For all the progress updates in one place:
Progress Update: March 2025
Here are the books I read/listened to for my research during March 2025
The Art of Living an Absurd Existence
Zorba the Greek
Phenomenology: The basics
Mornings on Horseback
The River of Doubt
The Brain: The Story of You
On Mental Toughness
The Trouble With Being Born
The 5 Types of Wealth
A Joseph Campbell Companion
Happier Hour
Loneliness
Open When…
Be Your Future Self Now
How to Be Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable
Essays:
—Pidiendo un Goethe desde Dentro (“Goethe from the Inside” by Ortega y Gasset)
Notes:
• My favorite book of the month was “The River of Doubt.” It tells the incredible story of Teddy Roosevelt’s life-threatening exploration of an uncharted river in the Amazon Jungle. For those who have read and liked “Endurance” (the story of Shackleton’s surreal survival in the Antarctic), “The River of Doubt” would be a great next read.
• I read Ortega y Gasset’s essay on Goethe. It’s unfortunate that history has not given enough credit to Ortega y Gasset. He came up with the main points in Heidegger’s “Being and Time” years before Heidegger’s publication.
Heidegger denied copying Ortega y Gasset, but Heidegger was an all-around jerk, so that’s not surprising. Ortega y Gasset was either too much of a gentleman or too much of a coward to turn the matter into a public fight.
I think being Spanish played against Ortega y Gasset. Germans dominated the intellectual world during his time (and for a century before it). So, a Spanish philosopher coming out of nowhere was not taken as seriously. I believe that if Ortega y Gasset had been German, no one would know Heidegger’s name.
In any case, that’s my geek rant to give credit to a little-known philosopher who deserves it.
• I suffer from FOMSI (Fear of missing something important), so my “to-read” list tends to get out of control. But for the past few months, I’ve been closing the door and letting fewer books into the list. I’m reaching the stage where I feel I’ve done enough exploration and have enough material to start focusing on everything I have compiled.
I always think of research for any new subject or skill as a diamond-shaped <> process. First comes exploration and expansion, and then I go into integration and contraction. Now that I have a good idea of what’s out there and what has been written about my subject, I can focus on what’s most important.