Book – Rob R-S

I read some books in February!

🎧 The Big Year by Mark Obmascik
🎧 Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky
🎧 The Secret History by Donna Tartt
🎧 Red Rising by Pierce Brown
🎧 Golden Son by Pierce Brown

📚 I read some books in January!

🎧 The Dog Sitter Detective by Antony Johnston
🎧 The Dog Sitter Detective Takes the Lead by Antony Johnston
🎧 The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman
🎧 GO AS A RIVER: A Novel by Shelley Read
🎧 The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
🎧 One Man's Wilderness : An Alaskan Odyssey by Richard Proenneke & Sam Keith
🎧 Dumb Money by Ben Mezrich

📚 I read 94 books in 2024. The total count has been trending downward for the past couple years. Like the previous year though, I did read a number of longer than usual books.

I started the year with a fun challenge of reading 26 books whose titles start with A-Z. This had the effect of slowing things down a bit. Since I wanted to finish them in alphabetical order, I only read one book at a time from start to finish. Normally I have a few going at once that I read or listen to in different contexts.

Here’s the complete 2024 list:

🎧 Andromeda Klein by Frank Portman
🎧 But What I Really Want to Do Is Direct by Ken Kwapis
🎧 Contact by Carl Sagan
🎧 Determined by Robert M. Sapolsky
📚 🎧 Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
📚 🎧 Finding Ultra, Revised and Updated Edition by Rich Roll
📚 🎧 Galileo's Middle Finger by Alice Dreger
🎧 Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance
📚 🎧 I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
🎧 John Adams by David McCullough
📚 Kingdom of Characters by Jing Tsu
🎧 Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard
🎧 My Life in the Sunshine by Nabil Ayers
🎧 Nomadland by Jessica Bruder
🎧 Open by Andre Agassi
🎧 Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf
🎧 Quiet by Susan Cain
📚 🎧 Reclaiming Conversation by Sherry Turkle
📚 🎧 Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
🎧 Travel Light by Light Watkins
🎧 Upstream by Dan Heath
🎧 Vanderbilt by Anderson Cooper & Katherine Howe
🎧 What We Owe the Future by William MacAskill
🎧 Xenocide by Orson Scott Card
🎧 You Are Why You Eat by Dr. Ramani Durvasula
🎧 Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis
🎧 Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card
🎧 The Last Shadow by Orson Scott Card
🎧 Breathless by David Quammen
🎧 Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
🎧 Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
🎧 Born Standing Up by Steve Martin
🎧 Marry Him by Lori Gottlieb
🎧 Chip War by Chris Miller
🎧 Decluttering at the Speed of Life by Dana K. White
🎧 Slow Productivity by Cal Newport
🎧 Click Here to Kill Everybody by Bruce Schneier
🎧 A Thousand Brains by Jeff Hawkins
🎧 Glow Kids by Nicholas Kardaras, PhD
🎧 Good to Great by Jim Collins
🎧 The Impossible First by Colin O'Brady
🎧 Pegasus by Laurent Richard & Sandrine Rigaud
🎧 Free Time by Jenny Blake
🎧 Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline
🎧 Dark Wire by Joseph Cox
🎧 Kleptopia by Tom Burgis
🎧 The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
🎧 The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien
🎧 The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien
🎧 The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien
🎧 The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien & Christopher Tolkien
🎧 Dune by Frank Herbert
🎧 Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
📚 Magic Pill by Johann Hari
🎧 Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
🎧 Above the Clouds by Kilian Jornet
🎧 Everything That Remains by Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus
🎧 Stolen Focus by Johann Hari
🎧 God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert
🎧 Love People, Use Things by Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus
🎧 Things That Matter by Joshua Becker
🎧 The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff
🎧 Frozen in Time by Mitchell Zuckoff
🎧 Slow Horses by Mick Herron
🎧 Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff
📚 In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
🎧 13 Hours by Mitchell Zuckoff
🎧 Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert
🎧 Right Thing, Right Now by Ryan Holiday
🎧 Scarcity Brain by Michael Easter
🎧 Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
🎧 The Apple II Age by Laine Nooney
🎧 Build the Life You Want by Arthur C. Brooks & Oprah Winfrey
📚 How to Live in a Car, Van or RV by Bob Wells
🎧 Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
🎧 This Is Water by David Foster Wallace
🎧 Doctor Zhivago by Borìs Pasternàk, Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky
🎧 The Pale King by David Foster Wallace
📚 The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy
🎧 Tribe by Sebastian Junger
🎧 The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace
📚 Wisdom from the Road by Bob Wells
🎧 Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace
🎧 Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
🎧 A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace
🎧 Wool (The Silo Saga) by Hugh Howey
🎧 Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
🎧 Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself by David Lipsky
🎧 Girl With Curious Hair by David Foster Wallace
🎧 The Armageddon Protocol (Galactic Cold War) by Dan Moren
🎧 Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
🎧 Shift (The Silo Saga) by Hugh Howey
🎧 Dust (The Silo Saga) by Hugh Howey
🎧 The Age of Magical Overthinking by Amanda Montell

📚 I read some books in December!

