I’m always adding books to my TBR – it’s actually gotten ridiculous in length – and I’m always on the lookout for more. My interests range from biographies and histories to epic fantasy and hard sci-fi. Call me weird, but I like what I like.
I ran across this thought from Alan Jacobs and have decided that it’s my new guide for choosing new books…
Wondering how to decide what to read? Here’s a simple but effective heuristic to cut down the choices significantly. Ask yourself one question: Does this writer make bank when we hate one another? And if the answer is yes, don’t read that writer.
Another month of 2022 has come and gone, with it, another round of books. I’m very much on track to finish 100 books this year. Actually, I may hit 103-105 before it’s all said and done. A holiday break is an excellent chance to get some extra reading time in while recharging for the new year.
Plus, I’ve been down with the flu for almost a week, allowing me to read when I haven’t been asleep.
This month, as in October, includes several short audiobooks. With a busy fall, I was behind in hitting my reading goal for the year. I focused on getting caught up the past couple of months with audiobooks. I can listen while I’m working or driving, and I’m also able to play the titles at around 2.5x normal speed. I stumbled across several very interesting titles (especially the John Scalzi titles) that I enjoyed immensely.
Here, in no particular order, are the books I read or listened to in November 2022.
416 Pages – 10/30/2012 (Publication Date) – Tor Fantasy (Publisher)
Final Books of the Year
Later this month, I’ll have a final wrap-up of my “best books of 20222.” It’ll be the first time I’ve published a list like this, so bear with me. I want to communicate the reasons behind my selections and hopefully encourage you to begin making your own “best of” lists as you progress through your reading each year.
Reviewing what we read helps to remind us what we learned from the book (yes, you can learn from fiction just as easily as non-fiction). Also, it gives us a chance to practice those ever-important communication skills with another chance to write. It doesn’t matter if you publish your list or keep it in a journal, summarizing and telling someone your thoughts (even if it’s just you) is excellent writing practice.
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, I spent my days hunkered down at my desk. I spent my time creating and sharing technology resources for teachers.
My teachers were thrown headfirst into a world many of them weren’t prepared to experience. So, I did my best to support their remote learning work.
Those first few weeks didn’t leave much time for extracurricular activities. When I did finish the day’s work, I disconnected. Exhausted from sitting in front of a computer, I’d chill out with my family.
We played games and invested in several outdoor activities, like horseshoes and basketball.
But spring turned to summer and the school year ended, leaving me with a lot of time on my hands.
Diving Into Reading
I had to find something to occupy my time, so I retreated into the land of the written word.
I’ve always enjoyed reading but never committed to reading regularly. During those nascent months of the pandemic, I decided it was time to establish a regular reading habit.
I used GoodReads to compile a “to be read” list (TBR). At first, there were only a handful of books. I participated in Daily Stoic’s “Read to Lead” challenge and began building my list.
One of the challenges put forth in that challenge was to read a book “above your level” – rather than always reaching for your favorite genre or a book you’ve read before. Reading a more challenging book builds your “reading muscle” and likely brings new ideas to the forefront of your mind.
A challenging read is necessary for your personal growth. So, I started building my list.
Since March 2020, I’ve read or re-read 236 books, some 74,000 pages of content. They’ve been a mix of physical, digital, and audio formats.
I’m not sharing those numbers to boast; I’m encouraging you to bump up your reading numbers. We are all busy, but if we want to expand our minds, we must make the time to do so.
Sometimes I read for pure entertainment. But, I’m often reading to learn something or expand my brain.
My TBR is now approaching 2,000 books.
Yes, you read that right. I’m in the process of building something.
Building an Antilibrary
I am well aware that I will never finish reading the books on that list for two reasons:
1. I can get through about 100 books a year. I’m working on getting through more, but I only have so much time.
2. So many of the books I read lead me down a path to other great books, and I keep adding more to my list.
I will never read all the books on my list. And that’s ok.
There is power in understanding that you can’t learn it all. That there is always more out there in the world.
There is massive value in surrounding yourself with books that you will never read. The Japanese term for this is “tsundoku,” the stack(s) of books you’ve purchased but haven’t read.
Some people refer to those stacks of unread books as an “antilibrary.” I don’t know if I like that term since it’s still a collection of books, but whatever.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb talks about Umberto Eco’s antilibrary in his book The Black Swan. Here’s a view of Eco’s library of some 30,000 books.
Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. [Your] library should contain as much of what you do not know as your financial means, mortgage rates, and the currently tight real-estate market allows you to put there. You will accumulate more knowledge and more books as you grow older, and the growing number of unread books on the shelves will look at you menacingly. Indeed, the more you know, the larger the rows of unread books. Let us call this collection of unread books an antilibrary.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
We tend to overestimate the value of what we know while underestimating the value of what we don’t know. Taleb’s antilibrary flips this tendency on its head.
The antilibrary’s value lies in how it challenges self-estimation by constantly reminding you that there is so much more to learn. Living with this nudge daily will help improve decision-making skills and motivation for learning new things.
So stop beating yourself up for buying too many books or for having a TBR list that you could never get through in three lifetimes (like me!). All those books you haven’t read are a sign of ignorance. But if you know how ignorant you are, you’re way ahead of most other people.
I wrapped up several books in September of 2022 because I focused my time better than I had in many months. Beginning my doctoral work at the end of August necessitated that focus.
I also ramped up my audiobook listening this month, taking advantage of my 30-minute commute and a couple of road trips. September was a busy month. Heading into the last three months of the year, my reading stats will drop due to coursework and coaching our high school esports team.
We’ll see how it goes in October. For now, here’s what I read or finished reading in September 2022.
I’ll share my thoughts on a few of these books in the coming weeks. If you haven’t subscribed to my newsletter yet, I hope you do so I can share these thoughts with you!
I’m consistently working to keep my reading on track this year. I have a book with me wherever I go (physical & ebook) and carve out a little time each day.
Some days more than others 😉
Here are the books I read/finished reading during May 2022:
OK, this is a total brain dump post as I just need to get some thoughts down. My mind is racing with ideas and I just need to write. But I’m going to share this with you because… reasons…
I love reading. However, I’ve not always been the most dedicated reader. Far too often I have relied on moving pictures in one form or another to keep me entertained and/or intellectually engaged. I love movies and tv shows. I love documentaries.
But I really love the worlds I can transport to within the pages of a book. Fiction, non-fiction, I don’t care.
As I said, I haven’t always been the best reader. It was far easier to just sit on my computer, watch the TV, or stare at my smartphone.
Then, about two years ago, I committed to reading more. I felt that I had missed so many opportunities to read great books that I couldn’t waste any more time. After all, I’m 45 as I’m writing this and, statistically, I’m about halfway done with my time on this pale blue dot.
So I started reading more. Consequently, I started buying more books.
Like, a ton of books. Seriously. I just had six show up at my house today.
And not just little books. Big books. BIG f’n books.
Here’s the list that showed up today (all Amazon links):
Last month, I ordered ten physical books (most in the fantasy genre) and 10-12 ebooks (I have a Kindle Unlimited account, too).
Yes, I have a problem. I’m trying to play catch up for years of not really reading books. And I’ll never reach my goal.
My Goodreads “to be read” list is almost 1,500 books long. And growing.
Why do I have a problem? Because I have become insatiably curious and full of fanciful dreams. I didn’t explore my passions for too long because I was concerned about what other people thought about me.
I’ll write that off as having spent my time in a fundamentalist, controlling, right-wing, bible-thumping church from the ages of 11 to 25. Oh, well.
Now, I’m running after learning about the things that excite me. And enjoying the things I love.