Category: Books

I’m only a third through The Box, but I can already recommend it.

A good history book creates context and energizes the mind. As we wrestle with the advent of AI, Levinson tells a a story of disruption that rhymes with what I fear we will see in the coming years.

The world of shipping was completely different up through the first half of the 20th century before the invention and adoption of containers. Then the 50’s and 60’s flipped it upside down.

• It’s mindblowing that we had a world of international trade with individually packed ships. How did we supply two world wars on opposite oceans merely with muscling things in and out holds?
• What American doesn’t feel some sense of pride at a crazy innovator- entrepreneur stumbling into the creation of a new system to revolutionize the world?
• The next chapter tells the utter devastation that this change wrought upon New York City. But was it ultimately for the better?
• And chapter 6 details the struggles of the Longshoremen unions grappling with this change. (Good luck to us white collars, without any union support!)

I’m curious what the next chapters will bring. It’s already been well worth the time. So surprising that the boring shipping container is the center of such a riveting narrative!

~

Here’s a gratuitous plug for the boardgame Container by Franz-Benno Delonge. It’s one of my favorite games — a basic ruleset for a brainbursting experience. It’s been out of print for a while but can be easily DIY’ed.

At the end of 2022, I started a rotation of books and essays to re-read regularly.

I’m slowly going through them on this first pass, but in the future I plan on just reading selected passages.

And yes, I’m open to suggestions!

~

Main List

1. The Art of War
2. The Wisdom Books (Job thru Qohelet)
3. Tao Te Ching
4. Analects of Confucius
5. The Way of Chuang Tzu
6. Mencius
7. Dhammapada
8. Letter to Menoceus, Epicurus
9. Bhagavad Gita
10. Letters on Ethics: To Lucilius
11. The Gospels and the Epistle to the Romans
12. The Book of Lieh-Tzu
13. The Wisdom of the Desert, Thomas Merton
14. Bodhicarayvatara, Santideva
15. Havamal
16. The Book of Rumi:105 Stories (Masnavi)
17. Narrow Road to the Deep North, Basho
18. US Constitution
19. Gettysburg Address
20. Nevada Constitution
21. The Aphorisms of Franz Kafka
22. Letter from the Birmingham Jail
23. Labyrinths, Borges
24. Invisible Cities, Calvino
25. 5000 B.C., Smullyan
26. 8 Pieces of Brocade
27. Opus, Satoshi Kon
28. Fail Safe Investing
29. Bed of Procrustes
30. Vis for Vulnerable
31. Several Short Sentences about Writing
32. Salt Fat Acid Heat
33. Creativity, John Cleese
34. Smart Brevity

Maybes

1. Upanishads
2. Socratic Dialogues, Plato
3. Meditations, Marcus Aurelius
4. Quran
5. The Journey to the West
6. Self Reliance, Emerson
7. Civil Disobedience, Thoreau
8. Essays and Aphorisms, Schopenhauer
9. Species of Spaces, Perec
10. Amusing Ourselves to Death
11. Radically Short Instructions, Matthews

In 2020, I decided to purchase “only” twelve books. I cheated with a few caveats and provisos, but I’ve been decent at limiting my purchases in the past three years.

It helps that my desire to own physical books has diminished after discovering ebooks and audiobooks on Libby/Overdrive, even though I’m now buying physical copies of books that I really enjoy!

Before I step into one last “new-normal”, returning to the office tomorrow morning, I thought I should finally publish this long brewing update of my book purchases and share my wall of shame from the past three years. As always, I’m quite bad at predicting what “future Justus” will want to read.

(No kidding, look at the boxes of books in the garage while we pretend to look for a permanent house).

2020, Unread

1. Krazy Kat (1916-1918), George Herriman. This series is legendary and I’m debating whether to collect the entire set. I got the first one, but I haven’t cracked it open in the past three(!) years! Eek.
2. The Art of Happiness, Epicurus, George K. Strodach. I was curious about his philosophy, but Epicurus turned out to be heavily focused on his speculations concerning physical physics. I quickly lost interest. I might power through the rest of the book at some point, just to get the feather in the cap.
3. Growing Food in a Drier Hotter Land, Gary Nabhan. I was absolutely smitten by his first book The Desert Smells like Rain, which I discovered via an environmental literature course syllabus. Purchased as part of a big Chelsea Green Publishing House sale.
4. Being Salmon, Being Human, Martin Lee Mueller. The premise sounds interesting and I hope to read this eventually though in spite of my recent turn towards ancient wisdom literature. This was on deep discount as part of a big Chelsea Green Publishing House sale.

