Reading List December 2017 - April 2018
It has been 5 months since I last posted a list. In Q1 2018 I was mostly preoccupied with reading scientific papers by various professors that I was visiting, but I found the time to fit a couple books in as well.
A World of Trouble by Patrick Tyler
This was a fantastic survey of the American foreign policy in the Middle East from the end of WWII to the beginning of the George W. Bush era. I have been absolutely perplexed by American-Middle Eastern politics for a long time, and I still have a lot to learn, but this was an excellent introduction to the historical context of America in the Middle East today. Patrick Tyler was a journalist who covered events in the region in the 90s, so he is able to write in an engaging and colorful style to make the history interesting and not at all dull. I would very much recommend this book.
Matthew, Mark and Luke from the Bible
I am not particularly religious and I am not trying to proselytize by listing this, but I did want to include it in my list because these 3 Gospel books were very interesting reading. I was talking with a friend about morality and living a moral life, and she suggested that I dig through the Gospel books. I didn't get to John before I turned to another book, but Matthew, Mark and Luke were very interesting. I felt as though the parables were partially lost on me and I am sure there are an infinite number of layers of meaning that I did not pick up on. But the simple act of reading a book that is explicitly trying to answer the question of how to live a good, meaningful life helped me reflect on my own actions and try to find ways to do better.
Deep Work by Cal Newport
I came across a summary of this book and how it applies to getting your PhD on the internet, and that blog post hooked me on the idea of deep work and wouldn't leave me alone until I had devoured the book. I would highly recommend it if you are trying to learn something new, focus more on your work, or just get more meaningful stuff done. I will probably be referring to this book a lot in my blog posts in the future because I hope to be applying Cal Newport's ideas to my approach to my PhD.