mini-book reviews - 1st quarter 2022

So as I have discussed previously, I felt the daily art exercise was interesting, but not the best use of my time in the sense that while I enjoy making art, it isn't central to my identity. Spending that much effort (often an hour or more each day) on that project was not an authentic use of my time. For someone else it might have been, but not for me. So I set up my weekly personal progress program for 2022 that included reading two books simultaneously and trying to read at least 10 pages from each every day (20+ pages total). That may not sound like much, but I am a slow reader - my wife is consistently surprised by how slowly I read, even after all these years. Also, some of these books are very dense, and it often requires re-reading passages to make sure I understand them. I often do more than the minimum, averaging close to an hour each day reading for personal development. I like to think that I have a challenging book, often a classic like Nozick's The Examined Life as one of the books, and an easier read like Brooks' From Strength to Strength going simultaneously. Reading a few pages from each book each day makes the effort less stressful and the two books do a nice job balancing. I also continue to read fiction for fun (mostly science fiction and contemporary fantasy), but it is in addition to my developmental reading.

Reading intensively is for me a much more authentic use of my time. It's hard to believe that I have probably read more books this first quarter of '22 than I did in the last two years. With my job and interests, it's easy to go weeks without picking up a book for my own development, which sounds weird, but it's true. 

So below is the list of books I have read in 2022 with short reviews. Not all of them are winners, but a bunch are. Take what you like - let me know what you think.

(some of these I listened to as audio books. I've marked those with an (A))

Non-Fiction

From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life, by Arthur Brooks. Self-help. Definitely worth reading if you are a person of a certain age (e.g., over 40). The central tenet of Brooks' book is that we all go through a cognitive decline at or around 40 of a particular type. He says we have two types of intelligence - fluid and crystal intelligence. Fluid intelligence is especially good for problem solving. It is a certain sharpness that is very good for quantitative and analytical work. Fluid intelligence begins to decline some time in our 30s, but it is what makes us successful in the first half of our lives, so we feel it going acutely if we don't prepare to transition to work that relies on crystal intelligence. Crystal intelligence is the ability to take the years of facts and solved problems and make sense of these things by applying them to the present. Crystal intelligence is essentially wisdom. We continue to gain crystal intelligence as our fluid intelligence declines, so Brooks says we have to look for ways to recast our lives to rely on crystal intelligence when we cross mid-life. It's really a lovely book. 

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Frederick Douglass. Autobiography. Worth reading. I had wanted to read Douglass's autobiography as it is probably the best known of the slave autobiographies written prior to the abolition of slavery in the United States. It is powerful as a story, and useful to understand history in the first person. I plan to read some of his other speeches. He is often considered one of the great classical liberals of America.

The Unspoken Rules: Secrets to Starting Your Career Off Right, by Gorick Ng. Career development. Excellent if you are an early careerist. This is the book I wish someone had shoved at me when I first entered the workforce. It covers everything from how to dress for success to how to talk to your manager. It's so good I am making it mandatory reading for my juniors. 

The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain, Annie Murphy Paul. Psychology and cognition. Excellent. I heard Murphy Paul interviewed by Ezra Klein and decided I wanted to read the book. The premise is we over simplify cognition by centering it only in the brain, when in fact we have all sorts of supports and extensions that are both physical and social. This book will open your eyes to different ways of thinking. 

Civilization: The West and the Rest, Niall Ferguson. History. Excellent. I have decided I want to read as many of Ferguson's books as I can. This is a sweeping survey of human civilization, primarily focused on the West, but definitely includes China and the Islamic world. I really enjoy sweeping theories of everything. (A)

The Economic Consequences of the Peace, John Maynard Keynes. Politics. Probably not worth reading unless you are studying history. Keynes is one of the most influential economists of the 20th century. This short tract was written as a criticism of the Treaty of Versailles that ended WWI. Keynes provides an analysis of the reparations that were imposed on the Germans after WWI and explains how they make recovery impossible for the Germans, hinting at negative future consequences. It was a best-seller in its time. Makes me worry a bit now that we have sought to impose maximum economic sanctions on Russia. 

