Time to reflect on my goal from last year and think about upcoming goals for 2021. I’m excited that I was able to meet my objective this year! I think that it was an invaluable experience. Although it was incredibly valuable, I do not think that setting the same goal for 2021 is my best option. I would love to read and reflect on 52+ books again this year, however, I think that other goals will need to receive priority. But I anticipate that I will continue to read and post, just not as frequently.
A few of the general themes from 2020 include Merlin and King Arthur, business, Buddhism, Christianity, C. S. Lewis, psychology, and poetry. My favorite book from this year was “Till We Have Faces,” and my least favorite was “What’s the Future and Why It’s Up to Us.” I think that “Till We Have Faces” was my favorite because it was totally engaging and provoked a strong emotional response from me. Close seconds for my favorite books were “CODE” because of how much I learned about computers and circuits, and “Garden City” because of the connection that it created between religion and work for me. On the other hand, I disliked “What’s the Future and Why It’s Up to Us” because I felt like most of the content was simply the author bragging about his accomplishments. I also disliked “Don Quixote” which kind of surprised me. “Don Quixote” is considered a classic, so I thought that I would enjoy it; obviously, I missed most of the humor that is supposed to make it entertaining. I think it’s noteworthy to mention that I felt a strong emotional connection with the main character of my favorite book, whereas I was strongly appalled by the pride exuding from the pages of my least favorite book.
Summary of book posts from 2020
“The Crystal Cave” ~ Mary Stewart
“The Last Enchantment” ~ Mary Stewart
“The Hollow Hills” ~ Mary Stewart
“The Four Loves” ~ C. S. Lewis
“The Once and Future King” ~ T. H. White
“The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York” ~ Robert Caro
“All the President’s Men” ~ Bernstein and Woodward
“Till We Have Faces” ~ C. S. Lewis
“Jungle of Stone” ~ William Carlsen
“The Mythical Man-Month” ~ Frederick Brooks
“The Abolition of Man” ~ C. S. Lewis
“CODE” ~ Charles Petzold
“What’s the Future and Why It’s Up to Us” ~ Tim O’Reilly
“Siddhartha” ~ Hermann Hesse
“Before Amen” ~ Max Lucado
“The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
“Surprised by Joy” ~ C. S. Lewis
“The Miracle of Mindfulness” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
“Anxious for Nothing” ~ Max Lucado
“You and Me Forever” ~ Francis Chan & Lisa Chan
“Steppenwolf” ~ Hermann Hesse
“Notes from Underground” ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky
“Everybody Always” ~ Bob Goff
“The Double” ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky
“White Nights” ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky
“The Magician’s Nephew” ~ C. S. Lewis
“The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” ~ C. S. Lewis
“The Horse and His Boy” ~ C. S. Lewis
“Prince Caspian” ~ C. S. Lewis
“The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” ~ C. S. Lewis
“The Silver Chair” ~ C. S. Lewis
“The Last Battle” ~ C. S. Lewis
“Never Split the Difference” ~ Chris Voss
“Wild at Heart” ~ John Eldredge
“Don Quixote: Part I” ~ Miguel de Cervantes
“Don Quixote: Part II” ~ Miguel de Cervantes
The Book of Daniel: Study by Beth Moore
“Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce” ~ John Piper
“Thinking in Bets” ~ Annie Duke
“The Hiding Place” ~ Corrie Ten Boom
“Synchronicity” ~ Carl Jung
“The Way of a Pilgrim” ~ unknown
“The Pilgrim Continues His Way” ~ unknown
“The Divine Comedy: Inferno” ~ Dante Alighieri
“No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention” ~ Reed Hastings & Erin Meyer
“Parents Who Lead” ~ Stewart Friedman & Alyssa Westring
“Garden City” ~ Mark Comer
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” ~ William Shakespeare
The Book of Job: Study by J. I. Packer
“The Meaning of Marriage” ~ Timothy Keller
“Hamlet” ~ William Shakespeare
“Macbeth” ~ William Shakespeare
“Julius Caesar” ~ William Shakespeare
“A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” ~ Donald Miller
“Answer to Job” ~ Carl Jung
Other posts from 2020
2020 Goal: To Read One Book & To Write One Reflection Per Week
“The Chronicles of Narnia” Books 1-7 Summary
2020 Goal: Midpoint Evaluation
The Book of Daniel Summary
“Will You Marry Me” ~ Charles Krouse
Most notably, I am getting married in 2021, which will produce a significant life change. I’m not sure what to expect in terms of balancing marriage with career, exercise, personal goals, and other relationships, but I think that because of this new stage of life I will need to be flexible with some of my personal goals.
Possible goals for 2021
Specific career goals and aspirations
Read through the entire Bible and write a blog post to summarize each Book of the Bible
Improve my marathon time to Boston qualifying time (under 3 hours)
Repeat the 2020 goal of reading one book per week and writing a reflection on that book
Learn to speak Mandarin Chinese
Dissect existing programs to learn more about programming and software development
Books that I want to read in 2021
“Enuma Elish”
“Jerusalem: The Biography” ~ Simon Sebag Montefiore
“Plutarch’s Lives: Volume 1” ~ Plutarch
“Plutarch’s Lives: Volume 2” ~ Plutarch
Deuterocanonical Books of the Bible (Book of Tobit, Book of Judith, Book of Wisdom, Book of Baruch, Letter of Jeremiah, Ecclesiasticus, First Book of Maccabees, Second Book of Maccabees)
“The Divine Comedy” ~ Dante Alighieri
“Fooled by Randomness” ~ Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“The Black Swan” ~ Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“Thinking Fast and Slow” ~ Daniel Kahneman
“The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” ~ Stephen Covey
“The Biggest Bluff” ~ Maria Konnikova
“Nine Questions People Ask about Judaism” ~ Dennis Prager
“Ordinary Men” ~ Christopher Browning
“The Things They Carried” ~ Tim O’Brien
“Romeo and Juliet” ~ William Shakespeare
“Neuromancer” ~ William Gibson