Reading

I have always been a heavy reader, one with a wide variety of interests in both fiction and non-fiction. Like many, I spent a good numbers of years shifting towards aggressive news cycles and online short form content of little value. More recently, utilizing the approach of digital minimalism, and writers like Mark Manson on the news, I’ve been re-focusing on quality reading and note taking.

One of the elements of this approach is tracking what I would like to read, and what I have read. As I’ve written about, I use Instapaper for online content, and continue to work to cull the lower quality content, even if I sometimes still fall prey to it. A reading list for published books (physical and digital) has been a different challenge to find what works within my workflow.

The most common method, being GoodReads, I’ve excluded as I don’t want that level of tracking and algorithmic analysis of what I’m reading being used to generate advertisements and suggestions. In similar form, most other ‘apps’ that feel well developed have a similar purpose, which left me with more conventional methods.

As this page was originally published for, I tried building the list here in Markdown tables, but felt that was still time consuming to update and keep clean or organized. I also tried using index cards with some success, but that lead to a tendency to overkill, by trying to add details to each card like category, ISBN, publishing date/house and the like.

I’ve settled as a result on maintaining this as a reading journal, using one of my Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks. A simple and direct way to record books by category that I want to read, and the date I’ve read them, no extra details.

Below, once it develops, will be links to lists, mainly by year reviewing what I’ve read, with any commentary or recommendations as I have them, and potentially links to other writers reading lists that I feel are well thought out.


[Favourite Reads Before 2023:]() – A general list of fiction and non-fiction I recall reading and enjoying in the past, in no particular order, given I have not consistently kept a list in the past.



Reading Now

Title Author
Caliban's War (The Expanse #2) James S. A. Corey
Digital Minimalism Cal Newport

Would Like To Read

Non-Fiction

Title Author
Deep Work Cal Newport
How to Live (Preface to Montaigne) Sarah Bakewell
Montaigne Stefan Zweig
The Moviegoer Walker Percy
The Laws of Human Nature Robert Greene
The Way of the Intelligent Rebel Olivier Roland
Leisure: The Basis of Culture Josef Pieper
The Greatest Empire: A Life of Seneca Emily Wilson
Lincoln's Virtues William Lee Miller
Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics Stephen Greenblatt
Tiger Woods Jeff Benedict & Armen Keteyian
Clementine: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill Sonia Purnell
Blue Ocean Strategy W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne
Blue Ocean Shift W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne
Memoirs of Hadrian Marguerite Yourcenar
Meditations Marcus Aurelius
How to Be Free Epictetus
Essentialism Greg McKeown
Up From Slavery Booker T. Washington
Them: Why We Hate Each Other—and How to Heal Ben Sasse
The Death of Expertise Tom Nichols
Reasons and Persons Derek Parfit
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World David Epstein
Average Is Over Tyler Cowen
Speed & Scale John Doerr
Shape Up Ryan Singer
The Coddling of the American Mind
Greg Lukianoff
No Place To Hide Glen Greenwald
Permanent Record Ed Snowden
The Disconnect: A Personal Journey Through the Internet Roisin Kiberd
Will Mark Manson

In Progress

Reading List

Non-Fiction

Philosophy, Self-Help and Motivation

Title Author Read Commentary
Discipline Is Destiny Ryan Holiday
No More Mr. Nice Guy Robert A. Glover
Everything Is F*cked Mark Manson 2020-06-06
Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff Matt Paxton 2022-04-07
MONEY Master the Game Tony Robbins

Psychology & Behavior

Title Author Read Commentary
Thinking Fast and Slow Daniel Kahneman
The Brain David Eagleman
How The Mind Works Steven Pinker
Incognito David Eagleman
The Leading Brain Freiderike Fabritius
How To Change Your Mind Michael Pollan
Predictably Irrational Dan Ariely
Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers Robert M. Sapolsky
Brain Rules John Medina
The Brain That Changes Itself Norman Doidge
mindset Carol S. Dweck
Your Brain At Work David Rock
Stolen Focus Johann Hari

History

Title Author Read Commentary
Dead Doubles Trevor Barnes 2022-03-01
A Higher Call (WWII) Adam Makos

Survival, Safety & Outdoors

Title Author Read Commentary
How to Survive The Most Critical 5 Seconds of Your Life Tim Larkin
When Violence Is The Answer Tim Larkin

Fiction

General

Title Author Read Commentary
Winner Take Nothing Ernest Hemingway 2021-06-05

Sci-Fi

The Expanse (Series)
Title Series Order Author Read Commentary
Drive 0.1 James S. A. Corey 2022-12-05
The Churn 0.3 James S. A. Corey 2023-03-19
The Butcher of Anderson Station 0.5 James S. A. Corey 2023-03-24
Leviathan Wakes 1 James S. A. Corey 2022-10-28
Caliban's War 2 James S. A. Corey
Gods of Risk 2.5 James S. A. Corey
Abaddon's Gate 3 James S. A. Corey
Cibola Burn 4 James S. A. Corey
Nemesis Games 5 James S. A. Corey
The Vital Abyss 5.5 James S. A. Corey
Babylon's Ashes 6 James S. A. Corey
Strange Dogs 6.5 James S. A. Corey
Persepolis Rising 7 James S. A. Corey
Auberon 7.5 James S. A. Corey
Tiamat's Wrath 8 James S. A. Corey
Leviathan Falls 9 James S. A. Corey
The Sins of Our Fathers 9.5 James S. A. Corey