Jacob’s 2015 Book Report
I read more books this year than I did last year. I read on the train, during lunchtime and during long evenings while Shae was studying and writing papers. Listening to some books has been a boon to my reading pace. You can listen almost anywhere. I listen to books while I brush my teeth, shower, and wash dishes. I listen to books while I work out and while I walk from place to place. It’s comforting to know that even when I don’t have a book to read, I have a book to listen to on my phone at all times.
The year is about up so I’m taking a moment to review and jot down what I learned and loved this year.
Biographies
Biographies are a way to experience life on fast forward. You get to grow up with someone, pass through adolescence, learn, work, struggle, and — since most biographies are about successful people — succeed. A good biography, more than nearly anything else in life, makes you reconsider what’s important overall. And you know, you’d think by now I’d have learned that the protagonist dies at the end of every biography, but it still gets me every time.
I started the year with Dietrich Bonhoeffer whose conviction to his beliefs and fight against the Nazis was truly inspirational.
I hope Becoming Steve jobs is the last book I read on Steve Jobs for a while, but I got a lot out of this one. I was reminded, in the spirit of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, that from the smallest minutia to the broadest strokes, it’s all about quality. That tech gets stale fast, but with art (as he comments to John Lasseter) — ‘if you do your job right, what you create can last forever.’ And that to keep on being an artist you have to keep on risking failure.
I learned that Roosevelt took White House visitors that happened to be with him at 5pm on runs that consisted of going in one direction and climbing/wading through anything that impeded them.
I learned from Elon Musk that you get to dream really big and go on space adventures if you sell a startup for billions of dollars in your twenties.
Rob Lowe’s memoir, Stories I Only Tell My Friends, turned out to be much more interesting and deep than I expected. From his childhood in Iowa where he dreamed of acting to his teen stardom and the filming of the Outsiders with the brat pack, and then transforming into a family man. I learned that there are ups and downs in most of our lives and that you have to cherish the ups and do your best in the downs.
Fiction
Wallace Stegner won me over with Crossing to Safety a couple years ago, but something about Angle of Repose moved me in a new way. Lyman Ward’s attempt to understand and write about his grandmother and grandfather helped me see my ancestors in a new light — as real people, once young, and more like me than I often acknowledge.
East of Eden (more specifically, Lee) taught me Timshel.
Grandpa died of early-onset Alzheimer’s at 61. From Still Alice I learned that if you have a certain gene passed on to you, you have a 99% chance of having early-onset Alzheimer’s — a fact that startled me into start researching what I need to do to be tested. This story of a bright woman losing both her mind and her relationships with friends and family members broke my heart.
Goldfinch taught me that life is at once grimy and beautiful.
From Franny and Zooey I learned that an artist shoots for some sort of perfection, but on his own terms, not anyone else’s.
Sum was a short, brilliant collection of essays on potential afterlives, most starting with “After you die…”. Easily one of the most clever and thought-provoking books I read this year.
A Tale For the Time Being got me thinking about how kids can feel hopeless.
Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out was one of my favorites this year. It was The Good Earth with some sassy reincarnation. I learned a little bit about how rough it was to live in China over the last 100 years.
Lonesome Dove Series — When I decided to read the prequels and sequel to Lonesome Dove I decided I’d crack the spine of the 800+ page Lonesome Dove again — and it was so worth it. I loved young Gus and Call as they duke it out with Blue Duck and Buffalo Hump in Dead Man’s Walk and Commanche Moon. And the last adventure in Streets of Laredo was a good farewell. I almost bought some spurs and moved to Austin.
I loved David Mitchell’s ability to speak in so many different voices in The Bone Clocks.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde got me thinking about how Jekyll might of won out over Hyde.
Science Fiction
I learned a little about the potentials perils of space, and a lot about growing potatoes on Mars from The Martian.
I loved — not in the sense that I want to live in it, but loved nonetheless — the possible dystopian future Ernest Cline creates in Ready Player One where we all live in virtual reality suits in a second life world.
Dune was deep and classic and entertaining all at the same time. I loved the way it felt like a Shakespearean play set in the distant future.
From Minority Report I learned that I liked the movie more...
Non-Fiction
Deep added about 14 places to my list of places to ski and lit a fire under my pants to get there before great, light, powdery snow goes the way of the dinosaurs forever. #globalwarming #sorrykids
I absolutely loved the stranger-than-fiction true story in A Kim Jong-Il Production for all of the drama, quirkiness and intrigue in the dictator’s little Hollywood.
Essentialism not only helped me throw out a few things, but reminded me that time is the scarcest of my resources.
I got a taste of Chinese tech from Beta China and Alibaba’s World. I learned that China isn’t just a land of tech copy cats.
Walter Isaacson got me again with his masterwork on the evolution of computing in The Innovators. I loved the wild west era of the early internet.
