March was busy, so I felt good about getting as much reading done as I did. I use the pomodoro method, planning my free time in chunks of 30 minutes, so I’ll spend 30 minutes walking/weeding/reading/playing the piano/whatever and then move on to something completely different – it works because you can do these things in a more focused manner this way than if you flutter back and forth between things. It, too, comes recommended. But I digress: this month’s books are

Colors (Finlay) – another cultural history book by a new-found favorite. Warmly recommended – as someone said, I was color-blind before I read this book! (4/5)

Mountains of the mind (Macfarlane) – one of the best natural history authors around, and somehow I had overlooked his first work. Brilliantly evocative, it explains the modern-day fascination with mountains and puts it into a historical context. (4.5/5)

Creativity (Cleese) – it’s a booklet rather than a book, but given that it is an interesting topic and is written by a comedic genius it is still worthwhile. 5/5 for quality, 2/5 for quantity – he could have put some more work into it.

And speaking of putting time in to work:

80,000 hours (Todd) takes its title from the amount of time a typical person has at their disposal during their career. This book discusses what constitutes your ideal career and how best to plan it. Interesting ideas and approaches to an oft overlooked decision-making process. (4/5)

Next month will be filled with hard work, travel and visitors, so we’ll see what happens, but I’m hopeful I’ll be able to stay the course; see you then.