This year, I conducted an inventory of my books: I removed some that I definitely wouldn't read and, along with that, downloaded about 400 new books. Even at the moment of downloading, I only paid attention to those that could potentially interest me. But even 400 books were too many, and at my current reading speed, it would take me 15-20 years to read them all.
Then the most interesting part began, though it was routine and sometimes unpleasant. First, I filtered out a very small number of books, either due to their content or because it was impossible to copy text from them, and I deleted those. Next, I started labeling the books in the format "Author - Title." After that, I organized the books by priority into 4 categories (from 0 to 3), where 0 is the most important priority for me, and 3 is the least important. But that’s not all; I also created tabs in the file containing the books according to their priorities and entered the books based on their positions in the priority categories. Now, I choose books to read from the file more by title (since during the sorting process, I already have a rough idea of which ones I want to read first and which ones second). Mostly, over the year, I ended up reading books from the zero priority category, which is logical, but I also committed to picking a couple of books from the first priority and a few from the second and third.
I don’t know about 15-20 years, but for the next 3-4 years, I definitely won’t be looking for books to read, as I have already clearly identified what I can read. After that, I will likely have to revise the list and keep it relevant, as many books become partially outdated over time.
Now, directly about what I read in 2023. I read a total of 20 books, which is 2 books fewer than in 2022, 10 fewer than in 2021, and 12 fewer than in 2020. On one hand, there is a clear trend of decreasing reading, but this doesn't bother me too much. Firstly, I have become more intentional in my reading and thoroughly process the book after finishing it, at least by immediately rereading my notes, and at most by applying something from the book in my life. Secondly, I still have the notes from previous years. That's over 80 books that I refresh in my memory each year. Since next year I will have to reread more than 100 notes, I decided that I won't reread all of them every year, and some notes (from certain years) I will reread every 2 or even 3 years.
Almost all the books I read in 2023 were quite good, and there were no significant outliers. Among the leaders, I would highlight the following top three:
- Sergey Yazev - Myths of the Past Century
- Ed Catmull, Amy Wallace - Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
- James Humes - The Wit and Wisdom of Great Speakers: Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln
Overall, there were many books that I enjoyed, but these three are the ones I would recommend everyone read, especially the first one. I won’t say that the author conveyed new information to me, but he articulated almost all the thoughts I had in my mind regarding the issues addressed in the book.
Below is the complete list of books I read in 2023.
It is also worth noting that I created a separate Instagram account for books, where I briefly describe what each book is about and who might be interested in it.
