Reading Recap: January 2024

🦡Where the Deer and the Antelope Play – Nick Offerman

Shout out to Brinton Johnson who recommended I read Nick Offerman. I don’t know much about his acting career, but he is a great writer. I chose this title from Nick’s catalog, because I love hiking and national parks. I enjoyed Nick’s storytelling about his time in nature. He ventures into political territory at times, which sometimes works and sometimes feels a bit out of flow with the story. The fact that he states that he is willing to be wrong in his opinions makes me willing to forgive anything I don’t agree with or that doesn’t flow.

🛟Upstream – Dan Heath

Many people recommended Upstream, but Mary McCarthy was the first. Solve problems where they originate and don’t wait for them to come to you. It sounds easy in theory, but involves working with many different stakeholders with different goals. If you are successful, how do you measure the success of something that doesn’t happen? Rob Ashe has a detailed review here.

💸A People’s History of the United States – Howard Zinn

I wanted to read this book ever since Good Will Hunting said it would blow your hair back. It did, but it took a while. I have owned this book for years. Building up my reading chops helped me power through 700 dense pages. Learn the US history that they don’t teach you in school.

🔺32 Principles: Harnessing the Power of Jiu-Jitsu to Succeed in Business, Relationships, and Life – Renner Gracie

I like Jiu-Jitsu. I like principles for success. I didn’t get a whole lot out of my time with this book.

☕Welcome to the Writer’s Life – Paulette Perhach

“You have to scrap off much of what society has told you that you should be, in order to find and express the person you truly are.”

A lot of the organization and productivity advice reminds me of Deep Work by Cal Newport, which makes sense given that he is also living the writer’s life. The analogy of writing structure to software code behind a user interface resonates strongly with my computer science background. As someone coming to writing craft later in life, I was encouraged by how many non-writing professional skills are required to be a successful writer. While I may not have that many written words under my belt, I have a lot of professional experience that translates to writing projects. I recommend knowledge work professionals build up their reading and writing skills to support critical thinking and to be able to communicate more effectively.