Category Archives: Books

Cover of the book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

#67 Burning desire, clear plans, and persistence: lessons for the New Year

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I always wanted to subscribe to Blinkist, but I found it too expensive. Unexpectedly, Blinkist came my way, as my partner accidentally bought a yearly subscription and I decided to split it with her. One thing that’s amazing about Blinkist—and that I didn’t know—is that you can have a joint subscription.

I dove into it and I’ve already read/listened to multiple Blinks, which, for those who are not familiar with the app, are summaries of great books you can consume either by listening or reading.

Among these, I found one filled with amazing reminders: Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.

Since it’s the end of the year, and I think this book could help anybody who wants to have a successful and great next year, I wanted to share my main takeaways in an even more concise way, with a personal perspective where applicable.

1. Burning desire

A burning desire—for me, it’s completing my novel. Even though I will still reflect on it during my Year Compass reflections, which I will do this week, I already feel this desire clearly guiding me.

👉 If you want to know more about the Year Compass, you can read my post on this topic here:
#18 A compass for the year ahead that works

2. Detailed goal and plan

Goal and detailed plan: read them out loud twice a day.

As I was reading this, I realized I want to follow this approach to finish my book—having a detailed plan of my weekly goals, but also a clearly laid-out book structure. This instead of relying on spontaneous moments of inspiration, which, despite being fun and amazing, come with the downside of being sporadic.

With the blog, this is much easier. Its format—periodic posts related to topics I’m interested in, reflections, and personal insights—already provides a solid framework. The openness of a blog and its frequency are a really good structure to achieve this.

3. Unwavering faith

Have unwavering faith in yourself. It can help us move mountains.

I think, for example, of my desire to leave Italy and explore the outside world. I held this dream for almost the 17 years I lived there—and I eventually achieved it. I think about my university achievements despite the obstacles and gaps I had. I think about finding a job again after more than a year of unemployment.

👉 I wrote more about this difficult period and what it taught me here:
#33 Do we remember with honesty? | #28 Le sfide del processo d’integrazione tra ammirazione e invidia

4. Autosuggestions

Autosuggestions— influencing yourself with specific, purposeful thoughts. Persuading yourself.

This is a kind of self-hypnosis, but as long as it’s done consciously, without losing your compass of what’s realistically achievable with your current knowledge and experience, this is definitely a powerful tool.

5. Knowledge is power

Repeating Mr. Bacon’s evergreen Scientia potentia est, translated from Latin as “knowledge is power.”

But stacking facts on top of each other is not what this really means. Knowledge is experience—and yes, knowledge itself—not a mere accumulation of concepts. It’s the willingness to continue learning throughout our lives.

We also need to know where we can find knowledge, and for that, it’s always better to be surrounded by people who know more than we do.

6. Dreams into ideas, ideas into reality

In a nutshell, we need to be able to imagine with no boundaries, then shape those ideas into something concrete and within our reach—and then go for it in the world we live in.

7. Know your own strengths and weaknesses

Being self-aware in an honest, conscious way allows us to take action against our weaknesses.

To do that, Hill suggests asking ourselves the following three questions:

  • Have I achieved my aim for this year?
  • Was I a good communicator?
  • Did I make all the right decisions along the way?

Then, ask what could have been improved. Finally, evaluate this with somebody who knows us well and is honest enough to point out our weaknesses. We also need to be open to hearing it.

8. Positive emotions

Here, I feel I have a lot of room for improvement.

In recent years, overconsumption of news and listening to my own—and others’—overcritical voices has made me quite pessimistic about many aspects of life. Without mentioning the component of negative thinking that comes from my own family.

👉 This theme also runs deeply through my novel-in-progress:
#60 “Il giovane che voleva andarsene”, un romanzo – Parte I, 1

Positive emotions are key to a successful life and must be nurtured. Feed the positivity within you. Avoid negative people and information. Don’t waste your life on pessimistic headlines. Fill it with love and enthusiasm.

9. Determination is key

Make decisions and stand behind them, no matter what. Stick to what you believe in. Don’t let negative, unsubstantiated influences and criticism get to you.