2021, Unread

1. The Ultimate Micro-RPG Book, James D’Amato. I haven’t done anything with this book beyond wrapping it up as an extra birthday present for my daughter.
2. Zhuangzi (inner chapters), Burton Watson. This is universally acclaimed as a translation and I didn’t want to read this on the phone.
3. Seven Military Classics of Ancient China, Ralph D. Sawyer. This is a hefty book! I wanted the breadth of classical thought on this matter and by golly I got it. Now I need to read it.
4. The Art of War, John Minford. I didn’t realize that I had already listened to this book on tape. Then again, it’s hard to go wrong with a spare copy of Sunzi.
5. Tao Te Ching, Laozi, John Minford. I read half of this book before being forced to return it to the library. I liked the extensive commentary so I decided to get my own copy.
6. I Ching, John Minford. I liked Minford so much as a translator on his other two works that I decided to start my I Ching journey with his translation.
7. I Ching, Helmut Wilhelm / Cary Baynes. This is the classic that made it a fad in the the artsy circles in the mid-20th century. Since it was good enough for Merce Cunningham and John Cage, I felt I should get my own hardcopy.
8. I Ching, Richard Lynn. This translation is well regarded, especially in a favorable review SJ Marshall of Biroco.com, calling it the yin to the yang of the Wilhelm/Baynes translation. Given my big kick, I thought it was worth investing a slot to check it out.
9. China, Hiroji Kubota. His Portrait of America was so good, I had to see how he handled China just as the nation started its stratospheric ascent into becoming a superpower. I also thought it would be good for the kids to see what China was when their mom was born.
10. Out of the East, Hiroji Kubota. This was a snap Amazon algorithm purchase. I fear this may be a lesser work, since the price was so low, but I liked Kubota enough to take a flier on it.

2022, Baker’s Dozen

1. Pearls Awaits the Tide, Stephan Pastis. When Pearls publishes, I buy.
2. Sixty-Four Chance Pieces, Will Buckingham. He wrote a great article about the I Ching, and as a fellow fan of Calvino, I’m curious to read his work. However, I’m going to wait till I’ve caught up to the calendar and see if I’m still into the I Ching before making such a purchase (same goes for Changing, a book of I Ching related poetry Richard Berengarten).
3. Explore TIPS: A Practical Guide to Investing in Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, Harry Sit. When I started investing, I thought TIPS might be a magic way out of worrying about how to allocate our savings. No such luck, it’s basically another form of cash.
4. Value Averaging, Michael Edelson. More technical than for my needs. I guess it was good to see how deep the optimization could go. And then ignore it cause I got better things to do with my time.
5. V is for Vulnerable: Life Outside the Comfort Zone, Seth Godin.
6. Local News, poems by Sonja Marqulies. I was looking for another book by the same title, but her life story is intriguing and I was getting into poetry. It’s enjoyable, better than anything I could write, but it didn’t slap me with it’s greatness like the works more famous authors. Or maybe it’s just my subconscious big-name bias.
7. 5000 B.C. and other Philosophical Fantasies, Raymond Smullyan. I’ve hit my limits on philosophy with this book. It’s gets more technical than I can handle. Though maybe I’ll add his chapter of quick hits to the “Little Library” (see below)
8. Castle of Crossed Destinies, Italo Calvino. I think I’ll pickup the the Visconti and Grimaud Marseilles tarot decks to go with the book.
9. Haiku, Richard Wright. I’ve known of this book for years but waited on finishing Kerouac’s collection of American Pops, before picking this up.
10. The Couple’s Tao Te Ching, William Martin. To my credit, I read it. It’s good. Not great. Still very good.
11. The Parent’s Tao Te Ching, William Martin. I finished reading this (again) as well. It’s very good too, better than the Couple’s version. It has its place in a library, even if it’s not top shelf stuff.
12. Station Island, Seamus Heaney. This was a snap purchase at the friends of the Library bookstore.
13. What’s Michael Fatcat Collection, Volume 2. It would be ridiculous not to complete the omnibus pairing.

