It is seemingly the end of the year again. A lot has happened in the last year. I got married, I switched from coaching in the private training setting to being back in a high school setting, and I moved. During this process, I continued my best to read as much as possible. But, life is busy, and most of what I read was actually listened to this year (which has continued to be a trend). However, in step with the last five years, I have continued to make my last blog post of the year to be a list of what I've read, from December 2nd of one year, to December 1st of the next.
To start, this year did spark some things which are to be noted. First, I cancelled my Audible subscription. I was taking too long to get through various audiobooks, and was racking up credits, so got what books I wanted and cancelled it. So this year includes a fair number of re-listens from years past. Second, I started to add more fiction reading into the mix. Last year I had added a rule to my reading, in which each book I read had to be written by someone of a different race, gender, or ethnicity than the person before it. This year, I have added to this rule by adding fiction into the mix. Each book has to be written by someone of a different race, gender, ethnicity, or it had to be a different genre. This made the book list for this year to look like the following:
1. "The Rise and Triumph of The Modern Self " by Carl R. Truman*
2. "The Sacred Marriage" by Gary Thomas
3. "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck
4. "Generations" by Jean M. Twenge*
5. "How Can I Get Through To You?" by Terrence Real*
6. "The Tipping Point" by Malcom Gladwell*
7. "Antifragile" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb*
8. "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury
9. "The Canceling of the American Mind" by Greg Lukianoff & Rikki Schlott*
10. "Us: Getting Past You and Me to Build A More Loving Relationship" by Terrence Real*
11. "Mans Search For Meaning" by Viktor Frankl*
12. "Building A Story Brand" by Donald Miller*
13. "The Anxious Generation" by Jonathan Haidt*
14. "The Madness of Crowds" by Douglas Murray*
15. "Insight" by Tasha Eurich*
16. "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" by JRR Tolkien
17. "12 More Rules For Life" by Jordan B. Peterson*
In the past, I've also done a recommendation of which books I think are valuable for reading, and why. I've continued this tradition below.
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
I've read /listened to this book once a year, almost every year, for the last six years or so. I always find its insights helpful, in particular during hard times or during seasons of change. It is so easy to get down on ourselves, or to feel the weight of life's challenges dragging us down. Frankl provides a great understanding about meaning, the mind, and how to find meaning in life when it is tremendously challenging. In particular, I find the end chapters where he breaks down his approach of 'logotherapy' to better understand why we need challenging times in order to maintain psychological health.
The Anxious Generation by Jonathon Haidt
I listened to this one, and a similar counterpart, this year over the span of about three months. Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff co-authored "The Coddling of The American Mind" some years ago, which took a note about the increased censorship on college campuses and the growing culture of sheltering oneself. Haidt has since gone on to write this book, which takes a look at what is happening with mental health issues among the current generation of children. The current generations (GenZ and younger) seem to be far more anxious than the generations before it. In this book, Haidt takes a fascinating look at how technology advancements have lead to regression in the realm of mental health. And he provides a solid case for limiting social media use and access for teenagers across the US.
12 More Rules For Life by Dr. Jordan B. Peterson
Say what you want about Peterson and his work, but this book shines an interesting light on nuance. If his first book "12 Rules For Life: An Antidote To Chaos" seemed rigid, and perhaps even harsh, Peterson provides some nuance regarding his original 12 rules and provides a way of contextualizing things (in some manner at least). I highly recommend this one as "listen" for those who do audiobooks, as Peterson himself reads it and the emotional undertones which are in the book are on full display in his voice as recounts his words. This book is a solid read or listen, especially for those who have found their lives put back in more order, and would like it to continue to be so.
In previous years, I've also rehashed some podcasts that I'd found particularly interesting and made some recommendations on which ones really stuck out to me. However, as I've written this blog for the conclusion of the year, I've found I don't really have ones I want to recommend. Sure, there are a lot of podcasts I listen to, but I've become far greater of a fan of perusing podcasts which interview specific people I like. I find it very helpful to hear the same person interviewed by different hosts, as each host and their style brings a unique presentation of the information. So my recommendation this year is not to any one podcast, or podcast episode, but rather to find the different interviews available with the one person I want to learn from in order to extract as much information as possible from them.
If you've made it this far, I want to thank you. I never really know how many people truly read these posts each year, but if you're one of them, I appreciate the support and interest. To find the previous years' Book Lists, you can find those linked below.
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