Clemens Lode

Clemens Lode developed his passion for writing "choose your own adventure" books at age five. Soon, he turned to mechanical typewriters and, later, computers. He discovered LaTeX typesetting many years later during his computer studies, ultimately leading him to write more complex works on philosophy, science, and project management.

He created the LODE template and has refined it over a decade of use in real publishing projects.

His background covers software architecture, project management, artificial intelligence, agile coaching, and product marketing. Clemens provides consulting services for both startups and large-scale projects exceeding 1,000 participants across European industries.

Based in Düsseldorf, Clemens maintains an active presence throughout Europe, participating in meetups, fairs, and conferences. His interests extend beyond technology to hiking, singing, and board game design.

Connect

• LinkedIn
• GitHub (Personal)
• GitHub (Professional)

Favorite Quotations

"If you give me the right man in any field I can talk to him. I know what the condition is: That he did whatever he did as far as he can go. That he studied every aspect of it as far as he has stretched himself to the end. He is not a dilettante in any way. [...] And, therefore, he is up against mysteries all the way around the end. And awe. Mystery and awe, that's what we have in common." —Richard Feynman

"What I cannot create, I do not understand." —Richard Feynman

"Computers aren't the thing. They're the thing that gets us to the thing." —Halt and Catch Fire

"Two things destroy businesses—mediocrity and making it about yourself." —Halt and Catch Fire

Books I've Read

Philosophy & Objectivism

• Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology (Peikoff) — Foundational work on concept formation
• Understanding Objectivism (Peikoff) — Practical application of Objectivist principles
• The Romantic Manifesto (Rand) — Art theory from an Objectivist perspective
• The Virtue of Selfishness (Rand) — Essays on ethical egoism
• The Ayn Rand Lexicon (Rand) — Comprehensive reference to Rand's ideas
• Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (Peikoff) — Complete systematic presentation
• For the New Intellectual (Rand) — Philosophy for the modern thinker
• Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution (Rand) — Cultural criticism essays
• The Ominous Parallels (Peikoff) — Philosophy's role in history
• The Fountainhead (Rand) — Novel about integrity and individualism
• Also sprach Zarathustra (Nietzsche) — Poetic philosophical masterpiece
• Schopenhauer für Anfänger — Introduction to Schopenhauer's thought
• Ethics (Spinoza) — Geometric approach to ethics
• Philosophie der Freude (Epikur) — Epicurean philosophy of happiness

Mind, Brain & Consciousness

• A Brief History of the Mind (Calvin) — Evolution of human cognition
• Die Sprache des Gehirns (Calvin) — How the brain processes language
• Einsicht ins Gehirn (Calvin) — Insights into brain function
• Does Your Brain Need You? (Lode) — Introduction to neuroscience and consciousness
• Philosophy of Mind: Brains, Consciousness, and Thinking Machines (Grim) — Mind-body problems explored
• The Brain: The Story of You (Eagleman) — Accessible neuroscience overview
• Phantoms in the Brain (Ramachandran) — Neurological case studies
• How the Mind Works (Pinker) — Cognitive science synthesis
• Consciousness and Its Implications — Philosophical implications of consciousness
• Consciousness and the Social Brain (Graziano) — Attention schema theory
• Rethinking Consciousness (Graziano) — Updated consciousness theory
• No Self, No Problem — Buddhist-influenced view of self
• Out of Your Mind (Watts) — Alan Watts on consciousness
• Waking the Tiger (Levine) — Trauma and the body

Evolution & Human Origins

• The Scars of Evolution (Morgan) — Aquatic ape hypothesis
• The Singing Neanderthals (Mithen) — Music and language origins
• Gipfel des Unwahrscheinlichen (Dawkins) — Climbing Mount Improbable
• The Selfish Gene (Dawkins) — Gene-centered view of evolution
• Behave (Sapolsky) — Biology of human behavior

Language & Linguistics

• So kommt der Mensch zur Sprache (Zimmer) — How humans acquired language
• The Language Instinct (Pinker) — Language as biological adaptation
• Das glücklichste Volk (Everett) — The Pirahã and linguistic relativity
• The Grammar of Happiness — Documentary on Pirahã language

Science & Physics

• A Universe From Nothing (Krauss) — Cosmology and the origin of existence
• Bohm: Wholeness and the Implicate Order (Bohm) — Quantum physics and holism
• Quantum Man (Krauss) — Biography of Richard Feynman
• Alan Turing — Biography of the computing pioneer
• Galileo — Biography of the father of modern science
• Dark Star (Carpenter) — Science fiction novel
• Neural Networks and Deep Learning — Technical introduction to AI
• At Home (Bryson) — History of domestic life and inventions
• Une histoire de tout, ou presque... (Bryson) — A Short History of Nearly Everything

