Books in 2015: A Goal

For someone who loves reading, I make a lot of excuses for not getting around to books. “I didn’t have time yet.” “My Kindle was out of power.” “I got it in print but it’s massive.”

Well no more! My plan is not to limit myself to the ten books in the photograph during 2015, but I plan to make sure that I do read these books in 2015. Here’s the books and they whys:

• The Four Hour Chef – since reading his last book I have grown to really like Tim Ferriss’s approach to learning and development, as well as read about tips and hacks. The Four Hour Chef is about cookery, but also about learning anything and everything too; something will be useful in there (plus I love cooking!).
• Rules of Play – I love role-playing games and boardgames, and have a PS3; I also took an Open University course a few years ago about games – a mix of history, philosophy and design. Rules of Play was one of the books that got mentioned a lot, and while I got it for the Christmas after the course I never got around to reading it. Something I plan to rectify this year!
• A Theory of Fun for Game Design – another book about games that I picked up a while back, and which I also just haven’t made time to read.
• The Upside of Irrationality – I picked this book up in a charity shop in December, and it looks like a good read.
• Cosmos – a few years ago I was only vaguely aware of Carl Sagan; then the Sagan Series videos happened and I wanted to know more. I got Cosmos last Christmas, started reading it in 2014 but only got a little way in. I’ve made efforts in recent years to learn more about Richard Feynman; this year I’ll read more by Carl Sagan.
• What If? – it’s by the guy who does xkcd. Do I need to explain more? OK, it collects and adds to his brilliant weekly What If? series.
• Serious Play – an Amazon Marketplace purchase. A friend has told me for years that it would be something good for me to check out. I picked it up months ago for less than a fiver. Time to read it then!
• The Ocean At The End Of The Lane – Neil Gaiman’s most recent novel. I have no excuse for why I bought this in the summer and haven’t read it yet.
• The Doodle Revolution – I was really excited about this book when it was announced, got it almost immediately and started working through the first few chapters and then… Work and life got in the way. Going to go back to the beginning and work through again I think.
• Playing At The World – the definitive history of role-playing games; so many people that I read and respect have said that this is a great read; I got it for Christmas in 2013 and aside from reading the introduction I just haven’t got around to it.

None of these books require charging up (the book at the top of my Kindle reading list is Fahrenheit 451, in case you’re interested). I’m making the time to read them. Admittedly one or two of them are massive and heavy, but I will make the time, and drop little updates as I go along.

I’m always interested in what people are reading: so what are you looking forward to reading this year?

Nathan (@DrRyder and @VivaSurvivors)