pH Balance

Happy new year!

Regular readers of the blog will know that I intend to read differently this year. Sometimes, reading books allows you to see things differently in your daily life, even if you don’t retain everything you read. For example, reading Babel forced me to grapple with my relationship with language. I compiled a list of five books that have helped me get my life on the right track. They’re worth a read (or re-read), even if you don’t finish the whole thing, just to get you thinking about how to approach this year differently so it’s the best one yet.

five books to kick off 2024*

1. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius: even though this was written by a Roman Emperor, it has lessons in mindfulness and well-being that anyone can learn from. Yes, even if you’re not a 20-something year old white man.
2. Atomic Habits by James Clear: you can tear through this book in a day. I recommend going to the chapter summaries at the end of each section, seeing where you need more clarity, then going back and reading the rest as needed. Self-explanatory but as good a reminder as any to make good habits and get rid of the bad ones.
   • Try for making one good habit and removing one bad habit a month instead of going for the whole year
3. Deep Work by Cal Newport: if you’re in school or involved in “knowledge work”, this book is a great intro to working smarter, not harder. If you don’t know what “knowledge work” is, this book will tell you. It’s helped me improve my grades, writing, and performance at work.
4. Vagabonding by Rolf Potts: this is the kick in the pants you need to do everything you can to scratch that travel itch. Think you don’t have time to travel? Think you’re too young/old/broke/naive to travel the world? Read this book, then think again.
5. Reader’s choice: pick a book written by/about someone who’s accomplished something related to one of your goals this year (or month).
   • For example, if you want to play more tennis, consider reading Carrie Soto is Back or Arthur Ashe: A Life.
   • It can be fiction or nonfiction, self-help or autobiography—the choice is yours.

bonus: top five novels i read in 2023*

1. Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
2. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
3. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
4. Babel by R. F. Kuang
5. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

*in alphabetical order by author