July Book Review

In June, I tried to create a regular habit of reading. You may recall that that didn’t go too well. I ended up only reading one book.

But, the goal of the project wasn’t just to read more in June, but to create a habit of reading a little bit every day. So, I carried that principle into the month of July and ended up completing three books this month!

All of them were very interesting and enjoyable reads, so I’ll elaborate on each of them briefly in reverse chronological order by date published, in case you’re interested in reading one of them yourself.

Spotify Teardown: Inside the Black Box of Streaming Music

Anna Johansson, Maria Eriksson, Patrick Vonderau, Pelle Snickars, and Rasmus Fleischer – 2019

I first heard about this book on an episode of Freakonomics and as an amateur music enthusiast, I was intrigued. The book posits itself as an “interventionist ethnography”. Which I suppose is a fancy way of saying “we’re trying to study this from the outside looking in since we can’t get on the inside but we’re also not afraid to disrupt things and try to crack the black box to see how this company works” (if that even makes any sense).

In the book, the authors and researchers show how Spotify has gone from a service centered on the search box and a fully autonomous user, to viewing the user as someone in need of guidance and recommendations in sorting through so much music (aka Discover Weekly and mood-based playlists). It also challenges entire idea of music in the digital age. What qualifies? How should we categorize ambient music or white noise?

All in all, the book was very interesting and helped me to better understand how digital streaming services work. But there is a definite progressive ideology that comes along with some of the ideas promulgated in the book, so take it with a grain of salt.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Stephen Covey – 1989

Conversely, there are definite conservative and Christian principles underlying this book. That being said, I think the author does a good job of making the philosophy outlined within applicable to anyone regardless of political ideology or religion.

The core premise of the book is that a person must first discover, articulate, and become grounded in his/her own personal values before being able to be a successful collaborator with others. Reading the book is one reason why I decided to create my own personal mission statement (and I recommend you do it too!)

Overall, some of the terminology fabricated to fit concepts in the book can be a bit hokey but the underlying principles are extremely relevant and necessary. I think this is one self-help book that will actually truly help you. And it’s a pretty quick read too.

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin – 1791

This was by far my favorite book out of the three that I read this month. And it lines up with my thinking that books that have withstood the test of time are the best books.

This may sound cheesy, but it honestly offers timeless practical wisdom about how best to live your life and better yourself. Franklin was clearly always concerned with self-improvement and the improvement of society. And in his autobiography he actually details how he became a better writer (by paraphrasing articles from the Spectator and later transforming them into poetic verse), a more disciplined person (by setting up weekly standards for proper behavior), and a celebrated statesman (not by campaigning or seeking power but letting his credentials and reputation speak for themselves).

And maybe I’m just extremely ignorant but I had no idea that he came up with the idea for volunteer fire departments, street sweeping systems, and was instrumental in gathering public support for the creation of hospitals until I read this book.

If there’s any book you read off of this list, seriously, let it be this one.

A Note on Notetaking

One of the goals on my anti-bucket list was to take notes on all of the books that I read for a month. And I seriously tried to do that this month.

I tried to first read a chapter in full without taking any notes. Then, the next day I skimmed back over the chapter and jotted down crucial concepts before moving on to the next chapter.

I found this strategy kept me present in the moment of reading and helped me digest and better identify the larger themes the next day based on what I remembered best.

I’m not sure if I’ll continue with this strategy or try to find another in the future, but I definitely want to continue taking notes.