Saturday, December 31, 2022

2022 Books in Review

For 2022, I tagged 10 books as "good books" and one as "good audiobook". (Acts of Violets was an exceptionally well done production. The book itself didn't quite meet the "good book" criteria, so I created its own special category.) Nothing earned the "great book" tag. By year, there were plenty of older books, with a couple from the 1700s. However, the most popular year ended up being this year. There didn't seem to be a single author or series that dominated. Brandon Sanderson was the only author that cracked the top tags. The top ones ended up being very broad categories. 

There was an average of .72 books per day, with a couple months averaging more than a book per day. (Thank you 3X speed in Libby and 4X in PlayBooks and Kindle.) I remember back when going beyond 1.5X seemed fast. It does vary by book, but gradually building up to a higher speed does work. The disadvantage is that you miss more if you are interrupted by something loud. With long "boring" books, I have sometimes just let it play even though it is too noisy to really hear and comprehend.


Total Books: 263

Great Books

none

Good Books

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy: A Novel
Carrie Soto Is Back: A Novel
How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going
This Woven Kingdom
Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive
The Awakened Brain: The New Science of Spirituality and Our Quest for an Inspired Life
All the King's Men
Love & Saffron: A Novel of Friendship, Food, and Love
The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America
Duplex: A Micropowers Novel

Good Audiobooks

Acts of Violet

By month read

January: 16
February: 31
March: 22
April: 16
May: 24
June: 34
July: 17
August: 18
September: 20
October: 21
November: 13
December: 31

Books by year written

1739: 1
1748: 1
1840: 1
1854: 1
1886: 1
1891: 1
1896: 1
1919: 1
1927: 1
1944: 1
1946: 1
1947: 1
1948: 1
1954: 1
1962: 1
1968: 1
1972: 1
1976: 1
1979: 2
1981: 2
1984: 1
1985: 1
1986: 2
1987: 1
1989: 3
1990: 1
1991: 1
1992: 3
1995: 2
1996: 1
1997: 2
1999: 3
2000: 1
2001: 2
2002: 2
2003: 1
2004: 2
2005: 4
2006: 1
2007: 3
2008: 2
2009: 10
2010: 5
2011: 4
2012: 5
2013: 10
2014: 9
2015: 8
2016: 16
2017: 14
2018: 13
2019: 18
2020: 24
2021: 30
2022: 41

Stats on years written

mean: 2007
median: 2016
mode: 2022

Most popular tags (other than year and book)

science fiction: 38
history: 27
young adult fiction: 22
psychology: 22
social science: 18
fantasy: 17
science: 16
economics: 14
childrens books: 13
politics: 13
business: 13
medicine: 11
good books: 10
brandon sanderson: 10
literature: 9
self help: 9
technology: 9
autobiography: 9
fiction: 8
philosophy: 8
Audiobooks: 227
Books: 263 (includes audiobooks also available in book form)

Less Is Lost

Arthur Less is a cash strapped gay writer. He has discovered that back rent is owed to the estate for the place that he and others have been living. He goes on a cross country trip to interview a more well known writer and later a book tour of his own. Alas, he is often confused with another black religious writer with the same name. In the end they finally meet after a series of bizarre misadventures on the way. There is some interesting looks into relationships and writers with a light and bizarre feel,

Friday, December 30, 2022

2001: A Space Odyssey

Kubrick's 2001 was "inspired" by a short story by Arthur C. Clarke. However, this was only a basic concept influence. Clarke worked with Kubrick to create the movie. The audiobook is a novelization of the movie. It starts with the primitive society and the monolith, proceeds to the space mission. There is the conflict with HAL and then the final question about humanity. It is very faithful to the movie and does not add a whole lot. This is a rare case where the movie is much better. 

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy: A Novel

A Chinese woman came to America as an performer. The world lots interest in her when she stopped performing. However, she continued to live with the trauma of her life. Her descendents also had their own personal trauma. Even when things seemed to be going well, something would arise to cause them to spin into mental distress. 

This novel intersperses the stories of the lives of women across multiple generation in the past and future. There is the performer that met Andrew Jackson, the girl that escaped a San Francisco cholera epidemic, a 1920s boarding school student, a 1940s nurse, a 2014 computer programmer and a woman in the future undergoing an epigenetic therapy. Each had their own degree of joy and sorrow. In the end, the woman of the future is able to envision the small changes that could turn the sorrows into joy. This also helps her to find the joy in life and end the downward spiral that occurs after bed events.

