[The Writing Life](https://a.co/d/ct4S2bV)   by Annie Dillard (  [notes](https://www.dltn.io/posts/the-writing-life-by-annie-dillard)  ) - I found this book tucked away on the back shelf of a bookstore. There were so many books scattered on the ground that I had to tip-toe around, but that's how I knew I'd find something good. Dillard's sporadic reflections on the life of a writer were refreshing. I enjoy reading fiction authors write about writing because of the animation and creativity they bring to the page. There's no better way to practice writing than to read someone who actually writes for a living (other than to actually write), for as Dillard writes in this book, "A writer is careful what he reads, because what he reads, he writes." One of my favorite quotesin this book is about how a series of good days makes a good life. Dillard writes, "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing."

[Show Your Work](https://a.co/d/6uSi9E8)   and   [Steal Like an Artist](https://a.co/d/g92Xxdc)   by Austin Kleon (  [notes](https://www.dltn.io/posts/show-your-work-by-austin-kleon)  ) - These were both books I read in 2020, but gleaned new insights from on a re-read (as so often happens). They're short, creative, and fun but hold a wealth of insight on what it means to be a creative, how to get inspired by others' work, and why its important to blog, tweet, or talk about what you're working on. Show Your Work was specially insightful because I was reminded, once again, of the myth that only "original" creations are worth making. As Kleon writes, "The writer Jonathan Lethem has said that when people call something 'original,' nine out of ten times they just don't know the references or the original sources involved." This happens a lot while listening to rappers. I'll hear a bass line or a drum beat I like, only to realize it was sampled from an earlier hip-hop artist. When that happens, I never look at the newer song in a negative light, so why do I think other people would look at mine that way? In fact, I'm often inspired by how the new artist put their own creative touch on it.

[How to Live on 24 Hours a Day](https://a.co/d/aQCEmRV)   by Arnold Bennett (  [notes](https://www.dltn.io/posts/book-notes-how-to-live-on-24-hours-a-day)  ) - I've referred to this book as "one of the best self-help books ever written without all the BS." How to Live on 24 Hours a Day is the most timeless, practical guide to time management. It gives both philosophical ideas and practical steps to help you take control of the hours most people typically waste. This book, written in 1908, is the complete opposite of anything close to "self-help" books published today. You won't read anything in here about cold showers, waking up at 4:30 am, or going for a 5-mile run every morning. The advice is simple, the words are witty and refreshing, and I highly recommend it.

[Devil in The White City](https://a.co/d/0goK2Cn)   by Erik Larson (  [notes](https://www.dltn.io/posts/devil-in-the-white-city)  ) - This is an enthralling tale of "murder and mayhem" at the Chicago World's Fair. There are two storylines Larson tracks in this book: one is of the construction of the Chicago World's Fair and the other is of a murderous villain who got away with killing multiple people just down the street from the fair's center. Incredibly, everything that happened in this book is true, even though it reads like a masterful novel. I'm currently reading Larson's other narrative non-fiction books and I can confidently say he has mastered the craft.

[Perennial Seller](https://a.co/d/aZqKAcZ)   by Ryan Holiday (  [notes](https://www.dltn.io/posts/perennial-seller-ryan-holiday)  ) - In Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work That Lasts, Ryan Holiday creates a playbook for writers, creators, and artists to make exceptional work and get noticed. And yes, those are two separate skills. Creating great work is hard and takes time, but so is getting that work in front of other people. But, don't think just because you've captured attention means your work will sell (  [look at this example of someone](https://www.insider.com/instagrammer-arii-2-million-followers-cannot-sell-36-t-shirts-2019-5)   who had 2 million followers and couldn't sell more than 50 items). Creating work that lasts and marketing that work is two sides of the same coin. To create a true perennial seller, both skills are needed. You'll learn the perfect formula for doing so in this book.

[Slaughterhouse-Five](https://a.co/d/gC72BUg)  by Kurt Vonnegut (fiction) - I bought this book from the same store I picked-up The Writing Life from. Vonnegut is mentioned so often, and I've read about him, but never read any of his work until now. I liked it. It was a strange mix between sci-fi and, believe it or not, memoir. I read another one of Vonnegut's books in early February, but you'll have to wait for that one!

January Reading List

*American Moonshot* by Douglas Brinkley ([notes](https://www.dltn.io/posts/book-notes-american-moonshot)) - Though this book lacked the technical bravado I was hoping for, it was interesting in a surprising way. Brinkley chronicles the life of John F. Kennedy and other major players in the space race, including former Nazi engineer Werner von Braun. I learned a lot about Cold War politics and the strange (maybe diplomatic?) attitude that Kennedy and Khrushchev treated each other with. I also learned to admire Kennedy’s drive to unite the country behind one goal: getting to the moon (and subsequently beating the Soviets).

