Some notes. Mostly I read non-fiction (NF). TBD means to be determined. Density and length are relative concepts. Most books are medium density and medium length. Books under 100 pages are small and books over 400 pages are large. Books of large or XL density have to be read slowly. Books of S density can be skimmed quickly.
The ratings are comments are not only subjective, but may have to do of when I was reading the book and how I was feeling. If you loved a book that I did not, you are likely a better reader than I was.
For a running total, see the bottom of the page
This list does not include cookbooks or other instruction books for the most part.
| Year | Month | Title | Status | F/NF | Subject Area | Recommend? | Density | Length | Stars | Comment |
| 17 | 1 | Art and Fear | Finished | NF | art | Yes | S | S | 4 | Good! To read over and over again |
| 17 | 1 | Tuesday with Morrie | Finished | NF | ideas | Yes | S | S | 3 | Good to read from time to time. Something of a bio. |
| 17 | 1 | The Inevitable | Finished | NF | ideas | No | M | M | 2.5 | Lighter and breezier than I hoped |
| 17 | 1 | The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck | Finished | NF | Selfhelp | No | S | M | 2.5 | Tiring towards the end. Just went on to long. Conversational |
| 17 | 2 | Philosophers of our time | Onhold | NF | Philosophy | TBD | XL | L | None | May just read this from time to time |
| 17 | 2 | Seneca's Letters to a Cynic | Onhold | NF | essays | TBD | L | M | None | May just read this from time to time |
| 17 | 2 | Art as Therapy | Finished | NF | art | Yes | M | M | 4 | Really enjoyed this. Best AdB book since Proust |
| 17 | 3 | A Short History of Economics | Finished | NF | economics | Yes | M | M | 4 | Good. One of the better books on economics |
| 17 | 3 | Writing to Learn | Finished | NF | Selfhelp | Yes | M | M | 3.5 | Mostly good. Falters at the end, like much non-fiction |
| 17 | 1 | Farewell to Arms | Discarded | F | Fiction | TBD | M | L | TBD | Not sure why I put this down. I was enjoying it |
| 17 | 1 | 1177 BC | Finished | NF | history | Maybe | M | M | 3.5 | Ok. Some parts were good, but dry in others |
| 17 | 1 | AWS for Admin for Dummies | Reference | IT | IT | Yes | S | M | 4 | Useful |
| 17 | 2 | Seneca | Reference | NF | essays | Yes | M | S | 4 | Rereading passages of the small Penguin book |
| 17 | 2 | Orwell | Reference | NF | essays | Yes | M | S | 4 | Rereading passages of the small Penguin book |
| 17 | 3 | How to See | Finished | NF | art | Yes | L | M | 3.5 | Mostly good. Inaccessible at time. Still interesting. Very insider-y but good writing/though |
| 17 | 3 | Landscapes | Discarded | NF | essays | TBD | L | M | TBD | New John Berger |
| 17 | 4 | Saatchi/Artoholic book | Finished | NF | art | No | S | L | 2.5 | More an article than a book. Read it in just over an hour |
| 17 | 4 | The Origin of Satan (Pagels) | Discarded | NF | religion | TBD | M | M | TBD | Too dreary/negative. Less about Satan, more an attack on the church. Strictly for theologians. |
| 17 | 5 | Art a begginers guilde | Finished | NF | art | yes | M | M | 3.5 | Enjoyable. Good intro to a lot of different concepts |
| 17 | 5 | Wittgenstein's Poker | Finished | NF | philosophy | Yes | L | M | 3.5 | Good, but like all nf, too long. Gets you interested in reading Popper and Wittgenstein though |
| 17 | 5 | Grit to Great | Finished | NF | Selfhelp | No | S | M | 2.5 | Meh. Pretty light. A list of gritty things to do with lots of stories. Not compelling |
| 17 | 6 | The Pleasure of Painting (Churchill) | Finished | NF | art | Yes | S | L | 3 | Good but very short. More like a story than anything else |
| 17 | 6 | 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life | Finished | NF | religion | No | M | M | 2.5 | Tried once before. Trying again. Weak at first, but it gets better. Overall weak sauce. |
| 17 | 6 | How to change the world | Finished | NF | Selfhelp | No | M | M | 2.5 | Meh. Like a lot of stuff from The School of Life, it is too subdued |