🎧 Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace by David Lipsky
🎧 Girl With Curious Hair by David Foster Wallace
🎧 The Armageddon Protocol by Dan Moren
🎧 Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
🎧 Shift (The Silo Saga) by Hugh Howey
🎧 Dust (The Silo Saga) by Hugh Howey
🎧 The Age of Magical Overthinking by Amanda Montell

📚 I read some books in November!

🎧 Tribe by Sebastian Junger
🎧 The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace
📚 Wisdom from the Road by Bob Wells
🎧 Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace
🎧 Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
🎧 A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace
🎧 Wool (The Silo Saga) by Hugh Howey
🎧 Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

And so I read Infinite Jest again. Then when I finished it for the second time I immediately started over at the beginning. I’m fully aware of the irony. I may have a problem.

📚 I read some books in October!

🎧 This Is Water by David Foster Wallace
🎧 Doctor Zhivago by Borìs Pasternàk
🎧 The Pale King by David Foster Wallace
🎧 The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy

📚 I read some books in September!

🎧 Scarcity Brain by Michael Easter
🎧 Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
🎧 The Apple II Age : How the Computer Became Personal by Laine Nooney
🎧 Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier by Arthur C. Brooks & Oprah Winfrey
📚 How to Live in a Car, Van or RV by Bob Wells
🎧 Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

Infinite Jest might just be my favorite thing I’ve ever read.

Reading app screen updated for iOS 18!

Reading apps - iOS 18

📚 I read some books in August!

🎧 Things That Matter by Joshua Becker
🎧 The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff
🎧 Frozen in Time by Mitchell Zuckoff
🎧 Slow Horses by Mick Herron
🎧 Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff
📚 In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
🎧 13 Hours by Mitchell Zuckoff
🎧 Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert
🎧 Right Thing, Right Now by Ryan Holiday

📚 I read some books in July!

🎧 The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
🎧 The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
🎧 The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
🎧 Dune by Frank Herbert
🎧 Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
📚 Magic Pill by Johann Hari
🎧 Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
🎧 Above the Clouds by Kilian Jornet
🎧 Everything That Remains by Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus
🎧 Stolen Focus by Johann Hari
🎧 God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert
🎧 Love People, Use Things by Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus

📚 I read some books in June!

🎧 The Impossible First by Colin O'Brady
🎧 Pegasus by Laurent Richard & Sandrine Rigaud
🎧 Free Time by Jenny Blake
🎧 Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline
🎧 Dark Wire by Joseph Cox
🎧 Kleptopia by Tom Burgis
🎧 The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
🎧 The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

📚 I read some books in May!

🎧 Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
🎧 Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
🎧 Born Standing Up by Steve Martin
🎧 Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough by Lori Gottlieb
🎧 Chip War by Chris Miller
🎧 Decluttering at the Speed of Life by Dana K. White
🎧 Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport
🎧 Click Here to Kill Everybody: Security and Survival in a Hyper-connected World by Bruce Schneier
🎧 A Thousand Brains by Jeff Hawkins
🎧 Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction Is Hijacking Our Kids – and How to Break the Trance by Nicholas Kardaras, PhD
🎧 Good to Great by Jim Collins

I generate this list from data stored in the app Sofa. The recent major version update of this app wreaked havoc on my JSON processing script. Hopefully the file format doesn’t change again for a while now that I went through the trouble of updating my script.

📚 I read some books in April!

🎧 Xenocide by Orson Scott Card
🎧 You Are Why You Eat by Dr. Ramani Durvasula
🎧 Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis

The first 26 books I read this year had titles starting with letters A-Z sequentially. This was an interesting challenge. I found books for each letter, though I must admit some of them I wasn’t very excited about (a few with good reason). Here’s a few stats that, interestingly, all contain the number 19:

19 nonfiction, 7 fiction
19 first time reads, 7 re-reads
19 male authors, 7 female authors
19 audiobooks, 6 eBooks, 1 paper book

After finishing, I considered making a second pass at the alphabet, and I also considered moving on to books whose titles started with numbers. In the end I decided I had too much of a backlog in my reading list, so I’m just going to start working through those books. Here are the other books I read in April:

🎧 Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card
🎧 The Last Shadow by Orson Scott Card
🎧 Breathless by David Quammen

📚 I read some books in March!

🎧 Proust and the Squid : The Story and Science of the Reading Brain by Maryanne Wolf
🎧 Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
📚 🎧 Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age by Sherry Turkle
📚 🎧 Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
🎧 Travel Light: Spiritual Minimalism to Live a More Fulfilled Life by Light Watkins
🎧 Upstream by Dan Heath
🎧 Vanderbilt by Anderson Cooper & Katherine Howe
🎧 What We Owe the Future by William MacAskill

📚 I read some books in February! And the pattern continues!

