Reading List
Here’s what I’ve been reading, along with some simple ratings:
👍 = Recommended 👎 = Skip 🤷♂️ = Meh 😍 = Amazing
I mostly read non-fiction and comics, with some science fiction sprinkled in there. I’m ruthless with books, though. If it doesn’t hold my attention then I’ll give up, so you won’t find many thumbs down ratings here.
2023
Books finished: TBD Favorite book: Dilla Time by Dan Charnas
| Book | Author | Genre | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maus | Art Spiegelman | Comics | 😍 |
| The Mandolin: A History | Graham McDonald | Non-Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| Axiom’s End | Lindsay Ellis | Fiction | 👍 |
| Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm | Dan Charnas | Non-Fiction | 😍 |
2022
Books finished: 15
Favorite book: Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back) by Jeff Tweedy
| Book | Author | Genre | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Personal MBA | Josh Kaufman | Business | 👍 |
| UKEtopia! | Jim Beloff | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| Managing Oneself | Peter Drucker | Business | 👍 |
| Tunnels | Rutu Modan | Comics | 👍 |
| Powerful | Patty McCord | Business | 🤷♂️ |
| Destroy Your Safe and Happy Lives | Jack Carneal | Memoir | 😍 |
| Mirror Sound | Spencer Tweedy, Lawrence Azerrad, Daniel Topete | Music | 😍 |
| What Tech Calls Thinking | Adrian Daub | Tech | 👍 |
| Solid State | Kenneth Womack | Music | 😍 |
| Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back) | Jeff Tweedy | Memoir | 😍 |
| The Fellowship of the Ring | JRR Tolkien | Fantasy | 👍 |
| Endless Endless | Adam Clair | Music | 👍 |
| Below Ambition | Simon Hanselman | Comics | 👍 |
| Living in Data | Jer Thorp | Nonfiction | 😍 |
| Berlin | Jason Lutes | Comics | 😍 |
2021
Books finished: 12
Favorite book: How to Write One Song by Jeff Tweedy
| Book | Author | Genre | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| How Music Works | David Byrne | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| Hell Yeah or No | Derek Sivers | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| This Searing Light, The Sun, and Everything Else | Jon Savage | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| How to Write One Song | Jeff Tweedy | Non-Fiction | 😍 |
| This Isn’t Happening | Steven Hyden | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| Citizen First, Designer Second | Rejane Dal Bello | Non-Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| The Collected Angers | Mike Monteiro | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| Extra Bold | Ellen Lupton, Farah Kafei, Jennifer Tobias, Josh A. Halstead, Kaleena Sales, Leslie xia & Valentina Vergara | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| The Detroit Printing Co-Op | Danielle Aubert | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| Ruined By Design | Mike Monteiro | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| Go Ahead in the Rain | Hanif Abdurraqib | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| The YouTube Formula | Derral Eves | Business | 🤷♂️ |
2020
Books finished: 20
Favorite book: A Civic Technologist’s Practice Guide by Cyd Harrell
| Book | Author | Genre | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drawing the Vote | Tommy Jenkins & Kati Lacker | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| Remain in Love | Chris Frantz | Biography | 👍 |
| The Politics of Design | Ruben Pater | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| A User’s Guide to Democracy | Nick Capodice & Hannah McCarthy | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| How to be a Conscious Eater | Sophie Egan | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| Keep Going | Austin Kleon | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| Words to Win By | Margaret Kaplan | Non-Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| The Influencing Machine | Brooke Gladstone | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| A Civic Technologist’s Practice Guide | Cyd Harrell | Non-Fiction | 😍 |
| Reset | Ronald J. Deibert | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| The Prince and the Dressmaker | Jen Wang | Comics | 👍 |
| Exhalation | Ted Chiang | Fiction | 👍 |
| Eichmann in Jerusalem | Hannah Arendt | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| Working | Robert A. Caro | Non-Fiction | 😍 |
| Pretty Much Everything | Aaron Draplin | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| Strengthsfinder 2.0 | Tom Rath | Business | 👎 |
| The Tiny MBA | Alex Hillman | Business | 🤷♂️ |
| We Are Called to be a Movement | Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| 20 Bits I Learned | Dan Cederholm | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| Notes on a Nervous Planet | Matt Haig | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
2019
Books finished: 18
Favorite book: On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden
| Book | Author | Genre | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| I am a Blogger | Seva (ConvertKit Team) | Non-Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| Selfie Made | Meridith Rojas | Non-Fiction | 👎 |
| Girl Town | Carolyn Nowak | Comics | 👍 |
