Books

2024 – the Next Iteration

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S.m.a.r.t. goals:

10k of walking per day.

Sauna/pond dip minimum twice per week.

52 non-fiction books.

No sugar.

Weight training every day when at home.

One weekend trip per month.

Swim 20 minutes per day when temperature allows.

20 minutes of French, German, Dutch, and Danish per day.

Ditto piano.

Starting to think it will take a miracle to manage all these lofty goals. Well. So be it. It’s a year that sounds like it belongs in a Science Fiction novel, after all. Nothing is impossible in sci-fi. Engage warp speed (and discipline)!

Books of October

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Plenty of travel in October, with trips to Turkey, Luxembourg and France, which normally means I get a lot of reading done, and yet I didn’t manage more than three books:

Democracy Awakening (Cox Richardson) – an important book, chartering the rise of fascism and autocracy in the US, and the fight against those ugly phenomena. 5/5

Gut (Enders) – a charming book about our innards. It’s not all shit. As it were. Funny and enlightening in the darkest of areas. 4/5

Invention and Innovation (Smil) – the author of “How the world really works” takes on innovations that never were, or never were as good as touted. Not nearly as good as HTWRW, but still erudite and interesting. 4/5

(The main reason I don’t have more books to report on is that I started on a whopper of a tome, 1260 pages long. I will continue on that while also reading shorter ones in parallel – if I don’t I risk having zero books read by the end of November…!)

Books of September

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What happened? One minute it’s still summer, the next autumn is in full swing. My September was marked by a return to work, which has thankfully been more relaxed than it was this spring, and a nice hiking vacation. However, neither is to blame for my poor track record in terms of reading – for that, I have two explanations (if not excuses): bad books and poor discipline.

I find it hard to keep reading if a book is underwhelming. Even just whelming books are a struggle, so I tend to leave off and move on to the next one. This month I decided to keep going regardless – which is a kind of discipline, I guess – but that also meant that I struggled to bring myself to read as regularly as I usually do. Other temptations suddenly became more alluring, and I spent altogether too much time death scrolling, playing Wordfeud…

Anyway. To sum up, I only got through two books this month, and here they are:

Antwerp – the Glory Years (Pye) – it’s a ramshackle account of the city in its heyday, taking a hodgepodge of events, describing them in oddly structured sentences, without any overarching structure, to compose the worst history book I’ve read in a long time. 1.5/5

More than you know (Mauboussin) – the subtitle is “finding financial wisdom in unconventional places”, and it is justified, in part. It could equally be “contriving to make connections where there ain’t really none to be had”. It’s not horrible, but it certainly isn’t as great as it is made out to be. 3/5

Meagre? Yes, perhaps, but I’m not a machine. I have to remind myself that I have already read 36 books this year, and can’t always keep the same pace. Besides, autumn beckons, and then winter is coming – good times for books. Stay tuned.

Books of June

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The Swedish Presidency of the EU came to a grand finale this month, with lots of work, controversies, trips abroad and high level meetings and summits – and a bizzare episode which saw me taking a whizz in a small bathroom while the Swedish prime minister was brushing his teeth over the sink next to me. Such are the vagaries of life as an interpreter, I suppose.

None of it distracted me from my reading, however. Four books made it onto my list this month:

Bad Science (Goldacre) – an eye opener on the shortcomings of media, Big Pharma, snake oil merchants and others with regard to how scientific data is used and abused. (4.5/5)

Dollars and Sense (Ariely) – on money management. I honestly cannot remember a single thing that this book taught me. The title is probably the best thing about it. (2/5)

The Art of Learning (Waitzkin) – an autobiography more than anything, it charters the author’s path from chess wunderkind to martial arts champion. Some interesting insights into meta learning. (3.5/5)

Pathogenesis (Kennedy) – This was gifted to me, and I loved it! How germs have shaped the course of history. Insightful, surprising, learned and easy to read – everything a book should be! (5/5)

And now, finally, holidays! Time to do some serious reading…! 😄

Books of May

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Well, it’s the first of June, and it feels like summer has been here for weeks already. I keep trying for four books per month in order to get one read every week, and I don’t quite manage every month, but this time I did. Hopefully long, light June evenings on the terrace will help me improve, but for now, here are the titles I read last month:

Poltava (Englund) – the first book I’ve read in Swedish for a while, and what magnificent Swedish! It describes the destruction of the Carolinian army in Ukraine in gory detail, but also provides a look at the psyche of people back in early 1700’s, and how foot soldiers can be made to make the ultimate sacrifice for little or no reason. Seemed topical. 4.5/5

Under the skin (Villarosa) – a harrowing, unflinching look at what it means to be Black/Brown in the US, specifically in regard to health care, and with special attention to the compounding effects of intersectionality. Not an easy read. I knew it was bad, but not that bad. 4/5

