Reading challenge this year

Posted by Eddo on September 7, 2016

In order to keep learning and expanding my knowledge, I’ve presented a challenge to myself last January; read at least 20 books this year. It was also focused on having something to do during my commute to work by train, instead of just staring out the window or sleeping/dozing in the morning. Who knew that the Madrid metro doesn’t have a good view outside, only dark tunnels … 😉

Intentionally I didn’t set the challenge to read specific books, I do like to mix things up a bit with regard to genre or type of book. Some books lead me to new books to read, and others are just a nice read to focus on something else. The way I read, I usually read a few books in the same time span. For instance a fiction paperback and an non-fiction ebook, of course not reading both at really the same time, but picking one over the other at times during the day.

List of read books this year

  1. “Deception point“, Dan Brown; A re-read, as I read the book when it originally came out, but forgotten about the story.
  2. “The martian“, Andy Weir; I read it based on recommendations by @shawnblanc, and due to the movie release.
  3. “Digital fortress“, Dan Brown; A re-read, as I read the book when it originally came out, but forgotten about the story.
  4. “Raveleijn“, Paul van Loon; A Dutch book for teenagers, read it due to the name which is the same as the apartment complex I was living in at the time
  5. “Linchpin“, Seth Godin; Becoming an indispensable employee, or insights into creating a network of people.
  6. “De bijenherder“, Rini van Solingen; Self-organizing teams need a different kind of management
  7. “Screw it, let’s do it“, Richard Branson; Short autobiography of Richard Branson, of sorts.
  8. “The five dysfunctions of a team“, Patrick Lencioni; Building a team told through a story, I do like the style of writing by Lencioni
  9. “The road headed west“, Leon McCarron; Inspiring story of a cycle tour through the USA
  10. “Head first: Design patterns“; Default patterns in software to benefit solving some problems
  11. “Turn the ship around“, David Marquet; Marquet describes his learnings on implementing the leader-leader model as a US Navy submarine commander
  12. “The art of non-conformity“, Chris Guillebeau; Live your life, don’t live someone else’s life
  13. “The 4 hour body“, Tim Ferriss; Ferriss explains that with a few ‘hacks’ you can accomplish a lot without having to put in a huge amount of effort
  14. “Vagabonding“, Rolf Potts; Not going on a holiday, but travel longer to slow down and experience life.
  15. “To the ends of the earth“, Ranulph Fiennes; the story about the TransGlobe expedition, the circumnavigation of the earth across the poles.
  16. “The sixth extinction“, James Rollins; well-written biotechnology thriller
  17. “Killing floor“, Lee Child; The first Jack Reacher novel, started reading it completely unrelated to any Tom Cruise movie…
  18. “Subterranean“, James Rollins;
  19. “The effective engineer“, Edmond Lau; A recommended book for developers, inspirational in focusing on high-leverage activities. Working smarter, not harder.

One thing that I noted in this list that I actually forgot, is that at the start of the year I read more fiction, and currently reading more non-fiction books. Noteworthy to mention, that spending time at either airports, in airplanes or in public parks opens up time to read a book.

Do you have any noteworthy books as a suggestion?

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