Me at a book signing with my favorite biographer Walter Isaacson.
I used to blog about just the interesting books I read, but as of 2019 I blog about every book I read. I try to keep these blogs deliberately short (max. 250 words), as an exercise to get to the point.
Partly because of this limit, I also TRY not to go into detail about the book plot or subject — whether it’s fiction or non-fiction. Instead I try to focus on if this is a book worth reading*. And I focus more on style, approach and form.
I take this approach for the same reason that dissecting a movie plot is only a small part of a movie discussion. Movies work (or don’t) because of the techniques used in the storytelling, so those are usually more interesting to look at than the plot.
And lastly, I try to love every book I read. Writing books takes time and dedication. I may not agree or like everything I read, but still someone poured part of themselves in there. So I try to respect that.
* The definition of “worth reading” is of course something you could write a book about. Worth reading for me heavily depends on “what you can take away” or “how it alters your views”. The best books have the ability to change your perception.
One of my favorite podcasts is “A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs”. I’ve written about it before, it’s an absolutely terrific podcast. But this post is not about the podcast but about the book! After the first 50 episodes creator Andrew Hickey bundled the adapted episode transcripts into the first volume of a book series. And, of course, I had to get it, as an unmissable reference and… Read More »Volume 1: From Savoy Stompers to Clock Rockers – Andrew Hickey
If you read this blog, you know DFW is one of my favorite writers. I even named my book app, in part, after him. So I could be short about String Theory — it’s a absolute pure delight to read — but, of course, I won’t. String Theory is a collection of 5 DFW essays about tennis. It mostly covers 90s era tennis — Sampras and Agassi — but it… Read More »String Theory – David Foster Wallace
Max Brod is probably the worlds’ greatest publicist. He famously refused his writer friends’ dying wish to destroy all his work after his passing. This friend was of course, Franz Kafka. And against Kafka’s wishes Max Brod did publish his works and subsequently Kafka became known to the world as an absolute literary genius. The Trial The only other Kafka I read before this was one was The Metamorphosis and… Read More »The Trial – Franz Kafka
This book is a play from 1965, based on several accounts of the infamous travels Welsh poet Dylan Thomas made in the early 1950s to the US. If you know anything about Dylan Thomas you probably know he died young (39), and that he was an alcoholic. This play captures the last two or three years of his life rather vividly. It’s an alcoholic mess and it details an explosive… Read More »Dylan Thomas – Sidney Michaels
I saw this tweet yesterday, and If you know me, you know I will not pass on an opportunity for a free book! But more seriously, I have known Jason Fried and DHH for some time now. From their blog, their Twitter and multiple different podcasts. They have built their company around very clear and levelheaded thinking. So I wanted to read this anyway, and not just because it was… Read More »Remote – Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
I picked up this book on our honeymoon to Disney World. But I never read it, because; how do you read a book full of quotes? The answer is slowly! Just grab it every now and then. And read a few pages. Of course this is probably a heavily edited and well scrutinized book. Assembled under brand protection of the Disney Company, one of the biggest media companies in the… Read More »The Quotable Walt Disney – Disney Book Group
The next day I rolled up my picture, put it in the back of my station wagon, and my wife Gweneth wished me good luck as I set out to visit the brothels of Pasadena to sell my drawing. Richard Feynman Well, I definitely wasn’t expecting such sentences in this collection of anecdotes from famous popular physicist Feynman. But I can safely say, it certainly is in line with the… Read More »Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! – Ralph Leighton and Richard Feynman
Today is February 21st, David Foster Wallace‘s birthday. So it’s rather fitting that today I finished reading his magnum opus: Infinite Jest. The notoriously long and difficult book from 1996 with visionary insights on modern life. Infinite Jest is one of the biggest books ever written, and it certainly is the biggest book I have ever read. It took me somewhere between 50 and 60 hours over the course of… Read More »Infinite Jest – David Foster Wallace
Gung Ho! is a management book written by well-know author Ken Blanchard. It was somehow never on my radar, so because of the strange title and my unfamiliarity I wasn’t expecting too much, and I only picked it up because I know Blanchard’s other famous theory. But it turned out to be a delightful, short read. This book can help any starting, aspiring or even seasoned manager to get their… Read More »Gung Ho! Turn On the People in Any Organization – Ken Blanchard & Sheldon Bowles
It’s clever. It’s smart. It’s eloquent. It’s articulate. It’s masterfully written. It’s the archetype of the whodunit. It’s the absolute queen of adverbs. It’s quintessential Agatha Christie. I enjoyed it thoroughly and can’t imagine someone who wouldn’t.
When this book came out it was seemingly everywhere. Especially in airport bookshops (I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not though). Or maybe I am imagining things and the book just sticks out, more than others, because of the swear word in the title, which is …. quaint? I happened to find* a Dutch copy and thought: well, why not? Seemed short enough. And sure enough you… Read More »The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F* – Mark Manson
In 1996 — when he was just starting out — Ammaniti published a collection of short stories titled Fango. This particular story (which was also made into a movie) is one of the stories from Fango published as a separate book in 2010 and it’s absolutely vintage Ammaniti. Being one of his earliest stories, it’s coarse and crude and a actually a bit too much for my taste. His later… Read More »Humanity’s Last New Year’s Eve – Niccolò Ammaniti
