Not that the world particularly needs to know, but with this blog post maybe I’ll remind you of a simpler time – when the Internet was full of posts about cats and what people had for lunch. Sure, self-indulgent and vacuous, but still better than the rage-addiction delivery system it’s become.
While it sucked in a lot of ways, 2020 was a good time to exercise and read. In terms of exercise, I started making more time for it when we were in lockdown. I was working out of my storage room. Turns out it was pretty easy for me to keep up with my workload if I stumbled down to the storage room in my jammies at 7:30 or 8, worked for a couple of hours, then went for a run or put on a workout video before taking a quick shower, grabbing some lunch, and getting back to work. Not driving to and from work or messing with professional attire really saves time. Anyway, setting aside time turned into a streak, and at the moment, I’ve done at least a half hour of exercise – usually more – every day since March 27. Included in that was a round of P90x, a half marathon, and quite a bit of cycling.
I also managed to keep a list of the books I read in 2020:
- Jan. 29th – SPQR – Mary Beard.
- Feb. 6th – Queenslayer (Spellslinger 5) – Sebastien de Castell
- Feb. 11th – Humans: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up – Tom Phillips
- Feb. 15th – Crownbreaker (Spellslinger 6) – Sebastien de Castell
- Feb. 25th – Running with Sherman – Christopher McDougall
- Mar. 14th – The South versus the South – William Freehling
- Apr. 24th – The Stand – Stephen King
- May 6th – Lawrence in Arabia – Scott Anderson
- May 10th – Only Human – Sylvain Neuvel
- June 7th – At Home – Bill Bryson
- June 26th – Upheaval – Jared Diamond
- July 5th – Seveneves – Neal Stephenson
- Aug. 2nd – How to Hide an Empire – Daniel Immerwahr
- Aug. 8th – The Guardians – John Grisham
- Aug. 15th – Longitude – Dava Sobel
- Aug. 30th – Runes of the Earth – Stephen R. Donaldson
- Sept. 29th – Fatal Revenant – Stephen R. Donaldson
- Oct. 24th – Against All Things Ending – Stephen R. Donaldson
- Nov. 14th – The Final Dark – Stephen R. Donaldson
- Nov. 29th – Indiana: An Interpretation – John Bartlow Martin
- Dec. 5th – Traitor’s Blade (Greatcoats #1) – Sebastien de Castell
- Dec. 25th – Knight’s Shadow (Greatcoats #2) – Sebastien de Castell
- Dec. 29th – Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid – Bill Bryson
So, the year wasn’t totally wasted. Though, I have to say, the Stephen R. Donaldson series (The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant) from August through November was a bit of a slog. There was some good stuff here and there in the series, but mainly I was reading it because the First Chronicles meant so much to me when I read it as a kid.
If you likd SPQR (and anything by Mary Beard is excellent) you would also enjoy Rubicon by Tom Holland.
Be well,
Dave H
I liked SPQR, but I guess truth be told, Roman history feels like a little bit of work for me. So I only go back to it every now and again. Dan Carlin has had a couple of podcasts that has made it more accessible over the years so that when I read a book like Beard’s (or maybe Rubicon in the future!) I have some of the background I need to get into it.
Read the Stand and Only Human from your list. So here’s my list:
Reread The Foundation Series ( 3 books) Isaac Asimov
Time Enough for Love – Robert Heinlein
Roughing It – Mark Twain – My favorite all time book read it once a
year.