*When Einstein Walked with Gödel* by Jim Holt - This one was a surprise for me. It caught my eye while browsing the Science and Math section at my local Barnes and Noble. Rather than a book with one cohesive narrative, *When Einstein Walked with Gödel* is a collection of essays on the invention (or discovery if you prefer that term) of the major science, math, and computing breakthroughs in the world. Holt is a brilliant writer and an even better thinker. *PS - There is little mention of Einstein or Gödel. The title is a nod to the “heady” conversations the two physicists would have walking to the Institute for Advanced Study every morning.*

*The War of Art* by Steven Pressfield ([notes](https://www.dltn.io/posts/the-war-of-art)) - Getting more philosophical, this book is a **must read** for any creative person. Ryan Holiday has said he reads it before starting any new creative project and I’m going to adopt that habit. In the book, Pressfield identifies this force–he calls it Resistance–that keeps you from doing the work you were born to do. Fear is Resistance. Criticism is Resistance. That nagging thought in the back of your mind that you’re not good enough is Resistance. The antidote? Showing up every day, like a professional, and doing the work. Focusing not on the outcomes, but on the process. The ideas in the book are simple but the change they had in my mind and heart is far from it. Bonus: It’s short and fun. You could read it in a couple of hours sitting at your favorite coffee shop.content

What I Read in December

One theme I chased this month was: **what are stories from history that most people haven't heard about or don't have an accurate understanding of? **My exploration was successful.

I started the month reading about a 1920s conspiracy to commit murder for oil rights against the Osage Native Americans, jumped a few decades ahead to be enthralled by the story of the African American women who helped launch the space race, and ended the month on the West Coast in the 60s to learn about the Manson trial.

### Books

***Killers of the Flower Moon*** **by David Grann** ([notes](https://www.dltn.io/book-notes/killers-of-the-flower-moon-by-david-grann)) - This book opened my narrow mind to a new (for me) genre of writing: narrative non-fiction.

It tells the true story of the Osage murders and gives a unique insight into the early days of the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover's philosophy for running the Bureau. The writing was so captivating, I started it one day and finished it the next. This story needs to be told more. On that note, I was excited to see a movie, directed by **[Martin Scorsese](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000217/)**, coming out in 2023.

Since this was a narrative, I didn't highlight much. I did, however, learn exciting facts about the early days of private detectives and forensic science.

* * * * *

***Hidden Figures *****by Margot Shetterly** - Captivating, heart-breaking, and awe-inspiring are just a few of the many adjectives I could use to describe this book. The author, Margot Lee Shetterly, did a great job weaving together the lives of "the black women mathematicians who helped win the space race" to show their grit and cant-stop-me attitude mixed with the terrible injustices they had to face.

One thing I realized was that African American's fought for "freedom" in both world wars but they weren't offered that same freedom back home. America and the allies painted themselves as a land that loves all and recognized the injustices the Jews were facing in Germany. Yet at the same time, African Americans were still fighting for fundamental freedoms and rights back home. I had never seen that juxtaposition before.

A similar situation happened during the space race. The USSR ensured anyone who so desired could be trained as an engineer. They had waves of people learning the most advanced math, science, and physics. Meanwhile, In America, African Americans were struggling to get a decent grade school education. In 1959 in Prince Edward County, rather than integrate, segregationists defunded the entire county school system. The schools in that district remained closed for five years. "Virginia," Shetterly writes, "a state with one of the highest concentrations of scientific talent in the world, led the nation in denying education to its youth."

When the space race took off, Civil Rights activists thought we didn't have any business reaching out beyond the stars if we couldn't figure out how to live together beneath them. I see their point.

Lucky for us, Dorthy Vaughn, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson looked these difficulties in the face and persevered. Their work helped John Glenn orbit earth and Neil Armstrong walk on the moon.

* * * * *

***Helter Skelter *****by Vincent Bugliosi - **A thorough, graphic, and shocking play-by-play of the Charles Manson trial written by the lead prosecutor for the Los Angeles District Attorney's office himself. I wanted to read this book for two reasons:

1.  Partly to understand why America is more fascinated with the Manson crimes than they are with most other mass murders.