2023, Purchases

1. (2020 uncheat) Mutts Sundays, Patrick McDonnell. With my daughter’s comics obsession I wanted her to read some Mutts to go with her Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes.
2. (2020 uncheat) Salt Fat Acid Heat, Samin Nosrat. An instant classic, I purchased it at the start of the quarantine (having previously read it at the library) but I haven’t referenced it a single time.
3. (2020 uncheat) The Art of Fermentation, Sandor Ellix Katz. I read the a library copy during quarantine and wanted my own copy. I purchased it as part of a big Chelsea Green Publishing House sale, but haven’t referenced it either.
4. (2022 uncheat) Godel Escher Bach, Douglas Hofstadter. One of my white whales in literature.
5. (2022 uncheat) Nature’s Chaos, James Gleick and Elliot Porter. I own a small format soft cover, but I thought the photos require the full size hardcover to do them justice.
6. Satoshi Kon’s Opus. I’m a huge fan of his movies, but there are only four of them (plus one anime). I read this manga on Libby and decided to get a copy. At some point I should check out his other work (also on Libby) even though I hate reading on the phone.
7. World Atlas of Cheese, Nancy Eekhof-Stork. The excuse is that I bought it for the kids. But let’s be real, who loves cheese most around here?
8. Boring Postcards, USA, Martin Parr. I liked my Christmas present so much I picked up the USA one. I hope I’ll like it as much as Plates + Dishes.
9. The Illustrated I Ching, R. L. Wing. I came across it on Post.news and saw it has old paintings in it. Yeah why not.
10. (not yet purchased but gonna happen on June 6, 2023) — Pearls Seeks Enlightenment. I always pick up these Stephan Pastis treasuries when they are published every ~18 months.

Little Library Cheats

I’m trying to create a little library of books that to re-read regularly, classics to revisit every year or two. For now, I’ll give myself a dispensation so these don’t count against my limit.

1. Bhagavad Gita, Eknath Easwaran. I picked this up, based on a recommendation on a podcast. It’s fine. There are enough technical terms that I keep going to the glossary to see what’s being said. Maybe I’ll pick up another version in the future. That said, I don’t think I’ll be trying out Easwaran’s detailed 3 volume commentary.
2. Analects of Confucius, D. K Lau. I picked up a copy at the end of the year as part of my little library. I’m halfway through this book, but I suspect I prefer Robert Eno‘s teaching translation and commentary.
3. The Way of Chuang Tzu, Thomas Merton. I’ve hit a brick wall with the Burton Translation. I hope to finish it at some point, but for regular re-reading, I picked up the first version I read.
4. The Wisdom of the Desert, Thomas Merton. Yeah, it’s an edited collection, but this library is all about excerpts that hits.
5. Fail Safe Investing, Harry Browne. Yeah his Permanent Portfolio is quirky and you can take or leave his libertarian leanings. But this book describes a practical philosophy towards money that most resonates with the way I see the world. A quick read, highly recommended.
6. Several short sentences about writing, Verlyn Klinkenborg. This is the most influential book I’ve read in years. Of course I bought it.
7. Creativity, John Cleese. I borrowed the book on Libby and loved it. I plan on re-reading this regularly.
8. (To be purchased) Mencius. After I read Robert Eno’s teaching translation, I might pick up a hardcopy of this book. A bound book has its own charms.
9. (To be purchased) Wanderer’s Havamal, Jackson Crawford. Once I’ve read through the Chinese classics in my little library, I’ll buy a copy of this book.
10. (To be purchased) Bed of Procrustes, Nicholas Nassim Taleb. Once I’ve made it through the ancient western portion of my little library I’ll pick up this book. I keep planning on buying it, and I think it’s about time.

