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Jonny
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Books of 2024

2024 totaled to 53 books. To be clear, I’m less concerned about remembering everything; I love the cross-pollination of ideas much more. I’m going for quantity and listening at ~2.5X speed. The more ideas I gather from different disciplines, the more I draw parallels from seemingly unrelated fields. This is my sweet spot.

I’ve divided up all the books I read this year by the rating scale I use for my Book Notes page. Let me know if you want any of the notes I took for a particular book, and I’ll post it and share a hyperlink.

5 Stars: Loved It (24 books)

Non-Fiction

  • War by Bob Woodward
  • Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
  • Grant by Ron Chernow
    • Re-read: This is my second time listening to this book. It’s by far my favorite biography. I’m adding it to my list of annual listens.
  • Company Command by John G. Meyer Jr.
  • It’s Okay to Be the Boss by Bruce Tulgan
  • The Final Mission of Extortion 17 by Ed Darack
    • Extortion 17 is a Colorado Chinook that was shot down in Afghanistan. Our facility is named after CW5 Dave Carter, and many of the quotes come from people I know personally.
  • Prepared by Mike Glover
  • The Story of the Winged S by Igor Sikorsky
  • The Effective Executive by Peter F. Drucker
    • Re-read: One of my favorite business and leadership books
  • Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte
  • Mixed Plate by Jo Koy
    • This is the first biography of a comedian I’ve listened to and liked. I’m on the hunt for more!
  • Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
    • Re-read: This is on my list of annual re-reads
  • Romney by McKay Coppins
  • Year of No Garbage by Eve O. Schaub

Fiction

  • The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time, #1) by Robert Jordan
    • I started the audiobooks after loving the Prime Video series!
  • The Great Hunt (The Wheel of Time, #2) by Robert Jordan
  • Fractal Noise (Fractalverse, #0) by Christopher Paolini
    • Prequel novella to To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, and the audiobook adds an extra layer of distress because of the rhythmic thumping (key part of the storyline)
  • To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (Fractalverse, #1) by Christopher Paolini
    • I loved Eragon, and Paolini dips his toe in scifi and doesn’t disappoint. I’m not usually big on audiobook over physical reading for fiction, but the voice actress—Jennifer Hale—does a phenomenal job in this book.
  • Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage by Tom DeFalco, Mark Bagley, David Michelinie, Terry Kavanagh, and J.M. DeMatteis 
    • Artists: Sal Buscema, Ron Lim, Tom Lyle, and Alex Saviuk
  • Thanos Rising by Joshua Williamson
    • Artists: Riley Rossmo, Tony S. Daniel, Jesús Merino, Fernando Pasarín, Robson Rocha, Howard Porter, Giuseppe Cafaro, Christian Duce, Rob Williams, and Tim Seeley
  • Batman: Under the Red Hood by Judd Winick
    • Artists: Doug Mahnke and various others not credited
  • Teen Titans (Book One) by Geoff Johns
    • Artists: Mike McKone, Kevin Conrad, Norm Rapmund, Tom Grummett, and Marlo Alquiza
  • Strange Planet (Strange Planet #1) by Nathan W. Pyle
  • Homeland (Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #1) by R.A. Salvatore

4 Stars: Liked It (13 books)

Non-Fiction

  • Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson, Stephen R. Covey, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler
    • Re-read
  • At War with Ourselves by H.R. McMaster
  • The Light of Battle by Michel Paradis
  • When the Killer Man Comes by Paul Martinez and George Galdorisi
  • I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
  • Exit Interview by Kristi Coulter
  • Don’t Start a Side Hustle! by Brian Page

Fiction

  • X-Men: Phoenix – Endsong by Greg Pak
    • Artist: Greg Land
  • Justice League vs. Suicide Squad by Joshua Williamson, Rob Williams, and Tim Seeley
    • Artists: Jason Fabok, Riley Rossmo, Tony S. Daniel, Jesús Merino, Fernando Pasarín, Robson Rocha, Howard Porter, Giuseppe Cafaro, Christian Duce, Rob Williams, Tim Seeley
  • Murtagh (The Inheritance Cycle, #5) by Christopher Paolini
  • The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm: Tales from Alagaësia (Volume 1: Eragon) by Christopher Paolini
  • Mistborn: The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1) by Brandon Sanderson
  • Batman: Killing Time by Tom King
    • Artists: David Marquez, Alejandro Sánchez, Kael Ngu, Alex Garner, Peach Momoko, Carlos D’Anda, Ivan Tao, Ben Oliver, Greg Smallwood

3 Stars: It Was Okay (9 books)

Non-Fiction

  • Collaborating with the Enemy by Adam Kahane
  • Traction by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares
    • I actually thought this was a different book (same title), so I was a little disappointed
  • Hal Moore by Mike Guardia
  • Build the Life You Want by Arthur C. Brooks and Oprah Winfrey
  • Behind the Seams by Dolly Parton, Holly George-Warren, and Rebecca Seaver
  • Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
  • Turnaround Time by Oscar Munoz and Brian DeSplinter

