The best book I read in 2023 was Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein. I liked it because it offers a lot of insight into politics, religion, culture, and human psychology.
The runner up was The Crowd, by Gustave Le Bon, which I liked for the same reason!
I only read 27 books in 2023, approximately one every two weeks. For comparison, I read 45 books in 2022, and I think that was the lowest total since I started keeping track in 1999. The truth is, I moved to China in December 2022 and started a new job at the beginning of 2023, so all my routines got turned upside down. Also, I was pretty slow getting through the four-volume Journey to the West, which was not to my taste.
Of the books I read this year, 10 were ebooks that I read on my phone or kindle, and 17 were printed books.
Of the 10 ebooks, 2 were free public domain ebooks, 1 was free on Amazon because the author decided to give it away, and 7 were purchased.
Of the 17 printed books, 2 were bought by my office, 12 were books I already owned, 2 were bought new, and 1 was bought used.
See below for notes on the content of this year’s books.
Content
Of the 27 total books, 12 were fiction and 15 were non-fiction.
(If you count the 4-volume Journey to the West as 1 book, I read 24 books in total, of which 9 were fiction and 15 were non-fiction.)
Fiction
Journey to the West (4-volume paperback box set, Jenner translation)
Before my arrival in China, at my request, my husband Siqi ordered paperback box sets of several Chinese classics for me. In 2023 I tackled Journey to the West and posted about it and my views on trickster gods on this blog, and about the various translations of Journey to the West on We Love Translations.
Monkey King: Journey to the West (retelling by Julie Lovell) – ebook
Penguin is offering a version of Journey to the West that’s a lot shorter than Jenner’s, although Lovell’s is not the only abridgement or necessarily even the best one. I shared my thoughts about Lovel’s Monkey King together with my thoughts on the Jenner translation.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Minalima edition)
I received an elaborately illustrated hardcover edition of the first Harry Potter book as a gift. Siqi and I read it together. He’d never read any of the books, and I hadn’t read them in ages. I enjoyed entering that fictional world again.
The Lion King Film Script, The Little Mermaid Film Script – bought new!
I figured this is the kind of book that might go out of print if I didn’t buy them soon enough, and The Lion King and The Little Mermaid are two of my four favorite Disney movies, so I definitely wanted copies. Each of these books contains not only the movie dialog, but also a bunch of concept art and stories about the making of the movie.
Jeeves Stories by P.G. Wodehouse – free public domain ebook
I am a big fan of the Jeeves & Wooster TV series starring youthful Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry, thus I have wanted to read the fiction of P.G. Wodehouse, particularly the Jeeves and Wooster stories, for some time. However, I had to make a spreadsheet to figure out where I should start. Fortunately, the public domain Standard Ebooks collection “Jeeves Stories” is fairly comprehensive. When I read the collection, I was amazed at how faithful the TV series is. While reading, all the characters and stories and much of the dialog stuck me as familiar. (Which is not the best way to experience comedy, tbh.)
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein – ebook
Having lived outside my home country for over a decade, I’ve loved the title for years. I decided it was time to find out what this classic story is about. Humans go to Mars; through accident, it happens that a human baby gets raised by the Martians living there; he’s secretly brought back to Earth; a friendly nurse rescues him from a web of politics so he can learn about human life. Things develop from there, with much reflection on politics and religion. Fascinating.
American Gods (10th Anniversary Edition) by Neil Gaiman – ebook
There was a lot of hype about this book, and Neil Gaiman is much respected. Previously, I read Good Omens, the book he wrote with Terry Pratchett, one of my favorite authors of all time. I also read Gaiman’s book Stardust, after seeing the movie. I wanted to read American Gods, but I wasn’t sure I’d like it. And in fact, I didn’t. Gaiman’s fantasy is too grim and gritty for me. I prefer for fantasy to be fun.
Foundation; Foundation and Empire; Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov – ebook
I bought a hardcover omnibus of these at the Scott Antique Market when I was in high school. Somehow I never got around to reading it. I noticed a combined ebook for sale cheap when I was shopping for American Gods and Stranger in a Strange Land, so I bought it. And these days, when I buy something, I have to read it! Truthfully, I was underwhelmed. I think the framing device, where the events are said to have already taken place, made the story itself seem dull and distant, therefore irrelevant, hard to care about. And these books are just not that long, so there’s not so much time to get to know the world and the characters. Pogo-sticking through distant history is just not that much fun, even if the history is a kind of cleverly constructed future universe. I still want to read Asimov’s robot series.
Non-fiction
Specifically work-releated
Handbook for Science Public Information Officers by W. Matthew Shipman
The Associated Press Guide to News Writing (4th Edition) by Rene J. Cappon
I read these for work, because part of my job is to write science news releases for publication on EurekAlert.
The Brain Makers: The History of Artificial Intelligence by H.P. Newquist – ebook
I more or less read this for work too, because I work for the editorial office of a journal that publishes artificial intelligence research. The author has made the Kindle ebook of The Brain Makers available on Amazon free!
Generally work-related
What Color Is Your Parachute (2022) by Richard N. Bolles with Katharine Brooks
I bought this book during my job search in 2022, but didn’t read it until after I’d already found a job. Figured it might still have some good advice about work life.
The One Thing You Need to Know by Marcus Buckingham
Standout by Marcus Buckingham
Go Put Your Strengths to Work by Marcus Buckingham
None of these was as interesting as First, Break All the Rules, which when I read it was a revelation.
Not work-related
Rationality: From AI to Zombies by Eliezer Yudkowsky – ebook
Inadequate Equilibria: Where and How Civilizations Get Stuck by Eliezer Yudkowsky – ebook
Brain, Belief, and Politics by Michael Shermer, Joe Carter, Eliezer Yudkowsky, Ronald Bailey, Jason Kuznicki – ebook
These are writings of the founder of lesswrong.com, a site I stumbled across in the Google search results for “the map is not the territory.” Seems like a smart and articulate guy.
Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk by Peter L. Bernstein
This is an informative combination of pop economics, psychology, statistics and probability, history, and philosophy of science. All these topics relate to the theme of risk, like it says in the subtitle.
Syntax of Scientific English by Lee Kok Cheong
Interesting topic; boring book. Published in 1978. After I finished reading the book and was preparing to post on my blog about it, I read that the author was murdered in 1993 (!!!).
Yes to Life in Spite of Everything by Viktor E. Frankl
Not as interesting as Man’s Search for Meaning.
F for Effort: More of the Very Best Totally Wrong Test Answers by Richard Benson – bought second-hand
Not as entertaining as I’d hoped.
The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind by Gustave Le Bon, translated by T. Fisher Unwin Ltd. – free public domain ebook
This was a fascinating book! First published in 1895, it still makes a lot of psychological sense today. You can get it for free and see for yourself!
» Download The Crowd free from StandardEbooks!
All together now!
That’s it for 2023!
