2009–today

A Reading Habit

An ongoing and incomplete lists of previous reads. 📚

When I am not walking, I am reading; I cannot sit and think. Books think for me.
-Charles Lamb

Reading consumes my attention more than any other pastime. At any given moment I have book in hand, another on the go in the other room, and an article or two open on my computer, work-related or otherwise. Almost invariably non-fiction, I read to explore, get away from the every day, and to expose myself to the knowledge that others have graciously shared.

What follows is a list of books that I have read over the better part of the last decade. I began to assemble this list on December 1, 2018, after previous attempts to do something similar failed; any titles consumed prior to this date have been added based on library records, Amazon purchases, or memory.

Book Rating Scale

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ = Fantastic— re-read & recommend
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ = Great— recommend only
⭐️⭐️⭐️ = Good Read— worth reading and unforgettable
⭐️⭐️ = OK Reading— no regrets but quickly forgotten
⭐️ = Garbage— complete waste of time 👎

♻️ = re-read

2023

• A Reading Diary: A Year of Favourite Books (2004) by Alberto Manguel⭐️⭐️
• How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization (2004) by Franklin Foer ⭐️⭐️
• Quit: the power of knowing when to walk away (2022) by Annie Duke ⭐️⭐️
• Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less (2023) by Roy Schwartz, Mike Allen, Jim VandeHei ⭐️⭐️
• Literature Unbound (1984) by Sam Tanenhaus ⭐️
  
  

pre–2022 book ratings
⭐⭐⭐ = essential reading
⭐ = recommend read

♻️ = re-read

2022

• Shrinking Violets by Joe Moran
• Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese ⭐️
• Citizens by Jon Alexander with Ariane Conrad ⭐️
• Addicted: Notes from the Belly of the Beast edited by Lorna Crozier and Patrick Lane
• Reading to Heal: How to Use Bibliotherapy to Improve Your Life by Jacqueline D. Stanley
• I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn’t) by Brené Brown
• This Naked Mind: Control Alcohol, Find Freedom, Discover Happiness & Change Your Life by Annie Grace
• Things That Matter by Joshua Becker
• Linchpin by Seth Godwin ♻️
• So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport ♻️ ⭐
• Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger
• Daring Greatly by Brene Brown ♻️ ⭐⭐⭐
• The Art of Gathering- How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker ♻️
• Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler ⭐
• Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder
• Essential Labour: Mothering as Social Change by Angela Garbes ⭐⭐⭐
• The Day the World Came to Town by Jim DeFede ⭐
• The Complete Essex County by Jeff Lemire
• Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer’s Guide to the Uses of Religion by Alain de Botton
• On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes by Alexandra Horowitz
• A Promised Land by Barack Obama
• Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman ⭐⭐⭐
• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive by Stephanie Land
• Year Book by Seth Rogan
• Ex Libro’s: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman
• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig ⭐
• Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May
• The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel ⭐
• Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey ⭐
• The Art of Neighboring: Building Genuine Relationships Right Outside Your Door by Jay Pathan & Dave Runyon
• The Unsettlers: In Search of the Good Life in Today’s America by Mark Sundeen

2021

• A Week at the Airport by Alain de Botton
• Essentialism- The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown ♻️ ⭐⭐⭐
• The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
• From Here to There- The Art and Science of Finding and Losing Our Way by Michael Bond
• The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt
• Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World by Steven Johnson ⭐
• Radio Free Vermont by Bill McKibben
• A Walker in the City by Alfred Kazin
• The Elsewhere Community by Hugh Kenner
• The Inconvenient Indian A Curious Account of Native People in North America by Thomas King ⭐
• Outskirts Women Writing from Small Places by Emily Schultz
• How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell ⭐⭐⭐
• A World Without Email Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload by Cal Newport ⭐
• Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman
• Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• Smoketown- The Untold Story of the Other Great Black Renaissance by Mark Whitaker
• What We Talk About When We Talk About Books- The History and Future of Reading by Leah Price ⭐⭐⭐
• The Art of Reading by Damon Young
• Remarkable Reads: 34 Writers and Their Adventures in Reading by J. Peder Zane (Editor)
• Bibliotherapy: The Right Book at the Right Time by Claudia Cornett and Charles Cornett
• How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren ⭐