Fiction

  • The Two Swords (Forgotten Realms: Hunter’s Blades, #3; Legend of Drizzt, #16) by R.A. Salvatore
  • The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, #1) by Brandon Sanderson

2 Stars: Disliked It (7 books)

Non-Fiction

  • For Love of Country by Tulsi Gabbard
  • Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
    • I’ve heard Emotional Intelligence 2.0 is much better
  • Dad’s Maybe Book by Tim O’Brien
  • The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga
  • You Are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero

Fiction

  • Avengers vs. Thanos by Jim Starlin with Steve Englehart, Mike Friedrich, Scott Edelman, and Steve Gerber
    • Artists: Bob Brown, Don Heck, Bob Brown, Mike Zeck, and John Buscema
  • Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
    • This book is split into 3 parts. I really liked how thought-provoking Parts I and II were (although they were sometimes slow), and I have never been given so much whiplash by a book than the jump to Part III. It ruined the book for me.

1 Star: Hated It (0 book)

N/A

Put On Pause or Quit

N/A

Analysis

Here are the stats on the books I read this year. Next year, I hope to compare how that data has changed over the past few years as I started collecting it. Here’s my Google Sheet.

The categories I tracked were Format, Rating, Female Author, and Person of Color (POC) Author.

I’m merely curious about the format, and I’ve definitely shifted away from paper books over the years.

For rating, the goal is to read better since there are too many to even get to the best books in a lifetime. I’m not sure how to reconcile that with books that I didn’t enjoy yet changed my perspective on something.

For female and POC authors, I want to break away from the monotony of reading only white, male authors. That’s not to say one is better than the other, but diversity is to be applauded, and I am neither female nor a person of color. By reading from their perspectives, I can “level up” my thinking by taking on someone else’s viewpoint. POC authors is super difficult to gauge, however, and my data is skewed because this is entirely judged based off of looks and their Wikipedia page. Still, it’s better than nothing.

2024 Format
2024 Female
2024 Rating
2024 POC

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Books of 2023

This year totaled 56 books. To be clear, I’m less concerned about remembering everything; I love the cross-pollination of ideas much more. I’m going for quantity and listening at ~2.5X speed. The more ideas I gather from different disciplines, the more I draw parallels from seemingly unrelated fields. This is my sweet spot.

I’ve divided up all the books I read this year by the rating scale I use for my Book Notes page. Let me know if you want any of the notes I took for a particular book, and I’ll post it and share a hyperlink.

5 Stars: Loved It (17 books)

Non-Fiction

  • Expert Secrets by Russell Brunson
  • Crushing It! by Gary Vaynerchuk
  • At Your Best by Carey Nieuwhof
  • Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
  • The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
  • Soldier Secretary by Christopher C. Miller
  • Sea Stories by William H. McRaven
  • Life Undercover by Amaryllis Fox
  • Chickenhawk by Robert Mason
  • Scars and Stripes by Tim Kennedy
  • Build by Tony Fadell
  • The Art of Clear Thinking by Hasard Lee
  • See, Solve, Scale by Danny Warshay
  • Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell
  • The Power of Stillness by Jacob Z. Hess, Carrie L. Skarda, Kyle D. Anderson, and Ty R. Mansfield
  • Die with Zero by Bill Perkins

Fiction

  • Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse, #1) by James S.A. Corey

4 Stars: Liked It (16 books)

Non-Fiction

  • Influence by Robert B. Cialdini
  • You Need a Budget by Jesse Mecham
  • When to Jump by Mike Lewis
  • Outdoor Kids in an Inside World by Steven Rinella
  • Come Fly The World by Julia Cooke
  • The Opposite of Woe by John Hickenlooper
  • Make Life Beautiful by Syd & Shea McGee
  • Crisis of Command by Stuart Scheller
  • Venture Deals by Brad Feld
  • Gun Barons by John Bainbridge, Jr.
  • Be Useful by Arnold Schwarzenegger
  • The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
  • Building by Mark Ellison
  • Winning the War in Your Mind by Craig Groeschel

Fiction

  • Invincible Iron Man: Ironheart, Vol. 1: Riri Williams by Brian Michael Bendis (Writer), Stefano Caselli (Illustrator), and Marte Garcia (Illustrator)
  • Star Wars: Rogue One Adaptation by Jody Houser (Writer), Emilio Laiso (Artist), Paolo Villanelli (Artist), and Rachelle Rosenberg (Artist)

