2019 Book List

Here are some books I’m reading in 2019, loosely organized. I’ll be updating this over the course of the year, so check back if you’d like to follow along!

Technology

read

★★★★

Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug

Great primer on interaction design—when in doubt, don’t make your user think!

currently reading

CSS the Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland

Art + Design

currently reading

The Laws Guide to Nature Journaling by John Muir Laws

to read

Steering the Craft by Ursula K LeGuin

to read

Just My Type by Simon Garfield

Culture

read

★★★

Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman

Interesting analysis about how messages change with evolving media. In particular, his observation that we’re living in Huxley’s dystopia and not Orwell’s is very interesting/compelling. However, this text is really subjectively judgemental about how “nEw MeDiA iS rUiNiNg OuR mInDs” and it distracts from his good points about the evolution of human communication. If I could get a less salty version it would be a five star book.

read

★★★★★

Bullshit jobs by David Graeber

Excellent analysis of professional time-wasting culture. This book made me think a lot about how I spend my time at work, and why I do it in the first place.

currently reading

Where Do We Go From Here? by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

to read

Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck

to read

So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

Fiction

read

★★★★

The moon is a harsh mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

Really great revolution story, though the libertarianism got a little heavy handed

read

★★★★★

Killing Mister Watson by Peter Matthiessen

Fictionalized account of a string of murders in post-colonial Florida. Very exciting and historically a very interesting read.

read

★★★★★

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

The main character is a SHIP that has a human(ish?) body and I LOVED IT

read

★★★★★

The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin

This whole series has been a little slow to start, but I loved this book. Liu’s Cosmic Sociology and Dark Forest theory have had me thinking a lot about how we approach others in the world.

read

★★★★★

The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen

A mysterious woman is murdering socialites by exposing them to a twisted, wild power. I’m working on an interactive narrative adaptation of this story, check back for more!

read

★★★★

A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab

A pretty novel take on the alternate magical universe. The world-building is a little dramatic, but the characters are great.

read

★★★

A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab

Not as good as the first, but still a fun vacation read.

read

★★★★★

The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra

A series of short stories revolving around a pastoral painting from the beginning of the Soviet Union through the Second Chechen War. I resisted reading this book despite several highly trustworthy recommendations because I think the title is really stupid. Don’t repeat my errors.

read

★★★★★

Death’s End by Liu Cixin

Final book in a great that series examines this question of what it means for humanity to persist in a cosmic society. It’s the first sci-fi story I’ve read that imagines alien societies the way we currently imagine xenophobic nations—self-obliterating weapons and all. This was one of the most innovative sci-fi series I’ve read in a long time, and the critique of international weapons policy and what it means to go to war was spot on.

read

★★★★★

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

Considered foundational military sci-fi, The Forever War was actually commentary on the Vietnam war. Exciting, well-told story about the effects of war on the individuals that survive.