Reading

A turfgrass researcher shares a snapshot of the books on his desk before a long trip, explaining how each title—spanning Darwin’s biography, soil science, water relations, statistical modeling, Thai language study, and Japanese road atlases—connects to his current research on soil porosity, grass drought performance, and data-driven turf management guidelines.

A reader shares annotated notes on the books they finished in 2025, with top picks including Five Decembers by James Kestrel (a WWII-era crime and love story), The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes, and Sketches by Boz by Dickens, alongside titles ranging from golf travel writing to AI criticism and Cal Newport’s Deep Work.

A reader shares brief reviews of six books consumed in 2024, with Joseph Mitchell’s Up in the Old Hotel taking the top spot and picks like Challenger and Judgment at Tokyo earning praise alongside critiques of pacing, detail, and structure.

A reading list of books completed in 2023, with personal notes on each, spanning Japanese literary fiction (Kawakami, Murakami), a travelogue across the British Empire on a single day in 1923, and practical guides to Emacs and SQL.

A reader shares brief reflections on the books they finished for the first time in 2022, including standouts like Conquest by Hugh Thomas (their favorite of the year) and Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, alongside works by Franzen, Grisham, Kawabata, Murakami, and others spanning fiction, history, and science.

A reader shares the 11 books they completed in 2021, including Taleb’s Fooled by Randomness, The Black Swan, and Antifragile; literary fiction such as Midnight’s Children, The Sympathizer, and Tree of Smoke; and practical titles like Mastering Shiny and How to Take Smart Notes, with brief personal notes on each.

These are some of the the books I read last year. But this post is about the books I finished reading for the first time in 2020. These are the books I finished reading, for the first time, in 2020.

A reader shares the ten books they completed in 2019, highlighting favorites including Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham, The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee, and The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization by Bryan Ward-Perkins, with brief notes on what made each standout title memorable.