I was deeply disturbed by the chronicling of the misadventures of the CIA in Legacy of Ashes.
I almost froze to death stranded with Shackleton’s crew — what I really loved was my warm bed during this one.
Watts shook my faith in common sense in Everything Is Obvious.
I learned and loved that Richard Feynman was totally brilliant and a complete jokester goofball.
I learned that chemistry is fun with The Disappearing Spoon (and that a spoon made of Gallium will melt when you stir your tea).
Aziz was both articulate and hilarious in his crude discussion of romance in the digital age (Modern Romance).
I like most of what AJ Jacobs writes. In the Know-It-All I realized that some of my child-like curiosity about everything had waned. And I decided to make it a point to stay curious.
Digital Gold read like a piece of fiction and I loved everything from the mysterious Satoshi to the Silk Road’s infamous Dread Pirate Roberts. I’d recommend this to anyone at all interested in digital currencies.
In Packing For Mars I learned that some Russians stayed in a space ship for psychological testing for years…
China in Ten Words made me love Yu Hua even more. It taught me about Lu Xun’s effect on Chinese history and about the drastic disparities between the wealthy and the poor in China.
The Defining Decade taught me that what I do in my twenties has a disproportionate influence on my life.
The Inner Game of Tennis taught me that if you take your head out of it you can play better tennis.
I learned that pain killers really can help dull the pain of a broken heart from The Marshmallow Test.
I started eating a lot more almonds, brazil nuts, kale and salmon after reading the Blood Sugar Solution.
From Daily Rituals I learned that some artists work slowly over the course of years and enjoy/balance their day job with their art. Joseph Heller, for example, thrived in magazine advertising by day and wrote Catch-22 in the evenings, sitting at the kitchen table in his Manhattan apartment. “I spent two or three hours a night on it for eight years,” he said. “I gave up once and started watching television with my wife. Television drove me back to Catch-22.”
David Foster Wallace
I feel like I got to know David Foster Wallace this year. I’d read some essays before, but I spent a lot more time with him this year.
I loved the sweaty tennis and cruise ship essays in A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again.
I loved the immensity of Infinite Jest and the cynical projection of a future dominated by big business sponsorships and mind-numbing entertainment. My favorite piece is the bit about why video chats fail in the future.
I read and reread This Is Water because it is one of those speeches that make me want to be a better human.
And I really reveled in Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself.
Graphic Novels
I sympathized with Betrand Russell in his quest for absolute truth in Logicomix — and I loved the framing of the story within the story of them writing about him in present day.
I liked Akira, but I loved Bartkira.
I learned about a computing history that might have been in The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage.
The Property and Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan made me want to draw simply and use colors.
My favorite graphic novels this year were from Taiyo Matsumoto. I loved GoGo Monster for its pacing and depth. I liked Sunny for the motley group of orphan kids’ interactions with one another. And I couldn’t stop reading Ping Pong. Ping Pong has some of my favorite fictional characters and one of the more compelling build ups I’ve seen in a graphic novel. Brilliant stuff coming out of Matsumoto.
Fantasy
I learned that even though I can see it coming from a mile away, I’m still a sucker for a zero-to-hero male lead that develops some sort of super power in a high fantasy world with drastically different laws of physics. See examples below:
Sparrowhawk in the first couple books in Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea series.
Kaladin rallying a ragtag band of soldiers in Sanderson’s Stormlight Archives series.
Kvothe in Kingkiller Chronicles series.
Yes. These last two are cheesy. They’re the 800-page dog-eared, ripped paperback ones you see real nerds in greasy sweatshirts lugging around and reading in corners.
From Chronicles of Narnia I learned that God is both as fierce and as majestic as a lion. And that if you trust in the lion things work out for you in the end.
Design
The Best Interface is No Interface taught me to question the need for a screen.
I came up with my idea for a smart snow globe (and a handful of other internet of things designs) while reading Enchanted Objects.
Make It New: History of Design In Silicon Valley taught me that design, from industrial design to interface design, has grown from fringe work 40 years ago to business mainstream. Sound engineering and good/great design is now just the entrance fee to launch a product.
A few last thoughts
I appreciate Goodreads for introducing me to books others are reading, but I’d love to have a better forum for talking about books as I read them. For now Mike and I hold impromptu book club every time I read a David Mitchell book.
I really loved reading more books this year (and reading pretty diverse genres), but sometimes I felt like I wasn’t spending enough time with books. Some books I read/listened to within 24 hours. I guess I’m realizing that I want fewer one-night-stands and more meaningful committed relationships with the books I read.
Next year — On that note, I think I’ll pick some books to go steady with, perhaps slowly reread a couple books (maybe Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, maybe Angle of Repose).
Top 5 Recommendations from 2015
Angle of Repose
Ping Pong
The Innovators
Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out
Lonesome Dove Series
