Main genres: science fiction; fantasy; personal growth; cognitive science~ish.
2024
HBR's 10 Must Reads on Managing Yourself, Harvard Business Review. Wish I read this earlier. It takes a lot of skill and thoughtfulness to turn a management position from "ordering people around" to "being a leader and helping people output their best work." Definitely been guilty of the former. Aspiring to be the latter.
I want to read the "10 Must Reads for New Managers" next, and see how I can implement it.
Nineteen Ways of Looking at Consciousness, Patrick House. Shelved for now -- not what I expected, but I do want to come back to this at some point.
Feeling Good, David Burns. Slightly outdated but still very useful. Would recommend.
Dune Messiah, Frank Herbert. Finally picked this one up again!
Children of Dune, Frank Herbert. The twins are my favorite characters.
God Emperor of Dune, Frank Herbert. This was a weaker read for me. Setting the series aside for now.
No Fears, No Excuses, Larry Smith. Very good read. Now comes the hard part: acting on it.
2023
How Minds Change, David McRaney. Pretty good, felt a bit too long. Definitely some stuff here that I could practice more.
The 48 Laws of Power, Robert Greene. Not really digging this one. Shelved.
Paul Graham's Blog. Very good reads.
Neel Nanda's Blog. Very good reads. Learned a lot here. Still going through the posts.
The Beginning of Infinity, David Deutsch. I see a lot of people recommending this but it doesn't seem to be saying anything yet. Shelved for now.
The Pathless Path, Paul Millerd. Very good short read. Lots of lessons to be learned here. Interesting to contrast with other perspectives.
Superforecasting, Philip E. Tetlock & Dan Gardner. Pretty good read.
The Kindness Method, Shahroo Izadi. 10/10. Strongly influenced my thinking.
Children of Time, Adrian Tchaikovsky. 10/10. On par with Three Body Problem.
Children of Ruin, Adrian Tchaikovsky. 9/10.
Thinking In Systems, Donella Meadows. Another book that many recommend but doesn't seem to be saying anything. Will pick this up later. Maybe it just needs a skim. Shelved.
The Righteous Mind, Jonathan Haidt. Pretty good read.
What's Our Problem?, Tim Urban. Pretty good read. Wish it stuck the landing.
2022
Doing Good Better, Will MacAskill. Very good read.
Never Finished, David Goggins. Very good read. "I know that atmospheric line between blue and black."
Stories of Your Life and Others, Ted Chiang. 10/10. Chiang is so good, man.
I'm Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy. Very good read. An interesting life story.
The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro. Very good read.
So Good They Can't Ignore You, Cal Newport. Pretty good read. Very useful framing.
Exhalation: Stories, Ted Chiang. 10/10 for everything... except The Lifecycle of Software Objects. I might be too young to get that one, though.
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson. Fun read.
The Stormlight Archive (1-4), Brandon Sanderson. Very good reads. Sanderson's solid. Love his universe.
Elantris, Brandon Sanderson. Thought this was weaker but still fun.
Warbreaker, Brandon Sanderson. This one's great.
The Expanse (series), James S. A. Corey. Very good reads. Characters are great, the universe is great.
2021
The Three Body Problem (series), Cixin Liu. 10/10. A series that ramps up without feeling too fast.
Foundation (series), Isaac Asmiov. Really good reads. Fun to contrast with modern sci-fi.
The Murderbot Diaries (series), Martha Wells. Fun reads.
The Happiness Hypothesis, Jonathan Haidt. Really good read. Influential to my thinking.
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant, Naval Ravikant (compiled by: Eric Jorgenson). Very good reads. One that I'll have to keep coming back to.
The Wheel of Time (1-4), Robert Jordan. Fun at first. Then I lost interest. Shelved.
Skin in the Game, Nassim Nicholas Taleb. It's difficult to read. I'll read again when I have more patience... or when I'm smarter. Shelved.
Cal Newport's Blog. Lots of good reads here. Still occasionally check it out.
Deep Work, Cal Newport. Very good read. Should probably read again.
Mistborn (series), Brandon Sanderson. See above Brandon Sanderson review.
Dune, Frank Herbert. 10/10. Really good read.
Dune Messiah, Frank Herbert. Couldn't get past the first 5 chapters. Probably a good read, though. Shelved for now.
2020
Meditations, Marcus Aurelius (Gregory Hays translation). Essential read.
The Andromeda Strain, Michael Crichton. Really fun read.
Can't Hurt Me, David Goggins. Essential read. Top of the pile.
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury. Pretty good read.
Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens. Pretty good read.
Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman. Couldn't get past the first few chapters. It was groundbreaking when published but now the ideas are mainstream, so it's saying nothing new. Shelved.
The Art of Asking, Amanda Palmer. Very good read.
Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk. Very good read.
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley. Pretty good read. I wish I could learn things through pillow osmosis.
The Loop, Ben Oliver. Fun read.
Elastic Habits. A really good idea. Should have been a blog post.
Scott Young's Blog. Very good reads here.
Ultralearning, Scott Young. Very good read.
2019
The Invisible Man, H. G. Wells. Fun read.
Atomic Habits, James Clear. I really have mixed feelings about this book. There was a time when, for me, it was a 10/10. Upon reflection I think it did equal harm and good for me.