For all the progress updates in one place:
Progress Update: April 2024
Here are the books I read/listened to for my research during April 2024
The Great Guide: David Hume
On Confidence
A Simpler Life
Self-Knowlege
Getting to Neutral
Varieties of Melancholy
On Self-hatred
On Failure
Anxiety
My Own Life (Hume)
Become Who You Are
The Book
The Prophet
How to Die Happy
The Bed of Procrustes
Bittersweet
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Rochefoucauld Maxims
Furiously Happy
Darkness Visible
The Denial of Death
Life is Hard
Humanly Possible
How Proust can Change your Life
The Nicomachean Ethics
The Art of Worldly Wisdom
The Power in You
The Road Less Traveled
The Conquest of Happiness
Book of Job
The Teachings of Zoroaster
At the Existentialist Café
Four Thousand Weeks
The Antidote
Self-Reliance and Other Essays Emerson
Wanting
The Courage to be Disliked
How Will You Measure Your Life?
Struggle (mostly skimmed)
Notes:
• Several of these books were short, so it’s not as much volume as it seems.
One of my favorite books was “The Great Guide.” I loved David Hume’s biography. Hume was a colorful character with the right blend of a man of reflection and a man of action, which I aspire to in my own life.
• This current pace is unsustainable, but I’ll keep it up for as long as I have the energy. My goal is to read four books per week, which I think is more sustainable. I have to be careful not to burn out since this is a marathon (about two years at that pace), but I’m so into the project that I can’t hold back and end up sprinting for weeks at a time.
It reminds me of the quote from Darwin I put in my previous book: “It is a cursed evil to any man to become as absorbed in any subject as I am in mine.”
• Best book of the bunch by far: “At the Existentialist Café” by Sarah Bakewell. I wish every author took writing as seriously and artfully as Bakewell. She’s so good it makes me hate everything I’ve ever written...and that’s a good thing. It shows me how much I have to level up. Sometimes I think I’m doing good work, and then I come across authors like Bakewell and I realize I’ve been swimming in the kiddie pool.
The book is insanely well-researched and an absolute joy to read. She’s passionate about her subject, always in command of the material, and grips the reader from beginning to end. I could fill pages with praise for her.
For writers, authors like Bakewell are the ones worth reading, they show us that a greater standard is possible and that we should aim at it because the result is worth it.
For bookworms, books like “At the Existentialist Café” are the reason we read so much. We crave to find the next amazing book that shakes us. They become events in our lives.
Respect, Bakewell...respect.
• Other great books:
“A life of meaning.” First contact with James Hollis. It was excellent, I’ll be reading more of his books.
“The Little Big Things.” Fascinating story about the author’s journey from losing mobility from the neck down after an accident to creating a meaningful life. The psychological account of the first days in terror and despair after the accident is like nothing I’ve read before. I don’t know how he was able to put that into words. Some of the most moving writing I’ve ever come across.
“The Road Less Travelled.” I avoided this book for a long time because l thought it was going to be a collection of platitudes. I was wrong. It was a great read.
“The Conquest of Happiness.” I almost passed on this book because I thought, “I don’t think happiness is Russell’s subject. What can he add to the discussion?” A lot! It turned out.
“The Art of Worldly Wisdom.” For Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power fans, you’ll find his kindred soul in Baltasar Gracian. Good read.
“Four Thousand Weeks.” A much-needed change in perspective about how we spend our lives. Highly recommended.
“The Courage to be Disliked.” Not a fan of the format, but it was a great introduction to Alfred Adler’s psychology.
• On the Not-so-good side:
“The Denial of Death.” I’ve seen a lot of people recommending this book... don’t think they read it, or maybe they just read a summary of it, because other than the main premise, which is worth considering, the book is full of outdated psychological theories, some of them homophobic and sexist. The book is a drag to read, I had to soldier on to get to the end. I kept thinking, “The good stuff might be coming up.” It never came. The writing is abstract, and much of the material is presented as a certainty, which has not aged well. I still got some ideas out of it, so not all was bad, but it fell short of what it’s been hyped up to be.
“Happiness” by Matthieu Ricard. I don’t remember shaking my head in disagreement so much while reading a book. It’s not a bad book, and that’s what makes it hard to criticize. The author did a great job. The book is well-researched, the arguments are well-structured and organized, and the writing is good. Ricard is smart and well-read. My problem with it was the uses and abuses of logic to point everything to Buddhism, especially after stating early in the book that the discussion was not going to be about Buddhism (it turned out to be all about Buddhism). A book like this is what results from a very intelligent person trying to bend the world to fit a religious or spiritual set of beliefs. But the thing is that we all do the same; we all gather arguments to support our worldview and rationalize our beliefs, so I can’t fault him for that (he actually does it well). Ultimately, my issue with the book was that it read as, “This is not faith; this is logical and science-backed.” For those of you into Buddhism or those tiptoeing into it but feel uncomfortable with the idea of “spirituality” or “faith,” Ricard can be your champion. So, if I have already lost you to Buddhism, at least read the good writers. Ricard is one of them.