Psychology & Behavior

• Freedom of Mind (Hassan) — Cult psychology and recovery
• Influence (Cialdini) — Psychology of persuasion
• Yes! (Cialdini) — Practical persuasion techniques
• The Lucifer Effect (Zimbardo) — How good people turn evil
• The Righteous Mind (Haidt) — Moral psychology
• Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) (Tavris/Aronson) — Self-justification bias
• Driven to Distraction (Hallowell) — ADHD understanding
• Complex PTSD — Trauma and recovery
• Daring Greatly (Brown) — Power of vulnerability
• The Power of Vulnerability (Brown) — Audiobook on courage
• Man's Search for Meaning (Frankl) — Finding purpose in suffering
• The Enneagram — Personality type system
• Nonviolent Communication (Rosenberg) — Compassionate communication
• Miteinander reden 1 (Schulz von Thun) — Communication psychology

Business & Entrepreneurship

• The E-Myth Revisited (Gerber) — Why small businesses fail
• Writing Better Books, the Agile Way (Lode) — Agile methods for authors
• Better Books with LaTeX (Lode) — Self-publishing guide
• Virtual Freedom (Ducker) — Working with virtual staff
• The Lean Startup (Ries) — Building startups through iteration
• The Lean Entrepreneur (Cooper) — Lean methods for entrepreneurs
• Launch (Walker) — Product launch strategies
• Startup CEO (Blumberg) — Scaling your business
• Good to Great (Collins) — What makes companies excel
• Execution (Bossidy/Charan) — Getting things done in organizations
• Creativity, Inc. (Catmull) — Pixar's creative culture
• Zero to One (Thiel) — Building breakthrough companies
• Rework (Fried/Hansson) — Unconventional business wisdom
• Der Weg zum erfolgreichen Unternehmer (Merath) — Path to successful entrepreneurship
• Der Weg zur finanziellen Freiheit (Schäfer) — Financial freedom
• Die 10 Gebote für ein gesundes Unternehmen — Ten commandments for healthy companies
• Die besten Mitarbeiter finden und halten — ABC strategy for hiring
• Die Kunst seine Kunden zu lieben — Art of loving your customers
• Die richtige Corporate Governance — Corporate governance
• Growth Hacker Marketing (Holiday) — Modern marketing tactics
• Inbound Marketing (Halligan) — Attracting customers online
• Customer Development for Entrepreneurs — Validating business ideas

Leadership & Management

• The 5 Levels of Leadership (Maxwell) — Leadership development stages
• Tribes (Godin) — Leading movements
• Start with Why (Sinek) — Purpose-driven leadership
• It's Your Ship (Abrashoff) — Naval leadership lessons
• Multipliers (Wiseman) — How leaders amplify intelligence
• The Leader Who Had No Title (Sharma) — Leadership without authority
• The Leader's Guide to Storytelling (Denning) — Narrative leadership
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (Lencioni) — Team building essentials
• Death by Meeting (Lencioni) — Making meetings effective
• The Culture Code (Coyle) — Building great team culture
• Leading Simple (Grundl) — Simplified leadership principles
• Monkey Management — Delegation and accountability
• How to Become CEO (Fox) — Career advancement
• How to Hire A-Players — Topgrading hiring method
• Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? (Gerstner) — IBM turnaround story

Agile & Project Management

• Scrum (Sutherland) — Agile framework introduction
• The Phoenix Project (Kim) — DevOps novel
• Making Work Visible (DeGrandis) — Managing flow
• Dynamic Reteaming (Helfand) — Team composition changes
• Turning People into Teams — Team development
• User Story Mapping (Patton) — Product discovery technique
• Escaping the Build Trap (Perri) — Outcome-focused product management
• Toyota Production System (Ohno) — Lean manufacturing origins
• The New Economics (Deming) — Systems thinking in management
• Beyond the Goal (Goldratt) — Theory of constraints
• Lean Solutions (Womack) — Lean consumption
• The Fifth Discipline (Senge) — Learning organizations

Productivity & Self-Improvement

• Essentialism (McKeown) — Disciplined pursuit of less
• Deep Work (Newport) — Focused work in distraction age
• Digital Minimalism (Newport) — Intentional technology use
• Drive (Pink) — Motivation science
• Mastery (Greene) — Path to expertise
• How to Be an Imperfectionist (Guise) — Overcoming perfectionism
• Schluss mit dem ewigen Aufschieben (Rückert) — Overcoming procrastination
• Eat Move Sleep (Rath) — Health fundamentals
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Covey) — Personal effectiveness
• Switch (Heath) — How to change things
• Made to Stick (Heath) — Why ideas survive
• The Dip (Godin) — When to quit
• Outliers (Gladwell) — Success factors
• Linked (Barabási) — Network science
• Thinking in Systems (Meadows) — Systems thinking primer

