Finished reading: The Future of Us by Jay Ingram is a broad overview of how science and technology is affecting all parts of our lives from food, to transportation, and to health. I’ve read deeper books on the individual topics. This one provides the overview 📚
Finished reading: Matthew Scace tells the harrowing tale of a major forest fire in Jasper on Fire 📚
📚 Finished reading: The Light Eaters by Zoë Schlanger is a fascinating book about how sophisticated and under appreciated plants are: they can detect relatives, “see” their surroundings, manipulate their environment, and make complex decisions.
Near the end, Schlanger writes:
Now when I spot a tendril that is making its way through a crack in the sidewalk, I internally commend it for its resourcefulness. I feel I know about some of what it took for the plant to do that-the small miracle of its germination, the craning of its elongation, the articulation of the hundreds, maybe thousands of fine root hairs, right now probing its belowground world for sustenance. I think about the stem cells in each of its growing tips, poised and ready to become whatever sort of flesh the plant needs them to be. The whole being a sensitive, decisioning network spread throughout hundreds of limbs, thousands of roots. A body in motion, adapting in real time to every subtle shift, flowing like water through its surroundings and taking note of the shape and smell and texture of it all.
Finished reading: Waves in an Impossible Sea by Matt Strassler is a fascinating, comprehensive, and clear book about field theory in physics. I’ve read a few books on this topic and this is the best one. If you’re curious about particle physics and want to avoid math, you’ll like this one 📚
Finished reading: Shit My Dad Says by Justin Halpern is a lot of fun 📚
Finished reading: If you like creepy, weird books (and I do), you’ll enjoy Absolution by Jeff VanderMeer. But, you have to read the great Area X trilogy first 📚
A fun episode of The Incomparable on my favourite fiction book of 2024
Finished reading: Faith, Hope and Carnage by Nick Cave by Seán O’Hagan is a remarkable conversation about creativity, grief, and religion📚
📚 Although I exceeded my goal of reading 45 books in 2024 by finishing 60 books. I’m going to keep my goal for 2025 at 45, anticipating that I’ll be reading more non-fiction this year which will slow me down – for the better.
Finished reading: The Infernal Machine is another great book by Steven Johnson. I enjoy how he integrates seemingly small technological changes with broad historical trends. Always interesting to read 📚
2024 was another great year for books. My favourite fiction book was Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Non-fiction was As Gods by Matthew Cobb.
Finished reading: Translation State by Ann Leckie is another great book in the Imperial Radch series. I’ve enjoyed each one📚
Finished reading: I enjoyed the satirical futility of The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis 📚
Finished reading: A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab is a fun second book of a great series. I’m looking forward to the next one📚
Finished reading: I really enjoyed The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin. The Earthsea series is very good 📚
Finished reading: Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman is a great companion to Four Thousand Weeks (my favourite non-fiction book of 2022). I followed the author’s suggestion and read a chapter a day to help the ideas percolate 📚
Finished reading: Fire Exit: A Novel by Morgan Talty is a good book about the importance of knowing your family’s stories 📚
Finished reading: In The Antidote, Oliver Burkeman makes a lot of sense to me about how to live sensibly and genuinely 📚
Finished reading: For You by Patrick Rhone is full of wisdom in short chapters. I read one every couple of days to let the ideas percolate before rushing to the next chapter📚
Finished reading: Superintelligence: Is Canada Ready for AI? by The Logic is a nice overview of the state of AI in Canada 📚
Finished reading: Fleeced by Andrew Spence will make you mad at the Canadian banks, though he also offers suggestions for fixing the sector📚
Finished reading: As a Gen X, I unironically enjoyed Chuck Klosterman’s entertaining and nostalgic analysis of The Nineties 📚
Finished reading: Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh is really good📚
Finished reading: The Armageddon Protocol by Dan Moren finishes a fun series 📚
Finished reading: The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan. I’m simultaneously delighted and intimidated by how long these books are and how many of them are left to go 📚
Finished reading: The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik is a good end to a great series 📚
Finished reading: I enjoyed the rich detail of The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison. I think you need to have liked The Goblin Emperor (which I did) to appreciate this one though📚
Finished reading: The Long War by Stephen Baxter is okay. Not nearly as interesting as the first book in the series and has a rather meandering plot 📚
Finished reading: I mostly enjoyed The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz. Great world building across thousands of years and interesting ideas. The middle third dragged a bit though 📚
Finished reading: A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers is delightful. The Monk and Robot series is fun. Sort of like a mirror universe Murderbot📚