Hello, it’s been a while. These later months of the year passed by very quickly and it’s now Q4 of 2023! Nevertheless, I’ve finished some books and it’s time for a quick discussion of each one. Let’s go!
Joy at Work: Organizing Your Professional Life
By Marie Kondo and Scott Sonenshein
I admit that I am a minimalist IN THEORY. I would love to apply all my learnings in real life, but putting these lessons into action are the hardest challenges I face. I’ve read many books on minimalism and I’ve actually started throwing away some of my things multiple times.
But the minimalism high only lasts a few days and once it’s gone, I’m back to my habit of buying the newest doohickey I see on Lazada. I’ve improved a lot and I can consider myself semi-minimalist in that I always think about living with as few things as possible.
I’ve heard of Marie Kondo, but I never could get myself to read her other, more famous book, The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up. So instead, I picked up this book which is more focused on the workplace setting.
Yes, even my work table has so many things on it. Things that don’t even need to be there. But for me, everything has its place and I can still remember where things are. Nevertheless, this book served as a reminder that it’s always a good time to trim down on physical and digital clutter.
At the core of everything, this book never lets you forget that the ultimate goal of minimalism is to give you joy in your life. And while this book has many tangible steps that you can follow, you are never forced to follow them if you know that they diminish joy in your life.
This book is a good read especially for those feeling stressed at their workplace (aka Me). Sometimes you just need to slow down and assess all the things going on around you. Aside from physical and digital clutter, this book will also give you tips on how to manage things with your professional relationships. The aim here is to refocus your energy and effort into the things that matter to you.
While I can’t vouch for the effectivity of this book, it’s always good to read books like these to remind us that sometimes, we just need to have less things in order to feel more. This is definitely one book that I’ll be keeping a copy of. The year is almost ending and I’d like to start the new one with fewer but more quality possessions.
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The World Atlas of Coffee: From Beans to Brewing – Coffees Explored, Explained and Enjoyed
By James Hoffman
James Hoffman is a YouTuber whose videos I’ve watched for a long time. He’s the go-to person to watch when it comes to learning all about coffee. Still, I didn’t know that he has written an actual tome on the topic.
I’m just a casual coffee enjoyer, but I had a good time reading most of this book. From bean plantations to all the different brewing methods available, they are discussed in-depth here. I like learning about the things I enjoy on a daily basis and since I grind my daily coffee myself, it was fun knowing all the processes it took to get these coffee beans into my cup.
The book is divided into two sections. The first section is about the types of beans that exist, their different strains, how they are processed, transported, and sold. It concludes with how to grind and brew these beans, with an in-depth part on espresso machines as well. It was very comprehensive, with brew methods from the French press, to the moka pot, to my favorite, the Aeropress.
This was the part I enjoyed because even if I can’t recall the specifics, I can now appreciate even more the beans that I buy. In fact, I now know a bit more about what it means for beans to be roasted light vs dark, where the beans originate and the flavors to expect from them. It’s quite fun even though my tongue isn’t that sensitive at all.
The next section of the book, although more bulky, is just an encyclopedia listing countries and the strains of coffee they grow, in alphabetical order.
As someone who just enjoys all the local beans that he can get, I didn’t have any particular interest in this section so I just skimmed through it. It did include the Philippines and our barako beans were highlighted so props to how complete the research was. However, I doubt that I’ll ever get the chance to be comparing Ethiopian beans with Brazilian beans anytime soon.
I’m not a coffee snob and with my like for sweetened coffee, I doubt I ever will be. But this additional knowledge to one of my interests is very welcome.
This is a must-read for coffee lovers. Those who want to be a barista, professional or amateur, should have a copy of this book by default. It’s a great intro to coffee and a good reference for everything about it.
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The Unbearable Lightness of Being
By Milan Kundera
This book and I go back a long time. I first read it in college after one of my friends who I deemed “very well-read” let me borrow it for a while.
Back then, I wasn’t someone who read for fun. I was struggling through college with all the lessons and modules, so I was basically reading out of desperation. This fiction book took some of the scholastic edge off the act.
But I don’t recall ever finishing the book. I must have read 3/4s of it until it reached the rough and political part and I returned it to my friend. Still, it was a book that stuck with me for a long time.
