My 2022 focussed on fitness. Strava helpfully summarizes this as over 4,000 km travelled with 1,600 🏃‍♂️, 2,500 🚴‍♂️, and 100 🏊‍♂️. Plus 🏋️‍♂️ and essential 🧘‍♂️ sessions. I’ll build on this in 2023 while striving for balance

A Strava summary showcases Matt Routley's 2022 activity totals, highlighting 301 active days, a top sport, 26,939 meters of elevation, and a distance of 4,223 kilometers.

Reading more books in 2022 📚

I read many more books this year than in recent, past years. Although this was intentional, I’m glad it worked out. I really cut back on my various internet feeds, so that I was less distracted away from books. Purchasing a Kobo and connecting it to the local public library was also helpful.

The most influential non-fiction book for me this year was Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. Plenty of practical and insightful advice in this book.

Picking a favourite fiction book is always fraught. This year, I think it was A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers. Something about the emotional core of this book really resonated with me.

Here’s the full list of books from the year:

Network EffectThe Well of AscensionThe Gun, the Ship, and the PenA Wizard of EarthseaThe Haunting of Tram Car 015Marooned in RealtimeA Short History of CanadaTiamat's WrathChildhood's EndShiftA Psalm for the Wild-BuiltPlague BirdsAmong OthersStarlightTunnel 29The Eye of the WorldLight From Uncommon StarsArriving TodayPiranesiPersepolis RisingThe Space Between WorldsShipstarThe Nova IncidentA Series of Fortunate EventsThe RookRecord of a Spaceborn FewTrail of LightningThe Ghost BrigadesA Closed and Common OrbitThe Saints of SalvationMr. Penumbra's 24-Hour BookstoreSalvation LostThe Stranger in the LifeboatFour Thousand Weeks

Computation with marbles 🧮🧐

I’ve been interested for a while now in better understanding the underlying mechanics of computers. I’ve also been keen to do something other than stare at a screen. Turing Tumble is a fun solution to both of these goals.

Turing Tumble is an educational game in which you build a mechanical computer that is powered by marbles. The game comes with a comic book that guides you through ever more complex computing principles, adding more sophisticated parts as you progress. Each principle is presented as a challenge in which you’re given a goal and a few starting pieces. You then have to integrate some earlier principles into the new goal to come up with a solution. The challenges get pretty tough! But, I’m enjoying figuring out each puzzle while making progress through the story.

Just as an example, here’s Challenge 26 in which the goal is to release 4 blue marbles, 1 red, and then another 4 blue. The blue, arrow-shaped pieces are bits that allow you to count, while the black piece near the top right corner is an interceptor for stopping computation (warning, spoilers ahead!).

Although the primary audience for this is kids, I’m finding it both fun and educational!

Finished reading: I wanted to like The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen by Linda Colley. The main thesis is that as societies became more complex and conflicts more intense, governments needed to develop written constitutions to cede rights to their citizens and keep them participating in wars. I found getting through the details a tough slog that distracted from the broader narrative. 📚