Scythe

In the future, death is a curable condition. People can live forever. However, this would lead to massive overpopulation. To help control the growth, Scythe's are ordained to take lives. They are above the law and attempt to take people at random. They go through training and apprenticeships and are expected to show caring in their actions. However, as time has progressed, bloodthirsty scythes have entered the ranks. The story tracks two apprentice scythes and their work to uncover the problems in the order. 

This book is an interesting take on the future world. Some scythe's go to great efforts to try to mimic actual causes of death. If we have invincibility, yet also random deaths does that really amount to much? Perhaps it is the temporary immunity to gleaning granted by the scythes that makes the difference. This seems to enable a new group of haves and have-nots. It is not clear how the deaths by scythes are enforced as "final" while others just leave somebody "deadish". Would there be other attempts to work around the system?

Thursday, December 29, 2022

The Darkest Minds: Darkest Minds, Book 1

In the future, there is something that kills off youth. Some are not killed, but end up with special mental powers. They can push thoughts into the minds of people or read people's minds. The United States has fallen into near-anarchy. Kids are rounded into camps. Some escape, but find their youth leaders can be worse than their adult oppressors. There are plenty of forced romance and conflicts and a lot of your typical YA post-apocalyptic stuff. 

Weird Al: Seriously

The Weird Al biography has just the right "weirdness" to it. Rather than being a typical celebrity puff piece, it is a meticulously researched academic work. There are copious footnotes and references to various sources to continue on the Weird Al fix. 

Al Yankovic is smart. He was valedictorian of his high school and graduated a couple years earlier than most. He also has an architecture degree. He also has a reputation for being nice. It is hard to find anybody that has negative things to say about him. He has had the same band for four decades. Even though he does not have to, he seeks permission from all the artists he parodies. He works hard. He devotes significant energy to his parodies, including multiple layers of complexity. He also has many original songs that many consider to be better than his popular parodies.

His parodies take on many different topics. They also take different forms. He often does a "polka medley" of popular songs played polka-style on accordion. He is most known for his alternate lyrics for popular songs. In these he will often try to match characteristics of the original song, while making specific differences for his parody. (Some artists, such as Don McLean and Presidents of the USA have slipped into the Weird Al version of lyrics.) He also creates original songs in the style of artists. ("Dare to be Stupid" was created in the style of Devo and drew praise from the band.)

 

Wednesday, December 28, 2022

The Battle for Christmas: A Cultural History of America's Most Cherished Holiday

New England Puritans had banned Christmas and made it a regular working day. The holiday was far from the wholesome family affair that we think of today. It often involved a lot of public drinking and begging. "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" has lyrics discussion some of this original behavior. The carolers went around begging and would not leave until the received something. This was a time of year when the poor would extract from the wealthy.

In southern plantations, the Christmas season was a time to help keep slaves in check. The masters would "serve" the slaves. They would receive one of the best meals of the year, including meat and copious amounts of alcohol. After spending the holidays in a drunken stupor, the slaves would feel that they need the master to keep them in order. The master would also use the time to give them gifts (such as winter coats). Slaves that did not cooperate during the year would see their gifts reduced.

Many of the traditions that we have today were "invented" as old traditions. Christmas trees and many other things we think of at Christmas were made popular in the 1800s. They were hinted at as being old traditions, but were not common among people before then. Gift giving to children became the primary behavior, with Santa Claus and the like constructed at that time. Christmas became a holiday in the home, rather than of drunken revelry. (Though we still have work Christmas parties continuing on the "old" tradition.)

Monday, December 26, 2022

We Spread

A widow artist has a fall. She moves into a small assisted rural living facility. She befriends the other residents. She dies.

The novel delves into her brain in the last part of her life. She has some dementia. She seems to think time is passing in a linear fashion. However, her experiences are jumping around. An injury is "miraculously" healed. A friend is suddenly much older. Suddenly a bunch of paintings have been created.  

The novel is deeply disturbing. Is this how aging happens? Or is this interpreted to be a supernatural book? Getting old and losing memory is very scary. Is it even worth it enduring this "half life" in the old age?

Sunday, December 25, 2022

The Cerulean

Cerulean tells the story from two points of view. One group is a society of feminine creatures that are in a city in the sky. They marry in groups of three "mothers" and then one has a child. The other group is more standard humans. Their society is male dominated. 

Sera is sent down from the sky city as a sacrifice to "unteather" the city.  However, she does not die. She ends up getting caught by a human. The humans discover that her blood can cure wounds. They keep her as a way to cure.