2.  *Helter Skelter* is the best-selling true crime book in history. As *Killers of the Flower Moon* opened my mind to narrative non-fiction, I wanted to see how other writers approached that topic. I wasn't disappointed. At just under 28 hours long for the audiobook, my attention was held from cover to cover even though I knew how it ended! Bugliosi is a brilliant writer.

In 2018, journalist Tom O'Neill published *Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties.* I'm reading that now and he refutes a lot of what Bugliosi says. In the epilogue, O'Neil accuses Bugliosi of hiding evidence to more accurately paint the picture of his Helter Skelter race war motive. O'Neil thinks there's more to the story. A lot more. I plan to write an essay in the new year comparing the two.

* * * * *

***Letters to a Young Poet***** by Rainer Maria Rilke **([notes](https://www.dltn.io/book-notes/letters-to-a-young-poet)) - Few books touch your soul the way *Letters To a Young Poet* does. The language is enchanting. The problems are wide-ranging and applicable to most people. The main creative outlet addressed in the book is poetry, but the advice applies to anything someone with a creative bone in their body touches with pride and says: *I made that.*

It's a book for the soul, not the mind. Don't expect to learn tips for managing your creative workload or a process for creating great work. Rather, expect to look at your heart, more than once, and ask it: *Why do you want me to create, little heart?*

* * * * *

### Articles

[Joan Didion on Keeping a Notebook](https://www.themarginalian.org/2012/11/19/joan-didion-on-keeping-a-notebook/) - "Keepers of private notebooks are a different breed altogether, lonely and resistant rearrangers of things, anxious malcontents, children afflicted apparently at birth with some presentiment of loss."

[The Kopp-Etchells Effect Explained](https://sciencebasedlife.wordpress.com/2012/11/01/the-kopp-etchells-effect/) - "This means that the metals used are substances that can spontaneously ignite in air. But of course this doesn't happen in normal circumstances; we don't see bricks of titanium bursting into flames. Rather, the spinning blades of the helicopter generate a cloud of metal particles, just like the cloud of sand. Once in a powdered form, the metal particles can ignite and create the brilliant scenes above."

[John Von Neumann: A Strange Kind of Bird](https://freaktakes.substack.com/p/john-von-neumann-a-strange-kind-of?publication_id=274661&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email) - "Rather, his creation of game theory, the economic concept of utility being a number, and 'von Neumann architectures' in computing were more the byproducts of an excellent mathematician making expert use of the tools of his trade in approaching the problems of other fields."

[Why Graham Hancock Thinks Everything We Know About Human Prehistory Is Wrong](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/ancient-apocalypse-netflix-why-graham-hancock-thinks-everything/) - "There's the Phantom Time Hypothesis, which argues that the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries AD simply never happened. Unlike Hancock's theory, this one substantially rewrites a very familiar history: there was never a Charlemagne, or an early Middle Ages; the whole thing was concocted by the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, and we're actually currently living in the year 1725."

[Finding the Right People](https://nicoles.substack.com/p/finding-the-right-people) - "Even one person can change you: one person who shows you how to be loved, how to be self-assured, how to take risk."

[The Birth of the Institute for Advanced Study](https://www.privatdozent.co/p/the-birth-of-the-institute-for-advanced) - "Mathematicians with a fondness for tennis (the courts were nearby) didn't have to go home before returning to their offices --- there was a locker room with showers. When its doors opened in 1921, an undergraduate poet called it "a country club for math, where you could take a bath."

[The Adjacency Fallacy](https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2014/10/08/the-adjacency-fallacy/) - "Here's the difference between striated and smooth career-spaces: navigating the former just takes intelligence. Navigating the latter takes intelligence, creativity and balls."

[Model Suggests Link Between Intelligence and Entropy](https://physics.aps.org/articles/v6/46) - "A variety of previous research has provided "lots of hints that there's some sort of association between intelligence and entropy maximization," says Alex Wissner-Gross of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). On the grandest scale, for example, theorists have argued that choosing possible universes that create the most entropy favors cosmological models that allow the emergence of intelligent observers ."

[Don't Surround Yourself With Smart People](https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2014/11/05/dont-surround-yourself-with-smarter-people/) - "Beneath the humblebragging in both versions (your cut-off for smart is a de facto declaration of "look how smart I am; only Einsteins are worthy of surrounding me, and I understand the things they say!"), there is a basic logical issue: If the smarter people are dumb enough to surround themselves with the likes of you, they are dumber than you, which means they're smart and you're dumb. Wait. What?"

What I Read in November

Read last month's [here](https://www.dltn.io/essays/reading-list-sept-222).

