eric.ness.net

Hamlet – William Shakespeare

This time, perhaps due to my age, I am way more unsympathetic to Hamlet. And Ophelia seems much more tragic.

This Side of Paradise – F. Scott Fitzgerald

This book has been on my list of books to read for 20 years. The two most interesting aspects of reading this book are first that it is semi-autobiographical. You can almost see a young F. Scott talking to these people and scenes at school actually happening. Second, you get to see the beginning of his writing style.

Thinking in Bets – Annie Duke

So I knew about Annie Duke from poker and was really pleased to learn that an enormous chunk of this stems from her love of cognitive-behavioral decision science.

The Rum Diary – Hunter S. Thompson

Like F. Scott’s This Side of Paradise, reading one of Hunter S. Thompson’s first forays into writing was interesting. All the elements are there, but not quite up to what you’d expect.

Stillness Is The Key – Ryan Holiday

Always good to read Ryan Holiday. The only downside to an otherwise good book was his thoughts on a higher power.

The Importance of Being Earnest – Oscar Wilde

I am trying to incorporate other forms of reading (such as poetry and plays) that I would not normally read. You can never go wrong with Oscar Wilde. Every other line is like a famous quote from Wilde.

Art of War – Sun Tzu

This book has been on my list of books to read for 20 years. It is one of those books people (I think) like to quote from but have never read. Perhaps it is because I am not in danger of becoming a general, have no real adversaries, or it could simply be the translation; I was not too fond of it. In its proper context, it is extraordinary that this is the first time some of these strategies were written, but in modern times they read a bit like obvious truisms.