2023 Book Reviews

I began this year by reading Voltaire’s Candide, reached my 50 books annual goal by September, and slowed down until mid November when I finished a total of 55 books. And then I was feeling cute, and decided to have a break from reading books until year end. Worst, decision, ever.

You know in the series Peaky Blinders when Tommy tried to take a break from mafia stuff and go relaxing and hunting, but ended up being depressed? Yeah, that’s how I feel. I’m lost without books. But I had to tried it, and lesson learned.

Well anyway, overall, this year I read 8 books on religion, 6 on Indonesia, 3 on space science, 2 self-help, 1 investigative book on the philanthropy industry, and a handful of notes from writers such as Chuck Palahniuk, George Orwell, Charles Bukowski, and C. S. Lewis.

I also read random history, from Roman Empire, to Machiavelli, North Korea, the Frankfurt School of thought, a biography of Bob Marley, a biography of Deng Xiaoping, to a timely one on interest rates, a very eye-opening one by Graham Hancock, and a history’s greatest hits by Will Durant.

And of course, I read the usual writers: Ryan Holiday, Robert Greene, Karen Armstrong. And at least one book on: Stoicism, parenting, health, meditation, running, football, travelling, conspiracy theory, philosophy, and DK’s Big Book of… (read 2 this year, on literature and psychology). And for my re-reading slot, this year I read the most influential book for me: Adventure Capitalist by Jim Rogers.

But most of all, I read 10 fiction/literature this year, from Henry David Thoreau, to Mark Twain and Franz Kafka, to Indonesia’s maestro Pramoedya Ananta Toer. On the latter, funny how it takes a foreigner friend of mine to get me interested on reading an Indonesian novel, in its original language. And the best part is, Pramoedya’s books turned out to be one of my new favourites ever.

Now, this may not be the best book I’ve read this year, but certainly the most memorable one: How to Live with a Huge Penis. In fact in my Medium weekly statistics, each week, without a fail, this book’s review comes up as the number 1 most read article posted by me LOL (and I mean, I post all of these book reviews also in Medium, so I guess this book is the miss congeniality of my reviews in 2023).

All in all, I ended up reading the total of 57 books this year (ok fine, I cheated, I didn’t fully take a break). Not bad, considering 2023 has been a really eventful year full with travelling, festivals, concerts, football matches, and loads of hanging out. Anyway, here are the reviews:

  1. Candide by Voltaire
  2. The Battle for God: A History of Fundamentalism by Karen Armstrong
  3. The Mindful Athlete by George Mumford
  4. The Bulletproof Diet by Dave Asprey
  5. Kahlil Gibran Little Book of Wisdom by Neil Douglas-Klotz
  6. The Greatest Minds and Ideas of All Time by Will Durant
  7. The Literature Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained by DK
  8. How To Raise A Boy by Michael Reichert
  9. Fingerprints of the Gods: The Evidence of Earth’s Lost Civilization by Graham Hancock
  10. The Art of Writing and the Gifts of Writers by C. S. Lewis
  11. So Much Things to Say: The Oral History of Bob Marley by Roger Steffens
  12. The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
  13. The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene
  14. 1:59 by Philip Maffetone
  15. The Price of Time by Edward Chancellor
  16. To Remain Myself: The History of Onghokham by David Reeve
  17. The Garden of Truth: The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam’s Mystical Tradition by Seyyed Hossein Nasr
  18. The Essential Kabbalah by Daniel C. Matt
  19. The Sikhs by Khushwant Singh
  20. The Heart of the Shaman by Alberto Villoldo
  21. Bandit Saints of Java by George Quinn
  22. Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India by William Dalrymple
  23. A Handbook for New Stoics by Massimo Pigliucci and Gregory Lopez
  24. Grand Hotel Abyss: The Lives of the Frankfurt School by Stuart Jeffries
  25. Play Well with Others by Eric Barker
  26. Walden by Henry David Thoreau
  27. North Korea Confidential by Daniel Tudor and James Pearson
  28. Horrible Histories: Ruthless Romans by Terry Deary and Martin Brown
  29. Philanthrocapitalism and the Erosion of Democracy edited by Vandana Shiva
  30. Vangabonding by Rolf Potts
  31. Intensity: Inside Liverpool FC by Pep Lijnders
  32. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
  33. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
  34. The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
  35. How to Live with a Huge Penis by Dr. Richard Jacob and Rev. Owen Thomas
  36. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
  37. The Psychology Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained by Nigel Benson, Joannah Ginsburg, and Voula Grand
  38. The adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
  39. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
  40. Bumi Manusia by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
  41. The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh with Steve Jamison and Craig Walsh
  42. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
  43. A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth by Henry Gee
  44. Anak Semua Bangsa by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
  45. The Bilderberg Conspiracy by H. Paul Jeffers
  46. Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche
  47. Anger by Thich Nhat Hanh
  48. Jejak Langkah by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
  49. A Collection of Essays by George Orwell
  50. Rumah Kaca by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
  51. Conspiracy by Ryan Holiday
  52. Notes of a Dirty Old Man Charles Bukowski
  53. Consider This by Chuck Palahniuk
  54. Indonesia Out of Exile: How Pramoedya’s Buru Quartet Killed a Dictatorship by Max Lane
  55. Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China by Ezra F. Vogel
  56. The Trial by Franz Kafka
  57. Adventure Capitalist: The Ultimate Road Trip by Jim Rogers