What I'm reading at the moment
What I'm reading at the moment
It's kind of a lot
I’m reading a lot of different things at the moment. Sometimes I consider reading one thing at a time. It’s been a while since I’ve done that. Also, contrary to my whole ethos about talking about what you’re reading, I’m not planning to discuss all of the books I’m reading at the moment.
Book Club
In early December I’ll be discussing Men in the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories a book by Ghassān Kanafānī. I haven’t started this one, but I’m looking forward to digging into it starting this week.
Fantasy Premier League Draft
I’m playing Fantasy Premier League Draft for the second year in a row. I’m doing horribly this season so far. Mostly cause I picked with my heart (and mind somewhat) by picking too many Liverpool players that ended up injured and/or just generally playing poorly. Say la vie.
Partly from watching more soccer and partly from playing in the Fantasy Draft, I’ve accumulated a bunch of questions that mostly center around why one team or player is better than another. It’s a complete mystery to me. To answer these questions I’ve picked up Inverting the Pyramid The History of Soccer Tactics by Guardian Journalist Jonathan Wilson. I’ve sort of roped in some others in my league to read and discuss the book. I know I’m going to need help. Lots of the formations, while I’m reading them there named in numbers, I don’t get why one is better than another. I sometimes start thinking about physics and fluid dynamics playing a role. I think back to a something I heard this guy Michael Saylor say once about power/success being about moving energy through spacetime and apply it to the ability to move a soccer ball through the spacetime of the field into the goal.
The Brothers
My actual blood brother Michael Dyer reached out not too long ago and said he wanted to finally read The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I haven’t read this book in nearly 20 years. I don’t think I reread it after reading it for school at St John’s College. I’m about a hundred pages in. I like rereading it, but man he goes all over. I’m looking forward to discussing it again. I expect, like when I recently reread Middlemarch by Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot), it is not going to be the earthshattering book it once was for me when I read it in my early 20s. We shall see.
I read this one evenings and weekends a bit here and there. Very loosely and slowly reading it.
GTD
I’ve avoided reading this book for 20+ years. I’m not sure why. Getting Things Done by David Allen always felt dry and brainlessly productivity-minded. I’ve slipped into the productivity slipstream recently though. Partly because of a frame I’ve downloaded reading and rereading another book I’m rereading at the moment, The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt. I see much of my life through the lens of flow and constraints. I see my doing hours through this lens especially. Ideas flowing from a random thought to real and done and in the world is both cool to me and a great mystery. How does it happen and what slows the flow and what can I do about it? I’m not planning on discussing this book with anyone. I feel like it’d be a fairly dry conversation. I could see a support group of people discussing how setting up their systems is going for them though. But that’s a bit different.
Gotham
A long time ago, my mom saw these two authors making the talk show rounds launching their new book about New York City called Gotham. It is 1300 pages. It starts as the first Europeans are arriving to the area of Manhatta and it’s surrounding islands. It is the first of 2 books. The first, Gotham covers only up to the late 1800s. That’s about 600 pages for a hundred years of history and happenings on this island I work on and nearby environs. Great Gotham takes readers from the late 1800s closer to modern day. It is so comprehensive and dense. It is also fascinating how history repeats itself. The saying is cliche and wowing to see reading Gotham. Racism. Classism. When the economy depresses, crime gets bad. The government feels like it needs to do extra stuff to prevent unrest. The poor are always with us. Governments and Churches passing the buck between each other. Populism. The really really rich. It’s wowing this history and this book. I’m not planning on reading this one with anyone. Not planning on discussing. I will however, shower lots of random trivia upon my partner mostly and anyone else I happen to be walking around NYC with.
I just read this one on weekends. Mostly Sundays to be honest. So very very slowly. I get through close to a chapter a week ish.
The Goal
The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt is one of my more recent favorite reads. I’ve read it now a few times. A colleague at work has pulled together a book club (miraculous that it wasn’t me, I know) and took suggestions. Somehow The Goal ended up selected. Very surprising to me, but I’m into it. So dreams really do come true. We get to read and discuss this book that’s very much applicable to work at work with work colleagues. I’m super interested to hear what others think about the theory overall and how to apply the ideas articulated for a manufacturing plant to our world of software as a service. I’ve worked hard at elucidating the parallels, drawing out the analogy. I wonder if we’ll even have time to do so in our wee 30 min timeslot every couple weeks.
I read this one in little bits and pieces between meetings and tasks at work.
I am reading a lot of books and a lot of very different books. This is what I’m into. I love the variety. A lot of these I’ll just keep reading in the background. I’ll add another one when I finish Getting Things Done and slowly finish all the others over time.
What are you reading at the moment?