Number 6's Blog

Over the years

I’ve always been a book reader since I was a young lad. I started reading probably more out of boredom than. For any other reason. I was maybe 4 or 5 when I burnt my leg in a trash fire on the farm. For months I was confined to laying on the sofa. Today I would have been watching TV the entire convalescent period but this was before TV; therefore I read books and listened to the radio.

I’m an eclectic reader. I’ve read everything from History to Gardening to Science Fiction to Productivity to Computer Science.

Now to what I read in 2024

2024

Looking back at this year I read a mixed bag including fantasy, productivity, and history – 28 books in all. I read a mix of physical and digital books this year although most were digital on a Kindle. Near the end of the year I started listening to books. For those of you who like lists I’ve included the list of the 2024 books at the end of this post.

My favorite book this year was a mixture of science and history: American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin. The book served as inspiration for Christopher Nolan’s 2023 biographical film Oppenheimer, starring Cillian Murphy as the theoretical physicist. (Wikipedia). I did not see the movie but hearing about it sparked my interest in the book.

I had wanted to read 12 non-fiction books this year which I did as a form of self-improvement and in the spirit of the mantra “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” – Mahatma Gandhi.

I also read the last part of the Wheel of Time book series – 9 of the 14 book series. I started the series in mid-2023. I’m the caregiver for my wife who has PSP and therefore am mostly homebound. Therefore there are great portions of the day where I can either read, watch TV, play games, or spend time on the computer. It’s a Fantasy series where the journey is the best part, not the goal. I was underwhelmed by the ending. Would I read the 11,898 page series again – Yes!

Lastly, I tried audio books this year. My take away to date is don’t listen to books you need to pay attention to. At least for me my mind wanders sometimes. That’s not a problem if I’m reading a physical book. But not with an audio book. I find my self hitting the 30 second rewind button a few times. Will I continue to listen to audio books? I believe so but not books like Nexus, one of the couple books I listened to instead of reading. AS an aside the reason I chose that book was the title. In my chosen profession the word was often overused and used incorrectly. I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to google the meaning of Nexus. This book’s author used the word in a more correct manner than it’s often used.

Next year (2025)

I intend to read a mixture of pleasure (Science Fiction and Mysteries) and self improvement books – Learn Forever. I don’t have a set number of books in the self improvement category but here’s my draft list which will change as time goes on:

I already have 5 physical books on the list:

1. GEB – Reread every year. I am going to read it every year at least until I understand it.
2. Lord of the Rings – Reread -Fantasy but the book in that genre by which all others are measured
3. The Light Eaters by Zoe Schlanger – Plant Kingdome
4. Einstein in Kafkaland by Ken Krimstein – Graphic novel – branching out to graphic novels this year – A year in Prague when Einstein became Einstein and Kafka became Kafka
5. Big Jim and the White Boy by Marcus Kwame Anderson, David F. Walker – Graphic novel – The retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
   

   Other Candidate books

• The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley – Science Fiction — Sounds like a winner — something different
• The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter — Cal Newport interview. Sounds very interesting
• The Burning Earth by Sunil Amrith — A New Yorker best book –how we destroyed nature (my words)
• Every Valley by Charles King– Handel’s messiah and the troubled times that caused it
• The Cottage Garden by Claus Dalby – lots of photos of cottage gardens
• Calypso by Oliver K Languid – Space opera I think
• Slow Productivity by Cal Newport – as the name implies
• A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking – like GEB I continue to read this book until I understand it. However, I think I’m closer to an understanding than with GEB
• The Sabbath (FSG Classics) by Abraham Joshua Heschel – an old book a the name implies

Books read in 2024:

• Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordon – One of the Wheel of Time series
• Six Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman – Six easy science concepts written for the layman by Nobel Prize winner and one of the Atomic Bomb creators along with Robert Oppenheimer
• Discipline is Destiny by Ryan Holiday – Book on one of the from Stoic Principles – Discipline
• *A Crown of Sword * by Robert Jordan
• Winter Storm by Robert Jordan
• The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan
• Budapest by Victor Sebestyen – History of Budapest by a native
• The History of Almost Everything by Bill Bryson – Not as good as I thought – would not recommend
• Where Good Ideas Come From by Steve Johnson – took a 10 page explanation and turned it into a boring book
• Tao te Ching by Stephen Mitchell – central to Taoism
• American Prometheus by Kai Bird – Book of the year for me
• The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan
• Killing Moon by Jo Nesbo – Norwegian Thriller – the latest in the series of Detective Harry Hole
• Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan
• Lords of Uncreation by Adiran Tchaikovsky – Space Opera – very good – last book in the three book series
• Knife of Dreams Robert Jordan
• A World Lit Only By Fire by William Manchester – coming out of the dark ages – section on Martin Luther is the best I’ve read on him
• Eight Bears by Gloria Dickie – Eight bear species in the World
• The Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran – One of the tenets of Hinduism
• Overboard by Sara Paretsky – Latest book in female Chicago detective series – loved the series in part because it’s based in Chicago where I lived for three years
• Meditations by Marcus Aurelius – the high lord of stoicism
• Memory of Light by Robert Jordan
• New Spring by Robert Jordan
• The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday – Productivity book about overcoming obstacles
• In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson – traveling around Australia – good book
• To Overthrow the World: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Communism by Sean McMeekin – mostly summary of all his previous books. Read them instead
• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer – Came in 2nd as my book of the year – combination Indian lore, environmentalism, nature book
• On Basilisk Station by David Weber – Space Opera – the kind of Science Fiction I enjoy
• Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari – Could have been subtitled the History of Information – Audio book