Following on some amazing heroes like Barack Obama and Bill Gates, I’ve decided to reflect back on the past year and do a quick-ish review on some books I’ve read in 2019. I’m hoping that 2020 will be a year where I’ll get to read more and do something a bit more comprehensive.
Bad Blood
This is one of those books that made me thinking,
Holy sh*t
with every chapter. As a slow reader, I go through one book roughly every 2 months, but I went through this in a week during my commutes to work. The writing is brilliant; it feels like watching a Netflix series, but in text. Ultimately, I was reminded that the work I do has long-term purpose and implications, giving me the onus to do things even more diligently and responsibly. This is something I’d recommend to anyone working in tech and/or medicine.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
Historically, I didn’t read a lot of fiction until this year. I always maintain the idea that I want to read something that will make me either laugh or think. This book managed to do both, and refreshed my desire to read fiction again.
It does have a British style of humour, and the writing style is perhaps not for everyone. Most importantly, it opens readers to sensitive issues, and (I think) encourages a healthy debate around topics like loneliness that can be taboos for many. It can get dark, be warned!
Freakonomics
Not exactly the “newest” book to get off the shelves, but this was a very thought-provoking book indeed. As a bioinformatician / data scientist, I think books like these remind us that there is more than meets the eye. In other words, what may seem like obvious correlations are essentially confounders, and we need to do deeper analyses to look at the causative agents that account for variations in our observations. For example, Levitt and Dubner touch on how a reduction in crime is a consequence of reduced abortions, and not increased police numbers.
Brave New World
Again, an old classic, but one where I saw many parallels with our society today. Instead of soma, I would argue that today’s “happy drug” is our smartphone - see the screen a bit, and you’re jolted back to life. Given that (possibly) my favourite fiction of all time is 1984, I was hoping to enjoy Brave New World just as much. While I found Aldous Huxley to be a bit drier than Orwell, it was shocking to see how many aspects of the book (e.g. the division of classes, low-key racism) are still making headlines today.
Fahrenheit 451
The last of old classics in the list for 2019. Another reminder of why books are, in my view, under-rated in today’s society, and deserve more attention. While it’s hard to imagine a society where books will be eradicated forever, Fahrenheit 451 reminds us that the fundamental spread of the best information, knowledge, and wisdom are in books, and they should be held as treasures.
Meaning of Marriage
Earlier this year, my wife and I got married in a church ceremony. This book was a good reminder for the types of values that we want to uphold in our marriage, and confirm our commitment to doing so. As per Tim Keller’s usual style, expect lots of C.S. Lewis and Biblical references.