| The Oath and The Office | Corey Brettschneider | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| Margo Maloo and the Monster Mall | Drew Weing | Comics | 👍 |
| The Care and Keeping of You | Valorie Lee Schaefar & Josee Masse | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them | Jason Stanley | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| Graveyard Shakes | Laura Terry | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| The Coaching Habit | Michael Bungay Stanier | Non-Fiction | 👎 |
| Shit is Real | Aisha Franz | Comics | 👍 |
| Cannabis: The Illegalization of Weed in America | Box Brown | Comics | 👍 |
| On a Sunbeam | Tillie Walden | Comics | 😍 |
| Awards for Good Boys | Shelby Lorman | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| Are you listening? | Tillie Walden | Comics | 👍 |
| Birding is My Favorite Video Game | Rosemary Mosco | Comics | 👍 |
| Green River Killer: A True Detective Story | Jeff Jenson & Jonathan Case | Comics | 👎 |
| Tools and Weapons | Brad Smith & Carol Ann Browne | Non-Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| No One is Too Small to Make a Change | Greta Thunberg | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
2018
Books finished: 44
Favorite book: Woman World by Aminder Dhaliwal
| Book | Author | Genre | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primates | Jim Ottaviani & Maris Wicks | Comics | 👍 |
| Louis Undercover | Fanny Britt & Isabelle Arsenault | Comics | 👍 |
| The Sentinel | Arthur C. Clarke | Fiction | 👎 |
| The Lost Art | Christian Furr | Non-Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| The Astronomy Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained | DK | Non-Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| The Sculptor | Scott McCloud | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| Tales from the Farm | Jeff Lemire | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| Broad Band | Claire L. Evans | Non-Fiction | 😍 |
| Anywhere that is Wild | John Muir, Peter & Donna Thomas | Non-Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| Archival Quality | Ivy Noelle Weir & Steenz | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| Super Late Bloomer | Julia Kaye | Comics | 👍 |
| Your Black Friend and Other Strangers | Ben Passmore | Comics | 👍 |
| Exit Wounds | Rutu Modan | Comics | 👍 |
| The Lovely Horrible Stuff | Eddie Campbell | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| The Property | Rutu Modan | Comics | 👍 |
| Smile | Raina Telgemeier | Comics | 👍 |
| Ghosts | Raina Telgemeier | Comics | 👍 |
| The Three Rooms in Valerie’s Head | David Gaffney & Dan Berry | Comics | 👍 |
| Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH | Robert C O’Brien | Fiction | 😍 |
| You Are Mighty | Caroline Paul & Lauren Tamaki | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| The Light of the Stars | Adam Frank | Non-Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| Why art? | Eleanor Davis | Comics | 👍 |
| Sabrina | Nick Drnaso | Comics | 😍 |
| What To Do When I’m Gone | Suzy Hopkins & Hallie Bateman | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| Killing & Dying | Adrian Tomine | Comics | 👍 |
| Coyote Doggirl | Lisa Hanawalt | Comics | 👍 |
| Johnny Boo: Twinkle Power | James Kochalka | Comics | 👍 |
| Johnny Boo and the Mean Little Boy | James Kochalka | Comics | 👍 |
| Be Prepared | Vera Brosgol | Comics | 👍 |
| Apollo | Matt Fitch, Chris Baker, and Mike Collins | Non-Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| Sheets | Brenna Thummler | Comics | 👍 |
| Ivy | Sarah Oleksyk | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| Bigfoot: I Not Dead | Graham Roumieu | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| Food Rules | Michael Pollan | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| Adventures in Cartooning | James Sturm, Andrew Arnold, Alexis Frederick-Frost | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| Woman World | Aminder Dhaliwal | Comics | 😍 |
| Anya’s Ghost | Vera Brosgol | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea | Ben Clanton | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| Measure What Matters | John Doerr | Non-Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| Demystifying Public Speaking | Lara Hogan | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| El Deafo | Cece Bell | Comics | 👍 |
| In the Company of Women | Grace Bonney | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| How to be an American | Silvia Hidalgo | Non-Fiction | 👎 |
| Dune | Frank Herbert | Fiction | 😍 |
2017
Books finished: 81
Favorite book: Life in Code by Ellen Lupton
| Book | Author | Genre | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Searching for Bobby Fischer | Fred Waitzkin | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| Booklife | Jeff Vandermeer | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| The Art of Learning | Josh Waitzkin | Non-Fiction | 👎 |
| Mindfulness for Mere Mortals | Patrick Rhone | Non-Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| Some Thoughts About Writing | Patrick Rhone | Non-Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| The Zen Habits Beginner’s Guide to Mindfulness | Leo Babauta | Non-Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| Waking Up | Sam Harris | Non-Fiction | 👎 |
