Currently Reading
Nonfiction: The Creative Act: A Way of Being Rick Rubin
Fiction: Joe Country by Mick Herron
Deciding Better: The Entangled Brain: How Perception, Cognition, and Emotion Are Woven Together by Luiz Pessoa. Note that free PDFs of the book chapters are available here.
Jewish Studies: Nefesh Hachaim by Rav Chaim of Volozhin
2023 Reads
Fiction:
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy
The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
London Rules by Mick Herron
Nonfiction:
Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers by Leonard Koren
Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America by Pekka Hämäläinen
Reading Plan
I’ve got three categories of reading running. Fiction, nonfiction general reading, and books related to the On Deciding . . . Better project. The idea is to have variety but focus on finishing a book in each category. Always having a few ready on deck of course.
In fiction now I’m branching out from pure SciFi and SciFi tinged Fantasy into more literary picks with SciFi overtones. I loved reading Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel last year, so I’m pushing a bit in that direction this year. Cloud Cuckoo Land was Great. Alternating literature with finishing the Slow Horse series and maybe pickup another spy series- for the variety.
The nonfiction category is for general information, filling in gaps in my understanding of the world. I’ve enjoyed reading popular presentations of quantum physics like Carlo Rovelli’s Helgoland, history or art. Right now, after two books of political US history, I’m drawn to asthestics and am really enjoying Rubin’s book.
Next is my project specific reading for this project, On Deciding . . . Better which has been going on 25 years now. Last year, I spent time on the fundementals of statistics and Baysian reasoning. This year it’s catching up with neuroscience to ensure the current accuracy of the ODB manuscript.These books get written and then reviewed for note taking as I described here.
Finally, I spend time every morning on a work of Jewish ethics and philosophy. Having read through some recent commentaries over the last few years, I’m going back to sources like the famous Nefesh Hachaim. Now this doesn’t generally so directly enter my notes here, it is foundational to my thought and personal growth.