3 Stars: It Was Okay (15 books)

Non-Fiction

  • The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
  • Rage Against the Minivan by Kristen Howerton
  • I Didn’t Do the Thing Today by Madeleine Dore
  • What If Love Is the Point? by Carlos & Alexa PenaVega
  • Inferno by Joe Pappalardo
  • Leadership by Henry Kissinger
  • The Hiltons by J. Randy Taraborrelli
  • The Next Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley
  • The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel
  • The Way of the Knife by Mark Mazzetti
  • Mended Wings by Colin P. Cahoon
  • Confessions of a Recovering Engineer by Charles L. Marohn, Jr.
  • The Things We Make by Bill Hammack
  • The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel

Fiction

  • Batman/Spawn: The Classic Collection by Frank Miller (Writer), Todd McFarlane (Writer), Doug Moench (Writer), Alan Grant (Writer), Chuck Dixon (Writer), and Klaus Janson (Illustrator)

2 Stars: Disliked It (7 books)

Non-Fiction

  • The Revolutionary by Stacy Schiff
  • David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell
  • Adventures in Opting Out by Cait Flanders
  • The Proximity Principle by Ken Coleman
  • Balkan Ghosts by Robert D. Kaplan

Fiction

  • The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past, #1) by Cixin Liu
  • The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, Vol. 1: Brawl in the Family by Gerry Conway (Writer) and Ryan Stegman (Illustrator)

1 Star: Hated It (1 book)

Non-Fiction

  • Business Adventures by John Brooks

Fiction

  • N/A

Put On Pause or Quit

Non-Fiction

  • N/A

Fiction

  • N/A

Analysis

Here are the stats on the books I read this year. Next year, I hope to compare how that data has changed over the past few years as I started collecting it. Here’s my Google Sheet.

The categories I tracked were Format, Rating, Female Author, and Person of Color (POC) Author.

I’m merely curious about the format, and I’ve definitely shifted away from paper books over the years.

For rating, the goal is to read better since there are too many to even get to the best books in a lifetime. I’m not sure how to reconcile that with books that I didn’t enjoy yet changed my perspective on something.

For female and POC authors, I want to break away from the monotony of reading only white, male authors. That’s not to say one is better than the other, but diversity is to be applauded, and I am neither female nor a person of color. By reading from their perspectives, I can “level up” my thinking by taking on someone else’s viewpoint. POC authors is super difficult to gauge, however, and my data is skewed because this is entirely judged based off of looks and their Wikipedia page. Still, it’s better than nothing.

Blog-Format
Blog-Female-Author
Blog-Rating
Blog-POC-Author

GoodReads

Follow me on GoodReads to see me hit next year’s goal!:
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2023 Reading Challenge

2023 Reading Challenge
Jonny has read 4 books toward his goal of 52 books.
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Books of 2022

This year totaled 65 books. To be clear, I’m less concerned about remembering everything; I love the cross-pollination of ideas much more. I’m going for quantity and listening at ~2.5X speed. The more ideas I gather from different disciplines, the more I draw parallels from seemingly unrelated fields. This is my sweet spot.

I’ve divided up all the books I read this year by the rating scale I use for my Book Notes page. Let me know if you want any of the notes I took for a particular book, and I’ll post it and share a hyperlink.

5 Stars: Loved It (24 books)

Non-Fiction

  • Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt by Arthur C. Brooks
  • The Book of Mormon
  • It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership by Colin Powell
  • Test Gods: Virgin Galactic and the Making of a Modern Astronaut by Nicholas Schmidle
  • On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
  • The Chancellor: The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel by Kati Marton
  • Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant
  • Master Your Time, Master Your Life: The Breakthrough System to Get More Results, Faster, in Every Area of Your Life by Brian Tracy
  • Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters by Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger
  • Joy at Work: Organizing Your Professional Life by Marie Kondō
  • Tough: My Journey to True Power by Terry Crews
  • About Face: Odyssey Of An American Warrior by COL (ret.) David H. Hackworth
  • Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century by Tim Higgins
  • A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times by Mark T. Esper
  • Everyday Millionaires: How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth—And How You Can Too by Chris Hogan
  • The First 100 Days of Platoon Leadership Handbook: Lessons and Best Practices by U.S. Department of the Army
  • Dare to Lead by Brené Brown
  • My Life in Full: Work, Family, and Our Future by Indra Nooyi
  • Persuade: The 4-Step Process to Influence People and Decisions by Andres Lares
  • Leadership Strategy and Tactics: Field Manual by Jocko Willink

Fiction

  • Spider-Man: Blue by Jeph Loeb
  • Daredevil: Yellow by Jeph Loeb
  • From the Dead (Moon Knight, #1) by Warren Ellis
  • Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman
    • Note: I have really enjoyed reading short stories

