My Reading List
July 2015
“Books are the quietest and most constant friends; they are the most accessible and wisest counselors, and the most patient teachers.” — Charles William Eliot
With these monthly posts I want to share what I read the previous month. If you’re interested in previous lists, you can find them here. But now back to July.
I spent half the month on a business trip to San Francisco and therefore couldn’t read as much as I wanted to. Nevertheless I managed to squeeze in some interesting books and essays. Here’s what I read in July:
books
On the Shortness of Life by Seneca
He was one of the great thinkers, the Roman philosopher Seneca. In “On the Shortness of Life” he shares his insights into the art of living. I picked up this short book one evening and read it in one sitting. There’s lots of food for thought in these hundred pages. I’m sure I will keep coming back to it.
“Often a very old man has no other proof of his long life than his age.”
The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
I picked up this novella by Dostoyevsky at a flea market a while ago. It’s a short and entertaining read. Dostoyevsky himself was addicted to roulette and rumor has it that the Russian author needed to finish the book in time in order to pay off gambling debts. The plot starts in Germany where not only the main character Alexei Ivanovich falls into the gambling trap, but also where the author himself sat down at a gambling table for the first time. The Gambler is a classic and well worth a read.
“Nothing could be more absurd than moral lessons at such a moment! Oh, self-satisfied people: with what proud self-satisfaction such babblers are ready to utter their pronouncements! If they only knew to what degree I myself understand all the loathsomeness of my present condition, they wouldn’t have the heart to teach me.”
I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzei
This is a powerful book about an ambitious young girl in Pakistan, about courage, about women and education. Malala Yousafzai grows up in the Swat Valley. Encouraged by her father she starts fighting for her right to study, her right to get an education. Even when the Taliban take control over her valley, she refuses to give in. In 2012, fifteen year old Malala is attacked on her school bus and shot in the head. It’s a miracle that she survives. “Who is Malala?” asks the young Taliban before he shoots her in the head. With “I am Malala” she gives an answer to this question. As the youngest nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize Malala Yousafzai becomes a symbol for the peaceful protest for the rights of women.
I liked not only her story, but also what this book teaches you about the history of Pakistan. I wasn’t aware of how diverse this country with hundreds of languages and cultures is.
This book should remind everyone that there are countless Malalas who’s voices are not heard and never will be.
I like to read a good crime novel once in a while and Don Winslow is always an entertaining read. His latest work is a follow up from his bestseller “The Power of the Dog.” While reading the book, you wonder if the whole war on drugs can be this crazy. And then you open the newspaper the very next day to read this.
It’s not the “Mexican drug problem,” Pablo thinks now, it’s the North American drug problem. As for corruption, who’s more corrupt — the seller or the buyer? And how corrupt does a society have to be when its citizens need to get high to escape their reality, at the cost of bloodshed and suffering of their neighbors?
essays
A World Without Work by Derek Thomson
A thought-provoking essay by Derek Thomson which was published as the cover story for The Atlantic. Thomson asks a valid question:
For centuries, experts have predicted that machines would make workers obsolete. That moment may finally be arriving. Could that be a good thing?
The End of Capitalism has Begun by Paul Mason
Another wildly discussed piece, Paul Mason’s essay on the postcapitalist era which was published in The Guardian. Mason’s book “Postcapitalism” is now available as well.
The power of imagination will become critical. In an information society, no thought, debate or dream is wasted — whether conceived in a tent camp, prison cell or the table football space of a startup company.
What did you read last month? Let me know on Twitter!
