The reading list has been one of my annual rituals since I started blogging back in 2013. There were 60 books on my “want to read” list at that time. Twenty made the cut. This year, according to Goodreads, I have 218 books queued up. Needless to say, prioritizing the list takes a little longer than it used to.
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There are pros and cons to Amazon’s recommendation engine. On the one hand, it’s uncovered books that I would have otherwise never found on my own. On the other hand, it can lead you into some really deep rabbit holes. Once you read a couple of books around a similar topic or theme, it recommends more of the same.
After I finished reading The Fold, I thought I’d exhausted the books about time travel on my reading list. Apparently, I didn’t. Next up on my reading list was All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai.
Continue readingI was on the fence this year. Really, I was.
This was the year, I swear.
And then, it happened again. The beard made it’s annual appearance.
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For my latest foray into the short story genre, I decided on the Nameless series by Dean Koontz. I found about it through an Amazon email when Season 2 was released, but I figured that I would start with Season 1 to see if I liked the story arc.
It was also a good chance to gain exposure to Koontz’ writing. He’s a prolific author who has written dozens of books. Instead of starting out with one of his long form novels, I figured a few of his short stories would give me a good feel for his other books.
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There’s been a lot of talk of expanding the college playoff field to 12 teams this past season. I don’t like this number. It’s too many.
Don’t get me wrong. Just like 12 is too much, the current 4 is too little. 8 is the Goldilocks number – it’s just right.
I first wrote about the merits of an 8-team playoff back in 2014, and then again in 2016. I’m doubling down on those posts here in 2021.
All the reasons I listed in both of those posts are still valid today, so I’m not going to rehash all of them here. Instead, let’s take a look at which teams would be in my 8-team playoff bracket this year.
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Over the last couple of years, I’ve read a few books where the main plot has been related to quantum physics, especially traveling across space and time. Some of the books include Dark Matter, Recursion, and Pennsylvania. There have been others where traveling across space and time supported the story but wasn’t the main attraction. You’d think I would tire of this theme, but I’m finding there’s always room for one more on my reading list.
I knew going in that The Fold by Peter Clines would involve bending space and time as the main attraction. I was interested in Clines take on the topics and the story he built around the concept.
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When the local gym closed down for good over the pandemic, I had to look for another way to stay in shape. I decided to take up running (again). While I hate running, it was the best available option, particularly since Courtney would run occasionally while she was living with us last year.
I’ve been running consistently for about a year and a half. When I got an email about this year’s YMCA 5K/10K holiday run for fun, I figured it was time to put my training to the test. I ran in the very same event 6 years ago. At that time, I ran the 10K. I wasn’t up for the long distance this time around. I decided to sign up for the 5K, and Amanda and Courtney agreed to join me.
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One of the reasons I like reading short stories is the ability to explore new authors. That’s how I discovered Michael Bunker. A couple of years ago, I read his short story, All I Can Be – A Time Travel Story, and liked it. I liked it enough that I wanted to read one his longer form novels.
Bunker has written a number of books. I chose Pennsylvania. The description looked interesting, it fit into the science fiction genre I prefer, and the reviews were generally positive.
Continue readingIf you want to get better at something, anything, the first rule is to show up.
Sure, there is a certain amount of basic ability that’s required to perform a skill, but getting to that basic level is generally the easy part. The hard part is showing up day after day, persevering, grinding, making progress slowly but surely.
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Every day, we have to make hundreds of choices, if not more. One of the most important ones we make is at the beginning of every day. We must choose our disposition. We can choose to be happy, or we can choose to be miserable.
Researchers have proven time and again that those who choose happiness tend to live healthier, more successful, and overall better lives. The Happiness Advantage is one of my favorite books that examines this correlation.
For most of us, we have to make a conscience decision to be happy. It is not something that comes naturally. But what if we could make happiness our default operating condition? Dr. Rick Hanson explores how one can achieve this state in the book Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence.
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