Last year I read 10 fiction books and 10 non-fiction. Three of these were audiobooks I listened to in the car or on bike rides, and only two Star Trek novels.
My favorite book was Self-Reliance (actually a long essay, you can read it in an hour or so). I read it once as a physical book, then downloaded the audiobook to listen to no less than a dozen times. I listened to it mostly on long bike rides up Page Mill Road. This classic piece was on a list of great books to read, so I grabbed it when I saw it at my local library.
My second favorite book was Radical Honesty. Ask my friends, and family, and anyone I know—I was open to talking about the merits of being radically honest with yourself and everyone else you encounter. I’m really glad that my good friend Rob Dougan recommended this book to me.
I am really happy with my reading selection from this year. I was able to read some great classics, as well as discover a book I liked even more than Atlas Shrugged (which topped my list last year): The Fountainhead. I found this earlier book by Rand to be much more accessible: the plot was trimmer, the speeches were condensed, and overall the metaphor of the story held up better than Atlas Shrugged. I would recommend it as something to read before Atlas.
Completed
- Self-Reliance by R.W. Emerson. An excellent read.
- Radical Honesty by Brad Blanton. To thine ownself be true—is a phrase you can hear your whole life and think you understand. But taking hours to read, reflect, and exercise on honesty with yourself and others is to understand it better.
- Cosmos by Carl Sagan. I paired reading this book with watching the episodes of the Cosmos TV series. Highly recommended.
- Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan. Carl gets me so excited to go to space.
- The Stranger by Albert Camus. Excellent story. Definitely will be re-reading this one.
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. So excellent. One of my favorite novels ever. A book I wish I’d read when I was 12.
- The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. Fun novel about life on Mars.
- The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. Excellent story. Better than Atlas Shrugged in my estimation.
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
- What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami. I haven’t read much Murakami, but this book got me excited to start running again as a form of meditation.
- In His Own Voice (Audiobook) by Napoleon Hill
- Wild Shot by Andy Leibner. A biographical tale about my friend’s trials and tribulations attempting to compete independently in biathons abroad. Decent insight into the mind of a highly competitive person.
- Pure Drivel by Steve Martin, a gift from my brother-in-law, Jared. A collection of short pieces Steve wrote, something like you’d find in Reader’s Digest.
- Born Standing Up (Audiobook) by Steve Martin. I’ve always enjoyed Steve Martin’s comedy but find his writing a bit egomaniacal. I now know his whole life story, but I can’t really say it was that interesting.
- Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers by Leonard Koren. This book was recommended highly by many people at Valio Con.
- Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Devil’s Heart by Carmen Carter. Believe it or not, I have only read a handful of Star Trek novels in my day. I read this one more than 15 years ago, so it was very enjoyable to revisit.
- Star Trek: The Next Generation: All Good Things by Michael Jan Friedman. Another indulgence. One of my favorite episodes of TNG in book form.
- Book of Speed (Incomplete) by Stoyan Stefanov. Early in 2012 I was optimizing Sencha’s website for speed, and I read through more of Stoyan and Steve Souder’s pieces, so I decided to add this to the list. It’s a work in progress, but recommended reading for anyone seeking to master the web waterfall.
- Information Dashboard Design by Stephen Few. Though this book has an attractive cover, I urge you not to judge it by it. Very outdated, wouldn’t recommend.
- Ordering Disorder by Khoi Vinh.
- I, Partridge (We Need to Talk about Alan Partridge) by Steve Coogan. An exceedingly silly book about the fictional character of Alan Partridge. I know far more about this character than I care to admit. I listened to this audiobook in the car.
- The Enemy by Christopher Hitchens. I was interested in reading more of Christopher Hitchens. A friend recommended this to me, and it seemed like a nice short introduction.
- Eveline (Short Story) by James Joyce. I have yet to read Ulysses, but the idea still sits in the back of my mind. I decided to read this short to get a sample of his writing.
Abandoned
- Walden by Henry David Thoreau. Reading the first half-dozen chapters of this book was very enjoyable: some read like poetry. But the later chapters started droning about farming and I became bored.
- Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. I started to listen to this as an audiobook. I thought I’d hear a lot more about running techniques and studies. Instead, it read like a novel about runners.
- Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda. I wanted to read this book because Steve Jobs mentioned in his biography he returns to this book every few years. Though it may have been influential in Steve’s young life, it was far too mystical for me. Sometime before I came to this realization, however, I actually visited a Transcendental Meditation Center.
- Empire Falls, a gift from my brother-in-law, Jared. I got half-way through, but couldn’t maintain interest in the lovable loser protagonist.
- All Other Things I Really Need to Know I Learned Watching Star Trek: Next Generation by Dave Marinaccio. A ridiculous book. Half-way through.
Previously