📚 Kingdom of Characters by Jing Tsu
🎧 Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman by Yvon Chouinard
🎧 My Life in the Sunshine: Searching for My Father and Discovering My Family by Nabil Ayers
🎧 Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder
🎧 Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi

📚 I read some books in January! And there’s a pattern!

➖🎧 Andromeda Klein by Frank Portman
➖🎧 But What I Really Want to Do Is Direct by Ken Kwapis
➖🎧 Contact by Carl Sagan
➖🎧 Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will by Robert M. Sapolsky
📚🎧 Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
📚🎧 Finding Ultra, Revised and Updated Edition by Rich Roll
📚🎧 Galileo’s Middle Finger by Alice Dreger
➖🎧 Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance
📚🎧 I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
➖🎧 John Adams by David McCullough

📚 I read 127 books in 2023, slightly down from an all-time high of 138 in 2022. This small drop in number of books does not reflect a drop in time reading, as I spent far more time reading in 2023. I read several very, very long books (👋 Brandon Sanderson). I also took a break from audiobooks to re-listen to the entire run of The History of Rome Podcast, which took the better part of a month.

Here’s the complete 2023 list:

Spartacus by Howard Fast
Nothing Lasts Forever (Basis for the film Die Hard) by Roderick Thorp
Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon
The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll
You Never Forget Your First by Alexis Coe
The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway by Ernest Hemingway
The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin
The LEGO Story by Jens Andersen
Upgrade by Blake Crouch
Fletch by Gregory Mcdonald
The Iliad by Homer
Confess, Fletch by Gregory Mcdonald
Fletch’s Fortune by Gregory Mcdonald
Fletch and the Widow Bradley by Gregory Mcdonald
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
Fletch's Moxie by Gregory Mcdonald
Build by Tony Fadell
Fletch and the Man Who by Gregory Mcdonald
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
The Odyssey by Homer
Inside Steve's Brain by Leander Kahney
Revolution in The Valley by Andy Hertzfeld
Becoming Steve Jobs by Brent Schlender & Rick Tetzeli
The Bayern Agenda by Dan Moren
Fire in the Valley by Michael Swaine & Paul Freiberger
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon by Steve Wozniak
The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte
The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
Marathon Man by William Goldman
The Torrents of Spring by Ernest Hemingway
Lives of the Stoics by Ryan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman
How to Be Perfect by Michael Schur
Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
Don't Be Evil by Rana Foroohar
Distracted by Maggie Jackson
Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff & Jonathan Haidt
Islands in the Stream by Ernest Hemingway
Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil
Make Something Wonderful by Steve Jobs
The Black Swan: Second Edition by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius & Gregory Hays
The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson
Cross Country by Rickey Gates
How to Talk to a Science Denier by Lee McIntyre
Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson
At Home by Bill Bryson
Adrift by Scott Galloway
The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson
Educated by Tara Westover
Mistborn: Secret History by Brandon Sanderson
The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
Life in Five Senses by Gretchen Rubin
Shut Up, Legs! by Jens Voigt & James Startt
Post Corona by Scott Galloway
Dynasty by Tom Holland
The Secret History of Mac Gaming by Richard Moss
The Puzzler by AJ Jacobs & Greg Pliska
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Freakonomics Rev Ed by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
Davos Man by Peter S. Goodman
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
This Is Your Brain on Food by Uma Naidoo
Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson
Dawnshard by Brandon Sanderson
Dr. No by Ian Fleming
How the States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein
Goldfinger by Ian Fleming
Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson
The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter
The Open-Air Life by Linda Åkeson McGurk
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
Trespassing Across America by Ken Ilgunas
The Longest Race by Kara Goucher
Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
Walden on Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom by Ken Ilgunas
This Land Is Our Land by Ken Ilgunas
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection by Brandon Sanderson
For Your Eyes Only by Ian Fleming
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
All Souls Lost by Dan Moren
The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz
The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye by David Lagercrantz
The Girl Who Lived Twice by David Lagercrantz & George Goulding
The Girl in the Eagle's Talons by Karin Smirnoff & Sarah Death
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Trinity's Child by William Prochnau
Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant
Tress of the Emerald Sea: A Cosmere Novel by Brandon Sanderson
The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter: A Cosmere Novel by Brandon Sanderson
Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. Sapolsky
Secrets of the Autistic Millionaire by David William Plummer
The Sunlit Man: A Cosmere Novel by Brandon Sanderson
Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success by Adam Grant
Cultish by Amanda Montell
Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport
The First Rule of Mastery by Michael Gervais, PhD
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird & Martin J. Sherwin
King Dork by Frank Portman
Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds by David Goggins
King Dork Approximately by Frank Portman
Have Yourself a Minimalist Christmas: Slow Down, Save Money & Enjoy a More Intentional Holiday by Meg Nordmann
Never Finished: Unshackle Your Mind and Win the War Within by David Goggins
Solito: A Memoir by Javier Zamora
The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman
Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things by Adam Grant
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant
1984 by George Orwell
The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman