Reading 2023

Currently Reading

Nonfiction

Intentionally left blank

Fiction:

The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk, Jennifer Croft (Translator)

The Stand by Stephen King (Audiobook)

The Pursuit of William Abbey by Claire North [On Hold]

Deciding Better:

Probability Theory: The Logic of Science by E.T. Jaynes

Mathematics and Plausible Reasoning: Volume 2: Patterns of Plausible Inference by George Polya

The Invention of Tomorrow: A Natural History of Foresight by Thomas Suddendorf, Jonathan Redshaw, Adam Bulley.

Jewish Studies:

Shaarai Teshuvah (The Gates of Repentance) by Rabenu Yonah

2023 Reads

Fiction:

In The Distance by Hernan Diaz

On Target by Mark Greaney

Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R.F. Kuang

Trust by Hernan Diaz

The Dark Tower III: The Wastelands by Stephen King (audiobook)

The Gray Man by Mark Greaney

The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King (audiobook)

Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

The Dark Tower I:The Gunslinger by Stephen King (audiobook)

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norris by Susanna Clarke (audiobook)

Slough House by Mick Herron

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Joe Country by Mick Herron

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy (audiobook)

The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

London Rules by Mick Herron

Bad Actors by Mick Herron
Children of Time</em> by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky

All of the Dark Tower books by Stephen King on Audio Book
Under the Dome by Stephen King

Nonfiction:

On the Origin of Time: Stephen Hawking’s Final Theory by Thomas Hertog

Mathematics and Plausible Reasoning, Volume 1: Induction and Analogy in Mathematics by George Polya

When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut

Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock by Jenny Odell

Novelist as Vocation Haruki Murakami

Picture This: How Pictures Work by Molly Bang

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.

The Creative Act: A Way of Being Rick Rubin

Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers by Leonard Koren

Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America by Pekka Hämäläinen

The Marvelous Clouds by John Durham Peters

Nefesh Hachaim by Rav Chaim of Volozhin

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. But probably alternating that 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.

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