Books I Enjoyed
Most of these books made me think, but some of them were just fun to read. Take a quick glance, and see what you might enjoy.
I’ve been reading for years. Starting from Blue Clues, A to Z Mysteries, Nancy Drew, and Ripley’s Fun Facts, I’ve always enjoyed books that made me pause to realize that there was another way to look at situations, ideas and concepts, explore new areas, and have fun in the process.
Even though the amount of free hours in my day has slowly but surely decreased over the years (no longer can I afford to spent half my day playing and reading outside), I’ve (mostly) kept it consistent, and in an attempt to make it a part of my routine, I’ll blog about my book of the week :)
This first post will just include a few of my favourite reads from my highschool years (and the couple months before starting uni!), and a short statement on why each one resonated with me.
The Universe in Your Hand (Christophe Galfard)
This is the most beautifully accessible book I’ve ever read about any subject; you go through fun thought experiments to explore what we think we know about our universe: from bizarre quantum physics phenomena to the start… and maybe end… of our universe.
P.S. any aspiring writers, read this book for a golden standard of how to make complicated material understandable to the average person.
Never Split the Difference (Christopher Voss, Tahl Raz)
Negotiation is cool, but wouldn’t you like to know the theory of how you can improve the results? Caution: probably don’t try to negotiate deals where you swindle the other person, it will ruin your long-term credibility. More importantly, it’s not very ethical :(
The Empire of Pain (Patrick Radden Keefe)
We all know the pharmaceutical industry is corrupt, but the people who made it that way were extraordinarily talented, capable, and didn’t necessarily have malicious intentions. Learn all the cool ways that you, too, can become an evil mastermind (or, more precisely, how the system will make you an evil mastermind after a certain point, and there is nothing you can do about it)
The Screaming Staircase (Lockwood and Co Series by Jonathan Stroud)
A childhood nostalgia read, I’ve always enjoyed how we were left little breadcrumbs through the five books in the series, and how everything tied up nicely in the end). It didn’t hurt that the characters were flawed, as well :)
Neil Flambe (Series by Kevin Sylvester)
Another childhood nostalgia read (I even have my own copy of the fourth book, which I got personally signed by the author himself at an event I went to in grade 5 or 6), with mysteries, good jokes (and puns!) and character development.
HPMOR
This book has kept me up reading it for two nights… caution, do not read during exam/application season, or any time where you have any commitments to real people. This book perfectly matched my sense of humour and it was quite captivating to join Harry as he unravelled things, and join his surprise (and his scheming!) as things unravelled Harry.
Grit (Angela Duckworth)
If you want to become more persistent in reaching your goals (and don’t we all!), there are ways you can restructure and rethink to get incrementally more effective… and there’s proof! Some evidence! Some statistics! But more importantly, her book is the leading ‘pop’ book on the topic, so you’ll have a very good idea of what most other people are likely to believe about perseverance… even if her findings turn out to be less than perfect, this is still valuable to know about.
The Biggest Bluff (Maria Konnikova)
This book about a journalist learning (and persisting through the failures) of learning how to play poker tells you a lot about reading other fellow humans… and yourself :)
The Code Breaker (Walter Isaacson)
Fascinating bio and genetics things, but I was having a great time having internal debates about ethics while reading this… and you get to see how talent, luck, ego, and rivalry all work with/against each other to make scientific progress happen. (It’s good for learning, but also peak entertainment)