Some members of the sky city have a crisis of faith as the sacrifice did not work as it should. People on the lower world also have their conflicts. The children of a key figure are set to support Sera and leave the area. They end up connecting at the end.

I kept feeling that this was a story about fairies. It is a set of two interesting cultures that have their own struggles, and even more challenges when meeting together.

Saturday, December 24, 2022

Carrie Soto Is Back: A Novel

Carrie Soto has lived her life for tennis. Her father was an Argentine tennis pro and her mother died when she was young. She has grown up around tennis. She is ruthless and known as the "battleaxe". She just wants to win, regardless of what people think of her.  In her career, she won more championships than anyone else in history. She started to fall and retired in her young 30s. A few years later, after another tennis player tied her record, she decided to come back. 

The book is fiction, but feels like it could have been a sports memoir. References to fictional (Daisy Jones and the Six) and actual (Inner Game of Tennis) are intertwined. You almost feel you could look up Carrie Soto on Wikipedia.

Carrie struggles with the mental part of tennis. She has difficulty losing. She is not well liked by others. Nobody on the women's tour will practice with her. She ends up practicing with an older player on the men's tournament. They had a brief fling in their youth. It is clear that he will end up being a love interest in the story, even though it is a struggle for her.

Carrie started out with her father as a coach. She rose to prominence with him coaching. Then she chose a new coach for her peak years (and decline.) For the comeback, it was her father again. The story is as much about her relationships (with father, men and other tennis players) as it is about tennis. I rocketed through in one sitting. It shows plenty of growth in character and has a satisfying (if not expected) ending.


Friday, December 23, 2022

The Door of No Return

People have mostly lived locally within Africa. They don't understand why a teacher would want them to speak English. It can at times be unclear whether or not parts are dreams or real. There are expected family relationships and conflicts with some type of wrestling match. In the end people are hauled away in a boat. (Is it a slave ship? Or something similarly bad.) It was a little bit difficult to figure out what is going on.

Thursday, December 22, 2022

To the Lighthouse

A bunch of British people are going on a vacation near a Lighthouse. Most of the novel is spent exploring the inner thoughts of the characters. That would be great if I could relate to the characters. Alas, I had trouble caring much about them and could not focus well on the book.

Monday, December 19, 2022

Gleanings: Arc of a Scythe

I have yet to read any of the novels in the Arc of the Scythe, but I think I have a pretty good understanding of the series after reading these short stories. They are set in the universe of the novel and provide small vignettes of characters and experiences. 

A futuristic world has "conquered death". Through technology, just about any illness can be cured and "death" can be reversed. This would lead to endless life. But it would also lead to overpopulation if people could still reproduce. Enter the Scythe. They have the special role of "gleaning" people and killing them permanently. (They will also "self glean" to take themselves out.) Some people have special identifiers that say they cannot be gleanded for some time.

The stories cover some scythes as well as some people that are related to them. There are some hints of the politics between the world and some conflicts with the "powers" The society has also gone out on interplanetary missions. Sometimes people are made "deadish" to limit excess resource consumption. In another story, an AI destroys a ship (making everyone really dead) after all humans are "deadish".

Saturday, December 17, 2022

The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance

"Self 1" and "Self 2" battle for dominance in carrying out tasks. One is the conscious self. The other is the subconscious. Instruction usually focuses on the conscious. However, it is the subconscious that must complete the task. 

The book is a mix of tennis-specific advice within a general framework. In tennis, the racquet is an extension of the body. If we try to focus our mind too much on the mechanics, we will fail. Instead, we should picture the general goal. Visualize the result in our mind and then let our body flow through the motions to achieve. Repeat the desired actions rather than think of the detail. This can be applied to specific areas of tennis as well as other aspects of life.

Friday, December 16, 2022

Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions

Temple Grandin has been diagnosed with autism and thinks visually. The visual thinking has helped her in her career with animals. She identifies things that are not easily noticed by others and helps them to work. She likes to identify herself more by what she can do than the label of autism.

The book spends time one the lamentable state of the US education system. Visual thinkers are often shunted aside. They are forced to do algebra and abstract math classes that are not relevant to their needs. We have also not been providing sufficient vocational coursework that could be beneficial. At the same time we are kicking them to the curb, we have a lack of expertise in key "hands on" work. We need to better let people use their skills. At the same time we are delaying verbal thinkers. When students do well at math and school, they should be pushed ahead, rather than have them delayed by others. 

Another part of the book covers the differences between visual and verbal thinkers. The types are not a binary, but exist on a spectrum. There are different areas that people do well on. The autism spectrum also comes in here and can include both types. Though the spectrum is wide and has many overlapping areas. 

