61 Books in 365 Days
I wasn’t a big reader growing up. I was more interested in play: basketball, skateboarding and video games. Reading just wasn’t something I looked forward to. Sometime late in high school I started to pick up books on my own. It was kind of painful, I felt like I was a slow reader. I have no basis for this assessment. I was just around friends who devoured books. My buddy Adrian would read books like ‘The Silmarillion’ with over 350 pages in a week. I could not do that, and probably still can’t.
Despite my reading inferiority complex, I did start to read more and through college that continued. Post college life made it hard to find the time to read, but I managed to read some. In 2012, I discovered Goodreads and was hooked on the idea of reading pretty quickly. The actual reading part followed more slowly.
My first Goodreads Challenge was 2016. I failed miserably, reading only 4 of my 20 book goal. In 2017, everything changed and my reading habit changed dramatically. I wish I could tell you the trick to this transformation. I don’t think there was one singular thing. It was a combination of will, technology, work situation and my life being just calm enough to allow for this change. I’ve raised my goal from 20 to 24 and then 50 last year (see last years review). This year, I kept it at 50, since last year’s goal was a bit of a struggle. That concern seems to have been unwarranted. I read 61 books this year.
Once again, my habits haven’t changed like a light switch. Some changes have worked in reading’s favor. A new commute with a lot more train/car time has created a big chunk of time for reading. My new job is sane, which allows for reading at lunch sometimes. Technology, specifically Libby, which connects with your local library for free downloading of e-books and audio books has been amazing and has me reading things that I wouldn’t normally pick up.
The highlights
I’ve read too many good books this year. My brain hurts just thinking about it.
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead was as good as advertised.
NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity by Steve Silberman was an audio book that I found with Libby and damn it was enlightening. If you have any interest in how the brain works or give a damn about differences in brain function (autism or just understanding people) then this is must read.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury — no brainer, classic.
Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA by Tim Weiner was also a Libby find. This book details the amazing (not sure that is the right word) history of the CIA. The book uses declassified files from the CIA itself. Scary real stuff.
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey got a ton of press a while back. A lot this was around the story of the author and some of the elements of the book being untrue. I understand the complexity of all that, but this book stands on its own and I really enjoyed it, despite the controversy.
Orange Is the New Black by Piper Kerman–no I haven’t watched the TV show. I did love the book and I’ll probably check out the show at some point.
Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss–authored by an ex-FBI hostage negotiator and I can tell you now that I’ll be re-reading this in the near future.
Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s by John Elder Robison is an auto-biography about a man who discovers late in life that he’s on the spectrum. He’s got an amazing story and I never would have read this without Libby.
The Daily Show: An Oral History as Told by Jon Stewart, the Correspondents, Staff and Guests by Chris Smith, Jon Stewart–if you loved the Daily Show this will take you back in time like a time capsule.
Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest by Hanif Abdurraqib is a love letter for every A Tribe Called Quest fan.
Ruined by Design: How Designers Destroyed the World, and What We Can Do to Fix It by Mike Monteiro–is tech ruining the world, maybe. This book makes a pretty strong case while also giving glimpses of hope towards how we might turn this around.
Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope by Mark Manson–I loved his earlier book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and I liked this one almost as much.
The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds by Michael Lewis details the intertwined lives of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, the Nobel winning pair that invented the field of behavioral economics.
Beastie Boys Book by Michael Diamond, Adam Horovitz–If you are a fan of the B-Boys, or just like hip-hop, this is must read stuff. I consumed the audio book version, and I would suggest you do the same.
I also finished books 4, 5, 6 & 7 of the Harry Potter series. Maybe you’ve heard of these. They are pretty good.
I wouldn’t say I read anything awful this year. A lot of the stuff I didn’t mention above was really great too. For 2020, I’m upping my goal to 75. You can follow the action (if a reading list can be called ‘action’) here.