At the same time, stay open to constructive feedback. Smart people know how to point you in the right direction while empowering you. Surround yourself with that kind of people.

10. Only the persistent will succeed

Persistence and endurance are key. Remember these lessons:

  • Identify your burning desire
  • Have a concrete goal
  • Have a very specific plan
  • Don’t let negative, unsubstantiated opinions affect your resolve
  • Have a trustworthy and knowledgeable network of people around you—people who are better than you and can provide support and assistance

11. The bigger the goal, the more people you will need

This closing thought really resonated with me.

The bigger the goal, the more of the right people you’ll need to support you and your dream—a selected group of like-minded souls. If these people put all their knowledge and burning desire together, the sky is the limit.

Use this in your Year Compass, and I’m sure you’ll achieve great things next year.

Bottom line

Big goals don’t live in isolation. They need clarity, belief, emotional balance, and the right people around them. What Think and Grow Rich reminded me—through Blinkist and through my own reflections—is that success is less about sudden breakthroughs and more about steady alignment between desire, action, and persistence. If you take even one of these ideas into the new year, you’re already moving forward.

La subversión de Beti García - Alianza Editorial

#58 Reflexiones sobre poder y corrupción en ‘La Subversión de Beti García’

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#37 The unexpected logistics of death

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I suppose we learn how to handle death, in practical terms, only when someone close to us—someone we are responsible for—dies. Then, we learn what to do to manage this unavoidable situation that each and every one of us will sooner or later experience, whether in first person or as observers.

Death is a topic on which I have reflected countless times. Like everyone on this planet, I have lost relatives and friends. But most of all, growing up in a small town in the north of Italy with a very old population, I witnessed on a weekly basis some aspects of the death of people I was acquainted with. We would hear the dramatic sound of the church bell’s gongs announcing someone’s death and then try to figure out who had passed away.
“Davide died, you know? The grandfather of Giulia, the girl your cousin doesn’t get along with,” someone would say, for example.
Then a few days would pass until the funeral procession, during which the relatives of the deceased would walk the silenced streets of the town with the funeral bier on their shoulders, followed by friends, until they reached the cemetery. But I was always clueless about the details of how to practically handle someone else’s departure from this world—and, honestly, it didn’t interest me at all.

I started to indulge in this morbid subject after reading the novel Of Fathers and Fugitives by J.S. Naudé.
In this book, the protagonist, Daniel, a queer South African writer living in London, goes through a series of experiences in which, at each stage, someone dies—and Daniel ends up being responsible for arranging their funeral.

There are three main scenarios of “regular” death that can occur: death in your country of residence, death abroad, and the death of a baby or a child. Daniel goes through all three major cases, for which, as far as I understand, proceedings vary.

For the sake of length, I will just try to imagine a “normal” death circumstance and outline what the main steps might be, assuming this would be the simplest and least emotionally involved scenario possible.

Let’s assume we recently moved into a shared apartment. One day, we come back home and find our flatmate lying on the floor; a glass of red wine spilled, leaving a stain on the carpet a few centimeters from their hand.
“Mike?” we say, expecting Mike to wake up from a random, early hangover. But Mike doesn’t move. As we get closer to the body, we notice that his eyes are open, his pupils in absolute stillness, his skin pale in an unnatural way.

After a moment of terror, we try to understand what to do next. We’ve seen enough crime series to know we shouldn’t touch either the body or the glass of wine—our fingerprints could incriminate us if, following an autopsy, it turns out Mike was the victim of a crime.
So we reach for our phone to contact the authorities. What’s the ambulance number? Or should we call the police? Big doubt… OK, let’s go with the police. But again—what’s the number? 112, 113, 118, or 911?
It can’t be 911—that’s from American movies. Let’s go with 112.

The person on the line introduces themselves, but we’re still in a state of shock and don’t really know who’s speaking. As the conversation with the doctor, nurse, or whoever continues, they ask a few questions to which we reply with a simple “I don’t know.”
They ask if the person shows any signs of life. “No, they are definitely dead—their eyes have been wide open since I came back, they haven’t moved, they’re pale like white paper.”
Then they start giving us practical instructions, and we become more receptive.