4 Stars: Liked It (21 books)

Non-Fiction

  • The Lego Story: How a Little Toy Sparked the World’s Imagination by Jens Andersen
  • The Folly and the Glory: America, Russia, and Political Warfare 1945–2020 by Tim Weiner
  • The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War by Craig Whitlock
  • Side Hustle: From Idea to Income in 27 Days by Chris Guillebeau
  • Made in China: A Memoir of Love and Labor by Anna Qu
  • The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America by Timothy Snyder
  • The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion by Eliot Brown
  • The Storm is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything by Mike Rothschild
  • The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win by Maria Konnikova
  • Joker One: A Marine Platoon’s Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood by Donovan Campbell
  • Topgun: An American Story by Dan Pedersen
  • Disney’s Land: Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World by Richard Snow
  • Black Ops: The Life of a CIA Shadow Warrior by Ric Prado
  • The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again by Catherine Price
  • Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Plan for the World by Timothy J. Keller
  • Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire by Brad Stone

Fiction

  • Shadowland by Andy Diggle
  • Batman: Death by Design by Chip Kidd
  • D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths by Ingri d’Aulaire
    • Note: I’m not sure if I should capture myths as fiction or non-fiction
  • Star Wars: Doctor Aphra, vol. 1: Aphra by Kieron Gillen
  • Iron Man, Vol. 5: Rings of the Mandarin by Kieron Gillen

3 Stars: It Was Okay (14 books)

Non-Fiction

  • Becoming Trader Joe: How I Did Business My Way and Still Beat the Big Guys by Joe Coulombe
  • Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld
  • Clarity in Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the CIA by Marc E. Polymeropoulos
  • The Hundred-Year Marathon: China’s Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower by Michael Pillsbury
  • Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper
  • How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age by Dale Carnegie
  • The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber
  • There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century by Fiona Hill
  • The Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman
  • The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read by Philippa Perry
  • First SEALs: The Untold Story of the Forging of America’s Most Elite Unit by Patrick K. O’Donnell
  • The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better by Thatcher Wine

Fiction

  • Freedom™ (Daemon #2) by Daniel Suarez
  • The Lone Drow (Forgotten Realms: Hunter’s Blades, #2; Legend of Drizzt, #15) by R.A. Salvatore

2 Stars: Disliked It (5 books)

Non-Fiction

  • Leadership in War: Essential Lessons from Those Who Made History by Andrew Roberts
  • The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson

Fiction

  • The Thousand Orcs (Forgotten Realms: Hunter’s Blades, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #14) by R.A. Salvatore
  • Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values (Phaedrus, #1) by Robert M. Pirsig
  • Johnny the Homicidal Maniac: Director’s Cut by Jhonen Vásquez

1 Star: Hated It (1 book)

Non-Fiction

  • N/A

Fiction

  • Infinity (Avengers, #4) by Jonathan Hickman

Put On Pause or Quit

Non-Fiction

  • A Hero Born (Legends of the Condor Heroes, #1) by Jin Yong
  • Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Fiction

  • N/A

Analysis

Here are the stats on the books I read this year. Next year, I hope to compare how that data has changed over the past few years as I started collecting it. Here’s my Google Sheet.

The categories I tracked were Format, Rating, Female Author, and Person of Color (POC) Author.

I’m merely curious about the format, and I’ve definitely shifted away from paper books over the years.

For rating, the goal is to read better since there are too many to even get to the best books in a lifetime. I’m not sure how to reconcile that with books that I didn’t enjoy yet changed my perspective on something.

For female and POC authors, I want to break away from the monotony of reading only white, male authors. That’s not to say one is better than the other, but diversity is to be applauded, and I am neither female nor a person of color. By reading from their perspectives, I can “level up” my thinking by taking on someone else’s viewpoint.

2022_Books_Format
2022_Books_Rating
2022_Books_Female
2022_Books_POC

GoodReads

Follow me on GoodReads to see me hit next year’s goal!:
Jonny's book recommendations, liked quotes, book clubs, book lists (read shelf)

2023 Reading Challenge

2023 Reading Challenge
Jonny has read 4 books toward his goal of 52 books.
hide
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Books of 2021

I’ve previously used and stuck with the rating scale I use for my Book Notes page. Here are all the books I read or listened to in 2021!

5 Stars: Loved It

Non-Fiction

  • The American Story: Conversations with Master Historians by David M. Rubenstein
  • Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America by Jeff Ryan
  • Billion Dollar Brand Club: The Rebel Startups Disrupting Industry Empires by Lawrence Ingrassia
  • Get Out of Your Own Way: A Skeptic’s Guide to Growth and Fulfillment by Dave Hollis
  • Restoration: God’s Call to the 21st Century World by Patrick Q. Mason
  • The Magnolia Story by Chip Gaines
  • Dare to Fly by Martha McSally
  • The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy by Jon Gordon
  • Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool by Emily Oster
  • The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company by Robert Iger
  • Grant by Ron Chernow
  • Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow
  • Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies about Who You Are So You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be by Rachel Hollis

