I didn’t want to end the year without posting at least once, so here’s my half-baked 2023 recap of books I read this year. At the beginning of the year, I had a simple resolution of reading at least 5 minutes a day. I’m always envious of people who read 20+ or more books a year. Where does Obama find the time to read so much that he can have a favorites list with 15 books? That’s more than what I read in a whole year! I figured, I need to start somewhere and 5 minutes a day seemed easy enough.
In somewhat of a chronological order, here’s a list of books I either read or listened to this year:
- Quiet by Susan Cain
- Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
- Atomic Habits by James Clear
- Self Therapy by Jay Earley *
- No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz (didn’t finish yet) *
- Born Standing Up by Steve Martin *
- This is Marketing by Seth Godin
- Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson *
- Destined for War by Graham Allison *
- Same as Ever by Morgan Housel
Did you know that you can borrow e-books and/or audiobooks via the local library from the comfort of your home? At least this is the case in the US. I stopped buying books during the years I spent traveling abroad and even though I’m no longer on the road, the habit of borrowing from my local library stuck. This came in real handy during covid while I was in Indonesia.
A bonus this year for audio lovers, Spotify began including 15 hours of audiobook content for premium subscribers. I had been on the waiting list for Isaacson’s Elon Musk book for at least a month when Spotify saved me from the wait. It’s definitely one of the few subscriptions I willingly fork out money to keep.
If I had to choose one book that was the most enlightening, it would definitely be Graham Allison’s Destined for War. Although several years old (published 2017) the topic felt so relevant and taught me a great deal on war history. After finishing the book, I felt like I understood how the world works a little more.
For the next year, I hope to read at least one new book a month!
* I tried to find links from authors in the book list above. Couldn’t find the one for Jay Early which led me down a rabbit hole aka Amazon affiliate links. If you buy books from a few of the links above, it’ll probably be the first time I earn laundry money from this blog 😅 Thanks for reading!