A Thousand Brains (Hawkins) – an interesting insight into the brain and how it functions, this also offers an exposé of what intelligence is, and what it can mean for our species. Fittingly, it’s thought-provoking. 4.5/5

Learning in the zone (Magana) – this book purports to describe habits of meta learning. It does not. This is the worst jumble of pseudo-scientific goobledigook I have ever had the bad luck of encountering. Awash with cryptically contorted nonsense-statements and with precious little on offer in terms of actual advice, this book serves one purpose only: providing a zero on the scale on which to measure good books. 0/5

Books of April

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Despite a lovely sojourn in Italy where I didn’t get any reading done, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I still managed my apparent quota of one book per week – and that’s not counting the three others I began but didn’t finish! Anyway, without further ado, here are my books of April:

Deep Work (Newport) – on the importance of putting in enough focused time and effort into any project in order to reap the most benefits. Ties in nicely with books like Discipline is Destiny and Learn Like A Pro. (4/5)

The startup of you (Hoffman) – no surprises concerning the content here; the author proposes to plan your life and work as if you were a startup company. Not a great book, but some lessons even so: It’s always Day 1. (3/5)

Learning how to learn (Oakley) – the second title I read by Oakley. I hadn’t realised it was aimed at kids, but regardless of that it isn’t as good as Learn Like A Pro, so I can’t recommend this, unless you have tweens. (2/5)

Doing Good Better (Macaskill) – an interesting title, written by the man who authored What We Owe The Future, who is also the co-founder of 80,000 Hours. It covers much the same territory as the latter, i.e. how best to spend your time and money, and provides a lot of food for thought. (4/5)

There you go. I’m going to branch out and try some other stuff in May – time to move away from all these do-things-better books, and into other areas. Here Be Dragons?!

Books of March

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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.

Books of February

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This month I haven’t managed to read as much as last, but this is partially a good thing, because the books I have read have required slow, thoughtful reading – the kind where some sentences cause you to look out into infinity for a long time.

I started on several books, and at least one of them will be devoured in the fullness of time, but I will hold myself to my self-imposed rule and only report on the two I have finished in February, both by the same author, Robin Wall Kimmerer.

Wall Kimmerer is a botanist and expert on mosses, and she combines her scientific knowledge with a native American’s approach to the natural world, which is deeply touching. The first book by her that I read is called Gathering Moss (4/5), and is a collection of essays on all things moss-related. It is very poetic at times, and makes you want to bring a magnifying glass to otherwise forgotten corners of the garden. I learnt a great deal from it and would recommend it to anyone interested in nature, but it is the second title that hit me like an iron rod.

At 85 pages this is a booklet rather than a full-sized book, and yet The Democracy of Species (5/5) is very, very powerful. It is one of those books that, like The Inner Life of Animals, I will carry with me for a long time, hopefully forever. The message is that Western culture, through the way in which our thinking and our language turns matter and animals into objects, has reduced nature to resources to be exploited, rather than intricate pieces in a vast, interconnected net of subjects, all bound together by our reciprocal gifts to one another. The concept of the Honorable Harvest, where you take only what is offered, and give something in return, is a practical reflection of what an alternative – and truly sustainable – approach looks like.

It is a title that I will buy over and over again, to gift to anyone and everyone, as it is the embodiment of perhaps the most important message of all. Read it.

Books of January

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So instead of rattling off all the books in one go at the end of the year, which isn’t inductive to readability for you, nor encouraging me to stay on track, I figured I’d report on my reading once per month. So without further ado, these are the titles that took me through a rather soggy and dark January:

Women I think of at night (Kankimäki) – an antology of biographies on various impressive women, all role models to the author. The biographies are interesting, the author’s autobiographical musings less so. (3.5/5)

Zero to One (Thiel) – an innovative entrepreneur’s world view. Quite inspiring and readable, even if it’s not super-relatable all the time – unless you’re Elon Musk, in which case I want to go to the moon. (3.5/5)

The magic of thinking big (Schwartz) – an old book, which shows in part, but the message is as eternally important as ever. (4/5)

Jewels – a secret history (Finlay) – after her book on fabrics I had high hopes for this. I wasn’t disappointed. Anecdotes and facts akimbo – a real gem! (4.5/5)

And that’s it. Don’t suppose I can keep up the rate of one book per week, but I will try. Do let me know if you read any of the titles!