On Deck

1. Journey to the West (unabridged, 4 volumes), Anthony C. Yu. I loved reading this on my ebook reader. Time to get a hardcopy.
2. Tarot: How to Read the Future, Fred Gettings. I need to feed the beast with my new hobby. This one seems delightfully convoluted.
3. 99 Variations on a Proof, Philip Ording. Intriguing concept to go with Matt Madden’s 99 Ways to Tell a Story and of course the original Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau.
4. Narrow Road to the Deep North, Basho. I’ve been reading this on-and-off on Libby. If the later chapters grab me, I’ll pick up a copy.
5. Wisdom Books, Robert Alter. I liked his translation with notes of these books in the old testament. If I re-read it again, I’ll pick up my own copy.
6. The Masnavi, I found Rumi in 2022. At some point I should jump in, maybe after the sixth volume is published.
7. The Odyssey, Robert Fagles. To pair with the copy of the Iliad we already own. But first, I gotta get some reading done.
8. Seneca. Tech-bros have tarnished stoicism, but I keep thinking there must be something there. Maybe I’ll find something in Seneca?
9. Lieh-Tzu. Speaking of random philosophers, I might as well throw in the third widely acclaimed foundational text of Taoism.
10. Plato/Socrates. I presume one of their dialogs should end up in my little library. I have a collection of five dialogs at home. Once I read that, maybe I’ll dig something else.
11. The Message of the Quran, Muhammad Asad. I finally got a recommendation for which translation to read, so I have no excuse to keep from jumping in.
12. Calvin and Hobbes, complete box set. I have the first half of Bill Watterson’s run in trade paperback format. Maybe I’ll buy the whole thing in for Christmas.
13. Same for the Gary Larsen’s Far Side Collection.
14. Essays and Aphorisms, Arthur Schopenhauer. Maybe? I’m a sucker for aphorisms and famous philosophers.
15. The Aphorisms of Franz Kafka. Maybe? I’m a sucker for aphorisms and famous writers.
16. Be Here Now, Ram Dass. After reading the digital version, I’ll most likely buy a hardcopy since I think this was meant to be read physically.
17. Tao: The Watercourse Way, Alan Watts. Sometimes I wanna get my 1960’s woo on.
18. A History of Haiku (4 volumes), R. H. Blyth. I came across this while reading the Kerouac Haiku book. Maybe.

Gulp! Lots of reading!

As always, this is a good reminder why I must only buy one book at a time. Whenever I shoot past the immediate future, I end up with a great book buried in piles of other books that haven’t been read (yet?).

---

After I wrote the initial draft of this mega-list in mid-2022, Libby stopped syncing across my iOS devices forcing me to reset the devices. I had multiple tagged items that weren’t synced, and the only way to rescue the tags were to export them and then manually re-tag them after fixing the glitch. This exercise highlighted how much my interests would drift in just a few months. All these tags carried the lingering aura of past desire, but I had lost interest in almost all of them.

Given my fondness for organizing things, I followed up that exercise with sorting out my Amazon lists. These lists go back a decade, so this was reliving the past on steroids. I’m certain all the books I listed are worthy of my time, but I’ve finally accepted that I’ll never get around to reading any of them. I should just delete those entries, but I’m not yet mature enough to take that step.

Even so, I’m keenly aware that time is not my friend. I need to come to grips with the fact that there are only about 432 books left in my lifetime (12 x 36).

An exquisite pairing of surreal poetry with surreal watercolors.
Sendak’s haunting elegy for his brother.

The final book of a Master’s career.
I haven’t experienced loss to fully understand this book.

I’ll comprehend this book one day, life doesn’t let one escape so easily.
And if you exit unscathed, then others must bear the pain.

So I hope to grasp this book one day.
But let it be long away.

A four book series around the theme of family.

• The four are forged into a family, escaping the city and finding a new home.
• Jane is rescued, growing the family.
• Alexander leaves his family and finds a new home.
• Jane leaves the woods and finds Mom again.

This theme is tuned perfectly with its audience.
At this age, the kids are realizing their individuality beyond us.
This family isn’t forever.

They will soon explore the outside world,
It won’t be easy —
Dangers lurk, both harsh and soft.

And there are rewards,
To find new friends,
Together create their own new worlds.

At home, the parents prescribe the horizon.
Soon (too soon!) they’ll fly away.
And one day,
Hopefully,
They’ll come home.

~

I came across this series via Le Guin’s No Time to Spare, an excellent collection of blog postings. This highlights my egregious oversight in never reading her before. Hopefully 2023 will be the year to dive into her work.

S. D. Schindler’s illustrations are delightful. It’s a shame that Overdrive only hosts the Catwing audiobooks. Hopefully they’ll get the digital rights in order so they can distribute the written books.