| The World Inside | Robert Silverberg | Fiction | 👎 |
| On Bullshit | Harry G. Frankfurt | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| The Magic Words | Cheryle B. Klein | Non-Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| Death’s End | Cixin Liu | Fiction | 👍 |
| Thrill Me | Benjamin Percy | Non-Fiction | 😍 |
| Resilient Web Design | Jeremy Keith | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| Horten’s Incredible Illusions | Lissa Evans | Fiction | 👍 |
| The Girl Who Drank the Moon | Kelly Barnhill | Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| Networking! ACK! | Julia Evans | Non-Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| Inclusive Design Patterns | Heydon Pickering | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| The Fate of The Artist | Eddie Campbell | Comics | 👍 |
| Sloth | Gilbert Hernandez | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| Asterios Polyp | David Mazzucchelli | Comics | 😍 |
| Wonder Boys | Michael Chabon | Fiction | 👍 |
| Deep Work | Cal Newport | Non-Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| Louis Riel | Chester Brown | Comics | 👍 |
| Can’t we talk about something more pleasant? | Roz Chast | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| Weaving The Web | Tim Berners Lee | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| The Road | Cormac McCarthy | Fiction | 👎 |
| Chicken with Plums | Marjane Satrapi | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| Spiral-Bound | Aaron Renier | Comics | 👍 |
| Tomboy | Liz Prince | Comics | 👍 |
| Just Draw | Mark Badger | Non-Fiction | 👎 |
| Table Manners | Jeremiah Tower | Non-Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| American Born Chinese | Gene Luen Yang | Comics | 👍 |
| This One Summer | Mariko & Jillian Tamaki | Comics | 😍 |
| Scrum Basics | Tycho Press | Non-Fiction | 👎 |
| Anything You Want | Derek Sivers | Non-Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| Empire State | Jason Shiga | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| Micrographica | Renee French | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| The Little Book of Hygge | Meik Wiking | Non-Fiction | 👎 |
| The Handmaid’s Tale | Margaret Atwood | Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| Success Through Stillness | Russell Simmons | Non-Fiction | 👎 |
| Yawn: Adventures in Boredom | Mary Mann | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo | Drew Weing | Comics | 👍 |
| Dark Matter | Blake Crouch | Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| Show Your Work | Austin Kleon | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| Steal Like an Artist | Austin Kleon | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| Not Dead Yet | Phil Collins | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| Wilson | Daniel Clowes | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| Adulthood is a Myth | Sarah Anderson | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O | Neal Stephenson & Nicole Galland | Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| Work Life | Molly Erman | Non-Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| Dizziness | Gregory T. Whitman, MD & Robert W. Baloh, MD | Non-Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| Fun Home | Alison Bechdel | Comics | 😍 |
| Displacement | Lucy Knisley | Comics | 👍 |
| The Grownup | Gillian Flynn | Fiction | 👍 |
| Age of License | Lucy Knisley | Comics | 👍 |
| French Milk | Lucy Knisley | Comics | 👍 |
| Paying for It | Chester Brown | Comics | 😍 |
| New York Drawings | Adrian Tomine | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| Scenes from an Impending Marriage | Adrian Tomine | Comics | 👍 |
| Diary Comics | Dustin Harbin | Comics | 👍 |
| Diary Comics #5 | Dustin Harbin | Comics | 👍 |
| Diary Comics #6 | Dustin Harbin | Comics | 👍 |
| Boundless | Jillian Tamaki | Comics | 👍 |
| Super Mutant Magic Academy | Jillian Tamaki | Comics | 👍 |
| Thornhill | Pam Smy | Fiction | 😍 |
| Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud | Anne Helen Peterson | Non-Fiction | 👍 |
| Pinky and Stinky | James Kochalka | Comics | 👍 |
| The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger | Stephen King | Fiction | 👎 |
| The Three Paradoxes | Paul Hornschemeier | Comics | 👍 |
| Shortcomings | Adrian Tomine | Comics | 👍 |
| Strange Practice | Vivian Shaw | Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| Life in Code | Ellen Ullman | Non-Fiction | 😍 |
| Cat Burglar Black | Richard Sala | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| Sleeping Giants | Sylvain Neuvel | Fiction | 🤷♂️ |
| The Best American Comics 2017 | Ben Katchar | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| The Heartless Troll | Oyvind Torseter | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| The Best We Could Do | Thi Bui | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| House of Women | Sophie Goldstein | Comics | 👍 |
| Present | Leslie Stein | Comics | 🤷♂️ |
| Behold the Man | Michael Moorcock | Fiction | 👎 |
| Night | Elie Wiesel | Non-Fiction | 😍 |