Recapping 2023: Compilation of 24 books read

Published: December 31, 2023

Recapping 2023: Compilation of 24 books read

This year, one of my new year resolutions was to start reading books. For someone like me who did not read at all, building up reading habit is quite tough.

Why? As we live in the world of social media, binge-watching, youtube, and news websites with bite-sized articles, out attention span has suffered greatly. I personally had a problem focusing on things for an extended period of time.

Reading, as it requires a prolonged commitment, is inherently a long-focus activity. This is why a lot of people who grew up among short-attention requiring tasks have hard time building a robust reading habit.

However, I was able to exceed my wildest dreams in 2023 and finished reading 24 books! On top of this, I have read 2 books in Japanese as part of an effort to push my Japanese to native level.

So as the year comes to end, I wanted to list up the books I've read this year and rank them between 1-5 based on below principles:

  • 1. Is it practical/ relevant?

    Theoretical/ old books get a lower score as the information provided in them can not be leveraged in real life.

  • 2. Is it succinct?

    Some books migh have 1-2 strong messages that can be summarized in an article. But in order to publish a book, you need 100+ written pages. Books that have a lot of filler informtaion have lower ratings.

  • 3. Is it coherent?

    Some authors talk about many things, and fail to convey at least 1 important message. It is important to have a strong take-away message in a book, and other important things can be covered in another book/ article.

  • 4. Is it engaging?

    Some authors get all of the above 3 right, but the way the book is written makes it very difficult to read. Books from good storyteller are highly rated in this listed.

So without further ado, here are the 24 books I've read this year and hheir accompanying ratings. Note that books are ordered based on their ratings.

Shoe Dog

Shoe Dog

Rating: 5

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs

Rating: 5

Don’t Make Me Think

Don’t Make Me Think

Rating: 5

Fall in Love With The Problem

Fall in Love With The Problem

Rating: 5

Deep Work

Deep Work

Rating: 5

High Output Management

High Output Management

Rating: 5

Netflix: No Rules Rules

Netflix: No Rules Rules

Rating: 5

Elon Musk

Elon Musk

Rating: 4

Start With Why

Start With Why

Rating: 4

Quiet

Quiet

Rating: 4

Purple Cow

Purple Cow

Rating: 4

Crossing The Chasm

Crossing The Chasm

Rating: 4

Blitzscaling

Blitzscaling

Rating: 4

企業の科学

企業の科学

Rating: 4

Grit

Grit

Rating: 3

The Ride of a Lifetime

The Ride of a Lifetime

Rating: 3

Four Thousand Weeks

Four Thousand Weeks

Rating: 3

Amp It Up

Amp It Up

Rating: 3

Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer

Rating: 3

Sprint

Sprint

Rating: 3

Mythical Man Month

Mythical Man Month

Rating: 2

Innovators

Innovators

Rating: 2

Viral Loop

Viral Loop

Rating: 1

The Design of Everyday Things

The Design of Everyday Things

Rating: 1

Leave comment

Comments

Check out other blog posts

Create A Simple and Dynamic Tooltip With Svelte and JavaScript

2024/06/19

Create A Simple and Dynamic Tooltip With Svelte and JavaScript

JavaScriptSvelteSimpleDynamicTooltipFront-end
Create an Interactive Map of Tokyo with JavaScript

2024/06/17

Create an Interactive Map of Tokyo with JavaScript

SvelteSVGJavaScriptTailwindInteractive MapTokyoJapanTokyo Metropolitan Area23 Wards
How to Easily Fix Japanese Character Issue in Matplotlib

2024/06/14

How to Easily Fix Japanese Character Issue in Matplotlib

MatplotlibGraphChartPythonJapanese charactersIssueBug
Book Review | Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know by Malcolm Gladwell

2024/06/13

Book Review | Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know by Malcolm Gladwell

Book ReviewTalking to StrangersWhat We Should Know about the People We Don't KnowMalcolm Gladwell
Most Commonly Used 3,000 Kanjis in Japanese

2024/06/07

Most Commonly Used 3,000 Kanjis in Japanese

Most CommonKanji3000ListUsage FrequencyJapaneseJLPTLanguageStudyingWordsKanji ImportanceWord Prevalence
Replace With Regex Using VSCode

2024/06/07

Replace With Regex Using VSCode

VSCodeRegexFindReplaceConditional Replace
Do Not Use Readable Store in Svelte

2024/06/06

Do Not Use Readable Store in Svelte

SvelteReadableWritableState ManagementStoreSpeedMemoryFile Size
Increase Website Load Speed by Compressing Data with Gzip and Pako

2024/06/05

Increase Website Load Speed by Compressing Data with Gzip and Pako

GzipCompressionPakoWebsite Load SpeedSvelteKit
Find the Word the Mouse is Pointing to on a Webpage with JavaScript

2024/05/31

Find the Word the Mouse is Pointing to on a Webpage with JavaScript

JavascriptMousePointerHoverWeb Development
Create an Interactive Map with Svelte using SVG