### Books

***Discipline is Destiny *****by Ryan Holiday ([notes](https://www.dltn.io/book-notes/discipline-is-destiny-by-ryan-holiday))**

Through 54 short chapters, Ryan Holiday gives rules, ideas, and principles to live a disciplined life. By studying some of the most disciplined people who have breathed life on this Earth, the reader cannot help but think, *What if I start to be more disciplined today?* *What if I actually did "attack the dawn?''* *How different would my career be if I really did do the hard things first?* *What if I just showed up every day for the next five years? 10 years?* *What would my life look like if I got rid of that thing that controls me?* *What happens if I actually use discipline to shape my destiny?*

***Ernest Hemingway: A Biography *****by Mary V. Dearborn ([notes](https://www.dltn.io/book-notes/ernest-hemingway))**

Though *The Washington Post* touted this book as "The most fully faceted portrait of Hemingway now available", I was unimpressed. I learned more about Hemingway's obsession with bullfighting than I did about his writing habits or philosophy, spare the mention of the *Kansas City Star* writing guide (mentioned below in the notes). I suppose that's what people want, though. They want *the man and life behind* the writing, not the writing. I think it's a well-written book, it just was not what I was expecting and hoping for. However, I did learn interesting details about the Hemingway-Paris-writers era, which I've long been enchanted by. I closed the book with a fuller understanding of the man who called himself Ernest than I did when I opened it, which is what you hope for when you read a biography. A phrase that might sum up his life: *don't meet your heroes, kid.*

***Care and Culture of Men***** by David Starr Jordan ([notes](https://www.dltn.io/book-notes/the-care-and-culture-of-men-by-david-starr-jordan))**

Earlier this month, I saw this book on my shelf and, in a moment of boredom, decided to google the author's name: David Starr Jordan. *The founding president of Stanford University*?! I was hooked. And enjoyed it. It turned out to be a beautiful illustration of what college is meant to be. It's a collection of his speeches and in it, he shares his vision for what higher education should mean, the relationship between the State and the school, and much more.

### Articles

[Thoughts on Robert Caro's "The Power Broker"](http://clipsnbits.blogspot.com/2016/08/thoughts-on-robert-caros-power-broker.html) - I started reading *The Power Broker* last month, though have yet to finish it. I stumbled upon this article while trying to better understand the book I was reading and loved what the author had to say. Caro's goal in the book, it seems, is to reveal the lengths to which Robert Moses abused his positions of power to get things done. Yes, he abused power. But he got things done. And as long as he got things done, people would like him. Which seems obvious to me, but Caro doesn't allude to. At least not where I am in the book. That's why I appreciated the author of the article writing: "Yet, with this attitude, Caro misses the key to the whole Robert Moses story: the man only accumulated such power because he was the only man who could consistently deliver what the public wanted."

[Andrew Roberts on Napolean](https://octavianreport.com/article/the-mind-of-napoleon-the-power-of-compartmentalization/) - "Napoleon's phenomenal ability to devote the entire concentration of his remarkable mind on whatever he needed to -- to the exclusion of all else, until the problem was solved -- was a key element to his extraordinary success."

[Ronald Reagen's Notecard Collection Being Published](http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-05-08-reagan-notes-book-brinkley_n.htm) - "When he needed an illustrative anecdote and a bit of humor for a speech --- and he gave thousands of them over the course of his life --- he would leaf through the cards and pluck out some of them, giving "sparkle" to what otherwise might be pedestrian remarks, Brinkley says."

[How Good Do You Want to Be](https://thoughtcatalog.com/ryan-holiday/2018/01/how-good-do-you-want-to-be/) - "Each one of us, whether we're an athlete or an athletic director or an investor or a stay at home parent, would be better to step back from the binary world of winning and losing and focus instead on how good we are capable of being."

[On Writing More](https://ava.substack.com/p/on-writing-more) - "I've been thinking about how to write more, and I've noticed that what makes it possible is a kind of continuous excavation. You think you don't have anything to write about because you aren't digging deep enough. Say the deepest thing, and you'll find that something appears beneath it, like a set of Russian matryoshka dolls, an infinite uncovering."

[Extraordinary Letters on Love, Life, Death, Courage, and Moral Purpose](https://www.themarginalian.org/2019/09/18/words-in-pain-olga-jacoby-letters/) - "Blind yourself to nothing; look straight at sadness, loss, evil; but at the same time look with such intense delight at all that is good and noble that quite naturally the heart's longing will be to help the glory to triumph, and that to have been a strong fighter in that cause will appear the only end worth achieving."