The end of the book is a discussion about animals and how they "think" and "feel". It all comes together to give it the feel of "multiple books in one" rather than a single work.

The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less

When the general population was asked, most said they wanted to choose their own cancer treatment. When the same question was posed to people with cancer, they prefered to have their treatment chosen by others. We want choice, yet we really don't. The feeling of being in control of one's life is important for happiness. Yet too much choice leads to misery.

Today, we have the ability to make choices in many areas that were previously pre-determined. Many "choices" had been of the "take it or leave it" variety. You could choose to follow the local norms and practices or not. Today, there are many more options. Rather than just enter into a heterosexual relationship, you could choose among many of the LGBTQIA+ acronyms, or even go further to areas that are not yet mainstream. There are various identities available based on race, ethnicity, disability and many other areas. Instead of a local religion to follow, there are a multitude of ones to pick from. There is an option to choose and an expectation that the religion will match your desires. 

The many choices that we have leads to more challenges and less happiness. This is especially true with those that are "maximizers" rather than "satisficers". Maximizers want to always make the best choice. With the large number of different options, this is much more difficult.  There are many opportunities for the choice to be "wrong". It is much easier to look for potential ways other choices could have been better (or your choice is worse). There is also the human tendency to loss aversion which ties together with the endowment effect. Once you make a decision, you are likely to stay with it, even if you would not have chosen it with what you know now. You are also hurt more with "bad" decisions. Even the ability to reverse a decision leads to decreased happiness. Now there is another "decision" that needs to be made to potentially reverse it or keep it. You are less likely to be happy with something that you could have changed because now there are many options for it to be better.

Standards, rules, routines and presumptions help increase happiness with decisions. These limit the choices that are needed and thus make decisions easier. They help with "second order decisions" about when to make decisions. With the abundance of material prosperity, security becomes more important than overall wealth. (Money in a low-interest bank is secure, even though it won't lead to more wealth creation. However, it also won't provide as much second guessing.) Framing decisions in different ways can add to or decrease happiness. The "hedonic treadmill" can also lead us to continually seeking greater happiness. What once provided happiness no longer does. With an infinite number of choices, this is now more and more difficult.

Nyxia Uprising: The Nyxia Triad, Book 3

The kids have learned that their benefactors have genocidal motives on the planet they are occupying. That doesn't really matter because the two moons are about to collide, leading to the destruction of the planet. There are many conflicts as natives, marines and other forces are all engaged in fights.

After a lot of death and destruction, some humans and aliens are together in a ship headed towards earth. It all makes for a nice ending, but how realistic is it? Would people just believe some kids and aliens over a giant corporation? I would imagine there would be a lot of spin in place. And would society just accept aliens coming down to earth? Just imagine the protests and the government action and red tape. It seems just a little too optimistic.

Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Acts of Violet

Acts of Violet is an excellently produced audiobook. The novel centers around the life and disappearance of magician Violet Volk as told through past history and podcast segments. Each podcast is done like an actual podcast, complete with different voices being interviewed. It has the feel of a radio play.

Violet and her sister Sasha here daughters of Russian immigrants who grew up in suburban New Jersey. Sasha was also the more popular one. Violet retreated to magic. She became a super-famous, enigmatic celebrity magician who later pivoted into self-help guru. After a break, she appeared in a one-night spectacle. In the performance, she disappeared, never to appear again. A decade later, people are still trying to figure out what happened to her. A podcast host explores the story, connecting with many people that knew her. We also learn that her sister Sasha, while being the "normal" on also has occasionally found herself magically appearing somewhere else. Is it real life? Or is it fantasy?

Tuesday, December 13, 2022

The Medici: Power, Money, and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance

The Medici initially came to prominence through their banking. At the time, usury was still forbidden by the Catholic church. They were able to come up with rationale to justify it. They became involved loaning money to many key players in Europe and were smart enough to avoid loaning money to those that would not repay (such as Monarchs). They had huge amounts of money and supported many of the key figures of the renaissance. They later parlayed their influence into political control and provided four popes and monarchs.

Machiavelli was involved with their political endeavors (though they would often not give him credit.) Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci both had commissions from the Medicis. They were behind almost all of what we consider to be the renaissance in Florence.

