2021

• Hytti nro 6 by Rosa Liksom. A story about taking a train to Mongolia from Moscow.
• The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse. About the conflict between spiritual life and worldly life.
• Sun and Steel by Yukio Mishima. A memoir of bodybuilding.
• Kaikki elämästä(ni) by Antti Holma. Autofiction on being (famous for being) funny and gay.
• Villi ihminen by Riikka Kaihovaara. Essays on wildness and the relationship between humans and nature.
• How to Live by Derek Sivers. Concentrated life philosophy.
• ⭐ Nousu ja tuho by Liv Strömquist. A comic about capitalism, feminism, and leftist self-criticism.
• A Hero Born by Jin Yong. A kung-fu story.
• Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. A space opera. The first two parts were great, but the final third part felt just weird.
• Fantastinen salaatti by Harry Salmenniemi. A collection of short stories, some of them are delightful. Reads like it was written by a 30-something Finnish male author.
• Planet Fun Fun by Johannes Ekholm. A story about startup buzz in art world. Not going to stand the test of time.
• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. A Nazi concentration camp memoir and introduction to logotherapy. The former was way more interesting than the latter; if you’re not into logotherapy, you can skip that part.
• The Hemingway Hoax by Joe Haldeman. A story about faking a Hemingway story. Gets out of hand.
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. A story about two families of gentry. Gothic.
• Pienen hauen pyydystys by Juhani Karila. A fantastic story about a cursed woman.
• Metsä meidän jälkeemme by Anssi Jokiranta, Pekka Juntti, Anna Ruohonen, Jenni Räinä. On the effects of the Finnish forest industry on the forests of Finland.
• ⭐ The 7 Secrets of the Prolific by Hillary Rettig. On writing, but the best parts are really about perfectionism and procrastination.
• 7 Powers by Hamilton Helmer. On how businesses can gain continuous power over the market.
• The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein. A libertarian revolution on the moon. (reread)
• Henkireikä by Kari Hotakainen. A weird crime story.
• Bluets by Maggie Nelson. On the author’s love of the color blue. Lyrical.
• The Scout Mindset by Julia Galef. On why it is good to try to see the world accurately.
• Mikä liberalismia vaivaa? by Veikka Lahtinen and Pontus Purokuru. On liberalism, where it came from and where it is going.
• The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster. Hard-boiled detective stories meet Italo Calvino.
• Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home by Heather Anish Anderson. Memoirs of walking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and breaking the fastest known time (FKT).
• Finding Our Sea-Legs by Will Buckinham. About using stories and phenomenology to understand ethics.
• Vieraat by Johanna Sinisalo. A horror novel about the gut. Excellent in its mundanity, but too slow.
• How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens. On Zettelkasten and how it’s a great way to write.
• The Limits of Organization by by Kenneth J. Arrow. On the cost of acquiring information and what it means for organizations.
• Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke. On decision-making from the perspective of a poker player.