{"id":3230,"date":"2019-01-03T16:42:27","date_gmt":"2019-01-03T15:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/?p=3230"},"modified":"2019-01-03T16:42:27","modified_gmt":"2019-01-03T15:42:27","slug":"books-ive-read-in-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/archives\/2019\/01\/03\/books-ive-read-in-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Books I\u2019ve read in 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/user_challenges\/10692271\">Goodreads tells me I\u2019ve read 48 books in 2018.<\/a> I set myself the goal of 36 so it looks like I beat it handily. But included in that count are quite a few roleplaying game books and comics. If I discard those I\u2019m left with 28 titles. Still a decent amount but nothing particularly remarkable. Below are a few lists and some notes to go with them.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the non-fiction is somewhere on the intersection of design, technology and Left politics. A lot of this reading was driven by my desire to develop some kind of mental framework for the work we were doing with <a href=\"https:\/\/techsolidarity.nl\">Tech Solidarity NL<\/a>. More recently\u2014since I <a href=\"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/archives\/2018\/09\/04\/starting-a-phd\/\">started my PhD<\/a>\u2014I\u2019ve mostly been reading textbooks on research methodology. Hidden from this list is the academic papers I\u2019ve started consuming as part of this new job. I should figure out a way of sharing some of that here or elsewhere as well.<\/p>\n<ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/2529709728\">Design Research Through Practice: From the Lab, Field, and Showroom<\/a> by Ilpo Koskinen et al.\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/2490200952\">The Lean PhD: Radically Improve the Efficiency, Quality and Impact of Your Research<\/a> by Julian Kirchherr\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/2592071242\">Researching Information Systems and Computing<\/a> by Briony J. Oates\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/1609688150\">Play Anything: The Pleasure of Limits, the Uses of Boredom, and the Secret of Games<\/a> by Ian Bogost\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/2300934853\">Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism<\/a> by Richard D. Wolff\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/2501703696\">The Chapo Guide to Revolution: A Manifesto Against Logic, Facts, and Reason<\/a> by Chapo Trap House\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/2032782333\">Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars From 4Chan And Tumblr To Trump And The Alt-Right<\/a> by Angela Nagle\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/2289899547\">Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet<\/a> by Yasha Levine\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/2128513169\">Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life<\/a> by Adam Greenfield\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/1864255559\">Four Futures: Life After Capitalism<\/a> by Peter Frase\n<\/li><\/ul>\n<p>I took a break from technology and indulged in a deep dive into the history of the thirty year\u2019s war with a massive non-fiction treatment as well as a classic picaresque set in the same time period. While reading these I was transitioning into my new role as a father of twin boys. Somewhat related was a brief history of The Netherlands, which I\u2019ve started recommending to foreigners who are struggling to understand our idiosyncratic little nation and go beyond superficialities. <\/p>\n<ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/2305581866\">Simplicissimus<\/a> by H.J.C. von Grimmelshausen\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/2146100669\">Europe\u2019s Tragedy: A New History of the Thirty Years War<\/a> by Peter H. Wilson\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/1946073630\">Beknopte geschiedenis van Nederland<\/a> by James C. Kennedy\n<\/li><\/ul>\n<p>Then there\u2019s the fiction, which in the beginning of the year consisted of highbrow weird and historical novels but then ventured into classic fantasy and (utopian) sci-fi territory. Again, mostly because of a justifiable desire for some escapism in the sleep deprived evenings and nights.<\/p>\n<ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/2571831222\">The Fifth Season<\/a> by N.K. Jemisin\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/2267997887\">Pacific Edge<\/a> by Kim Stanley Robinson\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/2561573601\">Tales of the Dying Earth<\/a> by Jack Vance\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/2534012849\">Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation<\/a> by Phoebe Wagner et al.\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/1140148744\">Annihilation<\/a> by Jeff VanderMeer\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/2340172788\">Elric of Melnibon\u00e9 and Other Stories<\/a> by Michael Moorcock\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/2357065286\">The Return of the Lloigor<\/a> by Colin Wilson\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/2300105987\">The Twenty Days of Turin<\/a> by Giorgio De Maria\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/2249101742\">Empire of the Sun<\/a> by J.G. Ballard\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/2163768173\">Radio Laika \u2013 Verhalen uit de ruimte<\/a> by Niels \u2019t Hooft\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/2247487183\">The Vegetarian<\/a> by Kang Han\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/2200622647\">The Siege<\/a> by Ismail Kadare\n<\/li><\/ul>\n<p>Having mentioned the arrival of our boys a few times it should come as no surprise that I also read a couple of parenting books. These were more than enough for me and really to be honest I think parenting is a thing best learned through practice. Especially if you\u2019re raising two babies at once.<\/p>\n<ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/2511443152\">5 Days to a Perfect Night\u2019s Sleep for Your Child: The Secrets to Making Bedtime a Dream<\/a> by Eduard Estivill\n<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/2245817261\">The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer<\/a> by Harvey Karp\n<\/li><\/ul>\n<p>So that\u2019s it. I\u2019ve set myself the modest goal of 24 books for this year because I\u2019m quite sure most of my reading will be papers and such. Here\u2019s to a year of what I expect will be many more late night and early morning reading sessions of escapist weird fiction.<\/p>\n<p><em>Previous years: <a href=\"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/archives\/2018\/01\/03\/books-ive-read-in-2017\/\">2017<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/archives\/2017\/01\/02\/books-ive-read-in-2016\/\">2016<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/archives\/2015\/12\/31\/books-ive-read-in-2015\/\">2015<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/archives\/2012\/01\/09\/books-ive-read-in-2011\/\">2011<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/archives\/2010\/01\/08\/books-ive-read-in-2009\/\">2009<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Goodreads tells me I\u2019ve read 48 books in 2018. I set myself the goal of 36 so it looks like I beat it handily. But included in that count are quite a few roleplaying game books and comics. If I discard those I\u2019m left with 28 titles. Still a decent amount but nothing particularly remarkable. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/archives\/2019\/01\/03\/books-ive-read-in-2018\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Books I\u2019ve read in 2018<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[625],"tags":[1204,104,70,105],"class_list":["post-3230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-1204","tag-books","tag-lists","tag-reading"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3230"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3236,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3230\/revisions\/3236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}