I used to read a lot. As a child, and then as a teenager, I almost always had my face in a book. If my personal habits over the last decade are of any indication, my appetite for literature was fueled by the lack of portable technology available to me in the 90's and early aughts—and as 2020 has taught all of us, what we need these days is less tech, not more.
So, in support of my single 2021 resolution to "slow the fuck down," I'm going to replace my doomscrolling habit with a book-reading one, and what better way to do that than to hold myself accountable with a rolling log of books I have read? A book-logbook, if you will.
I should probably note that some of these books will be ones I've read dozens of times (re-reads are conveniently marked with an asterisk), while others will be one-and-dones (ones-and-done?). I'm sure there will be a few I don't even bother to finish (and a bunch that aren't even technically books... comics, audiobooks, or essays, anyone?), but it's my list and I'll do what I want with it.
Also, it's important to acknowledge that some authors are great writers, but less-than-great people. It shouldn't need to be said, but my choosing to read a book does not constitute support of an author's personal beliefs (or even the contents of the book itself).
Currently Reading
- The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) by Brandon Sanderson
- My Evil Mother by Margaret Atwood
Books Read in 2022
Goal: 63 of 50
- Atomic Habits by James Clear
- Everything Is F*cked by Mark Manson
- Verses from the Center by Stephen Batchelor
- Blood, Sweat, and Pixels by Jason Schreier
- Quit Like a Millionaire by Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung
- The Chaos Protocols by Gordon White
- The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll
- Casino Royale (James Bond #1) by Ian Fleming
- Illusions by Richard Bach
- How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
- * Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
- Superconnector by Scott Gerber and Ryan Paugh
- How the Mighty Fall by Jim Collins
- * Timeline by Michael Crichton
- Emergency by Neil Strauss
- How to Be Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable by Ben Aldridge
- Breath by James Nestor
- Freemasons for Dummies by Christopher Hodapp
- Peace Is Every Breath by Thich Nhat Hanh
- Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
- Radical Candor by Kim Scott
- Call of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft
- Ikigai by Hector Garcia & Francesc Miralles
- Raising Good Humans by Hunter Clarke-Fields
- Practical Doomsday by Michal Zalewski
- Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
- Where the Deer and the Antelope Play by Nick Offerman
- The Second Mountain by David Brooks
- Narconomics by Tom Wainwright
- Deep Work by Cal Newport
- The 10x Rule by Grant Cardone
- The Magicians by Lev Grossman
- The Last Shadow (Ender's Saga #6) by Orson Scott Card
- In the Beginning was the Command Line by Neal Stephenson
- The Art of War by Sun Tzu
- As a Man Thinketh by James Allen
- How to Kill a City by P.E. Moskowitz
- Amp It Up by Frank Slootman
- The Dilbert Principle by Scott Adams
- The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor
- * The 4-Hour Body by Timothy Ferriss
- The Little Book of Stoicism by Jonas Salzgeber
- On Writing by Stephen King
- The Complete Fables by Aesop
- * The Essential Guide to Freelance Writing by Zachary Petit
- X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills by Chris Claremont and Brent Anderson
- Afterlife with Archie: Escape from Riverdale by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Francesco Francavilla
- Lacero by Andy Weir
- Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
- The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach
- The Call of the Wild by Jack London
- 2BR02B by Kurt Vonnegut
- The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
- How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
- Randomize (Forward Collection #6) by Andy Weir
- Ark (Forward Collection #1) by Veronica Roth
- Summer Frost (Forward Collection #2) by Blake Crouch
- Emergency Skin (Forward Collection #3) by N.K. Jemisin
- You Have Arrived at Your Destination (Forward Collection #4) by Amor Towles
- The Last Conversation (Forward Collection #5) by Paul Tremblay
- Start with Why by Simon Sinek
- Constance (Constance #1) by Matthew FitzSimmons
- The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
Recommended
- Atomic Habits by James Clear
- Everything Is F*cked by Mark Manson
- Illusions by Richard Bach
- * Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
- Emergency by Neil Strauss
- Breath by James Nestor
- Radical Candor by Kim Scott
- Practical Doomsday by Michal Zalewski
- Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
- Deep Work by Cal Newport
- As a Man Thinketh by James Allen
- The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor
- On Writing by Stephen King
- X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills by Chris Claremont and Brent Anderson
- The Call of the Wild by Jack London
- How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
- Summer Frost (Forward Collection #2) by Blake Crouch
- Emergency Skin (Forward Collection #3) by N.K. Jemisin
- The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
Abandoned
- * I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
- The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels
Books Read in 2021
Goal: 86 of 20
- Goodbye Phone, Hello World by Paul Greenberg
- Ready Player Two (Ready Player One #2) by Ernest Cline
- * Magician: Apprentice (Riftwar Saga #1) by Raymond E. Feist
