“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.” — Jane Austen
I adore reading, especially books. I probably read social media short-form stuff 90% of the time and books 10% of the time, but books help me learn new things 99% of the time. That 90% from social media is mostly dopamine-inducing trash. Therefore, it should be clear that I should significantly restrict my use of short-form social media for my own mental well-being; however, we’ll cover that in a later post.
I have set a 15-book reading goal for this year on Goodreads. Compared to the 25 or 50 books a year targets I’ve made during past New Year’s resolutions and never came close to attaining those, this goal is considerably more doable. So far, 7 out of 15 is not at all awful. I’ve also been reading books in a variety of media, including physical books, Audible audiobooks, and Kindle eBooks. In general, the format doesn’t really matter to me, but there has been a shift this year towards more Audiobooks. Reading a physical book is, of course, the most satisfying experience.
Books I’ve read (or listened to) in 2022 so far:
No. 1: The Ultimate Jim Rohn Library
If I could say I discovered an author this year who will stick with me until the day I die, I’d say that’s Jim Rohn. I found him on YouTube and I was instantly connected. There was something about the way this man (charisma) was talking combined with what he was saying (content) that just struck the right chord with me. It’s one of those people that tell me ‘exactly what I needed to listen’. I wanted to listen more so I got the audiobook of his complete works and have listened to it 1.5 times now. Yup. Repeat listen within a span of 3 months.
The audiobook is a mixtape of recordings from his seminars, CDs and other talks on personal development. I listened to Jim Rohn after reading Napoleon Hill and thought it would be something similar (and outdated). But I was wrong. I think his ideas are time-tested principles of personal development without any branding (something I noticed with Napoleon Hill) and delivered with a great sense of humor. I listened to most of the audio while running and so many times I’d be laughing or raising my hand in the air thinking “Yes!! Yes!! That’s exactly what I think too!”. For content that was probably released in the 70s and 80s, I could totally relate. This is probably going to be THE best collection of self-development knowledge I’ve encountered over the years and something I will repeatedly go back to whenever I need help.
No.2: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
This book was recommended to me by my best friend when I was searching for an escape into otherworldly fiction and rightly so, she gave me one. She deserves 100% credit for all the fulfillment I received from this book. There is of course a movie by Steven Spielberg based on the novel and I had seen it before, but as my friend had pointed out — the book is nothing like the movie! It’s a totally different experience.
This audiobook was narrated by the awesome Wil Wheaton. I never knew he was THE Wesley Crusher from Star Trek — The Next Generation until I was on the 2nd chapter. That just made me happier while listening to the audiobook imagining Wesley Crusher narrating the whole thing.
The novel itself is just wonderful and I’d recommend this to any science-fiction fan. You can watch the movie too but I think the movie took out a lot of the story and focused more on the visual effects which is fine, but the story is the real gold. While going through the story, I also couldn’t help continuously compare the world created by the author to the world we might be living in soon — namely the Metaverse and it’s associated by-products like NFTs and the like. I also couldn’t help compare where this new reality might lead humanity to, a place that I don’t like at least for now. Another topic for a later post.
No. 3: Emma by Jane Austen
I mean it’s Jane Austen and this is one of her many classics. What a refreshing escape to Georgian-era England and the daily lives of men and women from that time. The Audible special was absolutely brilliant with awesome performances by the actors and accompanied by a great soundtrack (including sound effects). Many times I was surprised by sounds of horses going by while listened to the audiobook — I almost ran off the trail while running once fearing there might be a horse carriage coming behind me.
I can’t say much about the novel that hasn’t been said before about a classic of such stature. It was a delightful listen, a fulfilling story with rich characters, richer dialogue and an interesting web of love triangles that EVENTUALLY resulted in everyone getting married to the right person. Happy endings. It’s what give us people stuck in reality some hope.
No. 4: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
AWESOME SCIENCE-FICTION! That’s how I’d summarize this novel.
It’s written by the same author who wrote the Martian. Although I never read the book, but I did watch the movie several times, and it’s one of my favorite sci-movies ever. Project Hail Mary has a similar protagonist with the persona “I’m going to science the sh*t out of this!”. Yeah this dude did science the sh*it out of his situation as well, but it might actually be more fun, detailed and off-the-charts science-fiction that the Martian. I think they’re making a movie based on this book as well. It’ll require a ton of visual effects but if they can pull it off, could be another sci-fi classic based on a solid story.
No. 5: Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz
No. 6: Napoleon Hill’s Keys to Positive Thinking
No. 7: Napoleon Hill’s Golden Rules
The last three books on my completed list this year were the old-timer self-help classics. I didn’t dislike them at all, and did find the concepts quite valuable but like all good self-help books, they need to be accompanied by relatable examples. I think that’s where these books fall short, at least for me, in being relatable. I’d still refer back to the summary notes versions of these books for valuable advice.
Upcoming for the rest of 2022:
I’m not sure if I’ll be able to hit my 15 book target this year, but I’ll try my best. Following the books I’m planning to read (already started) for the balance of the year. Some of them are heavy-weights; Crime and Punishment being the heaviest by far, and some are just going to be a fun learning experience (A Mind for Numbers). I will surely post about my experiences from these books in a later post towards the end of the year.
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
A Mind for Numbers by Barbara Oakley
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