When I finished my college degree in 2014, I noticed something: I started reading a lot. I don’t have a good explanation to this other than, perhaps, having more freedom of time and freedom to choose what subjects to explore. This two really got me into reading, like a caged animal let loose for the first time. Not that I wasn’t really a reader. I read a lot when I was a child. But 17 years of schooling does something that most of us don’t notice: it sucks the life out of our intellectual freedom.
So last night and this morning, I began going down memory lane and listing all the books I finished reading since 2015 and prepared this page to you.
It is not a complete list. It does not include all the books I may have started but never finished. It does not include books I haven’t logged in the Book Summaries stack in my Evernote. But it’s a robust list.
After reading a book, I create a notebook in my Evernote and write a chapter-by-chapter summary of the book. This practice forces me to review what I just finished reading and take note of the main points. I share some of these summaries in the blog. Turns out, this is also a great way to keep an archive of all my reading.
Creating a list like this is like creating a personal intellectual history. It reminded me of the books I used to really love but no longer and of ideas I once thought were so good but no longer. It’s a reminder of all the hard work I’ve done in reclaiming my intellectual autonomy.
If you want to create a similar list, check out Frank Chimero and Austin Kleon for more inspiration.
And in case you missed it, here’s my list again.