The Way of the Librarian II

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Last year was a year of reading for me. Specifically non fiction, to learn more about any and all things. Terentius, African slave and later Roman playwright claimed that “Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto“, or “I am human, and I think nothing human is alien to me.” I’m not quite there, yet, but what better way to ensure that changes than to read? So, without further ado, here are some mini reviews of the (rest of the) books I read last year:

Monuments Men (Edsel) – the story of the men who saved untold treasures from the Nazi looting effort towards the end of World War II. A little fragmented but interesting. (3/5)

Nonviolent Communication (Rosenberg) – took a while to get into (very Merkin) but it’s a classic on the topic for obvious reasons. (5/5)

A Life on our Planet (Attenborough) – harrowing and profound, inimitable and joyful. As autobiographies go, they don’t get better. (5/5)

Remarkable trees (Harrison) – a run-through of exotic and astonishing trees with lovely illustrations. (4/5)

The Golden Atlas (Brooke-Hitching) – various stories about maps, map makers and the explorers that filled in the blanks. Very interesting. (4/5)

Human Compatible (Russell) – Artificial intelligence and how to ensure it doesn’t go Skynet on us. (4/5)

Pixar storytelling (Movshovitz) – a schematic of what makes Pixar movies great. (3/5)

Undaunted Courage (Ambrose) – Lewis and Clark’s expedition across the American continent retraced. (3/5)

All of the Marvels (Wolk) – The entire Marvel universe analyzed – all 200 gazillion pages. 2/5 unless you are a super fan, then 4/5.

Citizen Soldiers (Ambrose) – Band of Brothers but covering many more people – and a little less interesting for it. (4/5)

Life 3.0 (Tegmark) A.I. and humanity and how to make them compatible, take 2. (4/5)

How the world really works (Smil) – a cold, hard look at the world. A good companion piece to Attenborough. (5/5)

Map stories (Matteoli) – similar to the Golden Atlas, but suffers from poor translation. (3/5)

T Pratchett: a life with footnotes (Wilkins) – the P.A. of Pratchett tells of the latter’s sad demise. 4/5 if you’re a fan – and otherwise, what’s the point?

Quid Pro Quo (Jones) – erudite run-through of how much Latin still influences modern languages. (5/5)

Eureka! (Jones) – ditto for Greek (4.5/5)

Learn like a pro (Oakley/Schewe) – tips and trick to get better at studying. (4/5)

The secret lives of garden bees (Vernon) – cute book about all those other bees that also need protecting. (3/5)

Discipline is destiny (Holiday) – very good book on how to structure your life in order to achieve more. (5/5)

Playing with FIRE (Rieckens) – one couple’s quest to get financially independent and retire early. (3/5)

Veni Vidi Vici (Jones) – how the Roman world still influences us. (4/5)

The world of ice and fire (Martin) – not strictly non fiction, but written like a history of Westeros. Monumental. 4/5 if you’re a big fan, otherwise maybe don’t.

Fabric (Finlay) – the cultural history of various kinds of cloth. More interesting than it sounds. (4/5)

And there you have it. I hope there’s something of interest there, and if not, feel free to point me in the direction of books you think I should read. I have every intention of keeping up this habit, so tips are always welcome!

The Way of the Librarian

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One of my ambitions for this year was to read at least 25 books of non-fiction. I figure that exercise works on the brain much like on any other muscle – push it, and it will develop. So, in order to encourage others to follow the Way of the Librarian, here is a short overview of the books I’ve read thus far this year:

Life Leverage (Moore) – a self help book to get more out of life, based on efficiency, a creative mindset and economies of scale. Quite good, actually. 4/5

Consider This (Palahniuk) – Palahniuk is an extraordinary writer, and this book on writing doesn’t disappoint. 4/5

Take a Thru Hike (Mills) – on the joys (and tribulations) of long distance hiking. Not great. 3/5

Awol on the Appalachian Trail (Miller) – a personal account of thru hiking the AT. Not in the same league as A Walk in the Woods, although it covers the same ground. 😉 3/5

Leaders Eat Last (Sinek) – I like his TED talks, but his books are not reaching the same heights, to my mind. Still good. 4/5

The Emperor (Kapuscinski) – fascinating eye witness accounts of life in Ethiopia under the last emperor. 4.5/5

Humankind – a hopeful history (Bregman) – a very good AND uplifting book. Like a more optimistic Jared Diamond. 5/5

Shah of Shahs (Kapuscinski) – similar concept to The Emperor, but set in Persia/Iran, and unfortunately not as complete. 3.5/5

Utopia for realists (Bregman) – a look at ways in which to reinvent society to better cope with our new reality. Thought-provoking. 5/5

A Burglar’s Guide to the City (Manaugh) – written by an architect, I loved the idea of getting into burglars’ mindsets, but unfortunately the author doesn’t quite deliver. 3/5

Walking the Bowl (Lockhart) – an account of street life in Losaka, Zambia. Horrid, and unputdownable. 5/5

Beyond the Beautiful Forevers (Boo) – a very similar take on the slums of Mumbai, and equally engrossing. 5/5

When we cease to understand the world (Labatut) – a somewhat fictionalized account of some of the greatest brains of our time, and their achievements. Fascinating, but would have been better without the fictionalization. 4.5/5

So there it is. An eclectic mixture, but mostly enthralling stuff – to me at least. Hope something on the list speaks to you as well, gentle reader. Oh, and none of this affiliated sales crap – I just put in links in case you wanted to head straight to the book store. I don’t stand to earn a penny from this. Eek!