2020

• Essentialism - The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown ♻️ ⭐⭐⭐
• A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis
• How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi ⭐⭐⭐
• Badluck Way A Year on the Ragged Edge of the West by Bryce Andrews
• Voices from the Rust Belt by Anne Trubek
• Walking Home: A Poet’s Journey by Simon Armitage
• The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class-and What We Can Do About It by Richard Florida
• A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler ⭐
• Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World by Maryanne Wolf
• Trudeau: The Education of a Prime Minister by John Ivison
• Brother by David Chariandy
• Huron & Erie Regional Digest (Summer)
• City Quitters: An Exploration of Post-Urban Life by Karen Rosenkranz
• Grit by Angela Duckworth
• So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo ⭐⭐⭐
• They Said This Would Be Fun: Race, Campus Life, and Growing Up by Eternity Martis
• From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle
• Deeds/Abstracts: The History of a London Lot, 1 January 1991 - 6 October 1992 by Greg Curnoe
• Ten Cities: The Past Is Present by Wayne Johnston
• Becoming by Michelle Obama
• Columbine by Dave Cullen
• Huron & Erie Regional Digest (Spring)
• Deschooling Society by Ivan Illich
• Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know by Malcolm Gladwell
• When The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel Pink
• They Won’t Demolish Me! by Roch Carrier
• Dopesick- Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy ⭐
• Happier at Home: Kiss More, Jump More, Abandon a Project, Read Samuel Johnson, and My Other Experiments in the Practice of Everyday Life by Gretchen Rubin
• The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods by John McKnight
• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood ⭐
• Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein
• Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer
• Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
• Deepening Community: Finding Joy Together in Chaotic Times by Paul Born
• White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo ⭐⭐⭐
• Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond ⭐
• Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life by Eric Klinenberg
• Stuff Matters Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World by Mark Miodownik
• Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport ⭐⭐⭐

2019

• A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel⭐
• Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer
• The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson ⭐
• Bullshit Jobs: A Theory by David Graeber
• Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…And Maybe the World by William H. McRaven
• The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel
• Handbook for the Positive Revolution by Edward de Bono
• Drinking in America Our Secret History by Susan Cheever
• Book Ends: A Year Between the Covers by Naomi Beth Wa
• Who Needs Books?: Reading in the Digital Age by Lynn Coady
• The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age by Sven Birkerts ⭐
• Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
• Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work by Matthew B. Crawford ♻️ ⭐⭐⭐
• Letters from a Stoic by Seneca ⭐
• Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker J. Palmer ⭐⭐⭐
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
• Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
• How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton M. Christensen
• Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. by Brené Brown
• Essentialism- The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown ♻️ ⭐⭐⭐
• Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by K. Anders Ericsson
• The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
• Experience and Education by John Dewey
• Utopia by Thomas More
• Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain ⭐
• Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• Fifty Days of Solitude by Doris Grumbach
• Solitude: In Pursuit of a Singular Life in a Crowded World by Michael Harris ⭐
• Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

2018

• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
• The Art of Gathering- How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker
• Educated by Tara Westover ⭐⭐⭐
• Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin
• The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work: A Practical Guide from the Country’s Foremost Relationship Expert by John Gottman
• 10% Happier by Dan Harris
• Ragged Company by Richard Wagamese
• Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design by Charles Montgomery
• Rising Strong: The Reckoning. The Rumble. The Revolution by Brene Brown
• On Writing: 10th Anniversary Edition: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
• Essentialism- The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown ♻️ ⭐⭐⭐
• Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone by Brene Brown
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
• People Space: The Making and Breaking of Human Boundaries by Norman Ashcraft

2017

• Empowering Education: Critical Teaching for Social Change by Ira Shor
• An Other Kingdom: Departing the Consumer Culture by Peter Block, Walter Brueggemann, John McKnight
• For the Love of Cities by Peter Kageyama
• Love Where You Live: Creating Emotionally Engaging Places by Peter Kageyama
• The Servant as Leader by Robert Greenleaf ⭐⭐⭐
• Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper
• Essentialism- The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown ♻️ ⭐⭐⭐
• Jane Jacobs: Urban Visionary by Alice Sparberg Alexiou
• The Wealthy Renter: How to Choose Housing That Will Make You Rich by Alex Avery
• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl ⭐⭐⭐
• The Widow by Fiona Barton
• The Village Effect: How Face-to-Face Contact Can Make Us Healthier, Happier, and Smarter by Susan Pinker
• Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig ⭐⭐⭐
• We Make the Road by Walking: Conversations on Education and Social Change by Myles Horton ⭐
• Daring Greatly by Brene Brown ⭐⭐⭐
• The Holy Bible by Unknown
• Keep Your Love On: Connection Communication And Boundaries by Danny Silk
• Masters of their own destiny: the story of adult education through economic cooperation of the Antigonish movement by Moses Coady
• Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
• Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom by bell hooks
• The Production of Space by Henri Lefebvre ⭐
• Detroit: An American Autopsy by Charlie LeDuff