Now that I was on a reading high, I found a copy while browsing a bookstore and decided to give it another go. And I’m glad that I was now able to take it to the end.
It’s hard to describe this book. It can be considered a philosophical study aside from just simple storytelling. At some parts of the novel, the author breaks away from the characters and gives his own opinion on them. The structure of the story is not chronological and there are multiple points of view being used.
I should just say that this is not an easy book to read. It can get deep and highfalutin. And quite pretentious.
But what I found unique about this book (the same thing as it was 11 years ago on my first read) was my relatability with one of the protagonists, Tomas. It’s a red flag when you can relate to a protagonist who isn’t a good person, but the author might as well have put into words some thoughts and beliefs I’ve had that I would never have said out loud.
Having something in common with a fictional, womanizing surgeon during the Soviet invasion of Prague is not something I expected, but it kept the story much more interesting personally.
The passages in this book about sex, relationships, power struggles, loss, men and women, and love are quite on point with my own view on these topics.
This culminates into the best anecdote on love I’ve ever read. This quote has been stuck with me for more than a decade and I know I will forget all the other elements in this book (and even entire other books) before I forget this quote. I won’t spoil it for you, because I want you to read it as it is contextualized in the book itself.
While other books try to change my life, reading this book “affirmed” it. I felt seen, especially about an aspect of myself I never really discussed with other people.
Even though my brain had to work overtime whenever I opened this story (I had to reread some paragraphs so many times), it was well worth it for the bittersweet ending. I feel that this book is best read by taking small bites out of it every now and then.
Most people I recommend this book to, never finish it. To be fair, I didn’t finish it until 11 years later as well. But if there’s a chance that it gives anyone else the feeling I got after reading it, then this book is worth a try. No need to relate to a womanizing doctor.
I wonder how this book would affect someone with no deep connection to any of the protagonists. So if you’ve read this book, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it!
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How to Deal With Idiots (and stop being one yourself)
By Maxim Rovere
Spoiler alert: this book is such a blueball.
This was originally written in French so I would give it the benefit of the doubt for some parts where I had to keep rereading just to get the point. The point of this book is to show us the futility of arguing with idiots.
In the first part, it tells us what all the idiots we deal with have in common and why they tick us off so much. It also goes deeper about why we feel this way whenever we have such an encounter.
I found it interesting that despite all the different situations we get into with all kinds of idiots, the core issue and our desired outcome is still the same.
The author then tells us some counterintuitive statements and this is what the next part of the book is for. Arguing with idiots is pointless. Morality, Values, facts, etc. are all useless in the face of a bumbling buffoon.
There is no use in bringing up morality to prove your high ground. Neither is there much to gain by pointing out facts and evidences in the face of idiocy. We cannot rely on the law either, lest we are willing to give up some of our liberties in exchange. There is also no use putting importance on our values as they are not important to idiots. It doesn’t matter who is wrong or right at this point.
This part is very entertaining to read if it wasn’t so sad. Every day it’s either I’m the idiot or I’m surrounded by idiots so I can relate much with what the book is saying. In the face of futility, what are we to do?
Ultimately, just when I expect the book to give some solid solutions, it ends. I guess it’s too good to be true. There is no panacea for stupidity.
Just like all problems in life, the solutions aren’t found in a book. They must be dealt with head-on, on a case-to-case basis. We all have different ways of solving problems and even the problems themselves are all uniquely different.
The book does its best to arm us with things to reflect on without recommending a specific form of action. My favorite takeaway is to always assess the kind of idiot you’re dealing with.
And of course, the most important thing is to not do the things that turn us into idiots ourselves just so we can face stupidity on its own terms.
This was recommended in jest by my friend as we were sharing our problems with dealing with idiots at work. I decided to get into it as I was not reading anything else at the time.
While it’s not a book I would recommend outright, if you are frustrated with your interactions with other people lately, you might want to pick this up. There are some useful takeaways and reminders inside.
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And that’s it for these past months. It’s not a lot but I’ve not found myself searching for books lately. I’m currently trying to find a new batch to read on my commutes, so a recommendation would be a big help!
If you’ve read any of these books, let me know if you felt the same way in the comments. That’s all folks!
Stay safe and read a book instead of opening TikTok!
-jgzn
