1491, and 1493 by Charles C. Mann. These books completely changed my worldview about the scale and complexity of human development in the Americas before European contact. They also opened my eyes to how much older globalization is than we normally think.
I think its interesting to see fintechs trying to bypass the traditional banking model entirely. They are trying to move up the chain with a UX advantage while larger players are trying to defend themselves. Square and Venmo both offer debit cards which covers the majority of banking needs for an average person.
We've actually started a new bank explicitly to provide the banking infrastructure to companies like this that are good at owning the UX advantage. Our conviction is that in the long term banks will be disintermediated from most of their customers and there will be a general unbundling of banking services - you won't get your mortgage / small business loan / checking account all at the same bank.
On submission of my email it redirected me to an error page. Can't remember what it said, only that it was an unstyled html page with one line of error text. Just tried again and works now.
"A Little Life" by Hanya Yanagihara. It follows the story of a group of friends over 30+ years. I haven't been this gripped by a book in a while. Difficult subject matter and hard to read a times but it rewards you for your effort.
Remote: Yes & Preferred
Willing to relocate: No
Technologies: Python, Java, SQL, Fintech, Data Engineering, Data Science
Resume/CV: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vwOVRUoFQaOAFurShqzahzYe...
Email: lazr [at] hey.com