10/2023: At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails by Sarah Bakewell
A somewhat rambling and less consise description of the Existential philosophy generation by looking at the major characters and the time periods during which they lived. I had high hopes for this book, but sadly it couldn’t keep my attention even as I gave myself an extra month to finish it. A key quote: “You should make your choices as though you were choosing on behalf of the whole humanity, taking the entire burden of responsibility for how the human race behaves.” -pg10
08/2023: American Ramble: A Walk of Memory and Renewal by Neil King Jr.
A well-written self-exploration journey by a retired journalist starting from his home in Washington DC to Manhattan New York with historical and social stops along the 300 mile walk. He talks about distinct regions as you progress past city centers such as the wealthy areas inside the city, blue collar regions on the outskirts, middle class suburbs, upper class converted farms/plantations, and finally working farmland. The history of the cities give rise to their personality and design today. There are many friendly people along the walk willing to help a stranger on a journey.
07/2023: Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue by Ryan Holiday
A somewhat long-winded look back (from inception to years after) at the historic Hulk Hogan sex-tape scandal and how his court case brought down the online media giant Gawker. There is something about this book that speaks to me, and I am not certain what it is. I picked this book for our bookclub to see what others think of the book. There is good and evil; well-intentions that are destructive. There is a win, that turns into maybe not a win, but has some positive effects on the losers. There is a clear path and plan that turns into a lot of gray by the end. Perhaps that is what I like about the book. Life is various shades of gray even when people try to make it black and white. Some of my favorite take-aways are: “You can’t extract revenge at no cost to yourself.” and “One person’s liberation can be another’s opression.”
06/2023: Surrounded by Idiots: The Four Types of Human Behavior and How to Effectively Communicate with Each in Business (and in Life) by Thomas Erikson
Yes, the title of this book is a bit much. Yes, I did take the bait, but it was a fun read. The book is a fascinating revisit at the classical personality types broken down into 4 colors which details their strengths, weaknesses, and combinations that mesh well together. The personality types are similar to those described in the past by Hippocrates or Myers-Briggs. Here is a summary of the 4 personality types. The end of the book has the author inteview a person that is dominant in one color and the answers are hilarious. -Reds are dominant, like to compete on anything, are good at completing tasks by using any means necessary, like to go fast, bothered by slowness. -Yellows are people persons who thrive on relationships and friends. They tend to talk a lot and digress into different topics. They have lots of creative ideas that may or may not work in reality. Logic is not their strength. -Blues are more stoic and logical. They like to observe and know all the facts, but typically won’t speak up unless engaged. They want everything to right and perfect before moving forward. They can be bogged down in paralysis by analysis. -Greens are the majority of people. They are friendly, easy going, and don’t like conflict. They will often go along with things just to avoid upsetting others. They can be described as a mixture of the other 3 personality types without their extremes.
04/2023: The Stranger by Albert Camus
This is an unusual introducton to the philosophy Absurdism by its founder Albert Calmus. His first novel is about a person who ends up killing someone which brings forward the ideas of chance in Absurdism. The main character does not have many redeeming characteristics, but he is also not evil in his heart. We want to like him, but he doesn’t give us much of a chance. Should he be put to death for his crime? Who in society really cares if he is put to death or not. There are topics that arise in this book that make for a good discussion on meaning vs random chance. I plan to read some of his other writings.
03/2023: How the World Really Works by Vaclav Smil
An energy specialists outlines our current dependency on fossil fuels based on food production, travel, and major building materials among other engineering topics. He claims to be a realist and state only the engineering facts. However, it feels as if he has a bit of an axe to grind. There were also some facts that aren’t consistent such as when he states on page 88 that steel is 7x stronger in tensile strength than aluminum. And on page 171 he states that trees “consume virtually all of this oxygen during nocturnal respiration…” I tried finding evidence of this statement, but all I could find was that when trees/plants die and are consumed by bacteria, all the oxygen generated is used up See this guys blog. Think of all the oxygen the tree produces during its life, and then all the oxygen needed to burn the wood in the fireplace. There are just a few chapters I would recommend reading in this book which give good comparisons such as how much land and energy and human labor were needed in 1800, 1900, and today to produce 1 kg of wheat.
02/2023: The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again by Catherine Price
I read this book as a recommendation from Meg. There are actually some interesting connections between this and Man's Search for Meaning if you look close enough. But the writing style and content could not be further from each other.
01/2023: Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl.
I read this in print after listening to an audio version. There are too many lessons and quotes to take away from this book that it would be an injustice to pick out my favorites here. The title of this book captures it well. If you are ever going through a phase of wondering what meaning there is in life, read this book again.
12/2022: The Mare by Mary Gaitskill
After reading This is Pleasure, I thought this would be as interesting a read. It had some good characters and some good themes, but it didn’t have that spark that made me want to pick it back up and read more. I did not finish.
11/2022: This is Pleasure by Mary Gaitskill
This is a short story narrated by two alternating characters that reveal the complicated interactions between men and women in work and life. This book was a welcomed distraction from the non-fiction I typically read.