Compiling the books I read in 2023, maybe someone will see this and it will spark a conversation about one of them. These are mostly in chronological order
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk
Incredible book. Something I think everyone can benefit from reading. Whether or not you have experiences with Depression, Anxiety, etc. there are many ways in which you can benefit from being more in-tune with what your body is telling you. Listen to it.
The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim, George Spafford, Kevin Behr
A fiction book that is supposed to be teaching you DevOps. If you care enough about learning DevOps to read this just skip right to the DevOps Handbook.
Mickey7 by Edward Ashton
Super interesting premise, but kinda disappointing. Felt like the author toed the line between comedy and philosophic, but neither aspect of that worked for me. The most interesting part of the book was a 5 page background on a character who never actually appears.
South of Broad by Patrick Conroy
Enjoyable. I liked the way the author wrote. No other notes.
Percy Jackson Series and Others by Rick Riordan
Re-read the original Percy Jackson books as well as the Heroes of Olympus stories. You could make an argument these are the most important books I’ve ever read because of how much they soldified my love for reading. I also read the follow-up Trials of Apollo for the first time, which I did not like. Hard to tell if they sucked or I just am an adult reading a YA novel without any nostalgia-colored glasses on. Also, the ending of Blood of Olympus kinda sucks for how good the rest of that series is.
The Pragmatic Programmer by David Thomas, Andrew Hunt
Had some takeaways, the main one being I wish I read this 2 or 3 years ago.
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
At the time of reading this, I felt this book was speaking directly to me. I still have a fond memory of it, but I don’t think I really integrated any of its lessons into my life. I need to revisit some of my notes or something because I def feel like this book had valuable lessons.
Richard Feynman: A Life in Science by John and Mary Gribben
Some interesting anecdotes. Some of the book gets super technical, and I ended up skipping some of those sections. I liked Surely You’re Joking more
The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis
I have no idea how I ended up owning this book. I know I ordered it but I’m not sure where I heard of this. It was fine, but I don’t know how this more academic/religious view is supposed to help at all.
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
This is the second Larson book I’ve read, and I still really like his novelistic non-fiction style. Learning more about pre-WWII Nazi Germany was interesting, but I think the main figure of William Dodd is what really made me like this.
Means of Ascent by Robert Caro
This is the first book in the Years of LBJ series that I've read, which if you're not familiar is one of the most renowned, fascinating biographies of our times. For the first 100-150 pages this was just a regular biography to me. It wasn't until the introduction of Coke Stevenson did this become something special. I could re-read the last chapters about Coke over and over again.
I will finish all the LBJ books one day, right now I'm going through Master of the Senate
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
It was good. Similar beats to The Martian, which I liked a lot more.
The Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant
Admittedly, I have not done much research on this book after reading it. But it seemed to me to follow a certain formula. Present a certain view on X, then present a counter-view. Super interesting. The introduction was my favorite part
Amoralman by Derek Delguadio
I read this book after it was mentioned at work. I really enjoyed the show(performance?) the author has on Hulu titled
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Another book I’d put firmly in the “Everyone should read this” pile.
The Bed of Procrustes by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
I’m love a good aphorism. Don’t overanalyze them.
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
My first forray into Hemingway -- if you don't count me scanning the Old Man and the Sea when I was 10 becaused I liked marlins. Not really sure what I think about this one. The Lost Generation is interesting, but not that interesting to me
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Enjoyed this but realized afterwards I read the abridged version. Apparently that was a mistake, I’ll revisit the full thing in like a decade.
Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Randomly picked this backup after reading the first 60ish pages about 2 years ago. It was much more engaging this time around. I’m a bit of a sucker for Taleb. He’s probably a bit too dismissive of other people’s ideas for my liking, but I think some of the way he thinks about things can be very insightful
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
East of Eden might be my favorite book, so I was excited to read this. It's good, but it is a different type of book. It's a great window into the post-Depression era. I can also understand why certain groups would've wanted this book banned at the time.
Red Notice by Bill Browder
Meh. Interesting story I guess. Not sure I took much a way from it other than a suspicion that the author is a narcissist
Needful Things by Stephen King
First time reading a Stephen King book. I enjoyed this. Weirdly, there’s a Rick and Morty episode that kind of spoiled this a bit for me. Will read more King in the future.
Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
Really good. A collection of essays from the Dear Sugar internet column. Some of them we’re very good, and gave me a lot to think about it
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
This book had been on my list for a little while now. Reducing my technology use but continuing to use technology in the right way is very important to me, which is why I wrote
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
I cannot believe this book was written in 1985. For the rest of my life whenever 1984 is brought up I will reference Postman’s argument of how it’s actually Huxley’s Brave New World we should be concerned about. Everyone should read this book, however I will say at times it gets pretty in the weeds from a philosophy standpoint which most people might not like.
The Gunslinger by Stephen King
I liked this, at some point I’ll read the rest of the series, but not sure when.
How Will You Measure Your Life
One of the best of the year. I think the framing of how overachievers can suddenly find themselves unhappy is effective. Many gems in here on how one can structure their life, my favorite: Don’t look for a life partner who will make you happy. Look for someone
World War Z by Max Brooks
Much different than the movie. Interesting narrative structure. Other than that, meh.
Poor Charlie’s Almanac
Most of my absorption of Munger’s ideas have been from secondary sources so it was a nice change of pace to consume them directly. I think the thing I liked most about this collection of essays is how often the same subject comes up. It signals to me the clarity of thought Charlie had. An unexpected development from reading this was I’ve started reading a bunch of Berkshire’s Shareholder Letters. Highly recommend.
Sex, Drugs, and Coco Puffs by Chuck Klosterman
A very different collection of essays than the above. Some interesting content in here. Things I agreed with, things I disagreed with, and things I was apathetic towards. Klosterman’s assertiveness(arrogance) on each of his positions make this more compelling than it probably should’ve been