My 2023 Reading-Resolution

I don’t often make New Year’s Resolutions, and I’m not sure I’ve ever actually accomplished the few I’ve set myself in the past. To help me achieve mine this year, I thought I’d share it and record my progress in public, no matter how many people are actually reading. And if it’s helpful for someone along the way, even better!

In 2023 I will read one book every week.

For someone who wouldn’t describe themselves as a bookworm, this is quite a daunting challenge. Most worryingly, I have neither a kindle, nor any empty shelf space at home (this could get messy…).

For my (current) list of books, skip to the bottom of the article.

Why?

I enjoy reading good books but I struggle to broaden my horizons and I want to reduce my screen time (especially before bed). Reading 52 books in a year will force me to pick up genres I don’t normally read, and needing to read at least 50 to 100 pages per day will necessarily limit my?doomscrolling. I also have a habit of buying books but never reading them, so this will also force me to read some of the tomes currently collecting dust on shelves.

[Update] To add to my 'why,' Alastair Loasby has decided to motivate me by pledging a donation of ￡100 to the World Literacy Foundation if I complete my 52 books before the year is out (thank you Al!).

I will join him with a complementary pledge: To donate ￡5 for every book I don't read up to the target, creating a win-win for our chosen charity! If you'd like to join in with this, either by sponsoring or reading along with me, I will find a way to make it all more 'official'...

What?

At present I only read non-fiction books (often science or business) or science fiction. I will start by continuing this trend and then branch out as I inevitably (hopefully) run out of material in these two narrow areas. If you’re also a fan of these genres, here are some of my all-time favourites:

Non-Fiction

• Factfulness - Hans Rosling
• That’s What She Said - Joanne Lipman
• The Cuckoo’s Egg - Cliff Stoll
• Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race - Reno Eddo-Lodge

Fiction

• Star of the North - D. B. John?[the only non-sci-fi book here]
• Leviathan Wakes - James S. A. Corey
• Digital Fortress - Dan Brown
• Altered Carbon - Richard Morgan
• The Player of Games (and the rest of The Culture series) - Ian M. Banks

I’d like to have a 50-50 split between fiction and non-fiction throughout the year, but will not enforce this too strictly. Any book is better than nothing! Some genres I particularly want to challenge myself to try more (some for the first time) are: Graphic novels, historical non-fiction, best-selling (‘pop’) fiction, classic fiction, mental health non-fiction, and memoirs/biographies.?If anyone is actually reading this and you have great suggestions in these categories, please let me know!

How?

I have compiled a list of books from my Amazon ‘saved for later’ list, my unread purchases on my bookshelf, and suggestions from friends, family and the internet. I will read one book every week, writing a short summary after each one. I will also try not to read the same ‘type’ of book two weeks on the go.

Since 2023 started on a Sunday, that will be ‘change-over’ day, when I will aim to finish my current read and pick-up the next book. If I finish a book early, I will start the next one early. If I finish a book late, I will pick something easy or short as my next read, to help stay on track.

Let’s begin:

I have already cheated. My first book was a very easy read (it even had pictures) and I started before 2023, as it was a Christmas gift. And my second book is one I was already 100-pages into. But I’m hoping this will allow me to get off to a good start and reduces the chance of early failure!

The list so far:

My reflections on the list so far:

• Lots of exciting books, pretty happy with the calibre of literature awaiting me
• Lots of business books and nowhere near enough fiction
• Not many ‘new categories’ like graphic novels and classic/popular fiction (I will need to source recommendations)
• I will allow the list to evolve as I remove less appealing candidates and add new suggestions or releases

Current and completed

1. What If 2 - Randall Monroe?[Non-fiction, Popular Science, Comedy]?(Read)

2. Cibola Burn - James S. A. Corey?[Fiction, Sci-Fi]?(Reading)

Fiction

3. The Helix - Yasmeen Cohen?[Young Adult]

4. Woken Furies - Richard Morgan?[Sci-Fi]

5. Dune - Frank Herbert?[Sci-Fi, Classic]

6. Machines Like Me - Ian McEwan?[Alt. History]

7. Trust - Herman Diaz?[Finance]

8. The Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman?[Comedy]

Non-Fiction: Business & Economics

9. Range - David Epstein

10. Black Box Thinking - Malcolm Gladwell

11. The 4-Hour Work Week - Tim Ferriss

12. Principles - Ray Dalio

13. The Data Loom - Stephen Few

14. Rebel Ideas - Malcolm Gladwell

15. Tescopoly - Andrew Simms

16. One Up - Van Dreunen

17. No Rules Rules - Reed Hastings

18. How Brands Grow - Byron Sharp

19. The Economic Singularity - Calum Chace

20. Zero to One - Peter Thiel

21. The Caesars Palace Coup - Max Frumes and Sujeet Indad

22. The Infinite Game - Simon Sinek

23. What We Owe The Future - William MacAskill

24. Bad Blood - John Carreyrou

Non-Fiction: Popular Science

25. The Ministry for the Future - Kim Stanley Robinson

26. Who Owns the Future - Jaron Lenier

27. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century - Yuval Noah Harare

28. The Body Keeps the Score - Bessel Van Der Kolk

29. Superintelligence - Nick Bostrom

30. A Thousand Brains - Jeff Hawkins

31. I Think You’ll Find it’s a Bit More Complicated Than That - Ben Goldacre

32. Wild - Jay Griffiths

Non-Fiction: Climate Focus

33. Green Swans - John Elkington

34. Speed & Scale - John Doerr

Non-Fiction: Biographies & Memoirs

35. Permanent Record - Edward Snowden

36. Never Too Much and Never Enough - Mary L Trump

37. Very Bad People - Patrick Alley

38. Into The Wild - Jon Krakauer

39. Brown Baby - Nikes Shukla

Non-Fiction: Historical & Political

40. The Aquariums of Pyongyang - Kang Chol-Hwang & Pierre Rigoulot

41. Chernobyl - Serhii Plokhy

42. Le Mage du Kremlin - Guillaume Cerutti

43. Chums - Simon Kuper

44. Otherlands - Thomas Halliday

45. The Dawn of Everything - David Graeber & David Wengrow

Non-Fiction: Other

46. Lighter - Yung Pueblo

47. How the World Really Works - Vaclav Smil

48. 12 Rules for Life - Jordan B. Peterson

And more to be decided...

49. ?

50. ?

51. ?

52. ?

Again, if anyone is reading… let me know what I should add (or remove!).