For 2015, I decided to put an greater emphasis reading more books. Each month I share what I have been reading and listening to.
Non-Fiction
- Give and Take by Adam Grant – MY FAVORITE BUSINESS BOOK OF THE LAST FIVE YEARS! Just start reading. 10/10
- The One Page Financial Page by Carl Richards – I have read lots of personal finance books. Most set down rules and recommend exactly what you should do. As someone with a wife in medical school and a family now, there are so many different factors to consider. Richards says start with “Why is money important to me?” He walks the reader through that great question and gives the some solid ways to think about the important money decisions. 9/10
- Information Doesn’t Want to Be Free by Cory Doctorow – The opening essays by Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer are worth the entire price of the book. I have followed Cory’s work closely and the power of the book is seeing his provocative thoughts all next to each other. And I think I finally understand why I like his perspective–he writes at the intersection of economics, technology, and law, which means he appreciates decision-making, modern tools and the vastly outdated rules we are governed by. The book is about the world right now and what should change to account for the new world of media. 9/10
- Smart People Should Build Things by Andrew Yang – Such a great title and I was interested in hearing more about Venture for America. There is too much focus on Ivy League grads going to work on Wall Street. There is also too much emphasis on Yang’s story. The stuff worth reading starts in Chapter 13 and by then I lost my interest. Opportunity missed on this one. 5/10
- Self-Compassion by Kristin Neff – Kristin’s work is often mentioned alongside that of Brene Brown. I am interested because her approach is directly influenced by Buddhist traditions. There are many important teachings shared in the book, but this approach didn’t make a big impression on me. 7/10
Graphic Novels
- Low Volume 1 by Rick Remender and Greg Tocchini – The Sun is in its early stages of supernova and humanity uses the waters of the ocean to protect against the radiation. Stel Caine is trying to save all of humanity including her family and never gives up hope that she can do it. The story is built well for comics, but I had a hard time getting pulled into the fairly predictable plot. Maybe things happened too fast for me to really care about the characters. Not sure. 7/10
- Lazarus by Freg Ruka, Michael Lark and Santi Arcas – This is good stuff and it is not just me thinking that, the TV rights just got picked up.
- Volume One – The world has returned to fiefdoms and the ruling families are fighting for power. The Carlyle Family have a ringer, a super soldier named Forever. I liked this one but wasn’t sure. I ordered V2 to give it one more chance . 8/10
- Volume Two – This volume covers some Forever’s backstory, what it is like for a ‘Waste’ family to live in this world, and the unrest created from those who don’t like it. I got even more drawn into the world and the creators made some good story choices. 9/10
- Volume Three – The tensions between fiefdoms intensifies and Forever finds herself square in the middle. So much good stuff and it ends on a wonderful cliffhanger. I may have to start reading single issues. 9/10
- Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke – This is an all ages comic about a girl who risks her life to save her friend Joseph after he gets sucked through an energy portal. Zita meets a wonderful cast of characters as she tries to make her way through the alien world. The book is fun and full of surprises. There are two more books in the series with the third having just been released. So good. 10/10
- Avengers by Jonathan Hickman, Jerome Opena and Adam Kubert – I decided to start reading the Jonathan Hickman’s run on Avengers. There is a much bigger cast in this series, anchored by cast from the Avengers movies. I read issues #1-#23 and it is messy. Too many characters make it difficult to care about any of them. And it suffers greatly from the crossover effect. 6/10