Reading Reflections: March and April Catch-up

I'd like to have my Monday posts be a reflection on whichever book I've read the previous week - but seeing as I'm starting this practice with a massive backlog of books I'd like to talk about I figure I'll reflect on the books I've read this year month by month until I'm caught up. 

 

Once I'm caught up I'll put a bit more depth into these reflections; but until then it's the lightning round.

 

Here's March and April. (I only read 1 book in March)

 

Altered Carbon - Richard K Morgan

This was not my first read of this book - I had discovered the series a few years back as a result of the Netflix adaptation. Not a whole lot of value outside of entertainment - but it's a fun read.

8/10 

Space to Grow - Matthew Weinzierl, Brendan Rosseau

Space to Grow was well written and extremely topical to the program I work with at NASA. The book has an excellent balance of hard data/analysis and approachable storytelling.

This was probably the first book I read this year that prompted a strong desire for discussion. I really wanted a book study group to talk about this with and hear what others had gotten from it.

Economics and the Space Industry are both topics that don't always lend themselves to consumption by laymen - but I found that this book did an excellent job of breaking down both to be very easily consumable.

If you're interested in the commercial space sector - this book is definitely for you.

8.5/10 

 

Four Thousand Weeks - Oliver Burkeman

"Any finite life - even the best one you could possibly imagine - is therefore a matter of ceaselessly waving goodbye to possibility" 

If there was one book I've read this year that I could put in your hands and tell you to read - it would be this one.

I've read tons of productivity books all centered on how to squeeze more work into less time - Burkeman arrives with the antithesis. 

Life is not an optimization problem - it's a short and fragile gift that can only be enjoyed if we take time to enjoy it.

This one is a 10/10, must read, I will buy it and send it to you if you ask me to.

What Life Should Mean to You - Alfred Adler

I'll be the first to admit that this book was probably a bit out of my skill level. It had been referenced in one of the prior books I read and as such was added to my list.

There's probably a whole body of psychology knowledge that would have been a good primer before diving directly into Adler's 300 pages of challenging and dense exploration. There's also 100 years of psychology research that has occurred since this book was written - so there may have been more value reading a more timely work.

All that said - I found the content to be reasonably interesting. I had been entirely unfamiliar with the concepts of individual psychology prior to reading and generally found them to be relatable.

If I'm being honest - there is a degree of quackery underlying all of Adler's assertions - but I expect that comes with the territory of pretty much all early 20th century psychology.

6/10 - There's really no reason why anyone who isn't studying psychology should read this. It's no objectively bad - it's just not likely to be particularly interesting or relevant otherwise.

Influencing Human Behavior - Harry Allen Overstreet

This book was referenced in How to Win Friends and Influence People - which is what brought it onto my reading list.

This was another dense read.

Overstreet argues that influence is a result of understanding - not coercion. To develop influence over others you need to appeal to their values, emotions, and sense of purpose. 

The content and the message were great.

The delivery left some to be desired - there were times that Overstreet comes off as incredibly arrogant and condescending and he never uses one word when ten will do the trick.

But nevertheless a worthwhile read.

7/10 

Decoding Greatness - Rod Friedman

I really enjoyed this book. Friedman's argument/approach is a relatively simple one - mastery and success can be reverse engineered and replicated. 

This book was extremely practical, easy to read, and provides enough evidence to reasonably justify its argument.

It also was the source of a statement that's become a maxim for me: 

"Turn negative feedback into corrective action" 

 9/10

Mastering Conversation Skills - Helen Stone

This is potentially the only truly BAD book I've consumed this year. 

I listened to this as an audiobook because it was free and I was just starting to branch into audiobooks as a way to read. 

This book was bad. An amalgamation of uninformed armchair psychology and nonsensical anecdotes wrapped into a really good guide on how to be an awful conversationalist.

0/10 - If you were someone who struggled with social interaction - reading this book would make you worse.  

Fahrenheit-182 - Mark Hoppus

I also selected this book because it was available for free as an audiobook on Spotify - thankfully it was actually worth listening to.

I have been a fan of Blink-182 for most of my life and was reasonably familiar with much of the band's history.

Mark's memoir offered a great perspective. The band has had so many challenges and squabbles over the past 30 years - and Mark doesn't shy away from talking about them. 

This book felt like a perfect appendix to their album "One More Time"

For Blink fans - definitely worth the read.

8/10