Reading for the Week of 3/20/2022

Here is what I read this week. Some of the articles/posts may require a subscription to read them. This number in parentheses after the books are as follows: # of books I’ve read so far this year / # of books I’ve read since 1996.

Books

Finished

• The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer (17/1145). This was an outstanding history of the Second World War from inside the Third Reich. Much of the information comes from captured documents that the Allies obtained, many of which were used at Nuremberg. It is the first Shirer book that I’ve read, and I was delighted to discover that his writing style is remarkably similar to Will Durant, a favorite of mine. That really shouldn’t come as a surprise, since both came up the same age.

In Progress

• Twentieth Century Journey, Vol 1: The Start: 1904-1930 by William L. Shirer. I am always fascinated by the person behind a great work. Shirer, beginning in the 1970s, published a 3-volume memoir, of which, The Start is the first volume.

Articles/posts

• Planners Battle Over Marking U.S. 250th Anniversary by Jess Bravin (Wall Street Journal, 3/19/2022). I have vague memories of the celebrations surrouneded America’s bicentennial. But actually, the 250th is of more interest to me because it also markes the 200th anniversary of the death of both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. I wonder if that will be lost in the overall celebration?
• The Curse of Imposter Syndrome by Susan Orlean (Medium, Mar. 2022). This is something I feel almost daily, from the work I do at my day job (I can’t possibly be a real programmer since my degree isn’t in C.S. or software engineering) to my writing, even here on this blog.
• Does Not Compute by Melanie Novak (blog, 3/20/2022). Yeah, I have a drawer full of old flip phones that I keep saying I’ll get rid of someday.
• Why every software engineer should use vim | Level Up Coding by Rajob Raihan (Medium, 1/30/2022). I’ve been forcing myself to use Vim keyboard mappings in Obsidian and in Visual Studio Code so that I can finally use a single set of keyboard mappings instead of having to remember different ones for different applications.
• Why I dislike open-source by Leo Liou (Medium, 9/30/2021). This is one of those trolling posts that appear now and then on Medium. I like open source for all of the reasons that this guys dislikes it.
• What everyone is missing regarding Brandon Sanderson’s Kickstarter by MIchael J. Sullivan (blog, 3/21/2022). Michael, who has also run many successfull Kickstarter campaigns, highlights the importance of building email lists from a fanbase.
• Thinking fast, associations by Mike Dariano (The Waiter’s Pad, 3/21/2022)
• Dolly Parton Just Did ‘The Most Punk Rock Thing You Could Imagine’ by Margaret Renki (NY Times, 3/21/2022)
• Fewer hot showers, less meat: How retirees on fixed incomes are dealing with inflation by Agu Bhattarai (Washington Post, 3/21/2022)
• To Have and Have Not (1944): Tabula Rasa by Melanie Novak (blog, 3/23/2022)
• The power of TK by Seth Godwin (Seth’s blog, 3/24/2022). I’ve occasionally used the TK trick in manuscripts to keep from getting distracted.
• Fun Stuff Coming by Joe Posnanski (JoeBlogs, 3/23/2022)
• Humans and ratings – The Waiter’s Pad by Mike Dariano (The Waiter’s Pad, 3/23/2022). Although I’m not a fan of rating systems, I like Mike’s idea that sometimes, we need a way to break out of the mold we are presented with to get our views across.
• How To Quickly Delete Words While In Insert Mode In Vim by braindead (Medium, 1/20/2022)
• Where do symbols live? by Seth Godin (Seth’s blog, 3/25/2022)
• The Secret of Lasting Friendships by David Brooks (NY Times, 3/24/2022)
• How High Inflation Will Come Down by Paul Krugman (NY Times, 3/24/2022)
• Mayor Eric Adams Turns NYC Vaccine Mandate into Farce with Ruling that Benefits Yankees, Mets by Molly Knight (The Long Game, 3/24/2022). Molly captured my anger over this move by Eric Adams perfectly. This is a stark and blatent example of privilege in professional sports and stardom.
• Obsidian Roundup: Differentiate file versions & embed web apps by Eleanor Konik (Obsidian Roundup, 3/26/2022)
• We Aren’t Just Watching the Decline of the Oscars. We’re Watching the End of the Movies by Ross Douthat (NY Times, 3/24/2022). This long piece by Douthat really had me thinking about why I don’t watch movies and television shows much anymore. It had me thinking about my own personal heyday of movies and television, which was probably around the same time as his–the latge 1990s. I suspect you’ll see a post on this from me in the next couple of weeks.

Any recommendations for books, articles or posts I should read? Let me know in the comments?

Written on March 26, 2022.