Hi Friends,
For this last edition of the year, I’m sharing my favorite books and posts of 2023.
Wishing you all a fulfilling year and as always, thank you for reading!
🙏🏻
Florian
Favorite Books
Stoner, John Williams: Sublime portrait of the stoic man told through the life of a university professor. This is the kind of book you wonder why so few people are talking about.
Letters to a Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke: Radical advice for creatives on mastering self-trust and finding inspiration. Pairs well with Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance.
Notes on Complexity, Neil Theise: Mind-bending take on the nature of reality. I came out of this book with more than a few assumptions shattered.
The Years, Annie Ernaux: Mosaic of personal and collective memories from everyday life in France between 1940 and 2006. I felt like I was both peeking into the minds of previous generations and reviving my own memories.
On Writing, Stephen King: The most blunt, no-bs advice you’ll ever get on what it takes to be a writer.
Favorite Posts
Notes to Self
Be the pilgrim, not the tourist.
Lifting weights increases mental power.
Springing into action solves overwhelm.
A morning routine depends on an evening routine.
Novelty is rich with dopamine but poor in meaning.
If you didn’t have time, it’s because you didn’t make time.
Taste weakens with age but it is a muscle that can be trained.
Learn how to recognize your personal shape of procrastination.
Mistrusting your judgment comes disguised as seeking a second opinion.
Toxic productivity is aiming to read 30 books and picking up whatever in service of that number.
Lateral Thought
“There is a sense in which we moderns are inundated with facts to the detriment of understanding.”
Mortimer Adler (1940)
All words of wisdom indeed. My favourite Rilke is Letters On Cézanne. A collection of letters he wrote to his wife while in Paris being enthralled with the work of Cézanne.
I read "Skin in the Game" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb a few weeks ago and it seems like "Notes on Complexity" may be a complementary volume. I'm going to add it to my reading list for this year. Thank you!