We’re told to wait for someone from the authorities to show up. It will take up to half an hour. They also stress that we should avoid touching anything at all, as it could interfere with a potential investigation.

After a moment of cooling down, the authorities arrive. For some reason, we feel agitated again. They behave in a strange way—they’re neither comforting nor accusative. They’re just very pragmatic, as if they’ve done this a thousand times before.
They ask a lot of questions: which room is Mike’s, his contact details, where we were before coming home, and so on. They suggest we take a few days off and contact someone who can support us.

They spend quite some time taking pictures and notes, and after an hour or so, they leave—with Mike wrapped in a white bag.

We stay in a weirdly empty apartment. And now?

Now, Mike’s closest family members are contacted and notified of his death. The first thing they have to do is obtain a death certificate, usually issued by a doctor or coroner.

The death certificate is essential for all the proceedings that follow, up until the execution of the will—if there is one. Even if you die young or unexpectedly, or if you have no belongings or wealth other than a few thousand euros, a death certificate is still required. It’s one of those things you don’t realize you need—until you do, even if you’re no longer alive to care!

While researching this, one thing that surprised me was that upon freezing the bank accounts, no money can be withdrawn—unless it’s a joint account or the deceased specified that the account should be payable to someone. Otherwise: bye-bye money—it all goes directly into the state’s pockets. One last tax payment!

Of course, upon notification, the employer stops the salary. Some employers claim to help family members resettle afterward, though I would take those promises with a grain of salt. In the end, it all comes down to contracts, signatures, and what was agreed upon when the employment contract was sealed.

The apartment. Mike didn’t own it, so his family just needs to notify the landlord.
Let’s assume he hadn’t paid rent for a few months, which might partly explain his early, random hangover: debts are also settled by the state—so that’s other people’s taxes covering this, I guess?!
Survivors are not liable… unless they co-signed a loan or had a joint account. So, think twice before doing either of those things with your partner. The relationship has to be built on solid grounds of honesty.

I’m sure I haven’t included many things here. But again, I’ve never been through such a situation. The truth is though, that the systems we rely on reduce life to paperwork, processes, and final payments. And yet, understanding these systems—even hypothetically—can give us a strange sense of preparedness, and maybe, even a little control in the uncontrollable.

One thing I am sure is incredibly important to keep in mind—during, and even years after—is the need for emotional and mental support, whether through our community or professionals. Some people’s lives are so intertwined with another’s that they’ve completely forgotten what it means to live alone—emotionally, financially, or otherwise.

"Les enfants endormis" de Anthony Passeron

#35 The power of Passeron’s dual narrative of science and sorrow

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When choosing a book, I always follow the same approach: I read the first ten pages, a few pages in the middle, and one toward the end. If they leave a positive impression, I buy the book—regardless of the topic.

Applying this strategy, no book has impacted me as deeply as Les Enfants Endormis by French author Anthony Passeron. The evening I discovered it in the library, I had an appointment with my girlfriend. It was hard to explain why I hadn’t heard my phone—why I missed her messages and calls while she wandered around the library looking for me.

The book has an original structure: one chapter focuses on a global topic—the rise of the HIV/AIDS crisis—while the next centers on the author’s family, who suffered multiple losses due to the epidemic. These two storylines alternate chapter by chapter, each unfolding along the same timeline.

I loved how thoroughly researched the chapters on HIV were. Passeron presents complex medical and historical information in a concise, objective, and accessible way. The chapters about his family, by contrast, are intimate, emotional, and beautifully written.

I believe simplicity in writing is a form of mastery. Passeron manages to combine emotional depth, knowledge, and elegance with clear, unpretentious prose. That, to me, is the pinnacle of writing.

The book is about two hundred pages long, and when I finished it, I felt that every word had been carefully chosen. Nothing was superfluous, and nothing was lacking. It was just enough.