Books I've Read

A (currently unfinished) list of all the books I've read, by category, then in alphabetical order, so I can keep track of them. You may find it useful if you think I have good taste, owing to how it is categorized. You will also find occasional mini-reviews. See also my Reading list.

Books I want to read again

• How to Read a Book, by Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren
• Le Ton beau de Marot, by Douglas Hofstadter
• Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, by Douglas Hofstadter

Books I am fine with never reading again

Those that I have read once

• Influence, by Robert Cialdini
  • Felt very smarmy and deceptive. The research was sorely lacking. I only don't regret reading this because so many people reference it, and it was an acceptable introduction to the field. Chapter 3 was good, though.
• Psychology, 7th Edition, by David G. Myers
  • For a long time, the only textbook I ever read all the way through. Deservedly popular, excellent throughout.
  • Here is a sample of the author's work from a different textbook.
• Permutation City, by Greg Egan
• Playing to Win, by David Sirlin
• The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins
• Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, by Richard Feynman
  • Absolutely delightful, but just some stories. Possibly useful for inducing curiosity.

Books I regret reading

Nota bene: only those books I managed to get all the way through made this list.

• The Art of Learning, by Josh Waitzkin
  • Faff. It's about how great it is to be Josh Waitzkin and the phenomenology of competition, not about how to learn. Read Playing to Win instead.
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick
• How to Read Faster and Recall More: Learn the Art of Speed Reading with Maximum Recall, by Gordon R. Wainwright
• The Lucifer Effect, by Philip Zimbardo
• Speed Reading for Dummies
  • The scant good in this is in Wainwright's much shorter book, which is also bad.