Already Read
Perhaps I will feature a few of these books and shows in future posts. In the meantime, this is simply a list of what I’ve read and viewed from late 2018 until now.
2019
Dune (in progress), Frank Herbert
Extreme Ownership: How Navy Seals Lead and Win, Jock Willink and Leif Babin
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Socialism, Kevin Williamson
The Wave, Todd Strassor (a great concept–a teacher starts a movement that slips out of control, with the potential to be Hitlerian, but this 135 page novel ultimately doesn’t go anywhere. They made it into a movie; that’s probably better because it would essentially be a second draft.)
Forty Autumns, Nina Willner (heartbreaking, outstanding, and worth rereading)
Range, Jeremy Ellis (half-finished)
Congo, Michael Crichton (3/4ths finished)
Unschooled, Kerry McDonald
This Perfect Day, Ira Levin
The Night Before, by Wendy Walker
The Anti-Mary Exposed, by Dr. Carrie Gress
Divergent, by Victoria Roth
Digital Minimalism (I read this twice), by Cal Newport
Back to Our Future, by David Sirota
Love and Ruin, by Paula McLain
Death on the Nile, by Agatha Christie
White, by Bret Easton Ellis
Indian Country, by Kurt Schlichter
People’s Republic, by Kurt Schlichter
The Last Man, by Vince Flynn
Careless People: Murder, Mayhem, and the Invention of the Great Gatsby, by Sarah Churchill
The Wife Before, by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
The Case for Trump, by Victor David Hansen
The Bestseller Code, by Jodie Archer and Matthew Jockers
An Anonymous Girl, by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s, by Frederick Lewis Allen
Building a Story Brand, by Donald Miller
(The 2019 books list goes from most recent to last January.)
Sometime in Late 2018
A New U: Faster + Cheaper Alternatives to College, by Ryan Craig
Gone Girl (for the second time), by Gillian Flynn
Atomic Habits (I read this three times), by James Clear
Creative Curve: How to Develop the Right Idea, at the Right Time, by Allan Gannett
The Lost World, by Michael Crichton
Prey, by Michael Crichton
Disclosure, by Michael Crichton
Next, by Michael Crichton
Movies and TV Series in 2019
Family Ties (Seasons 1 & 3) – I love this! It’s hilarious! Every line is gold.
The Mule
The Weissensee Saga (Seasons 1, 2, and 3)
The Wedding Singer (for about the fifth time – introduced it to my niece)
Family Ties (Season 2) – a fascinating cultural artifact from 1984.
Deutschland 86 (twice)
The Seven-Year Itch
Some Like It Hot
A Good Day to Die Hard
Live Free or Die Hard
Die Hard with a Vengeance
Die Harder
Die Hard
The Lives of Others
The Eighties (CNN documentary)
Mockingjay
Catching Fire
The Hunger Games
Deutschland 83
(The 2019 movies & shows list goes from most recent to last January.)
Note
Why keep track? After all, I feel like I read a lot. But when people ask me what I’ve read, I can’t remember. I think that’s because I’ve spent too much time on social media before reading a lot of research about how social media rots your brain. So, I decided that if I wanted to read more, and read more purposefully, I needed to do two things:
- Keep a record; and
- Delete almost all my social media accounts, and only get on after six p.m.
I may go further than #1 and #2. We’ll see.
Useful Books That Are Fun to Read
The Power of Less, by Leo Babauta
We live in an age of overwhelm. Internet, our phones, TV, radio, advertising, email, and a thousand other communication channels—we receive thousands of messages a day. But our ability to absorb more messages has not evolved in hundreds of years. Leo Babauta was a...
Smartcuts, by Shane Snow
Thirty-year-old Shane Snow is a millionaire. And that was before he wrote one of the most compulsively readable game-changing books that I’ve ever seen. I loved it so much I read it three times and gave away several copies to friends. Ever wonder how some people zoom...
Scrum: Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time, by Jeff Sutherland
Here is a book that will blow your mind! Because you will never do your work (alone or with others) the same way again. Having taught college and high school, I found out the hard way that a lot of students hate group-work—and it’s no better in our adult...
List of Books I’ve Read
2019
- Building a Story Brand, by Donald Miller
- Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s, by Frederick Lewis Allen
- The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
- Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins
- Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins
- The Bestseller Code, by Jodie Archer and Matthew Jockers
- An Anonymous Girl, by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
- The Wife Before, by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
- The Case for Trump, by Victor David Hansen
- Careless People, by Sarah Churchill
- People’s Republic, by Kurt Schlichter
- The Last Man, by Vince Flynn
- Indian Country, by Kurt Schlichter
- White, by Bret Easton Ellis
- Death on the Nile, by Agatha Christie
- Back to Our Future, by David Sirota
- Digital Minimalism (I read this twice), by Cal Newport
- Divergent, by Victoria Roth
- The Anti-Mary Exposed, by Dr. Carrie Gress
Sometime in Late 2018 (Before I kept track)
- A New U: Faster + Cheaper Alternatives to College, by Ryan Craig
- Atomic Habits (I read this three times), by James Clear
- Creative Curve: How to Develop the Right Idea, at the Right Time, by Allan Gannett
- The Lost World, by Michael Crichton
- Prey, by Michael Crichton
- Disclosure, by Michael Crichton
- Next, by Michael Crichton
Movies and TV Series in 2019
- Deutschland 83
- The Hunger Games
- Catching Fire
- Die Hard
- Die Harder
- Die Hard with a Vengeance
- Live Free or Die Hard
- A Good Day to Die Hard
- The Lives of Others
- The Eighties (CNN)
- Deutschland 86
- Some Like It Hot
- The Seven-Year Itch