Fiction

  • Forever Home by Jenna Ayoub
  • Inheritance (The Inheritance Cycle, #4) by Christopher Paolini
  • Brisingr (The Inheritance Cycle, #3) by Christopher Paolini
  • Eldest (The Inheritance Cycle, #2) by Christopher Paolini
  • Eragon (The Inheritance Cycle, #1) by Christopher Paolini
  • Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1) by Ernest Cline
  • Guardians of the Galaxy/All-New X-Men: The Trial of Jean Grey by Brian Michael Bendis
  • Star Wars: Thrawn by Jody Houser
  • House of M by Brian Michael Bendis
  • Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

4 Stars: Liked It

Non-Fiction

  • Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most by Greg McKeown
  • Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
  • Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbotham
  • Green Metropolis: What the City Can Teach the Country About True Sustainability by David Owen
  • Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
  • The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson
  • Hidden Figures by Margot Leet Shetterly
  • Mating in Captivity: Reconciling the Erotic and the Domestic by Esther Perel
  • Titan by Ron Chernow

Fiction

  • Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson
  • Star Wars: Darth Maul by Cullen Bunn
  • FF by Jonathan Hickman, Vol. 1 by Jonathan Hickman
  • Ultimate Spider-Man: Ultimate Collection Volume 1 by Brian Michael Bendis
  • Spawn Origins, Volume 1 by Todd McFarlane

3 Stars: It Was Okay

Non-Fiction

  • Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski PhD and Amelia Nagoski DMA
  • The Way I Heard It by Mike Rowe
  • A Patriot’s Calling: My Life as an F-16 Fighter Pilot by Dan Rooney
  • The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
  • Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy by Sheryl Sandberg
  • Kill Chain: Drones and The Rise of the High-Tech Assassins by Andrew Cockburn
  • Pale Horse: Hunting Terrorists and Commanding Heroes with the 101st Airborne Division by Jimmy Blackmon

Fiction

  • Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin by Tim Siedell
  • Judge Dredd: The Cape and Cowl Crimes by John Wagner
  • Star Wars, Vol. 2: Showdown on the Smuggler’s Moon by Jason Aaron
  • Star Wars, Vol. 1: Skywalker Strikes by Jason Aaron
  • Spider-Man: Ends of the Earth by Dan Slott
  • Black Widow: The Name of the Rose (Black Widow (Black Widow (2010)) by Marjorie M. Liu
  • Spawn Origins, Volume 6 by Todd McFarlane
  • Road of the Patriarch (Forgotten Realms: The Sellswords, #3) by R.A. Salvatore
  • Promise of the Witch King (Forgotten Realms: The Sellswords, #2) by R.A. Salvatore
  • Once an Eagle by Anton Meyer

2 Stars: Disliked It

Non-Fiction

  • N/A

Fiction

  • Justice League, Vol. 1: The Extinction Machines by Bryan Hitch
  • Teen Titans, Vol. 1: Damian Knows Best by Benjamin Percy
  • Spider-Man & The X-Men by Elliott Kalan
  • 52, Vol. 1 by Geoff Johns
  • FF, Volume 2 by Jonathan Hickman

1 Star: Hated It

Non-Fiction

  • Ungodly Soul Ties: How to identify and Break Them (Spiritual Warfare Book 4) by Nellie Odhuno-Shani
    • Note: I actually enjoyed quite a bit of the book, but she started peddling blatantly false information

Fiction

  • Batman, Incorporated by Grant Morrison

Put On Pause or Quit

Non-Fiction

  • What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture by Ben Horowitz

Fiction

  • 1984 by George Orwell

2021 in Data

To continue last year’s simple data analysis of the types of books I read, I used a Google Sheet to review whether or not I’m branching out in my reading or staying the same. I’d say I’m largely keeping to my known genres of fantasy and sci-fi for fiction and self-help and (auto)biography for non-fiction.

Unfortunately, my go-to types of books tend to lean white and male. Please make recommendations for female and people-of-color authors and books you enjoy or books from another genre!

Book_Rating
Book_Format
Book_Female
Book_POC

Rating—My sum of 5-star and 4-star books decreased by 15%. I’m not sure if I should care or not. Part of me wants to only be reading good books, but at the same time, I value diverse perspectives, and I strayed out of my comfort zone in some aspects. Interesting to note, but I’m not hung up on it.

Format—I read way more comics this year, which I really enjoy. I’m glad to be getting back into a medium that meant a lot to me growing up. I hope to tie reading more comics to drawing more, too. My total percentage of physical reading (paper + digital) excluding comics decreased by 3.3%. Not bad.

Reading physical, non-fiction books reinvigorate me when I’m not in school already reading a bunch. Flight school is over, but I still feel compelled to study every day to keep up on it. My non-fiction reading suffers, but audio is still booming! I prefer reading hardcover paper books for fiction and Kindle for non-fiction (easier to take notes).

Female Author—My percentage of female authors increased by 4%, which is great. I didn’t consciously try to improve this as much as I thought I would, so I’m glad it increased, but I definitely need to find more female authors I love reading.