- The Punch Escrow by Tal M. Klein
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
- The Cuckoo's Egg by Clifford Stoll
- Mage Against the Machine by Shaun Barger
- Origin (Robert Langdon #5) by Dan Brown
- The Forever War (The Forever War #1) by Joe Haldeman
- Gumption by Nick Offerman
- Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Another Turn of the Crank by Wendell Berry
- Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
- Essentialism by Greg McKeown
- Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh
- The Making of a Manager by Julie Zhuo
- * The Art of Happiness by Dalai Lama XIV and Howard C. Cutler
- Indistractable by Nir Eyal
- Invisible Influence by Jonah Berger
- * Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki
- * Growth Hacker Marketing by Ryan Holiday
- Killing Sacred Cows by Garrett B. Gunderson
- Nurture Shock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman
- A Promised Land by Barack Obama
- Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
- The Shining (The Shining #1) by Stephen King
- Coding Democracy by Maureen Webb
- Permanent Record by Edward Snowden
- How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates
- The 80/80 Marriage by Nate Klemp and Kaley Klemp
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
- When to Rob a Bank by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
- The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday
- The Soul of Discipline by Kim John Payne
- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
- Ego Is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday
- * The 4-Hour Chef by Timothy Ferriss
- The Stoic Challenge by William B. Irvine
- Stillness Is the Key by Ryan Holiday
- * The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss
- Incredible Doom by Matthew Bogart and Jesse Holden
- How to be a Modern Samurai by Antony Cummins
- Dancing with Dragons by D.J. Conway
- Kill It with Fire by Marianne Bellotti
- Leadership Strategy and Tactics by Jocko Willink
- Zen in the Martial Arts by Joe Hyams
- * Magician: Master (Riftwar Saga #2) by Raymond E. Feist
- Otherworld (Last Reality #1) by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller
- My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
- Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
- Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
- Futureproof by Kevin Roose
- Why Be Happy? by Scott Haas
- Zero to One by Peter Thiel
- Your Fully Charged Life by Meaghan B. Murphy
- What If? by Randall Munroe
- Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
- Heaven's River (Bobiverse #4) by Dennis E. Taylor
- hello, habits by Fumio Sasaki
- The Complete Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi
- Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-Jobs
- The Boy Who Would Be King by Ryan Holiday
- Darkly Dreaming Dexter (Dexter #1) by Jeff Lindsay
- All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells
- The Manual (Stoic Philosophy #1) by Epictetus
- Carrie by Stephen King
- Meditations (Stoic Philosophy #2) by Marcus Aurelius
- The Paper Magician (The Paper Magician #1) by Charlie N. Holmberg
- How to Think Like a Roman Emperor by Donald Robertson
- Dissolving Classroom by Junji Ito
- The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
- Why Buddhism is True by Robert Wright
- Traction by Gino Wickman
- The Exorcist (The Exorcist #1) by William Peter Blatty
- Start. by Jon Acuff
- The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy
- Rapture for the Geeks by Richard Dooling
- Neuromancer (Sprawl #1) by William Gibson
- Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
- * Becoming a Better Programmer by Pete Goodliffe
- Be More Yoda by Christian Blauvelt
- Courage Is Calling by Ryan Holiday
- Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
- What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
- The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Recommended
- Goodbye Phone, Hello World by Paul Greenberg
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
- The Cuckoo's Egg by Clifford Stoll
- Gumption by Nick Offerman
- Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
- The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday
- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
- How to be a Modern Samurai by Antony Cummins
- Kill It with Fire by Marianne Bellotti
- Zen in the Martial Arts by Joe Hyams
- Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
- How to Think Like a Roman Emperor by Donald Robertson
- Why Buddhism is True by Robert Wright
- The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy
- * Becoming a Better Programmer by Pete Goodliffe
- Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
- The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Abandoned
- Apple by Jim Carlton
- How to Be Human by Paula Cocozza
- The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings #1) by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy by James B. South
- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
- Click Here to Kill Everybody by Bruce Schneier
Books Read in 2020
Goal: 8 of 0
- * Dragon Wing (Death Gate Cycle #1) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
- Ghost in the Wires by Kevin D. Mitnick
- * Ender's Game (Ender's Saga #1) by Orson Scott Card
- Outland (World Lines #1) by Dennis E. Taylor
- * Off to Be the Wizard (Magic 2.0 #1) by Scott Meyer
- The Vexed Generation (Magic 2.0 #6) by Scott Meyer
- Beacon 23 by Hugh Howey
- Armada by Ernest Cline
Recommended
- * Ender's Game (Ender's Saga #1) by Orson Scott Card
- * Off to Be the Wizard (Magic 2.0 #1) by Scott Meyer