What I read in 2023

More than a few books short of my goal, but still lots of good stuff.

Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar

Roughly what I expected it to be. It’s a quick read and worth the time for a different perspective on education and a somewhat unusual writing style.

Utopia for Realists

The epilogue was the best part about this book. Mostly the ideas didn’t feel new and were presented in a pretty typical fashion (and maybe would have benefitted from a little more self awareness around the potential to be wrong). But I did like the epilogue:

Calling my ideas "unrealistic" was simply a shorthand way of saying they didn't fit the status quo. And the best way to shut people up is to make them feel silly.
My advice is to cultivate a thicker skin. Don't let anyone tell you what's what. If we want to change the world, we need to be unrealistic, unreasonable, and impossible.

Leviathan Wakes

I was hoping that I would really enjoy this book, but it was just okay. I greatly enjoyed the TV series but something about the character presentation and story telling in the book just didn’t click for me.

The Southwest Airlines Way

Pretty good. Particularly interesting because the book is a few years old now and I have lots of first-hand experience as a Southwest passenger.

Free Speech

Too much history of free speech and not enough discussion of the challenges of free speech. Arguably you can’t have a coherent discussion about the challenges without the history but I think this book needs to be paired with a something that recognizes the many ways in which the ideal of free speech have caused challenges for society.

The Terraformers

Lots of interesting ideas in this book, but I didn’t find the writing or the story particularly compelling.

A Prayer for Owen Meany

A second time reading this book and while I remembered the key plot points, I had forgotten so many of the rich details of the story. It’s a lovely book and I found the story warm and thought-provoking.

Chaos Vector

Second book in the series. Still compelling, though lots of things happen and it’s a little hard to keep track of what’s important.

The End of Everything

I thought I would enjoy this book, but it didn’t hold my attention. As much as I appreciate the discussion of the physics, I just couldn’t connect it to my day-to-day reality. Some good humor though.

Hope in the Dark

Fantastic book. A reminder that even when progress feels slow, we must remember all the work that has come before. The effort is worth it. Best book of 2023 for me.

Win Every Argument

This is both very practical and an amusing read. The author’s own argumentative exploits are a main subject, but he also offers some genuinely useful tactics for preparing to make your case.

At Home

This book is such a meandering exploration of history that I frequently found myself wondering why we were on this topic in the first place. I would have preferred more history about the home rather than a view of history through the home. Additionally, this book feels like it lacks the rigor to make many of the claims that it makes: not nearly enough citations. And given some other researchers’ experiences with historical records, I’m pretty confident that many of the claims are just wrong.

The Ministry for the Future

Purportedly science fiction, but this book is too real to put fully in the fiction category. It’s far more intense than I expected, but also slow and deliberate. It’s a troubling good look at our likely future and pairs well with Hope in the Dark.

Anything You Want

The antidote to all those business books that prescribe a formula for success. Excellent.

Books of 2022

I didn't make it through quite as many books in 2022 as I had hoped, but I am pleased that I was still able to make consistent time for reading. I continue to be amused by my ability to become fully engrossed in fiction to the point where I can power through books in one or two sittings. Yet, with non-fiction, my mind wanders as I contemplate each new idea and my meandering pace means it usually takes weeks to finish the books.🤷‍♂️

Raven Stratagem

This is the second book in The Machineries of Empire series by Yoon Ha Lee and I really struggled to get through it. I quite enjoyed the first book, Ninefox Gambit, but this one was just boring. Nothing happens!

Cytonic

The third book in Brandon Sanderson's Skyward series and I think it's the weakest of the three so far. It feels like the main character takes an unnecessary detour into a world that is more supernatural than science fiction.

Velocity Weapon

Fantastic book. Loved the concept, fast-paced, and well-written; I look forward to the next one in the series. Recommend!

Living in Data

This book surpassed my expectations. Instead of just being about data visualization, which is what I expected going into it, Jer Thorpe connects us to the human stories behind the data.

How Buildings Learn

I've had this book for ages but only just got around to reading it this year. Actually, this book was one of the few items I rescued from my desk at work when we cleared out the office space after the pandemic. Anyway, turns out that it's a lovely book. For anyone tasked with the upkeep of any long-lived thing, I think the ideas will resonate, but particularly for home-owners battling entropy.

How to Do Nothing

This book didn't really land for me. I appreciate the author's observations about societal pressure to constantly be doing things and how easily you find yourself responding to that pressure. But I guess I wanted more on how to avoid that trap (beyond the simple, "Don't fall into it") as an individual but also as a society.

The Utopia of Rules

Thought-provoking to be sure, but I don't agree with Graeber's observations or conclusions. Bureaucracy has lots of problems, but in my view it exists in opposition to violence, not aligned with it.

Where Is My Flying Car?

A great exploration of the many factors that have inhibited the development of flying cars and, to some extent, more dramatic scientific advancement in general. The discussion of energy density and control over energy production rings true, but the author's glass-half-full estimation that roughly 50% of licensed drivers have the faculties for flight strikes me as a compelling reason to avoid future developments around flying cars.

Build

I really enjoyed this memoir, of sorts, by Tony Fadell. It's practical advice, doesn't discount the importance of luck, and what I connected with the most: the creative act of building can, itself, be all the motivation you need.

Race After Technology

If you're not familiar with the many ways that structural oppression can be propagated with technology, this book is a good introduction. On the flip side, if you already have some awareness of the potential for bias to be encoded in various machinery, my sense is the author veers a little too close to blaming the tech itself rather than the fallible humans who build and use it.

Kill It with Fire

I'm not sure how useful this book is to folks who aren't specifically working on legacy technology projects, but it offers interesting perspective nonetheless. It's a good guide for embarking on that kind of work and I can imagine returning to it as a reference.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

This exceeded my expectations. It works well as a sort of pop-philosophy book with the briefest of introductions to concepts that have been around for ages. It makes the concepts approachable, though I think it would benefit from a few more citations and references for additional reading.

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy

The lovely continuation of the Monk & Robot series by Becky Chambers. If you enjoyed the first book, you will enjoy this one. I certainly did.

How to Invent Everything

This book was an unexpectedly delightful trip through the development of all kinds of civilization-sustaining (creating?) technologies. Humorous and educational, definitely worth packing for your next time-travel adventure.

Don't Shoot the Dog!

Practical guidance for anyone wanting to shape the behavior of others when verbal communication is impossible; that includes animals and humans alike. This book misses the mark for me in two ways: (1) it lacks references to peer-reviewed studies and feels a little like folk science. And (2) it's missing any exploration of the ethical quandary associated with using these techniques on people without their consent.

A Planet Called Treason

The collective works of Orson Scott Card have had a significant impact on my life and Treason, the edited second edition of this book, is close to the top of my all-time favorites. But I had never read the original and this was a nice trip down memory lane. Reading Card again I am reminded that his lack of empathy outside of his novels is utterly confounding to me. So many of his stories, including this one, deal with having empathy for others, especially those that we do not understand, but Card himself cannot live-up to the ideals of his characters.

The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, and The Stone Sky

These books came highly recommended and with high-profile awards to boot, but ultimately just weren't for me. I appreciate how different this story is from so much other science fiction I've read but the fantasy elements made it an unsatisfying read. Part of what I enjoy about science fiction is when the rules of the universe are sufficiently well-established that I can speculate about what will happen next. But if the rules are ever-changing, as they do in these books, I don't feel like an engaged reader, just a passenger.

The Collapsing Empire

I had not read any of John Scalzi's books before but this was quite enjoyable. At some level it's "just" another intergalactic power struggle, but the main plot device is novel and the story is well-told.

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals

I closed out the year with this book and it was just fantastic. It manages to be both philosophical and deeply practical offering thought-provoking ideas about the nature of existence along with day-to-day tactics for navigating this brief moment we call life. Best book of 2022 for me.

Books of 2021: A Good Year for Reading

2021 was an especially good year for reading books. I set a stretch goal to read 25 books this year, which is 25% more than I read in 2020. And okay, those last 4 novellas were pretty short, but I’m still going to count them. Plus, the more books I read the more I get to surround myself with the physical artifacts of knowledge. Books are the only things I want to collect.

In past years I’ve written little summaries of books when I finished the book but I got out of the habit because writing those summaries became an obstacle to reading the next book. Gonna try an annual summary of summaries instead, here we are in February 🤷‍♂️

New York 2140

I continue to be a big fan of Kim Stanley Robinson, having started with his Mars trilogy, decades ago. New York 2140 has a reasonably compelling plot, but it’s the description of a post-climate change world that’s particularly interesting. The Manhattan street grid becomes a Venetian canal grid and, of course, corporate interests find new ways to profit from climate-related disaster.

How to Build a Car

Great book for any Formula 1 fan. Adrianne Newey’s rise to the pinnacle of competitive engineering is fascinating and is intertwined with so many important milestones in the history of the sport. Maybe it’s obvious from the title of the book, but you do get the sense that his ego might influence how some of the events are depicted.

The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn

The deep technical portions of this book make it a challenging read, but the meta discussion and anecdotes that Hamming shares about invention and discovery are worth it. In particular, he takes issue with the notion that it takes any kind of special genius

Starsight

The second book in the series from Brandon Sandserson, it’s a great universe that he’s built and the story is fun and intriguing.

Becoming

Very much worth a read. Humanizes the people who I watched on screens for so many years.

The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone

Eh, skip. There are a couple of good insights, but the authors fail to take their own advice.

Six Wakes

Great premise, but missed the mark on execution.

An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management

Super practical. Really more of a handbook or guide.

A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload

Good ideas in this book, especially for organizations now working fully remote and who might benefit from more asynchronous communication. In practice, particularly for large organizations or organizations that have to be responsive to external clients, I think these ideas are aspirational at best. Both because change is hard and unless you're really good at managing expectations upfront, I don't think a client is going to accept that you won't use their preferred mode of communication.

The Faded Sun Trilogy

Really enjoyed this story. There was an especially great scene where I became genuinely frustrated by the incomprehensible actions of an alien race and I realized, oh, right, that’s the point. Best described as Lawrence of Arabia in space.

How Women Rise: Break the 12 Habits Holding You Back from Your Next Raise, Promotion, or Job

Uninspired. The advice in this book feels super generic.

Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software

Very good discussion of the incentives and tensions found in open source software projects. In particular, the author does a good job of highlighting the change in incentives that happens as open source projects grow in popularity.

Thinking, Fast and Slow

I finally made it through this, motivated by the discussion on Cortex. The hosts of Cortex had a much more negative reaction to it, but I found it relevant and thought-provoking despite the concerns about reproducibility.

No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention

Great book, great ideas. Difficult to implement.

Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities

Just okay. Interesting to read some history about the bicycling movement.

Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin’s Most Dangerous Hackers

Okay. If anything the benefit of reading this today is realizing how little has changed and to keep your guard up.

Project Hail Mary

Great. If you enjoyed The Martian, you’ll enjoy this.

The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy

Unexpectedly good. The author makes a strong and easy-to-understand case. The book itself is a bit too repetitive for its own good, but the ideas are worth discussing.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built

Lovely. Probably best book of 2021 for me.

Dare to Lead

Hooked at the beginning, but borrows heavily from past work and gets repetitive at times.

Station Eleven

2nd best book of 2021 for me. I ordered the book after I watched the first episode of the new TV show (which, I think actually turns out to be better than the book).

The Murderbot Diaries: All Systems Red

Fun, light, with a nice philosophical question at the core. It's a bit like Terminator told from the Terminator's perspective (the Arnold-form terminator, that is).

The Murderbot Diaries: Artificial Condition

More of the same fun, with somewhat new ethical questions.

The Murderbot Diaries: Rogue Protocol

Yeah, why are these 4 books?

The Murderbot Diaries: Exit Strategy

No really, these would have made far less sense out of order so not sure why they were separate (💰? ). Still entertaining, recommend.

Artemis

A new novel from Andy Weir, author of The Martian, Artemis tells a fun story of industrial sabotage set in the eponymous frontier colony on the Moon. It's an enjoyable book and while maybe not quite as intense as The Martian, the plot is solid and compelling. I'm not really qualified to judge whether Weir was able to write an authentic female perspective, but I appreciate that the main character is a strong, smart, independent woman. She's the kind of character we could use many more of.

Artemis benefits from Weir's extensive technical research and the world of Artemis feels entirely believable. The only detail that I got hung up on is the population of Artemis. 2000 people feels like an order of magnitude too small for the bustling economy described in the book. It seems like there's far too many specialized professions and locations for a city of that size.

Otherwise, good book. Recommend.

(Amazon.com)

The Player of Games

This is the second book from Iain M. Banks that I've read. I found The Player of Games to be much more enjoyable than Consider Phlebas. The character development is noticeably stronger. The plot is more compelling and, ultimately, the story arc is much more satisfying. Where Consider Phlebas seemed to end rather abruptly, this book wound down to a more satisfying ending.

Overall, I'm not sure I'm completely hooked on Banks' work, but the universe in which these two stories take place is interesting. In contrast to other recent science fiction I've read, I didn't find either of these novels to be particularly thought-provoking. The civilization at the center of The Player of Games built entirely around a game, while intriguing, didn't illuminate challenges we face in the real world (though I suppose it could be taken as a kind of allegory for modern life). I'll probably read more of his work, but I'm in no particular hurry.

Recommend? It's not bad.

(Amazon.com) 

Consider Phlebas

Consider Phlebas is the first of two books from Iain M. Banks that I picked up after learning that the SpaceX autonomous spaceport drone ships are named after spaceships in his Culture series. I should have written this little mini review (is that what these are?) months ago, but I'm just now getting back to it in an effort to rekindle a little more consistency with my reading (and writing) in 2018.

Overall, it's a solid book and the Culture universe contains everything you could imagine or want in a science fiction novel. Space travel, artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, space pirates, high stakes games and more all make appearances in the book. I enjoyed the world-building, but the plot actually felt thin and the end was ultimately unsatisfying.

Recommend? Eh.

(Amazon.com)

Aurora

As occasionally happens with novels, I found my eyes glued to the pages of Aurora and finished the 450 page book in less than 3 days. Couldn’t have been better timing: Aurora ties in well to my other recent read, Accelerando. Both cover the challenges of developing an interstellar civilization and though they take dramatically different perspectives, the conclusions are surprisingly similar.

The grand scale of the book allows time to explore difficult topics in the human petri dish that is the generational starship bound for the eponymous planet Aurora. Governance and self-determination are hot topics in a tin can traveling at one tenth the speed of light with a population of a few thousand people. The ship’s AI,  the semi-omniscient narrator, offers a thought-provoking discussion of consciousness and purpose. And at every turn, there is death. But Robinson manages to normalize death in a way that comforts: a recognition that death is an inevitable part of exploration and of life itself.

Indeed, it’s a book that left me wondering: what is the purpose of life? Would we willingly doom our descendants to imprisonment in the name of exploration? Why have descendants at all?

The ending left me wanting, but the more I think about it, the more I think I understand what Robinson was trying to convey. Humans will likely always have a primal longing for Earth. Whether you were born on another planet or a generational starship, you will feel inexplicably drawn to the ecosystem that you evolved from. It seems only natural.

Highly recommend.

(Amazon.com)