POC Author—I’m not sure if this is a good metric to track or not, because I find myself googling the author and having to make somewhat of a snap-judgement based on their Wikipedia picture. It also dawned on me that I members of other religions or of the LGBTQ community aren’t included. Maybe I just need to change this to “different from me” if the point is to get a variety of perspectives? I dunno. This one’s hard to track and find accurate information on. Two examples came to mind:

  • Esther Perel is a Jewish woman from Eastern Europe. Her parents survived the Holocaust. Does person of color just mean not of European descent? Under that definition, she wouldn’t qualify, but she still brings such a different worldview to the table.
  • G. Willow Wilson is an American convert to Islam. That is definitely a unique perspective, but wouldn’t be a POC.

Feedback is always welcome. Again, I’d love some recommendations for female and people-of-color authors.

If you use Goodreads, give me a follow:

Jonny's book recommendations, liked quotes, book clubs, book trivia, book lists (read shelf)

2021 Reading Challenge

2021 Reading Challenge
Jonny has
completed his goal of reading
52 books in
2021!
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2022 Reading Challenge

2022 Reading Challenge
Jonny has
read 9 books toward
his goal of
52 books.
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Jonny
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2020 Resolutions

“People overestimate what they can do in a day and underestimate what they can do in a year.”

What follows are my “themes” for goals with some initial projections at what I want to improve on. I plan on taking intervals of time and setting a “sprint” goal to double-down on one specific thing for, say, 2 weeks or 30 days, while keeping the broader goals in mind.

Less Waste and Consumerism

This has been top of mind a lot lately. I can’t get quite as extreme as I could if I were a bachelor, especially with kids (sorry, but we won’t do cloth diapers), but I can take steps to reduce our impact.

I thought about this a lot while I worked a seasonal position at Target stocking food shelves. With all the brands of soup, even, I would think, “Why do we need over 30 flavors of canned soup?! What happened to, you know, cooking?” Asking that question also gave me time to reflect on my own habits, though. We can all do more. Heck, I’m even willing to pay more for recyclable packaging!

Inevitably, Christmas also had me thinking about waste. For one, gifts for the sake of gifts drive me nuts. I’ve prepared a list of gifts that would thrill me, so you know it’ll go over well. Otherwise, you could get a gift that would be convenient from my Amazon list. For the holidays, we want to start doing 4 gifts wrapped in brown paper and tied with twine:

  • Something they want
  • Something they need
  • Something to wear
  • Something to read

Heck, this could go for birthdays and other events, too.

Less waste is also one of the reasons I plan on donating to the Yang 2020 campaign for my birthday. See Reduce Packaging Waste on his site.

Start Another Revenue Stream

This one’s important for me for two reasons. First, I’m getting restless and I need an entrepreneurial endeavor. Second, I’m doubling down on building wealth so that we can get a house after flight school.

Right now, the top idea is a project with my brother-in-law that I’m excited about. It involves content creation, event planning, and learning how to code!

Deliberate Caffeine Consumption

This is my last true vice, and it also ties into less waste. I pound the caffeinated drink flavoring packets. Granted, I have kids that don’t sleep, and I dilute it heavily (mix into 40oz instead of 16oz), but the packages are single-use plastic, plus my Hydro Flask lid gets gross.

I promised myself I’d quit and start drinking—dare I say—plain water when the girls sleep. This is the year! I’ve knocked the energy drinks and soda, both during college. This is the last step. We’ll see how flight school goes…

In the meantime, I’ve transitioned to Mio, since the plastic containers are recyclable.

Draw and Share 12 Drawings I’m Proud Of

I plan to publish them to Deviant Art (I’m ~jonnymhenderson). This is a very reasonable goal to get me back into drawing and to finish drawings I start. I’m notorious for having a sketchbook full of half-sketches.

Focus on My 5 Fs: Family, Faith, Finance, Fitness, Flight

I came up with “My 5 Fs” while sitting in the NGAUS conference trying to think about what truly matters to me. These about sum it up! Taking a page from Tim Ferriss’s Past Year Review, this is a way for me to focus on what makes me happy and what will have a lasting impact.

  • Family—From Leaders Eat Last: “A study…found that a child’s sense of well-being is affected less by the long hours their parents put in at work and more by the mood their parents are in when they come home.” I’d like to double-down on spending meaningful time with my wife and kids. In His Needs, Her Needs, it discusses a wife’s need for the husband to be a good father. That requires 15 hours per week for her and an additional 15 hours per week for quality family time.
  • Faith—Deliberate and consistent scripture study and prayer
  • Finance—Apply the principles and action items from I Will Teach You to Be Rich to automate expenses, set goals, and start building wealth.
  • Fitness—Focus on APFT and ACFT test scores.
  • Flight—The first step in developing this priority is starting flight school. I report April 10th!
Jonny
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2017 vs. 2018

With it being the start of a new year, everyone is always focused on the “new me” that they’ll strive for. I used two methods to review 2017, and I’ve taken a different approach to 2018.

