So far this year I've read 32 books. I don't read fiction, it just doesn't do anything for me.
Here's some reviews of books I've read this year that I recommend and think have helped or have potential to help my life suck less:
Born Standing Up by Steve Martin
What struck me about his story was his complete focus and determination to do the type comedy he wanted to do.
It seems like people who are elite at anything are the ones who are willing to repeatedly put themselves at great risk of failure and embarrassment in order to do what they want to do and be great at it. Without BS, without excuses, without finger pointing, without self pity.
Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig
I had high hopes for this, since I generally like buddhist philosophy. The book turned out to be about 5% insightful commentary about life and 95% academic philosophical masturbation. Still, I think that 5% makes it worth reading.
Why Women Have Sex by David Buss
This is a fascinating book about all the reasons why women have sex. IIRC they identified over 200 specific reasons. The author is best known for his book Evolutionary Psychology, which is on my reading list.
Catching The Big Fish by David Lynch
David Lynch is one of my favorite movie writer/directors. He made Eraserhead, Elephant Man, Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire, Lost Highway, and the tv show Twin Peaks. This book was kind of an autobiography, but it's short, not some longwinded recollection of everything that ever happened in his life.
He's really into transcendental meditation and says it's helped his creativity tremendously. I want to look into TM more and try it.
He says Eraserhead was his most spiritual movie (it happens to be my favorite of his) and it took 5 years to make because he kept running out of money. He got a job delivering the Wall Street Journal every morning to pay for the movie. Overall he seems like a surprisingly happy and well adjusted guy, considering the often bizarre nature of his work.
The Truth by Neil Strauss
Same author who wrote The Game. Strauss cheated on his gf and he went to sex addiction rehab. After which he tried to get back with his gf but it didn't work for him because he wanted to bang other chicks and the girl was like nah.
So Strauss embarks on a journey of self discovery in which he bangs lots of skanks and tries to get into polyamorous open relationships with multiple other women. Several times. All of them failed and he
The point of the book is that if you've been having ****ty relationships your whole life, there's almost certainly some unresolved issues with your parents and you should get a therapist and/or support group and deal with it.
Toxic Parents by Susan Forward
This is a book written by a therapist about how to identify ****ty parents and how to learn how to deal with them and confront them, if necessary. It focuses more on overtly abusive parents, but it was still helpful for me.