One of my 2019 goals is to read more. The intent is to spend at least 30 minutes/day reading, and I’ve set up a target on my Goodreads profile to hit at least 25 books in 2019 – that’s one book every two weeks, which is totally doable.

I got my old Kindle all charged up, and the first thing I did (after linking my Goodreads account) was to integrate all my Amazon Kindle purchases. It turns out I’ve bought quite a few books over the years that I haven’t yet read. All told, there’s 48 books on my to-read list at the moment (of the 130-odd in my Kindle library). A bit more than 25, but then I do love a challenge 🙂

These are all the books I plan to have read before the year is out. And if I can get through one book per week (should be completely doable on weekends) I may even add a few more.

History and Politics (9)

  • The Dictator’s Handbook – Bruce Bueno De Mesquita
  • People’s War – Anthea Jeffery
  • On Tyranny – Timothy Snyder
  • Algorithms of Oppression – Safiya Umoja Noble
  • Countdown – Alan Weisman
  • Democracy for Realists – Christopher H. Achen
  • The Coddling of the American Mind – Jonathan Haidt
  • Who owns the future? – Jaron Lanier
  • The Death of Expertise – Tom Nichols

Psychology, Philosophy and Self Improvement (7)

  • Games People Play – Eric Berne
  • Atomic Habits – James Clear
  • Wisdom of Insecurity – Alan W. Watts
  • Zero Excuses – Gabriel Machuret
  • How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big – Scott Adams
  • Solving the Procrastination Puzzle – Timothy A. Pychyl
  • Bowling Alone – Robert Putnam

Business and Startups (6)

  • How to Measure Anything – Douglas W. Hubbard
  • The Best Dick – Mike Sharman
  • Traction – Gabriel Weinberg
  • Drive – Daniel H. Pink
  • The 7 Day Startup – Dan Norris
  • The Innovator’s Dilemma – Clayton M. Christensen

Science Fiction / Fantasy (12)

  • Split Second – Douglas E. Richards
  • Why You Were Taken – JT Lawrence
  • 3001: The Final Odyssey – Arthur C. Clarke
  • Darknet – Matthew Mather
  • Project Northwoods – Charles J. Bruce
  • Arrival – Ryk Brown
  • BrainWeb – Douglas E. Richards
  • Failsafe – Daniel Gage
  • Silo 7 – Daniel Gage
  • AfroSF – Ivor W. Hartmann
  • Departure – A. G. Riddle
  • A Scanner Darkly – Philip K. Dick

Writing Craft (14)

  • How to Write Short Stories – James Scott Bell
  • How to be an Author – Ashton Cartwright
  • Write to Market – Chris Fox
  • How to Write Faster – Marcy Kennedy
  • Writing Deep Point of View – Rayne Hall
  • The 7 Secrets of the Prolific – Hillary Rettig
  • She Sat He Stood – Ginger Hanson
  • The 12 Key Pillars of Novel Construction – C.S. Lakin
  • How to Write Dazzling Dialogue – James Scott Bell
  • Super Structure – James Scott Bell
  • Story Climax – H.R. D’Costa
  • Techniques of the Selling Writer – Dwight V. Swain
  • Rock Your Plot – Cathy Yardley
  • Write. Publish. Repeat. – Sean Platt

I think you can tell by that last, largest category that I’m really interested in being a writer 😉

My progress will be tracked on my Goodreads profile – Kindle makes it really easy to flag which book you’re reading. Now it’s just about finding the time to sit down and do the reading.

If you’re doing a reading challenge this year, let me know!