2016

• Eyes on the Street: The Life of Jane Jacobs by Robert Kanigel
• Walden Two by B.F. Skinner
• Living Walden Two: B. F. Skinner’s Behaviorist Utopia and Experimental Communities by Hilke Kuhlman
• Less Is More: The Art of Voluntary Poverty: An Anthology of Ancient and Modern Voices Raised in Praise of Simplicity by Goldian Vandenbroeck
• Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert Putnam
• Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky
• The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations by James Surowiecki
• Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
• Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer ♻️ ⭐
• Leadership: For Active Creative Engaged Communities by Brenda Herchmer
• The Martian by Andy Weir
• Let the Elephants Run by David Usher
• Remote by David Heinemeier Hansson and Jason Fried
• Rework by David Heinemeier Hansson and Jason Fried
• Leap: Leaving a Job with No Plan B to Find the Career and Life You Really Want by Tess Vigeland
• What Color Is Your Parachute? 2015: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers by Richard N. Bolles
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking Paperback by Susan Cain ⭐
• Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days Hardcover by Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky
• Design for Real Life by Anil Dash
• Born for This: How to Find the Work You Were Meant to Do by Chris Guillebeau
• The Happiness of Pursuit: Finding the Quest That Will Bring Purpose to Your Life by Chris Guillebeau
• Voluntary Simplicity (rev): Toward A Way Of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich by Duane Elgin

2015

• Lonely: Learning to Live with Solitude by Emily White ⭐
• Essentialism- The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown ⭐⭐⭐
• Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau ♻️ ⭐⭐⭐
• Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other by Sherry Turkle
• In the City of Bikes: The Story of the Amsterdam Cyclist by Peter Jordan

2014

• This Could Help by Patrick Rhone
• Everything I Know by Paul Jarvis
• The Art of Wandering: The Writer as Walker by Merlin Coverley
• Deepening Community: Finding Joy Together in Chaotic Times by Paul Born
• Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness by William Styron ⭐⭐⭐
• Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design by Charles Montgomery
• Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier by Edward Glaeser
• Walking Home: The Life and Lessons of a City Builder by Ken Greenberg
• The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life by Twyla Tharp ♻️ ⭐
• Animal Farm by George Orwell

2013

• Education for Socially Engaged Art: A Materials and Techniques Handbook by Pablo Helguera
• The Image of the City by Kevin Lynch
• Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology by Eric Brende
• The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community by Ray Oldenburg
• The Front Nine: How to Start the Year You Want Anytime You Want by Mike Vardy
• The Location Scout by Kevin Fanning
• You Can’t Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe
• Coffee Shop Contemplations by Nick Wynja
• Untitled: Thoughts on the Creative Process by Blaine Hogan
• Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places by Sharon Zukin
• Making a Living Without a Job, revised edition: Winning Ways for Creating Work That You Love by Barbara Winter
• Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon
• Making Good: Finding Meaning Money And Community In A Changing World by Dev Aujla, Billy Parish
• The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future by Chris Guillebeau
• Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work by Matthew B. Crawford ⭐⭐⭐
• Leadership: For Active Creative Engaged Communities by Brenda Herchmer

2012

• Living in the Sprawl- Ideas for a suburbia that gets better with age by Gracen Johnson
• It Will Be Exhilarating by Dan Provost, Tom Gerhardt
• Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield
• The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life by Twyla Tharp ⭐
• enough by Patrick Rhone
• Bowling Alone by Robert D. Putnam ⭐
• Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
• Nine Things Successful People Do Differently by Heidi Grant Halvorson
• On the Road by Jack Kerouac
• Deeds/Abstracts : The History of a London Lot by Greg Curnoe
• My brother Greg: A memoir by Lynda Curnoe
• Local Motion: The Art of Civic Engagement in Toronto by Alana Wilcox, Christina Palassio, Dave Meslin
• Urban Nation by Alan Broadbent
• The Social Life Of Small Urban Spaces by William H. Whyte ⭐⭐⭐

2011

• The Flinch by Julien Smith
• Zarrella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness: The Science, Design, and Engineering of Contagious Ideas by Dan Zarrella
• Read This Before Our Next Meeting by Al Pittampalli ⭐⭐⭐
• The 100 Thing Challenge: How I Got Rid of Almost Everything, Remade My Life, and Regained My Soul by Dave Bruno
• Mindfulness in Plain English: 20th Anniversary Edition by Henepola Gunaratana
• Walden by Henry David Thoreau ⭐⭐⭐
• focus by Leo Babauta
• Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
• Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson ⭐⭐⭐
• Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer ⭐
• Utopia by Sir Thomas More
• Keeping It Straight by Patrick Rhone
• Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau
• Excursions by Henry David Thoreau
• Tales of the Revolution: True Stories of People who are Poking the Box and Making a Difference by Seth Godin
• The Leader Who Had No Title by Robin Sharma ⭐
• The Holy Bible by Unknown
• Do the Work by Steven Pressfield
• The Truth about Leadership: The No-fads, Heart-of-the-Matter Facts You Need to Know by James M. Kouzes, Barry Z. Posner
• Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality by Scott Belsky
• Poke the Box by Seth Godin
• Community Conversations: Mobilizing the Ideas, Skills, and Passion of Community Organizations, Governments, Businesses, and People by Paul Born

2009

• Finding Your Element: How to Discover Your Talents and Passions and Transform Your Life by Sir Ken Robinson
• At Last There Is Nothing Left To Say by Matthew Good ⭐⭐⭐