Great Pass Receivers of the NFL – Dave Anderson (1966) – 1st Reading 1966 Xmas
Gift
Eragon – Christopher Paolini
World’s Best Sci Fi 1969 – edited by Donald A Wollheim
A Dirty Book – P.J. O’Rourke (National Lampoon)
The Year’s Best Science Fiction – Edited by Gardner Dozois
The Godfather – Mario Puzo
New Books – The Wal-Mart Effect – Charles Fishman
The Manchurian Candidate – Richard Condon
Stewardship – Choosing Service Over Self-Interest – Peter Block
Magical Thinking – Augusten Burroughs
The Best Science Fiction of the Year – Edited of Neil Clarke
Work Hard Study… and Keep Out of Politics! – James A. Baker III
Fear of a Black Republican – Jose Evans his Story
3001 The Final Odyssey – Arthur C. Clarke
Erotic Tales – La Cicciolina
Bright Lights Big City – Jay McInerney
The Future at War – Vol 1 Thor’s War – Edited by Reginald Bretnor
New Writing in SF6 – John Carnell
S.F. Monsters – A.E. Van Vogt
Children of Tomorrow – A.E. Van Vogt
Short Sci Fi Tales – Edited by Asaac Asimov and Groff Conklin
Rainbow Mars – Larry Niven
Two Minute Drill – Mike Lupica
Weapons of War – Robert E Wright
If Ignorance is Bliss, Why Aren’t There More Happy People -John Lloyd &
– John Mitchinson
1,349 Hilarious Jokes – Judy Brown
As you might surmise from this list is (31 books) I love science fiction and sci-fi short stories. The eleven rereads had five books ,’ Great Pass Receivers of the NFL ‘,’ A Dirty Book’, ‘World’s Best Sci Fi 1969’, ‘The Godfather’ and ‘ The Year’s Best Science Fiction’ I first read between 1966 thru 1972. I told my son ‘ The Foundation Series’, ‘Time Enough for Love’ and ‘Roughing It’ throw them in my coffin when I kick. He came back with, ‘ I will put a holographic quantum voice activated micro organic computer with all your books in the coffin dad’. I told him to throw in my music collection while he was at it.
As for exercise my son has six weeks of vacation and since he can work at home I end up walking his (or ours?) dog Nala his little terrier. I had my mountain bike repaired so I cruised around the nature trail quite a bit this summer and fall. Once a week I play frisbee golf with another retired friend all spring, summer and fall.. My downfall this year is my youngest son works part time and brings home pizza and bread sticks that doesn’t get picked up. Lets face it eating pizza at 10 PM was a excellent idea when I was twenty not so much at sixty plus.
The down part was I wasn’t able to coach soccer, go out to eat at a restaurant since the lock down, missed out our friends blow out canceled Halloween party, could not gather with my siblings for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day. I haven’t lost my excitement for sports, but to be honest only the NFL has held my attention this and last year.
I had one strange experience that sort of strengthens my belief that there are either ghosts, angels or other dimensions. I am leaning towards dimensions which fits in with string theory. I read a four or five books on string theory a couple of years ago and it sort of fits my experience. Oh well not worth writing about here but it was totally bizarre.
At least we get a grown up in the White House! Hip Hip Hooray!!!!!
Impressive list of books! Not to slight the other books on your list, but I love the first Foundation book so much. Salvor Hardin is so fun to read. And I guess the other story that’s jumping to mind was from Foundation & Empire — the mechanics of the story with Bel Riose were somehow satisfying. A bad general can’t handle the Foundation and a good general will get undercut by a jealous Emperor trying to hold on to power.
I also missed out on coaching soccer in 2020. It was probably going to be my last time coaching one of my kids — I was frankly a little surprised that my daughter was interested in U18: she had always been more into the team aspect of the game and most of her old teammates had hung it up after the U14 season. (It jumps from U14 to U18 in our rec league). But, I was willing to coach as long as she wanted to play (and wanted me as a coach). Anyway, COVID nixed the season.
The other thing I really missed was having parties in our back yard. One of my favorite things in the world is having people over, grilling a bunch of wings while I play music and ply my guests with beers, talking to people while I grill. Hopefully we’ll manage some of that in 2021!
I’ve heard that the first chronicles were edited by Lester Delray. I Alterio find them stronger than his later work.
Is your wedding ring white gold, by any chance?
Asking for a friend.
Haha. No. The thought did cross my mind. Ultimately, my wife & I went with rings in the shape of an ouroboros