't be hard to have a savings rate of at least 50%. You could read the "Early Retirement Extreme" book or check out mrmoneymustache.com blog posts sometime.
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5. badpunMay 2020
   > For example, I've never heard pg talk about this

   I remember him writing somewhere that he does not have another startup in him - that, at best, he can now do the YC. It's kind of a hint that doing a startup sucks.

   BTW you may want to try reading Jacob Fisker's "Early retirement extreme". He's an ex-astrophysicist who became disillusioned with the way modern society is organized and wrote what is essentially a philosophy book about how one can live differently.

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6. sifarMar 2020
   1) Meditations by Marcus Aurelius:

     "Leave the harm done by the other where it started !!"
     This struck me like lightning. The crux of how to conduct oneself in one sentence.
   

   2) Tao Te Ching: - Feng/English translation for lyrical beauty - Derek lin for accuracy.

      The Complete works of Zhuangzi - Burton Watson
   

   - To meditate on life.

   3) The Technological Society by Jacques Ellul

   - This is a vaccine for modern life, the red pill. We are surrounded by what Ellul calls a technical milieu. After reading this, you will not look at the processes that operate in the society the same way. Warning, this and it's sibling The Propaganda are scary and depressing read. Perhaps you may want to balance it with something positive.

   4) Early Retirement Extreme - Jacob Lund Fisker

   - Specialization is for cockroaches. Looking at the first 2 books you named, may be you will like this.They are one his references. The savings rate chart is worth it, to put things in perspective.

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