What I've been reading

Books I've read over the past nine months

Depending on the time of year, I read more or less. Historically, I read more in the summer than during the school year but this year has been an exception. Slow Productivity, Severance, and Nexus were my fall reads with Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Why Fascists Fear Teachers, and Joyful my winter and spring reads.

Slow Productivity by Cal Newport

I saw this book every time I walked down the stairs. Lisa bought it after reading Digital Minimalism also by Cal Newport. The title intrigued me. I've felt for a long time that some things do not need to be efficient. Things like learning; some people just need more time...some subjects require more time. The book presents a great history lesson about how we got to now. Agriculture is very clear: how much was planted, how much was harvested? So is industrial work: how many people built how many things in a day? But how do we measure intellectual productivity? What does it look like? Filled with great stories about great people being productive but not looking like they are.

Severance by Ling Ma

No, it's not the Apple TV series. My daughter took a class called Dystopian Literature and she left this on our book shelf. I started reading this and couldn't stop. I'm glad I didn't read it during the pandemic because the book, published in 2018, describes a pandemic much like what we experienced in 2020. From remote working to N95 masks, this book has it. Despite being dystopian, it asks the question: "What is living?"

Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari

If you read my blogs, you'll know that this is the fourth book by Harari that I've read. I'm fascinated with our relationship with technology. Both my own relationship but also my students. What does it mean to be human? There's nothing artificial about the technological intelligence that is becoming commonplace in our lives. We need to hold on to what is human and celebrate it and cherish it. Technology has taken on many forms in the history of humanity and the more we understand it, the more we will be relevant in the future.

Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig

I bought the next two books at the same time. Lisa and I went to Minneapolis to hear our friends Gary Ruschman and Linh Kauffman sing at The Basilica. On a previous trip, Gary and Linh had recommended that we go to Magers & Quinn Bookstore. What a great store! On this particular trip, we went in and Lisa said "I'll be in the garden section" and I headed for the classics.

I've known about this book for decades. A professor in college read it and afterwards started making his own reeds because he was inspired by this book. The book is about many things. At its core it's a road trip story; a father and son take a motorcycle ride from Minnesota to the Pacific Ocean. But it's also about our relationship with technology, our understanding about how the industrial world impacts us, and what we're willing to work on and fix. And if that's not enough, it's a discussion of eastern and western philosophies. So, it's my kind of book. After finishing it, I was visiting my uncle and he told me the motorcycle from the book is in the Smithsonian, donated by the Robert Pirsig.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

This is the second book by Kundera that I've read. I was given his book Slowness as a wedding gift in 1996. I loved reading that book. I loved reading this one too. I would put this book in my list of Top 10 favorite books. It's smart, it's philosophical, it's romantic, it's historical, ahhhhh! So, good! I imagine myself reading it again soon. And no, I haven't seen the movie...I don't know if I want the movie in my head to be replaced with someone else's vision and ideas.

Why Fascists Fear Teachers by Randi Weingarten

When I took this book off of the shelf at Reading In Public, I knew I had to buy it. This is where we're at people. This is our new normal. Education is under attack. There are those that want more power and they don't want smart people getting in their way. The governor of the great state of Iowa has given and continues to give public money, tax payer dollars, to private schools that, get this, raised tuition. That's why my school district is cutting jobs. Project 2025 has a big section on defunding education. Read it for yourself. Teachers don't teach what to think, they teach how to think.

Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee

Lisa bought this book years ago and then recently decided to read it. She would share with me what she read. She would share with me how she might create a Joyful Garden. Next thing I knew, Ingrid Fetell Lee was a guest speaker for Lisa's students and Lisa was a guest for Ingrid's. I asked Lisa, "will I get something out of this book?" "Yes!" she said without hesitation. She was right...she usually is. I needed this book after the last one I read. I can only describe it using Lee's words: "Joy evolved for the express purpose of helping to steer us toward conditions that would encourage us to flourish." Joy isn't frivolous; joy is it. This book has influenced how I look at everything. I just finished it today and the last chapter is about Renewal; a perfect subject for springtime. As I look at the flowers blooming, I see how they influenced the objects around me: my saxophone, my wine glass, my lamp. All reaching upwards and reminding us of our connection to nature.

While writing this, a theme appeared. If you're still reading, you probably did too. I'm interested in our relationship to the people, objects, and technology around us. I think a lot...and I think about thinking. How we're influenced and why we are influenced concerns me. And that's why I keep on reading. That's why I write without the help of AI.