The Mind Club,  Daniel M. Wegner. Psychology and ethics. Worth reading. The crux of the book is about how we view people as having agency or being "patients", by which is meant not having agency, but capable of feeling. This creates something of a 2x2, with agent-patients (adult humans we identify with), non-agent patients (babies), agent non-patients (people we don't identify with), and non-agent non-patients (farm animals raised for food). There's a great deal of discussion about how we misapply non-agent patients and agent non-patients statuses to other humans and reduce them to either unfeeling monsters or helpless babies. There's more in the book, but that was the key take away for me. 

Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters, by Abigail Shrier. Worth reading, but very sad. I have heard Shrier talk about her well-researched book on the sudden explosion of girls seeking medical transitions and wreaking havoc on their bodies through the use of testosterone, as well as seeking double mastectomies. She frames the sudden increase as a form of social contagion. Given the numbers she reports, and the sudden onset, I can't see it as anything else. This is a tragedy and I think when history is told about this period, people will be horrified by how the institutions meant to protect these children were complicit. Here's an interview with Shrier. 

The 3 Big Questions for a Frantic Family: A Leadership Fable... About Restoring Sanity To The Most Important Organization In Your Life, by Patrick Lencioni. Self-help for the family. Lencioni is a management consultant famous for having written a series of books in parable form, such as The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. In this short, fun book, Lencioni turns the lens of strategic planning to the challenges of running a family. I enjoyed it and it gave me a lot to reflect on. I can't say I have put much of it into practice, but I have taken some important steps that I might not have had I not read this.

The Leadership Challenge, James M. Kouzes. Leadership. Just OK. We used this book as the basis of the leadership seminar for students in the Army-Baylor program. Since I wasn't assigned to that class, I had never read it. It didn't wow me. My expectations were probably too high. 

Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead, Laszlo Bock. Organizational development. Some interesting tid-bits about how Google does OD. Easy to read, but just ok. 

The Examined Life: Philosophical Meditations, Robert Nozick. Philosophy. Challenging read, some interesting perspectives. Probably only worth reading if you are studying Nozick. 

Curating Your Life: The End of the Work-Life Balance Struggle, Gail Anna Golden. Self-help. Thoughts on time management and prioritizing. Definitely worth the investment.

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones, James 

Clear. Self help. Excellent. Straight forward insights into behavior modification - focus on the process rather than the goal. E.g., focus on running every day, don't focus on a weight loss goal. Become a runner/athlete. The weight loss will happen on its own. Great stuff. This was the inspiration for my weekly self-development project. 

The Nineties, Chuck Klosterman. Social commentary. Very good. A fun look back at the 90's, which was the decade of my 20's. That decade went by very fast for me as I was very busy trying to get my life going. I look back on it as something of a blur. Klosterman does an excellent job tying together the streams that shape society - politics, art, media, music, sports - into an understandable period. (A)

Fiction

The Last Colony (Old Man's War, #3), John Scalzi. Science fiction. Meh. This will be last one in this series that I read. Old Man's War was clever, reminiscent of Ender's Game in some ways. But the story line feels spent at this point in the series. I muscled through, but am not motivated to read the next in the series. (A)

Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro. Near-future science fiction. Heart-breakingly beautiful. Ishiguro won the Nobel Prize for literature. (A)

Binti (Binti, #1), Nnedi Okorafor. Science fiction, novella. Pretty good. Heavy emphasis on DEI - the main character feels excluded, but she has a secret gift that allows her to be a hero. This book won both the Hugo and Nebula awards - a big deal in SF.

Rivers of London series, Ben Aaronovitch. Contemporary/Urban fantasy. Fun if you like this genre. This series is set in contemporary London. The main character is an apprentice magician who works for the London police force in the secret magical division. Aaronovitch has built a believable cross-over world where magic is present, but ignored, not unlike the Harry Potter universe. 

Midnight Riot (Rivers of London #1), Ben Aaronovitch (A)

Moon Over Soho (Rivers of London, #2), Ben Aaronovitch

Whispers Under Ground (Rivers of London, #3), Ben Aaronovitch

Broken Homes (Rivers of London, #4), Ben Aaronovitch

The Silver Witch, by Paula Brackston. Contemporary/Urban fantasy. This is the third witch tale I have read by Brackston. Starts out slow (slow enough that I almost gave up on it), but it picks up and becomes gripping. (A)