[In Praise of Idleness](https://harpers.org/archive/1932/10/in-praise-of-idleness/) - "Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface relatively to other such matter; second, telling other people to do so."

What I Read in October 2022

### Books

***[The Man From the Future](https://www.dltn.io/book-notes/the-man-from-the-future): The Visionary Life of John von Neumann *****by Ananyo Bhattacharya**

This book explores the life of a time-traveler. Someone who theorized, pondered, and invented tools that would create the lives of some and destroy the lives of many. **[Game theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory)**, quantum mechanics, **[The Manhattan Project](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project)**, computers, and the **[RAND Corporation](https://www.rand.org/)** are just some of the many disciplines which von Neumann dabbled. This book helps explain those wide-reaching fields and the many lives they impacted.

At times during this book, I was a bit lost. Part of that wandering was due to the highly technical chapters that didn't come with any explanation--though I didn't expect much seeing how this book was written by someone with a Ph.D. in physics. But part of that wandering was that this book didn't really explore the "visionary life of John von Neumann" as the subtitle claims. Instead, it explored more of the inventions and fields that the life of John Von Neumann invented. The beginning has the traditional origin story of our main character, but after that, the narrative of his life isn't cohesive. You do, however, learn much about the lives of the people he worked with and the work they produced together. *[Book notes here.](https://www.dltn.io/book-notes/the-man-from-the-future)*

***[Leadership](https://www.dltn.io/book-notes/leadership)***** by Henry Kissinger**

This book profiled six leaders who led during a dramatic half-century. The leaders in this book influenced the world that followed the two colossal world wars that engulfed Europe and its allies. Their duties included reorganizing collapsing governments, cities, and countries; humbly accepting defeat and enduring global embarrassment; attempting to create global peace; and much more. These leaders struggled to create long-term policies when everything that came before was focused on the immediate.

Kissinger's own experience with each of the leaders made this book all the more interesting. There was plenty of research and due diligence from Kissinger that profiled each subject well, but each chapter ended with Kissinger's reflections and lessons from the personal relationships he maintained with each statesman. I didn't know that when I started reading it and it was a welcomed surprise. For some reason, these interactions made each subject more personal and real, not just someone whose name is in the history books a few times. *[Book notes here](https://www.dltn.io/book-notes/leadership).*

### Articles

[Solitude and Leadership](https://theamericanscholar.org/solitude-and-leadership/) - An exquisite critique of the current political/bureaucratic systems in higher education and other elite institutions as well as an encouragement to carry the burden of leadership, and with it, the inevitable embrace of solitude.

[The History of Blogging](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_blogging) by Wikipedia - When you think about it, there are a lot of weird things that have happened. Blogging is one of those weird things. I've always wondered who the first person to put their thoughts online were. This article did a pretty good job of answering some of my questions.

[The Steve Jobs Archive](https://stevejobsarchive.com/) - The title gives it away, but this is from their website: "A timeline of quotes, videos, and audio from Steve Jobs." It's all pretty illuminating.

[What I've Learnt About Writing](https://salonium.substack.com/p/8-how-i-write?utm_medium=email) by *Scientific Discovery - *4 lessons from an editor of science articles. The most eye-opening lesson for me was #2, "Writing is about communicating." The author points out that writing is about communicating information that the writer knows but the reader doesn't. This sounds obvious, but I find myself writing facts/statements that I know are true, but on the surface sound like opinions because I'm assuming my reader has the exact same knowledge that I do. 'Tis not so. *Compliment with [Noah Smith's writing advice](https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/noah-smiths-writing-advice).*

[How to make a proper iced coffee](https://mtcookingclub.substack.com/p/japanese-iced-coffee) - I've been drinking (and making) iced pour-overs for 4 years now and this is the only way I've ever seen it done. Unbeknownst to me, some people make hot coffee and pour that over ice (yikes), so thought I'd share this brilliant method and exceptional documentation.

[Engaging with History](http://.xn--%20the%20more%20you%20see%20a%20behavior%20throughout%20history%2C%20the%20more%20you%20realize%20how%20ingrained%20it%20is%20in%20human%20behavior%2C%20which%20makes%20you%20more%20confident%20that%20itll%20be%20part%20of%20our%20future-9z58m.xn--%20its%20the%20only%20way%20to%20forecast%20with%20accuracy-9g01b./) by Morgan Housel - "The more you see a behavior throughout history, the more you realize how ingrained it is in human behavior, which makes you more confident that it'll be part of our future. It's the only way to forecast with accuracy."

### Miscellaneous

-   [1966 documentary of John Von Neumann](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQp70uqsBV4)