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posts/2024-12-27-2024-in-books.md

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 These are some notes about the books I read this year:
 
 ## Non-fiction
 
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 ### ["Skin in the game" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36064445-skin-in-the-game)
 
 My first Taleb book and a really good start. The main idea can be summed up like
@@ -48,12 +48,14 @@ sacrifice a lot of your personal life. Some bits I liked:
 
 > It didn’t take long to realize that the secret is to find something you’re good at. The rewards and recognition that stem from being great at something will make you passionate about whatever that something is. 
 
-> When times are bad, people look to gray hair for leadership. When times are good/frothy, people look for youth.
-
 > Professional success is the means, not the end. The end is economic security for your family and, more important, meaningful relationships with family and friends.
 
 ### ["Capitalist realism" by Mark Fisher](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17048159-capitalist-realism)
 
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 Capitalism is bad, apparently. We recognize that capitalism is bad, yet we still 
 participate in it because we think that’s the most realistic course of action.
 This is a surprisingly easy-to-digest book, given that I feel it falls in the 
@@ -78,6 +80,10 @@ Some interesting ideas on how to progress as a software engineer. Some concepts
 was already familiar with, others not. I’d recommend this for someone in the
 middle of their career, progressing toward a senior position.
 
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 ### ["Los surcos del azar" ("Twists Of Fate") by Paco Roca](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19376877-los-surcos-del-azar)
 
 This is a graphic novel, written after the testimonies of [former Republican Spanish soldiers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Nueve) who fled Spain and would eventually join French forces in the
@@ -89,14 +95,17 @@ I read three books about the drug wars and the violence in Colombia during the
 early ’90s. This period in the history of Colombia has interested me recently. I
 know drug trafficking brings a lot of shame to Colombians, but the reality is that
 it’s a big part of our identity—for worse. I think it’s interesting to learn
-about the few government officials who faced Escobar, to see how much they
+about the few government officials who faced Escobar and to see how much they
 needed to do with so few resources (back in the ’80s and early ’90s, the police 
 and army were just a handful of men with no professional training).
 
 ### ["La parábola de Pablo" ("The parable of Pablo") by Alonso Salazar](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/178332313-la-par-bola-de-pablo-auge-y-ca-da-de-un-gran-capo-del-narcotr-fico-pa)
 
-A biography of Pablo Escobar. It paints a nuanced portrait of Escobar. Some
-interesting bits were:
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+A detailed biography of Pablo Escobar, maybe the most notorious Colombian drug-lord. Some interesting bits were:
 
 - Escobar's downfall started when he covertly betrayed some of his friends. This led to the creation of the [Pepes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Pepes) who played an important role when he was finally killed.
 - The Cali Cartel learned a lot from Escobar’s fall: they didn’t make as much noise and they corrupted government officials, instead of fighting them.
@@ -105,6 +114,10 @@ interesting bits were:
 
 ### ["Noticia de un secuestro" ("News of a Kidnapping") by Gabriel García Márquez](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26404932-noticia-de-un-secuestro)
 
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 This is a masterful chronicle from Gabriel García Márquez about one of the most
 important episodes during the whole Escobar saga. In order to press the government
 to reject a law approving the extradition of Colombian nationals to the U.S.,
@@ -121,15 +134,24 @@ A bit I liked (translated):
 
 ### ["Vida y muerte del cartel de Medellín" ("Life and death of the Medellín Cartel") by Carlos Lehder](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/205583001-vida-y-muerte-del-cartel-de-medell-n)
 
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 An auto-biography of Carlos Lehder, one of the drug lords from the Medellín Cartel.
 It's an interesting read as it is from an internal point of view: he details
 his logistics, how he set the routes, how he brived government officals in Bahamas
-and so on.
+and so on. He expresses some remorse but it feels like a formality. I wouldn't
+say this book gives much insight about the war on drugs.
 
 ## Fiction
 
 ### ["The Telling" by Ursula K. Le Guin](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12779057-the-telling)
 
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+
 Le Guin has become my favorite science fiction writers. Her books are usually
 very antropoligical and they are about clashes of worlds. Her protagonists are
 scientists, humanists, or kind of antropologists, tasked explicitly or not with