2015 Books 1
I set a goal for this year to read 20 books, based on how I did last year. January has come and gone and so far, I'm on track. Here are the books I read in January, with some info from Goodreads and my comments.
#1. Overwhelmed. Overwhelmed is a book about time pressure and modern life. It is a deeply reported and researched, honest and often hilarious journey from feeling that, as one character in the book said, time is like a "rabid lunatic" running naked and screaming as your life flies past you, to understanding the historical and cultural roots of the overwhelm, how worrying about all there is to do and the pressure of feeling like we're never have enough time to do it all, or do it well, is "contaminating" our experience of time, how time pressure and stress is resculpting our brains and shaping our workplaces, our relationships and squeezing the space that the Greeks said was the point of living a Good Life: that elusive moment of peace called leisure. (From Goodreads)
My rating: 3/5
This book read like a thesis, with lots of research and statistics cited by the author. It was too formal for my liking but the topics were interesting enough. It talks about how we are losing time for leisure in the face of responsibilities and expectations. I was looking for suggestions for achieving balance but it was not the focus of this book. Still a good read, makes one realize that we don't have to succumb to the busyness and find the time to bake a little leisure in every day.
#2 It's Kind of a Funny Story. Ambitious New York City teenager Craig Gilner is determined to succeed at life - which means getting into the right high school to get into the right job. But once Craig aces his way into Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School, the pressure becomes unbearable. He stops eating and sleeping until, one night, he nearly kills himself. (From Goodreads)
My rating: 4/5
I liked this book. It's about a depressed teenager who decided to get committed to the mental ward after having suicidal thoughts. He interacted with other troubled characters in the hospital, uncovered a forgotten hobby, and started his journey towards getting better.
#3 The Accidental Tourist. Macon Leary 40s writes a business travel series, but hates leaving Baltimore. After son Ethan 12 is killed, wife Sarah leaves, his cool attitude in high school is now too cold. (From Goodreads)
My Rating: 3/5
#4. Think Like a Freak. The Freakonomics books have come to stand for something: challenging conventional wisdom; using data rather than emotion to answer questions; and learning to unravel the world's secret codes. Now Levitt and Dubner have gathered up what they have learned and turned it into a readable and practical toolkit for thinking differently - thinking, that is, like a Freak. Whether you are interested in the best way to improve your odds in penalty kicks, or in major global reforms, here is a blueprint for an entirely new way to solve problems. (From Goodreads).
#1. Overwhelmed. Overwhelmed is a book about time pressure and modern life. It is a deeply reported and researched, honest and often hilarious journey from feeling that, as one character in the book said, time is like a "rabid lunatic" running naked and screaming as your life flies past you, to understanding the historical and cultural roots of the overwhelm, how worrying about all there is to do and the pressure of feeling like we're never have enough time to do it all, or do it well, is "contaminating" our experience of time, how time pressure and stress is resculpting our brains and shaping our workplaces, our relationships and squeezing the space that the Greeks said was the point of living a Good Life: that elusive moment of peace called leisure. (From Goodreads)
My rating: 3/5
This book read like a thesis, with lots of research and statistics cited by the author. It was too formal for my liking but the topics were interesting enough. It talks about how we are losing time for leisure in the face of responsibilities and expectations. I was looking for suggestions for achieving balance but it was not the focus of this book. Still a good read, makes one realize that we don't have to succumb to the busyness and find the time to bake a little leisure in every day.
My rating: 4/5
I liked this book. It's about a depressed teenager who decided to get committed to the mental ward after having suicidal thoughts. He interacted with other troubled characters in the hospital, uncovered a forgotten hobby, and started his journey towards getting better.
#3 The Accidental Tourist. Macon Leary 40s writes a business travel series, but hates leaving Baltimore. After son Ethan 12 is killed, wife Sarah leaves, his cool attitude in high school is now too cold. (From Goodreads)
My Rating: 3/5
#4. Think Like a Freak. The Freakonomics books have come to stand for something: challenging conventional wisdom; using data rather than emotion to answer questions; and learning to unravel the world's secret codes. Now Levitt and Dubner have gathered up what they have learned and turned it into a readable and practical toolkit for thinking differently - thinking, that is, like a Freak. Whether you are interested in the best way to improve your odds in penalty kicks, or in major global reforms, here is a blueprint for an entirely new way to solve problems. (From Goodreads).
My rating: 4/5
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The local library sells withdrawn books during scheduled sales. So many books on sale and at cheap rates, too. We got everything below for $5! No running out of reading material in the next few weeks/months.
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