December 2020 Book Recap
Closed out the year with an unprecedented amount of four and five star reads — no complaints. Overall, I haven’t reread very many books, but three were repeats and I’m open for them to become three-peats. It’s been several months and I’m still thinking of many of these, I’m sure I always will.
Thought to Ponder:
“We're more than the sum total of our choices, that all the paths we might have taken factor somehow into the math of our identity.”
— Blake Crouch, *Dark Matter*
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*Dark Matter* by Blake Crouch (F) // [Sci-Fi; thriller: *2020 REREAD* Still as epic and excellent as the first time—one of my all-time favorite books on the multiverse.]
*Recursion* by Blake Crouch (F) // [Sci-Fi; thriller: *2020 REREAD* Dark Matter reigns supreme, but this book still kicks quantum buttocks—beautiful, haunting, mind melding.]
*The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living* by Ryan Holiday (NF) // [Philosophy; psychology: Often just what I need — on my third time through.]
*Walk Through Walls: A Memoir* by Marina Abramović (NF) // [Autobiography; art history: Engrossing, fascinating account of an extraordinary artist. Beyond.]
*The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph* by Ryan Holiday (NF) // [Philosophy; psychology: Excellent checkup for the neck up, quite possibly my favorite Holiday book along with The Daily Stoic. “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” — Marcus Aurelius]
*Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative* by Austin Kleon (NF) // [Art; business: Love this little book, would revisit. I’ve been getting his newsletter for years. “You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life.”]
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*A Promised Land* by Barack Obama (NF) // [Memoir; politics: “But you don’t choose the time. The time chooses you. Either you seize what may turn out to be the only chance you have, or you decide you’re willing to live with the knowledge that the chance passed you by.”]
*No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram* by Sarah Frier (NF) // [Business; technology: Fascinating behind the scenes look at the app and its impact on the world.]
*The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking)* by Katie Mack (NF) // [Physics; astronomy: Excellent footnotes, and a rather bright, humorous, and approachable look at the demise of the universe.]
*The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature* by Matt Ridley (NF) // [Science; psychology: "Time always erodes advantage." Keep adapting, or get left behind.]
*A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future* by Sir David Attenborough (NF) // [Science; environment: Part memoir, part dire warning with a dash of hope.]
*Bonfire of the Vanities* by Tom Wolfe (F) // [Classics; satire: Not bad, but I prefer Wolfe’s *The Right Stuff.* "Your self is other people, all the people you're tied to, and it's only a thread."]