Communication & Persuasion

• Talk Like TED (Gallo) — Public speaking secrets
• Never Split the Difference (Voss) — Negotiation tactics
• Getting to Yes (Fisher/Ury) — Principled negotiation
• Positioning (Ries/Trout) — Marketing strategy classic
• The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing (Ries/Trout) — Marketing principles
• Secrets of Closing the Sale (Ziglar) — Sales techniques
• Überzeugt! — Showing competence and winning people
• Purple Cow (Godin) — Remarkable marketing
• Influence Without Authority (Cohen) — Influencing without power
• Improv Wisdom (Madson) — Improvisation for life
• On Writing (King) — Craft of writing
• If You Want to Write (Ueland) — Art and independence in writing
• Story (McKee) — Screenwriting principles
• Save the Cat! (Snyder) — Story structure
• The Story Grid (Coyne) — Editing framework

Religion & Spirituality

• The Case for God (Armstrong) — History of religious thought
• The Great Transformation (Armstrong) — Axial Age religions
• Fields of Blood (Armstrong) — Religion and violence
• Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life (Armstrong) — Practical compassion
• The Holy Qur'an — Islamic scripture
• St. Paul — Biography of the apostle
• The Book (Watts) — Taboo against knowing who you are
• The Future of God (Chopra) — Spirituality and science
• The Power of Space and Reincarnation (Watts) — Eastern philosophy

History & Culture

• Der Große Umbruch (Armstrong) — The Great Transformation
• Phoenician Secrets (Holst) — Ancient Phoenician mysteries
• The First American (Brands) — Benjamin Franklin biography
• Classical Mythology — Greek and Roman myths
• The Metamorphoses (Ovid) — Roman mythological poetry
• The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China — Ancient Chinese strategy
• How Life Imitates Chess (Kasparov) — Strategic thinking
• Life at the Bottom (Dalrymple) — Underclass culture critique
• The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (Chua) — Parenting memoir
• Being Martha (Oppenheimer) — Martha Stewart biography
• Silicon Wahnsinn (Kessler) — Silicon Valley memoir
• Crashkurs: Weltwirtschaftskrise oder Jahrhundertchance? — Economic crisis analysis

Animals & Nature

• In Defense of Dolphins (White) — Dolphin intelligence and ethics
• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Pirsig) — Philosophy road trip

Fiction

• The Last Unicorn (Beagle) — Fantasy classic
• In Calabria (Beagle) — Unicorn returns to Italy
• For Whom the Bell Tolls (Hemingway) — Spanish Civil War novel
• Der Scharlatan (Das Schwarze Auge) — German fantasy novel
• Into the Woods — Fairy tale musical

Science Fiction & Technology

• Homo Deus (Harari) — Future of humanity
• The Design of Everyday Things (Norman) — User experience classic
• The Patient Will See You Now (Topol) — Future of medicine
• Künstliches Leben aus dem Computer (Levy) — Artificial life
• The Teachings of Napoleon Hill — Success principles
• Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits (Fisher) — Investment wisdom
• Rich Dad's Increase Your Financial IQ (Kiyosaki) — Financial education

Health & Science

• Long Covid: Wenn der Gehirnnebel bleibt — Long COVID effects
• Der Drache in meiner Garage (Sagan) — Demon-Haunted World (German)

Autobiographies & Biographies

• Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life — Documentary about Ayn Rand
• What Falls Away (Farrow) — Mia Farrow memoir
• Screw It, Let's Do It (Branson) — Richard Branson's philosophy

Psychology of Cults & Groups

• Rational Ritual (Chwe) — Common knowledge and coordination
• The Spaces Between Us (Graziano) — Personal space psychology
• Psicomagia (Jodorowsky) — Psychomagic healing

German Business & Self-Help

• Persönlichkeitsbildung — Personality development
• Stop Whining, Start Living — Motivational guide
• Zurück an die Arbeit — Back to work
• Your One Word (Kaye) — Personal branding
• Life Leverage (Moore) — Lifestyle design
• Six Secrets of Powerful Teams — Team effectiveness
• Geoff Colvin on Why Talent Is Overrated — Deliberate practice
• 60 Minute — Quick business guides
• Accelerate (Forsgren) — DevOps research
• Remote Control — Remote work guide
• Das Philosophen Portal — Portal to philosophical classics
• Das Ende der Geduld — End of patience
• Superfans (Hyatt) — Building devoted fans
• You're It! — Self-leadership
• Towards Wholeness — Personal integration
• Parts of a Whole — Systems perspective
• Essential Reality — Fundamental reality
• Creativity, Natural Philosophy, and Science — Creative thinking

Languages

• Le Petit Prince (Saint-Exupéry) — French classic
• Un appartement à Paris (Musso) — French novel
• Großer Hörkurs Französisch — French language course
• Französisch lernen mit The Grooves (Basics, Small Talk, Travelling) — French audio courses
• Spanisch hören und erleben — Spanish audio course

Technology & Testing

• Test Driven Development (Beck) — TDD fundamentals
• The Fearless Organization (Edmondson) — Psychological safety