| 17 | 7 | 17 formulas | Finished | NF | math | Yes | M | M | 4 | Well written! Good detail and relevance |
| 17 | 7 | The Better Angels of Our Nature | Discarded | NF | sociology | TBD | L | L | TBD | Lost interest. |
| 17 | 7 | Einstein/Infeld | Finished | NF | physics | Yes | XL | M | 4 | Good! Better this time around! Not sure why, but easier to stick with it. |
| 17 | 8 | Machine Platform Crowd | Finished | NF | business | Yes | M | M | 3 | Good, but felt dated in parts. Also a bit of a rehash. Crowdsourcing? Still well written though |
| 17 | 9 | Sapiens | Finished | NF | anthropology | Yes | M | M | 3 | Good, especially the beginning. Great if this kind of NF is new to you |
| 17 | 9 | Anatomies | Finished | NF | biology | Yes | S-M | M | 3 | Not bad. Great if you love medicine, biology |
| 17 | 9 | Power | Finished | NF | Philosophy | No | M | M | 2 | Weak, I felt. Almost anecdotal. Historically written in 1938 |
| 17 | 9 | Fear of Physics | Finished | NF | physics | No | M | M | 2 | Starts good but then meanders. Written without a clear reader in mind. |
| 17 | 10 | The Art of Rivalry | Finished | NF | Art | Not sure | M | M | 3.5 | Kinda gossipy but it is good when it talks about the art and history. Better later. |
| 17 | 10 | The Theoretical Minimum | Finished | NF | physics | Maybe | L | M | 3 | Too dense. You need to read with pen and paper. Still, good |
| 17 | 10 | Teenage Brain | Discarded | NF | biology | TBD | M | M | TBD | tbd |
| 17 | 10 | Progress | Finished | NF | world studies | Yes! | L | M | 5 | Well done! Zips along, not overly simple. Great! |
| 17 | 11 | Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep | Finished | F | SciFi | Yes | M | M | 4 | Enjoyed! PKD writing still not great but I get the stories better now |
| 17 | 11 | The Man in the High Castle | Finished | F | SciFi | Yes | M | M | 4 | Better than Do Androids |
| 17 | 11 | Side Hustle | Discarded | NF | Business | TBD | L | M | TBD | tbd |
| 17 | 12 | The Invititing Life | Finished | NF | Home | Yes | M | M | 4 | Helpful for people lost on how to make their home more inviting |
| 17 | 12 | Grant | Finished | NF | History | Yes! | Y | L | 5 | Fantastic book! Can't recommend it enough |
| 18 | 1 | The Gentle Swedish Art of Death Cleaning | Finished | NF | HomeEc | Yes | S | S | 4 | A nice companion to Marie Kondo |
| 18 | 1 | On Writing | Finished | NF | Writing | Yes | S | M | 3 | It was ok. |
| 18 | 2 | Midlife | Finished | NF | Philosophy | Yes | M | S | 4 | Odd. Light philosophy on midlife crises |
| 18 | 2 | Teenage Brain | Discarded | NF | Biology | TBD | M | S | TBD | |
| 18 | 2 | The Information | Finished | NF | IT | Yes | M | M | 3 | Some parts good, but otherwise I started to skim |
| 18 | 3 | Resilience | Finished | NF | Selfhelp | No | S | M | 1.5 | So light as to be useless. Mostly skimmed. |
| 18 | 3 | On Music | Finished | NF | Music | Yes | S | M | 4.5 | Brilliant. Absolutely loved it |
| 18 | 4 | Berlin Diary | Finished | NF | History | Yes | M | M | 4.5 | A re-read. But loved it. |
| 18 | 4 | F*ck Feelings | Finished | NF | Selfhelp | Yes | M | M | 4 | Interesting. Counterintuitive self help book |
| 18 | 4 | Factfulness | Finished | NF | Philosophy | Yes! | M | M | 5 | Great book. Devoured it. |
| 18 | 4 | Doris Lessing Massey Lecture | Finished | NF | Ideas | No | M | S | 3 | Some parts good, but otherwise it seems dated |
| 18 | 5 | Tony Robbins shortbook | Finished | NF | Selfhelp | Yes | S | S | 3 | Good intro to Robbins and all you need |
| 18 | 5 | Marcus Aurelius | Discarded | NF | Philosophy | Yes | M | M | 2 | Terrible translation. Put aside |
| 18 | 5 | Epictetus | Finished | NF | Philosophy | Yes | M | M | 4 | One of the better translations of the ancient stoic |
| 18 | 6 | Buddist book on fear | Finished | NF | Buddhism | No | M | S | 3 | Ok. Some parts were good, but dry in others |
| 18 | 7 | Religion for Atheists | Finished | NF | Selfhelp | Yes | M | M | 4 | The first time I tried to read this, I didn't care for it much. Enjoyed it much better the second attempt. |