2017 #1: Review of Resolutions

I set out to have several SMART goals that I’d work in throughout the year. I accomplished some, others I worked on but let them die, and others I barely touched. I am, however, learning with every year what makes me the most effective at pursuing things I want to improve on or accomplish.

My 2017 resolutions were as follows:

  • Become a Confident Swimmer—I went swimming a few times out of obligation, and I came across the Total Immersion technique that I know will be the game changer, but I still haven’t put much towards this one.
  • Learn C#—I acquired the necessary software and worked my way through an online tutorial series, but without a project to apply my skills to, it died at the conclusion of the tutorial.
  • Read the Book of Mormon in German—Accomplished! I did, however, find that I got very little out of it spiritually other than establishing a habit of daily scripture study. This goal is a large part of why I now wake up at 0430. I do better accomplishing the difficult, tedious, boring stuff before starting my day while my girls are still asleep.
  • Code My Own Website—While I didn’t code it myself, I did get a website up and going. It’s still fairly rudimentary, but the hardest part is out of the way! With just a bit of touching up, it’ll be ready to list on my résumé! I’d love any feedback you can provide.
  • Max My Army Physical Training Test—While I didn’t hit a 300+, I got up to 284, which is very competitive and the highest I’ve ever gotten. I also used the Freedom Journal to stay accountable to this one. I wish I had started earlier, rather than honing in starting in the fall semester.
  • Become Confident Drawing from Memory—I didn’t do much drawing at all, but I found that the Inktober challenge pushed me to be better! I still need to upload those to my Deviant Art page…
  • Read 6 Books—I knocked this one out of the park! See my 2017 Reading List post.
  • Make Headway on My Book and Comic—I did lots of writing, but no drawing. I even shared one of my pieces on reddit!

To my credit, I had best intentions in setting SMART goals, and I held myself accountable after the first quarter of the year, but that was about it.

2017 #2: Past Year Review (PYR)

I discovered this method through Tim Ferriss’s 5-Bullet Friday. I’ve mentioned that newsletter before, and I encourage you to subscribe. It’s a lovely little dose of the new and intriguing every end-of-the-week. He shares:

Past Year Review

Here’s my list after sorting through 52 weeks of Google Calendar:

PYR

My nature is to be interested in everything, but here are my top conclusions based on this exercise:

  • I am made to be an entrepreneur. I won’t be happy unless I’m pursuing something for myself.
  • I long to be creative, and reading, writing, and drawing are all activities I enjoy, would like to become better at, and I find each of them productive hobbies (developing a talent as opposed to watching Netflix).
  • I hate being trapped in meetings—especially when they’re unnecessary and/or poorly run.
  • I really enjoy learning in general, and am specifically interested in economics and German, to name two.
  • Time with friends and family mean a lot to me.
  • I love to write based on researching a topic I’m unfamiliar with.
  • I love to both give and receive gifts, and it happens to be my #1 love language.
  • I love weddings.
  • I love challenging myself physically (Ex. Advance Camp, rock climbing, improving APFT score, running a half-marathon, etc.).
  • I am appreciative of the military training available to me.
  • I love taking notes on a good self-help book.
  • I enjoy being a behind-the-scenes leader and helping things fall into place (Ex. S4).
  • I love to travel, and I find great joy in doing so with friends and family.
  • I need to take time to be creative as well as time to reset and clean out my system from all the multitasking and build-up that bogs me down.

2018: Top 5 Goals

Instead of setting super specific goals for 2018, I have picked up on a trend of what makes me generally happier and what I long to do more of. There are, certainly, things outside of this list, but here’s what I’m most interested in pursuing:

  1. Read more
  2. Write more
  3. Draw more
  4. Speak to Eva solely in German
  5. Run a full marathon

Shalene and I also set goals as a couple:

  1. Attend the temple every other month
  2. Don’t talk negatively about each other to others and in general

So that’s it! We’ll do this again in March to stay accountable.

Cheers~

Jonny
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2017 Reading List

I put my star rating next to each book and, where possible, linked to my GoodReads review. I use the following system, adopted from Google Reviews:

⭐️ Hated it

⭐️⭐️ Disliked it

⭐️⭐️⭐️ It was okay

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Liked it

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Loved it

Complete

I’ve been so much better at reading this year! In fact, I made it a goal to read 6 books in 2017, and I surpassed that! I’ve realized over the year that reading brings me joy as I jump into a fictional story, and that it is a much better decompression and release before bed than using my phone or playing games. Here’s what I’ve read:

