Tuesday, December 31, 2019

2019 Book List

The 2019 Book List

In 2018, I initiated a plan to not read any of my "default" authors (white heterosexual males, which were by far the bulk of my reading library). I called this "Don't read white (males) after Labor Day." So up through Labor Day this year, I was specifically focusing on reading minority or female authors. During that period, I'm listing what I can tell of the identity of the author. (If you're paying attention, then you'll be able to tell this means that once I hit Labor Day in 2019, I only got through 4 books for the remainder of the year. It was a busy fall!)
  1. Becoming by Michelle Obama (African-American female)
  2. Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (African-American male)
  3. Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (African-American male)
  4. Children of Bone and Blood by Tomi Adeyemi (Nigerian female)
  5. The Soul of Yellow Folks by Wesley Yang (Korean-American male)
  6. Infidel: My Life by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Somali-born Dutch-American female)
  7. Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Somali-born Dutch-American female)
  8. Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Somali-born Dutch-American female)
  9. Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire Our World by Michele Gelfand (female)
  10. Radical: My Journey Out of Islamist Extremism by Maajid Nawaz (British Muslim)
  11. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
  12. Report On the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election (Vol I & II) by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller, III
  13. Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi (female)
  14. Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars by Nathalia Holt (female)
  15. A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic, Book 1) by V.E. Schwab (female)
  16. A Gathering of Shadows(Shades of Magic, Book 2) by V.E. Schwab (female)
  17. Aru Shah and the Song of Death by Roshani Chokshi (female)
  18. The Oppenheimer Alternative by Robert J. Sawyer
  19. A Conjuring of Light (Shades of Magic, Book 3) by V.E. Schwab
  20. Call Me God: The Untold Story of the DC Sniper Investigation by Jim Clemente, Tim Clemente, and Peter McDonnell 
  21. This Is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar 

Breakdown

Format:
  • Audiobooks: 15
  • Electronic: 1
    • Kindle: 1
  • Dead tree books: 5
Subjects:
  • Total Fiction: 9
    • Science Fiction: 2
    • Fantasy: 7
    • Non-Fiction: 12
      • Science: 2
        • Psychology: 1
        • Technology: 1
      • Religion: 3
      • History: 11
      • Politics: 10
      • Business/Economics: 2
      • Philosophy: 3
    These numbers don't quite match up, because some books cover multiple areas, and so I've included them in all relevant categories. So, for example, a book on free will would fall in both Psychology and Philosophy (and possibly even Religion) categories. And a book on Politics might drift enough into the realm of Philosophy (or vice versa) that I count them as both, or both might explore enough historical groundwork that I feel the need to include it as a History book.

    Similarly, some books I read using Whispersynch-for-Voice to jump between the Amazon Kindle and Audible audiobook versions of the books, so they got double-counted in the format section if I read them in both formats. I've also included The Great Courses audios that I listen to through Audible.com. Though not actually books, I figure that a 10+ hour course on a subject contains about the same informational content, if not presented structurally in quite the same way as it would take in a written book.

    Podcasts

    In addition to listening to audiobooks, my intake of thinking consists enough of podcasts that it seems worth including them as a category. Here are the podcasts that I have listened to in 2018 on a fairly regular basis:
    • Writing Excuses
    • You Are Not So Smart
    • Waking Up Podcast with Sam Harris
    • History of Philosophy
    • History of Africana Philosophy
    • The Glenn Show
    • Talk Nerdy with Cara Santa Maria
    • Very Bad Wizards
    • What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law
    • The Lawfare Podcast
    • The Cyberlaw Podcast
    • Rational Security
    • The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg
    • Today, Explained
    • The Weeds
    • The Phil Ferguson Show
    • Hidden Brain
    • Stuff to Blow Your Mind
    The History

    And for anyone who is interested in looking into the past to see some of my previous book lists...
    Prior to 2008, I didn't keep a precise running record of the books that I read.

    Tuesday, January 01, 2019

    2018 Book List

    The 2018 Book List
    1. Ones and Zeroes by Dan Wells
    2. Children of the Divide by Patrick S. Tomlinson
    3. The Obstacle is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holiday
    4. The Higgs Boson and Beyond by Sean Carroll (The Great Courses)
    5. The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World by Bart Ehrman
    6. Republic, Lost: Version 2.0 by Lawrence Lessig
    7. The Square and the Tower: Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook by Niall Ferguson
    8. A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership by James Comey
    9. The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant
    10. Why Honor Matters by Tamler Sommers
    11. Suicide of the West: How the Rebirth of Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics is Destroying American Democracy by Jonah Goldberg
    12. NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity by Steve Silberman
    13. The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe
    14. Burn Me Deadly by Alex Bledsoe
    15. Dark Jenny by Alex Bledsoe
    16. Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility by James. P. Carse
    17. The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord (black Barbadian woman)
    18. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin (African-American woman)
    19. I Should Have Honor: A Memoir of Hope and Pride in Pakistan by Khalida Brohi (Pakistani Muslim woman)
    20. All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders (caucasian transgender woman)
    21. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (caucasian lesbian woman)
    22. A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (caucasian lesbian woman)
    23. A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray (caucasian woman)
    24. Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray (caucasian woman)
    25. A Million Worlds with You by Claudia Gray (caucasian woman)

    Breakdown

    Format:
    • Audiobooks: 16
      • Audio courses: 1
    • Kindle: 5
    • Dead tree books: 7
    Subjects:
    • Total Fiction: 13
      • Science Fiction: 8
      • Fantasy: 5
      • Non-Fiction: 12
        • Science: 3
          • Physics: 1
          • Psychology: 2
        • Religion: 2
        • History: 5
        • Politics: 7
        • Business/Economics: 1
        • Philosophy: 5
      These numbers don't quite match up, because some books cover multiple areas, and so I've included them in all relevant categories. So, for example, a book on free will would fall in both Psychology and Philosophy (and possibly even Religion) categories. And a book on Politics might drift enough into the realm of Philsophy (or vice versa) that I count them as both, or both might explore enough historical groundwork that I feel the need to include it as a History book.

      Similarly, some books I read using Whispersynch-for-Voice to jump between the Amazon Kindle and Audible audiobook versions of the books, so they got double-counted in the format section if I read them in both formats. I've also included The Great Courses audios that I listen to through Audible.com. Though not actually books, I figure that a 10+ hour course on a subject contains about the same informational content, if not presented structurally in quite the same way as it would take in a written book.

      Podcasts

      In addition to listening to audiobooks, my intake of thinking consists enough of podcasts that it seems worth including them as a category. Here are the podcasts that I have listened to in 2018 on a fairly regular basis:

      • Writing Excuses
      • You Are Not So Smart
      • Waking Up Podcast with Sam Harris
      • History of Philosophy
      • History of Africana Philosophy
      • Talk Nerdy with Cara Santa Maria
      • Very Bad Wizards
      • What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law
      • The Lawfare Podcast
      • The Cyberlaw Podcast
      • Rational Security
      • The Phil Ferguson Show
      • Hidden Brain
      • Stuff You Should Know
      • Stuff to Blow Your Mind
      The History

      And for anyone who is interested in looking into the past to see some of my previous book lists...
      Prior to 2008, I didn't keep a precise running record of the books that I read.