2018 Books

I set a goal to read 24 books in a year, and I didn’t quite make it there, although I was very close—20 completed books—and 4 unfinished ones, marked with an asterisk (*) in the lists below.

Nonfiction

1. The End of Night* Bogard ♥ nature ♥ darkness ♥ philosophy
2. The Joy of X* Strogatz ♥ mathematics ♥ nature ♥ joy of learning
3. Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! Feynman ♥ physics ♥ memoir ♥ joy of learning
4. What Do You Care What Other People Think? Feynman ♥ physics ♥ memoir ♥ joy of learning
5. The Order of Time Rovelli ♥ physics ♥ time ♥ critical thinking
6. The Technological Singularity Shanahan ♥ technology ♥ futurism ♥ critical thinking
7. Life 3.0 Tegmark ♥ biology ♥ futurism ♥ critical thinking
8. The Selfish Gene Dawkins ♥ biology ♥ genetics ♥ critical thinking
9. How to End the Autism Epidemic Handley ♥ counterargument ♥ critical thinking ♥ Big Pharma
10. Lost Connections* Hari ♥ psychology ♥ depression ♥ Big Pharma
11. The Code of the Extraordinary Mind Lakhiani ♥ psychology ♥ intelligence ♥ self-help
12. Actionable Gamification Chou ♥ psychology ♥ motivation ♥ self-help
13. Emotional Intelligence 2.0 Bradberry, Greaves, & Lencioni ♥ psychology ♥ intelligence ♥ self-help
14. The Emotionally Absent Mother ♥ psychology ♥ ethics ♥ self-help
15. Waking Up Harris ♥ philosophy ♥ ethics ♥ self-help
16. The Betta Bible Brammah ♥ animal care ♥ how-to ♥ genetics
17. The Writer’s Guide to Wattpad Sobieck ♥ how-to ♥ social media ♥ writing
18. Hacking Literacy Dawson ♥ writing ♥ teaching ♥ joy of learning

Fiction

1. The Lathe of Heaven Le Guin ♥ science fiction ♥ futurism ♥ dreams
2. Spinning Silver Novik ♥ fantasy ♥ magic ♥ empowerment
3. The Name of the Wind Rothfuss ♥ fantasy ♥ magic ♥ empowerment
4. The Hundredth Queen King ♥ fantasy ♥ romance ♥ empowerment
5. Illegal Restrepo ♥ young adult ♥ heroism ♥ empowerment

Poetry

Wild Embers* Nikita ♥ empowerment ♥ feminism ♥ heroism

I enjoy reading 8-10 books at a time, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, so I’m good with leaving 4 unfinished texts. It feels like I’m making room to invite the 2019 titles in.

But when I look at the themes running throughout the lists, it just makes me want to read more in 2019. I like the trends—I want to read more about physics, nature, and psychology (my original undergrad major!)—yet I also need to read more fiction; and why did I only sink into one poetry book? I didn’t even finish reading it.

So in 2019, I’d like to read 6 books from each of the following creative forms:

• novels;
• short story collections;
• poetry collections;
• essay collections;
• memoirs; and
• longer nonfiction works on science and/or nature.

That raises the bar to 36 books! Eventually, I’d like to experience a book a week, but 36 is a good number to set for my 2019 resolution.