  • School Reading
    • The Japanese Mind: Understanding Contemporary Japanese Culture (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—This is a collection of essays written by grad students exploring various aspects of the Japanese culture. I found it fascinating to dissect a culture down to micro-level components of culture you wouldn’t be familiar with without living there
    • Schachnovelle (⭐️⭐️⭐️)—An intriguing story with an exciting hook on how a chess master became so good.
    • Der Besuch der alten Dame (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—The plot twist in this was fantastic, and caught me totally off guard. I had a fun time reading this, as I was able to understand the plot and a lot of the message hidden between the lines even in a foreign language.
    • Leaders Eat Last (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—The author does an exceptional job using case studies to teach critical leadership lessons. I think this should be required reading for anyone in a leadership/management position. Can’t recommend highly enough! We read this book as 4th-year ROTC cadets.
  • Non-Fiction
    • The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—The author, Tim Ferriss, does an incredible job of breaking down the human body into data points and experiments. It tackled several key issues that I’m interested in exploring more, it’s exceptionally well-formatted, and its littered with case studies of individuals throughout the book.
    • Das Buch Mormon (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—Naturally, I’m a big fan of the Book of Mormon, as it’s the keystone to my religion. I believe all religious texts should be classified as non-fiction. I read it in German to keep up on daily scripture study as well as language practice. I finished it today (31DEC17) to complete a resolution for the year and so it would make this list!
    • The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Managing Your Money (⭐️⭐️⭐️)—As given by the three-star rating, it was okay. I only liked it because it gave a few insights I didn’t know before, as well as a few actionable steps. I wish it had more examples of “save this much now, retire with this much later.” I finished this book so it’d make this list.
  • Fiction
    • Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Checkmate (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—A favorite video game character of mine in novel form. A fun, international military thriller.
    • Exile (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—Book #2 in The Legend of Drizzt (my favorite series) by my favorite author, RA Salvatore.
    • Sojourn (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—Book #3 in The Legend of Drizzt series that finishes out the prequel trilogy.
    • Starship Troopers (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—This was a fantastic read after attending Advance Camp, and it complimented my military training well! I wouldn’t have appreciated it, however, without my summer training as it can get pretty technical in military lingo.
  • Short Stories
    • The Education of PFC Shane (link or PDF) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—This is a fun read set in the StarCraft world.
    • The Egg (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—A fantastic read for the devout religious individual or for the atheist. A fascinating story
    • Access (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
    • Annie’s Day (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—The plot twist!
    • The Real Deal (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
    • Bored World (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
    • The Midtown Butcher (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—Fantastic, suspenseful, and it speaks volumes about Weir’s storytelling.
    • Antihypoxiant (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
    • Meeting Sarah (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
    • Rat (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—As an RA Salvatore fan and as a new DnD DM, this was a fun read!
    • Twarrior (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
  • Comic Books
    • Deathstroke: The Professional (⭐️⭐️⭐️)—Fun because it’s Deathstroke along with some of the WildC.A.T.S, but overall, not that great.
    • Justice League: The Grid
    • Thunderbolts: No Quarter
    • Iron Man 2.0: Asymmetry (⭐️)— I was going through my collection, and I’m disappointed that I ever bought this. Not impressed at all. A storyline without much substance that could’ve been really good, in fact. Scattered and hard to follow, and not very interesting. The digital coloring was great for some of the volume but overall, it was poorly done.
    • Iron Man: Execute Program (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—This might be my favorite Iron Man Story
    • Infinity Gauntlet (⭐️⭐️⭐️)—A fun read since the movie is coming out. It certainly had its “doom and gloom” moments where you thought there was no way for them to make it out followed by a twist in favor of good. I find the older comics, especially the art style, very difficult to read, however.
    • Civil War II (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—My favorite iron man armor yet. I love the faceplate!
    • Ultimate Comics Spider-Man: Death of Spider-Man Fallout (⭐️⭐️)
    • The Death of Captain America: The Death of the Dream (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
    • World War Hulk
    • Captain America: White (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—My favorite author/artist combo, but it wasn’t quite as good as the others in the COLORS series
    • Infamous Iron Man: Infamous (⭐️⭐️⭐️)—Dr. Doom becomes Iron Man
    • Single issues—A couple of single-issues I picked up over the summer
      • Team 7 (2012 DC) #3 (Variant A) (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)—I love Deathstroke, and this was my first exposure to Grifter
      • Spawn WildC.A.T.S (1996) #3: Devil Day (Part 3 of 4) (⭐️⭐️⭐️)—I love Spawn, and Grifter appeared again!
      • Moon Knight (1985 2nd Series) Fist of Khonshu #3 (⭐️⭐️)—The best part of this comic was getting to see the old ads from the 80s

Work in Progress

This has been quite the year of starting books. Unfortunately, there are several (especially non-fiction) that I’ve stopped reading but am still interested in finishing. Here’s the list:

  • Energy Civilization: The Zenith of Man
  • Ranger Handbook
  • The Hobbit
  • His Needs, Her Needs

In addition to that, I have a shelf of several books that I’m waiting to start, as well as an itch to continue RA Salvatore’s series.

Here’s to a new year of new adventures and stories!

Cheers~