Category: Brian Reads
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Bitter Brew by William Knoedelseder
Of the 3 big, domestic beer brands, I’ll drink Miller first, then Coors, and, if for some reason no alternative exists, then Bud. Still, I’m always game for an interesting non-fiction story, so I gave William Knoedelseder’s Bitter Brew a chance. I was rewarded with a surprisingly tasty story.* I had no idea the family…
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Before Happiness by Shawn Achor
For a historian, I have some real chronology issues. I watched Better Call Saul before Breaking Bad. I watched season 2 of The Crown before season 1. I’ve only ever seen season 2 of Stranger Things. Basically, I’m a monster. So it didn’t phase me to read Shawn Achor’s Before Happiness, which was published after…
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Basketball (and Other Things) by Shea Serrano
The more you enjoy basketball, the more you will enjoy this book. The book picks up in 1980 (Larry Bird and Magic Johnson’s first year in the NBA) as the beginning of the modern NBA and runs through the 2016 finals. Each chapter is in a Question and Answer format where Serrano explores interesting topics…
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Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper
Contextualize was one of my go to words as an academic. I loved adding “context” to historical events and I loved reading authors who did the same. Outside of academia, there’s little use for the word. Sure people still add context, but no one ever said “Wow, Bob Costas contextualized that luge competition really well.”…
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Read all the books!
It was one of those New Years Resolutions that I probably wasn’t going to keep (like all the others made at the beginning of this year). Still, by the end of June, I finished my 50th book of the year. I recently completed my 51st book and one book over six weeks shows how slowly…
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Lifehack: How to Read More Books
So on New Year’s Day I randomly decided that I would try some resolutions. Normally, I don’t make resolutions or, if I do, I give up before the end of January (like everyone else). And this year, I made an outrageously bold one: Read 52 books. I’m sure reading one book per week isn’t that…
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Children’s Books for Nerdy Parents
A couple of months ago, my brother Peter shared a list of his favorite baby books. Though I don’t have any kids yet, my wife Marie and I enjoy buying books for our niece and nephew (and you guessed correctly, we will be the weird aunt and uncle that always get them a book each…
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What Three Months of Reading Business Books Taught Me
Over the last few months I read a bunch of books, mostly business-related. Here’s the business-y ones: Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration Blockchain Revolution: How the…
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Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World
J.J. Abrams. Sir Richard Branson. Arianna Huffinton. Sheryl Sandberg. Peter Thiel. The blurbs on the back cover of Originals are impressive. The list of awards the book has won is impressive. Adam Grant’s research is impressive. But for a book on originality and creativity, Originals is shockingly formulaic and derivative. If you’re dying to get…
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Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind
When you work regularly, inspiration strikes regularly. (35) There’s a pervasive myth of the genius creative person. Breakthrough inventions, great pieces of writings, and works of art seem to come out of thin air. Created by an inventor, writer, or artist that stumbled upon the right inspiration at the right time. Anyone who has done…
Brian Sarnacki 