2024/05/29

Create an Interactive Map with Svelte using SVG

SvelteSVGInteractive MapFront-end
Book Review | Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant & Sheryl Sandberg

2024/05/28

Book Review | Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant & Sheryl Sandberg

Book ReviewOriginalsAdam Grant & Sheryl SandbergHow Non-Conformists Move the World
How to Algorithmically Solve Sudoku Using Javascript

2024/05/27

How to Algorithmically Solve Sudoku Using Javascript

Solve SudokuAlgorithmJavaScriptProgramming
How I Increased Traffic to my Website by 10x in a Month

2024/05/26

How I Increased Traffic to my Website by 10x in a Month

Increase Website TrafficClicksImpressionsGoogle Search Console
Life is Like Cycling

2024/05/24

Life is Like Cycling

CyclingLifePhilosophySuccess
Generate a Complete Sudoku Grid with Backtracking Algorithm in JavaScript

2024/05/19

Generate a Complete Sudoku Grid with Backtracking Algorithm in JavaScript

SudokuComplete GridBacktracking AlgorithmJavaScript
Why Tailwind is Amazing and How It Makes Web Dev a Breeze

2024/05/16

Why Tailwind is Amazing and How It Makes Web Dev a Breeze

TailwindAmazingFront-endWeb Development
Generate Sitemap Automatically with Git Hooks Using Python

2024/05/15

Generate Sitemap Automatically with Git Hooks Using Python

Git HooksPythonSitemapSvelteKit
Book Review | Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein

2024/05/14

Book Review | Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein

Book ReviewRangeDavid EpsteinWhy Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
What is Svelte and SvelteKit?

2024/05/13

What is Svelte and SvelteKit?

SvelteSvelteKitFront-endVite
Internationalization with SvelteKit (Multiple Language Support)

2024/05/12

Internationalization with SvelteKit (Multiple Language Support)

InternationalizationI18NSvelteKitLanguage Support
Reduce Svelte Deploy Time With Caching

2024/05/11

Reduce Svelte Deploy Time With Caching

SvelteEnhanced ImageCachingDeploy Time
Lazy Load Content With Svelte and Intersection Oberver

2024/05/10

Lazy Load Content With Svelte and Intersection Oberver

Lazy LoadingWebsite Speed OptimizationSvelteIntersection Observer
Find the Optimal Stock Portfolio with a Genetic Algorithm

2024/05/10

Find the Optimal Stock Portfolio with a Genetic Algorithm

Stock marketPortfolio OptimizationGenetic AlgorithmPython
Convert ShapeFile To SVG With Python

2024/05/09

Convert ShapeFile To SVG With Python

ShapeFileSVGPythonGeoJSON
Reactivity In Svelte: Variables, Binding, and Key Function

2024/05/08

Reactivity In Svelte: Variables, Binding, and Key Function

SvelteReactivityBindingKey Function
Book Review | The Art Of War by Sun Tzu

2024/05/07

Book Review | The Art Of War by Sun Tzu

Book ReviewThe Art Of WarSun TzuThomas Cleary
Specialists Are Dead. Long Live Generalists!

2024/05/06

Specialists Are Dead. Long Live Generalists!

SpecialistGeneralistParadigm ShiftSoftware Engineering
Analyze Voter Behavior in Turkish Elections with Python

2024/05/03

Analyze Voter Behavior in Turkish Elections with Python

TurkeyAge Analysis2018 ElectionsVoter Behavior
Create Turkish Voter Profile Database With Web Scraping

2024/05/01

Create Turkish Voter Profile Database With Web Scraping

PythonSeleniumWeb ScrapingTurkish Elections
Make Infinite Scroll With Svelte and Tailwind

2024/04/30

Make Infinite Scroll With Svelte and Tailwind

SvelteTailwindInfinite ScrollFront-end
How I Reached Japanese Proficiency In Under A Year

2024/04/29

How I Reached Japanese Proficiency In Under A Year

JapaneseProficiencyJLPTBusiness
Use-ready Website Template With Svelte and Tailwind

2024/04/25

Use-ready Website Template With Svelte and Tailwind

Website TemplateFront-endSvelteTailwind
Lazy Engineers Make Lousy Products

2024/01/29

Lazy Engineers Make Lousy Products

Lazy engineerLousy productStarbucksSBI
On Greatness

2024/01/28

On Greatness

GreatnessMeaning of lifeSatisfactory lifePurpose
Converting PDF to PNG on a MacBook

2024/01/28

Converting PDF to PNG on a MacBook

PDFPNGMacBookAutomator
Create a Photo Collage with Python PIL

2023/12/30

Create a Photo Collage with Python PIL

PythonPILImage ProcessingCollage
Detect Device & Browser of Visitors to Your Website

2024/01/09

Detect Device & Browser of Visitors to Your Website

JavascriptDevice DetectionBrowser DetectionWebsite Analytics
Anatomy of a ChatGPT Response

2024/01/19

Anatomy of a ChatGPT Response

ChatGPTLarge Language ModelMachine LearningGenerative AI