This time last year, I compiled a list of the best things I’d read in 2022. It gave me a chance to look back over everything I’d read that year and see which ones stuck with me and left a lasting impression.
With another year coming to a close, I’ve decided to make this an annual tradition. I’ve compiled another list of the best things I read this year. In no particular order, here are the best things I read in 2023.
Books
Fiction
Misery by Stephen King
Misery tells the tale of a writer who winds up in a horrific car accident only to be saved by his ‘number one fan’, In return, he must write her a new novel in her favourite series… or else. A suspenseful tale masterfully told and I’d highly recommend you pick it up.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
If you’re a fan of The Martian, then you’ll love Weir’s latest sci-fi thriller. An astronaut wakes from a coma to find himself trapped onboard a space shuttle with no memory of how or why he’s there. To make matters worse, he finds the only other people onboard dead. As his memories slowly return, he’s confronted with an impossible task. One if he fails to complete, will doom humanity to extinction.
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
In the waning days of the Old West, a group of former Texas Rangers set out on a cattle drive from Texas to Montana. What follows is an epic journey of personal growth, adventure, and the pursuit of dreams, all set against the backdrop of an unforgiving and challenging landscape. Perhaps the best Western that I’ve ever read (or seen).
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
The hit Japanese bestseller is about a small back-alley café in Tokyo with the magical power to let customers briefly travel back in time. It’s a beautiful and moving tale exploring age-old questions; If you could go back in time, would you change something about your past? and, perhaps more applicable to many, who would you want to meet again for one final time?
Non-Fiction
Nature
Think Like a Mountain by Aldo Leopold
A short book forming part of the Penguin Green Ideas series, which collects several of Leopold’s essays pondering humanity’s relationship with nature. In them, he explores how humans have shaped the natural world to suit our needs, often to the detriment of both the planet and the wildlife living therein.
History
Samurai William by Giles Milton
Before Japan closed its borders to the world, brave mariners from European nations sailed there with the hopes of opening trade routes to find their fortunes. Samurai William recounts the life of William Adams, an English navigator who sailed to Japan and quickly found himself as a key advisor to the Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu. It is a fascinating tale that offers a unique glimpse into pre-Sakoku Japan and outlines the many challenges Westerners faced as they found themselves in a country with a dramatically different culture to their own.
Adam’s tale also acts as the inspiration for one of my favourite novels, James Clavell’s Shogun. Another book I’d highly recommend.
The Earth is Weeping by Peter Cozzens
Cozzens provides a comprehensive and detailed account of the conflicts between Native American tribes and the United States government in the American West during the 19th century. It explores the tragic events that unfolded throughout the period whilst examining the cultural, social, and political factors that led to them. Exploring the perspectives of both the Native Americans and the U.S. Military, this is a fantastic read for those looking to understand more of American history.
Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne
Continuing with the theme of the previous book, this one takes a closer look at the history of a single Native American tribe. The Comanche. It’s a vivid historical account of the forty-year battle between white settlers, the U.S. Military, and the Comanche tribe for control of the American West. A thrillingly told tale that doesn’t shy away from the atrocities committed by both sides. It had me gripped throughout.
Memoir
On Writing by Stephen King
This part memoir, part guide to writing, is an insightful look at how one of the world’s most prolific writers views his craft. Filled with useful advice applicable to writing both fiction and non-fiction, I’d highly recommend this book to any aspiring writer.
Photography
After Dark by Liam Wong
Having long been one of my favourite photographers, Liam Wong’s second book was a delight to explore. Using his keen eye for composition and colour, he takes the reader on a visual journey through bustling streets, neon-lit alleyways, and mesmerising urban scenes. All offering a unique perspective on cities at night.
I’d also highly recommend his first book, TO:KY:OO.
Productivity
Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
Time management and high-performance self-optimisation are ideas that underpin many modern productivity books. Burkeman opposes these ideas and puts forth new (and old) ways of looking at our time that does justice to the ephemerality of human life. It’s a thoughtful exploration of how we can reevaluate our relationship with time, embrace our imperfections, and focus on what truly matters to us in the limited time we have.
Articles
Technology
The Expanding Dark Forest and Generative AI
Late 2022 and early 2023 saw an explosion in the popularity of generative ‘AI’ models. ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Midjourney (to name a few), burst onto the scene and captivated global attention. For the first time in a while, the power and impact of machine learning models were back at the forefront of popular discourse. Whilst much of the attention focused on the benefits of the new technology, some highlighted the potential downfalls too. In this article, Maggie Appleton explores how generative content models could irreparably harm the future usefulness of the internet.
For those particularly interested in this topic, Hello Future Me published a fantastic video on YouTube exploring the ethical challenges posed by these models.
Tracking Exposed Evolution: Introducing AI Forensics and the Reverse Engineering Task Force
For the past 7 years, the team behind Tracking Exposed has worked on understanding the algorithms that underpin our lives online. All to hold them accountable. But at the start of the year, Tracking Exposed transitioned to a new venture, AI Forensics. Claudio Agosti, the founder of Tracking Exposed, penned this fascinating article outlining his journey and all he’s learned about holding algorithmic power to account.
Writing
In this older post from 2018, Tom Critchlow reflects on how online writing has changed over time. His observation at the time was that most writing available online today has been intentionally written with large audiences in mind; Designed to both appeal to and be accessible to as many people as possible. But in writing this way, writers lose the ability to be themselves. Their personality and ideas become watered down and any sense of nuance and originality is lost. Critchlow argues that if you want to break away from this mould, then the solution is small b blogging – focusing on writing for small deliberate audiences by chasing interesting ideas over pageviews and scale.
Work and Productivity
Your Boss Has No Idea What Productivity Means
As the severity of the pandemic lessened, companies across the globe began asking employees to abandon remote work in favour of a return to the office. An increase to productivity was an often-cited justification for this sudden switch. But is there any truth behind it? Vox challenges this claim and argues that not only is productivity difficult to measure in the modern world, but it might not be the best metric to begin with.
Why Note-Taking Apps Don’t Make You Smarter
One of the very first pieces I published on my site was to praise the note-taking app Obsidian. I was drawn to such apps by their promises to aid one’s thinking and productivity, but over time, I’ve become disillusioned by such promises. Casey Newton experiences a similar thing and, in this article, ponders whether AI can be a solution or if it’s just another gimmick that masks the harsh truth; that technology can only do so much to aid the active and contemplative process that is thinking.
Education
Simon Sarris takes a critical stance against the modern education system for monopolising children’s time whilst failing to provide them with avenues to make meaningful contributions to the world. Additionally, the prolonged schooling period combined with the emphasis on standardised education can often restrict a child’s sense of agency. Sarris argues that rather than waiting for a shift in educational methodologies, parents and individuals should address this by proactively providing children with additional opportunities for deep learning, meaningful work, and mastery.
Nature
On Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire and America Lost its One Perfect Tree
Earlier this month, the writer of one of my favourite newsletters, Eleanor Konik, wrote an interesting and accessible article on the history of the American chestnut and how blight decimated its population to the point it was almost wiped out entirely. Around the same time, The Atlantic released an article highlighting some of the recent developments made in the quest to revive the chestnut population.
Back during the pandemic, Ali Montag produced one of my favourite newsletters. Following some time away, she’s recently returned to writing with her new Substack. Whilst all of her new posts have been interesting, it’s her fifth post that stood out to me. It’s all about the similarity between gardens and our minds, in that weeds can be notoriously difficult to eradicate once they’ve taken root, just as junk ideas can be notoriously difficult to forget once they’re ingrained in our minds.