| 18 | 7 | When Things Fall Apart | Discarded | NF | Buddhism | TBD | M | M | TBD | None |
| 18 | 7 | The Liitle Book of Big History | Finished | NF | Buddhism | Somewhat | M | M | 3.5 | Good. More so for people without not much knowledge of history |
| 18 | 7 | Tyrant | Finished | NF | History | Yes! | M | M | 5 | Superb! A gripping reading of Shakespeare's Tyrants as an extended metaphor of our time. |
| 18 | 7 | Zen and the Art of happiness | Finished | NF | Buddhism | No | M | L | 2.5 | Some good parts but mostly dismissable |
| 18 | 8 | How to think about exercise | Finished | NF | Philosophy | Yes | M | S | 4 | Good! |
| 18 | 8 | Color | Discarded | NF | History | No | M | M | 0 | It was mostly tedious. I finally had enough and moved on. |
| 18 | 8 | Medium Raw | Finished | NF | Food | Yes! | M | M | 5 | Loved this. Non fiction writing at it's best |
| 18 | 8 | Astrophysics with NDG | Finished | NF | Science | Not sure | M | S | 3 | For fans of NDG. I am uninterested. |
| 18 | 8 | A practical guide to happiness | Finished | NF | Philosophy | Yes | S | S | 4 | Good but forgettable. |
| 18 | 8 | How to write not bad | Finished | NF | Writing | Not really | M | M | 2.5 | Mediocre. Good for someone with no knowledge of how to improve their writing only |
| 18 | 9 | Arbitrary Stupid Goal | Finished | NF | Biography | Yes | M | M | 4 | Loved it. A great bio |
| 18 | 8 | Vanishing New York | Finished | NF | Social Science | Yes | M | L | 3.5 | Well done. Goes on because it is trying to be comprehensive |
| 18 | 10 | Stillness speaks | Finished | NF | Philosophy | Yes | M | S | 4.5 | A good intro to buddhism and so much more |
| 18 | 10 | Clean | Discarded | NF | Health | TBD | M | M | TBD | None |
| 18 | 11 | Just Kids | Finished | NF | Biography | Yes! | M | M | 5 | Such a beautiful book |
| 18 | 11 | 32 Yolks | Finished | NF | Biography | Yes | S | M | 4 | Better than I thought. |
| 18 | 12 | Why religion? | Finished | NF | Biography | no | M | M | 3 | Not focused. Seems like Pagels wanted to write two books at once |
| 19 | 1 | Atomic Habits | Discarded | NF | Selfhelp | TBD | M | M | TBD | None |
| 19 | 1 | Goodbye, things | Finished | NF | Home | Yes | L | M | 4 | Better than Marie Kondo in some ways |
| 19 | 2 | Passion - HBR Book | Finished | NF | Selfhelp | Yes | L | L | 4 | These two HBR books were rather good |
| 19 | 2 | Resiliency - HBR Book | Finished | NF | Selfhelp | Yes | L | L | 4 | None |
| 19 | 2 | Less | Finished | NF | Home | Yes | L | L | 4 | Good book on how to adopt minimalism |
| 19 | 3 | A Mad Catastrophe | Finished | NF | History | Yes | M | M | 4 | Best book I read on the end of the Hapsburg monarchy. |
| 19 | 3 | The Death of Democracy | Finished | NF | History | Yes | M | M | 3 | Good if you don't know anything about the rise of the Nazis, but for me it felt like so much I read already |
| 19 | 3 | The Great Crash 1929 | Finished | NF | History | Yes | M | M | 3 | I had fatigue for JKG and his writing style this time. Too plummy. I liked it better when I was young. |
| 19 | 3 | The One Minute Manager | Finished | NF | Selfhelp | Yes | S | S | 3 | Interesting as an artifact of its time. Still not bad for new managers |
| 19 | 4 | Smarter than you Think | Finished | NF | IT | Yes | M | M | 4 | Loved this. Great rundown of how tech makes us better, not worse. |
| 19 | 4 | Coders | Finished | NF | IT | Yes! | L | M | 5 | Really loved this. So rich and dense. One of the best books I've ever read on IT |
| 19 | 2 | Lynch Law | Discarded | NF | History | no | M | M | 0 | From the 1910 era. A neutral view of lynching to say the least |
| 19 | 5 | Siddhartha's Brain | Finished | NF | Selfhelp | no | M | M | 3.5 | Not gripping. Easy to skim |
| 19 | 5 | The Sweet Life of Paris | Finished | NF | Food | no | M | M | 3 | Odd book. More like a series of blog posts compiled together |
Total Finished: 70
Total Discarded: 13
Total Other: 5
Total Books: 88