Bookends II

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Last year was a good year for reading (if nothing else). If you couldn’t work/travel/see people for real, at least you could encounter other worlds/perspectives/minds through the medium of the written word. And so I did. Here are some of the best ones I read, in no particular order:

Mindf*ck – Cambridge Analytica and the plot to break America (Wylie): the very scary story of how Brits and Americans were manipulated into supporting Brexit and Trump. A must read.

The Popes (Norwich): A concise history of all the incumbents who ever had the job of CEO of the most powerful organisation the world has ever seen.

Being a beast (Foster): The author immerses himself in the world of various animals – foxes, deer, otters, badgers and swallows – and tries to live life as they do. Odd but mesmerizing.

The hidden life of trees (Wohlleben): Reading this man’s take on the inner life of animals made me a vegetarian. While not quite as good this is still an astonishing book.

Waterlog (Deakin): One man’s quest to swim the different waters of Britain, this is an ode to the element, and a cultural history of the land to boot.

The wild places (MacFarlane): In search of wilderness in the British isles. Similar in many ways to Deakin’s book, it comes as no surprise that the two authors were friends.

The history of England, part 1 (Harrison): covers the period from the ice age to 1600. Very well written. I read it in Swedish but I believe it’s been translated.

Creating a forest garden (Crawford): While I have some quibbles with the content (or lack thereof) there is no doubt this book influenced me more than anything else I read this year.

Animal, vegetable, miracle (Kingsolver): Horrible title and cover design, but the quest of one family to be locavores (eating locally produced food) for a year is as eye-opening as it is heart-warming.

Gardens of the world – two thousand years of garden design (Pigeat): garden porn at its finest. If you’re not inspired to design landscapes after reading this I don’t know that you ever will be.

Economix – how our economy works (and doesn’t work) (Goodwin): If someone had told me I’d find a comic book about economics interesting I would have laughed, but I did. And it made me laugh, too.

Baustilkunde – alle Epoken und Stile (Reid): If you can’t travel, this books still lets you see all the architectural styles in the world. It’s part cultural history, part house porn, plus the drawings are fantastic.

How to draw (Spicer): I picked this up in London in January – little did I expect that I would find myself with so much time to practice, but what an excellent teacher it would turn out to be.

So there you go. An eclectic mix, and hopefully something for everyone. Whichever one of these you pick up I guarantee they will enrich your lives – and that’s not something you can say of many things. Happy reading!

Bookends

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As one of my resolutions for this year I set out to read more non-fiction, and I did – even though many of the books in the original pile didn’t get read for some reason. Amongst the books I did read, the following stand out (in the order my eyes happened to fall on them on the bookshelf):

Recovery (Brand): Russell lends his own mix of philosophy and humour to the AA brand of addiction overcoming.

Homo Deus (Harari): a mind-boggling exposé of the past, present and future of the human race.

Prisoners of geography (Marshall): How landscapes determine the political efforts of nations. An eye opener.

Through a window (Goodall): chimps, and what they teach us about humanity.

Hjärnstark (Hansen): On the paramount importance of ensuring a healthy body to accommodate a healthy brain.

Bird by bird (Lamott): lessons in writing and life, drawn from a life of writing.

Thinking, fast and slow (Kahneman): possibly the best book this year; how rational are we, really? Mind: boggled.

Underland (Macfarlane): this man has written several books I wish I had written. This is probably his best.

Touching cloudbase (Currer): not necessarily the best book I’ve read, but essential if you want to learn paragliding.

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So there. Something in there for everyone, I hope. For every one of these I have probably acquired two more, so I will keep this challenge for next year, too. Join me, maybe? #onenonfictionbookpermonth

Taking bookings

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One of my intentions for this year is to read more non-fiction. Fiction is a different matter – if one of my favourite authors publishes a new book I will read it, simple as that – but non-fiction I have to make a concerted effort to take on.

And yet I find reading non-fiction is the best way of educating yourself, so it tallies well with my ambition to improve intellectually. To quote a colleague who is something of a renaissance man: “I just want to make sense of the world”.

To this end I have a number of books that I’ve ordered (as seen above), on religion, personal efficiency, investment philosophy, human society and contemporary politics, plus a book on rhetorics (in the shape of famous speeches). That should see me through most of the year, but if you have any must-reads that you want to recommend, don’t be shy! I look forward to your suggestions, and will come back with reviews in due time.