Thankfully, our library has copies of the physical books.

Exactly as advertised.

Chapter One: Do the work (and give the subconscious room to do its work).

Chapter Two: Don’t rush into a hasty decision (get comfortable in the discomfort of creation). Play with the problem (create space to avoid distractions).

An appendix of miscellany.

That’s it.
Short and cheerful.
Brilliant in its brevity.

As a connoisseur of self-help manuals, I proclaim Creativity a classic.
(I immediately purchased my own copy — can I recommend it any higher?)

䷨䷕

This was recommended in an conversation about bloated self help books. It was brought up as an antidote to Cal Newport’s Deep Work. They were right. Cleese is quick and light. A joy to read.

If you’re a fan of Man’s Search for Meaning, then this book is a required sequel.

You won’t dig it as much.
It doesn’t have the power of the original.
Nothing can match his narrative of life in concentration camps.

That’s why this book is so important as a follow up.
This book is technical theory.
A polemic for Logotherapy and Existential Analysis.

Boring is the point.
If you buy his philosophy, then the belief should survive a much dryer accounting.

On my end, I don’t know.
I can’t knock it — anything that survives Auschwitz is worth consideration.
It’s certainly truthy.
But is it true?

I’ll leave that to professional psychologists and philosophers.

䷶

I appreciate that Frankl drew a distinction between theology and psychiatry.
In our soup of competing totalizing theories, I respect someone who is humble enough to prescribe limits around his own discipline.

Like most sequels, these books are nice, but underwhelming.

The Washington book on politics was downright depressing. It’s important to examine the sophistry of politicians, but it’s hard to laugh about misdirection in the service of power plays in the face of rising authoritarianism and a war in Europe.

With my recent interest in aging and death, I had higher expectations about Pearly Gates, but it didn’t add much to the conversation. Maybe I’ve been over-exposed to the subject with my recent readings.

Both are worth checking out if you really liked Plato and a Platypus, but don’t go in with high expectations.

䷒䷊

I doubt I’ll revisit Washington (too depressing) but I might relisten Pearly Gates to see what I missed.

Midlife is a strange time. Major decisions have been made, and with kids the focus has been switched towards preparing for their wild problems.

But we’re not old! We’re caught in a predetermined present, experiencing physical decline, playing out the decisions of the past, while dimly peering towards decades of an uncertain future.

So how we manage? The book starts with contemplations upon regret (fully acknowledging that much “regret” in affluent countries are #firstworldproblems). Then Setiya ponders how to best consider about our mortality and closes with a chapter about life beyond goals.

When young, we pursue projects for specific results. Get that degree, grab that job! The paradox of such pursuits is that accomplishing the goal kills the goal. I often felt such emptiness after final reviews. A killer presentation is better than failure (I’ve done that too) but still left lingering hollow emptiness. All for what? On to the next semester.

Accomplishments are critical in the pursuit of prosperity (there is almost little income benefit between a high school graduate and a 3-year college dropout). Crossing the next check box can’t be all there is, especially now that the ultimate checkpoint is visible in the far horizon.

Setiya brings up the concept of “atelic activities“. Activities for their own reward. Walking for the joy of taking a stroll (not just getting to point B). Reframe one’s hassles with kids from specific tasks (cooking, cleaning, training) to the generic atelic act of parenting (easier said than done!).

Live in the present.

I’ve noticed this shift in my reading. I used to devour business books, searching for nuggets to improve productivity and leadership skills. But I’m now closer to retirement than hand drafting in Berkeley. The ROI has waned and this homo economicus has turned away from consuming productive fare.

My bed stand currently has two books of poetry, a book on philosophy, and a photo monograph. Hell, instead of reading last night, I listened fifteen minutes of Sunday at the Village Vanguard.

Midlife might not be pretty, but that’s pretty cool.

䷠䷋

I enjoyed the book, listening to it twice before writing these notes. Setiya dives into deep topics but writes accessibly for a popular audience. He knows he’s in the self help genre and respects that we aren’t his academic colleagues.

This book is worth reading well before breaking into your forties. It’s good to get some advance warning on the foibles of the upcoming decades. Just like my recommendation to read Travels with Epicurus to folks my age.