Monday, December 12, 2022

The Friendship Experiment

Madeline Little loves science. Her beloved scientist grandfather recently passed away and she continues in his tradition of writing SOPs. To make things more interesting, it is time to start Middle School and her best friend is off to a different school. She has struggles navigating the new friendships as well as the death in the family. Meanwhile her older sister just wants to be a cheerleader and hang out with the soccer players. However, she has a bad case of blood-clotting disorder that messes everything up. There are plenty of struggles and a humorous story of a "painting".

One day, just about everything bad happens. When she finally thinks she is making friends, they discover bad things she had written about them. Her sister is rushed to an out of town hospital after her poor attempts to cope with the blood clotting disorder. And to top it off, she may have ruined an important enzyme in her dad's experiment. These all help her to do some soul searching and begin the path towards apology and forgiveness. The boy that likes her big sister is one of the first one that starts out by interacting with the "little sister." They learn to help others and eventually make headway into patching up the relationships. 

Saturday, December 10, 2022

Borges in 90 Minutes

I need to read more Borges. He loved to "mock" literature by creating some of the major works. I love the idea of creating a response or a summary to fictional work. Just get to the point instead of wasting time with all the work. This short work has piqued my interested to seek out more of Borges' works.

Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment

Noise is a random deviation from the norm. This differs from bias, which is a uniform differentiation. They both lead to bad results. Noise in different directions does not necessarily cancel out, but is additive. (If you end up 10 feet north of the target once, and 10 feet south the other time, you are equally inaccurate both times.) Eliminating noise and eliminating bias are key to making good decisions.

A challenge with many decisions is that we don't know what the "correct" answer is. Job interviews and prison sentencing are particular cases where there are bad amounts of "noise". Some small nuances in behavior can help. A number of distinct observations is likely to more accurately lead to the correct outcome. However, that only works if they are truly independent. When people meet together to talk, there is a desire to have consensus. Thus people are likely to alter their opinions to meet the first stated view. This can often lead to settling on a more extreme view. Independently collected feedback can provide a better outcome. In interviews, it also helps if interviewers have a distinct area to focus on rather than a general feel.

Computer algorithms can help with noise. They tend to apply rules much more accurately and reduce noise. Many times they are better than humans. However, this can sometimes be seen as negative, especially if there is not an equal distribution throughout society. There can also be challenges of handling rare outcomes. (A rare outcome that is missed by computers will get a lot of publicity, even if there were a great many more successes.)

People want perfection. However, they don't want the sacrifices to get it. People will complain about wildly different sentences for similar crimes. But then they will complain about fixed sentences guidelines that take out judicial discretion. Do we mandate rules or simply have guidelines? Noise can be nice in leading to different outcomes. However, most often it just leads to things being worse than expected.

Nyxia Unleashed: The Nyxia Triad, Book 2

They are now on the planet to mine Nyxia. The learn that multiple parties are not being totally forthright with the truth. The natives live long lives, but are suffering from limited population due to the lack of women. There is also another faction with different motives. They also learn that the corporation that sent them has not been truthful with the plans they have. It reminds me somewhat of the middle books of the Ender series. There is a lot of learning about different alien species together disparate goals. There is also plenty of action that helps to unite people together.

Thursday, December 08, 2022

Nyxia

Nyxia is a special substance that you can mold to almost anything with your mind. However, you can't try to manipulate it too much or you will go insane.

The book centers on a group of recruits that are going on a special mission to a distant planet to mine nyxia. They are undergoing training in space. Eight of the ten will be selected to go on the mission and be financially set for life. The other two will receive a small "parting gift". They are undergoing a number of exercises in the process. They must learn to work together and individually. Many of the exercises involve types of virtual reality, but there is real damage done. It gathers together many of the tropes from survivalism and boarding school works.

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

There is a near endless supply of biographies of Abraham Lincoln. Team of Rivals sets itself apart by focussing on Lincoln's strength in working with his political rivals. He was regularly pulling in his erstwhile rivals as allies. Some, like Seward went from rivals to strong allies. Others never become close. 

Lincoln was seen as a political neophyte. He was not deemed as having much of a chance of gaining the Republican nomination for president. However, he was able to help use the conflicts among the primary candidates to eventually secure the nomination. He helped bring many of the rivals into his cabinet. His cabinet also included many people across party lines. Things were never super stable, with many resignations and attempted resignations. Lincoln worked hard to hold them together.

The focus is on the political maneuvering. As such, the final term of Lincoln's presidency passes by quickly. By then, people were mostly in order. The big conflicts were outside his provenance. The story of the assassination is covered in a way that ties together Seward and his experience with Lincoln. We will never know how Lincoln's conciliatory ways would have worked with reconstruction.