by Manidoo | Last Updated: September 26, 2024In August 2020, I set the goal to read 1,000 books. As of posting this I successfully completed about 200 books or 20% of my goal. This journey has been both fun and challenging and has really helped broaden my knowledge and perspective.
I thought it’ll be a fun way to celebrate this milestone by doing a 200 books “review”. Just going over some of the most notable books read doing this journey.
Book 101 – Sapiens: A Graphic History, Volume 1: The Birth of Humankind(Vol. 1) By Yuval Harari, Daniel Casanave, and David Vandermeulen
Sapiens: A Graphic History, is the illustrative adaption to the best-selling book Sapiens. Yuval Harari takes us on a easy-to-consume journey on the history of humans. Here he discusses a wide range of anthropologic topics. Such as the reason why homo sapiens became the last surviving sapiens, how socioeconomic ideas developed, and much more.
The content of Sapiens is very information heavy; so much so they needed to convert the graphic novel version into a two part series. This doesn’t mean the content feels like a long, dry read. I personally found the material to be entertaining while informative. I felt they simplified a complex discussion into one that can be understood at a highschooler level. By the end of it I was really hooked into wanting to read the second volume.
Now, mind the praise. I feel that this “Sapiens reading journey” will not be a simple two-parter. While there is praise for the book, there is also criticism on its accuracy. Learning this, I realize that this book would likely need to be taken with a grain of salt. For me, I will be diving into both sides of the arguments to get a full perspective on this topic.
When I did pick-up this book this was when I was going down a rabbit-hole of learning anthropology, mythology, and history. This was a great book to cover all these topics and more. Now, 100 books later, I put a pregnant pause on going down this rabbit hole, but my aim is still to come back to it before my 1,000 books challenge is over. Sapiens: A Graphic History Volume 2 still sits on my shelf, and hopefully will be read in the near future.
Book 200 – The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
Finishing this book was a bit of a “happy accident”. I found the Manga version of this, aptly named The Life Changing Manga of Tidying Up, at the library. This illustrative guide had some useful images I wanted to later reference after I moved. When my birthday came I requested this book, but ended up actually getting the original novel instead.
Luckily, the novel itself still served as a useful guide. True, I did buy the manga later, but I was able to gain more thorough insight on Marie Kondo’s philosophy. I don’t necessarily vibe with everything she teaches. Nor am I supposed to. Kondo herself even states that not everything she teaches will be for everyone, and even recommends getting rid of this book if you don’t find it useful to hang onto. I did get rid of my copy (although that’s mainly because I own the manga version), but I felt there was some worthwhile information stemming from both versions of the book. Making this a very good read.
Favorite Non-Fictional Book –The Seven Circles: Indigenous Teachings for Living Well By Chelsey Luger and Thosh Collins
The Seven Circles: Indigenous Teachings for Living Well is another book which I found at the library, returned, then bought a copy of my own. Chelsey Luger and Thosh Collins are two Native Americans who combine cultural practices with health. Explaining how a person can incorporate intertribal philosophies to guide themselves mentally and physically.
The two discuss their life struggles (i.e. substance abuse, depression), and ideologies they used to overcome them. They outline 7 principles(Community, Environment, Sacred Space, Food, Fitness, Ceremony, Sleep) one should invoke to have a healthy lifestyle. This helped reframe ideas I often find myself struggling with, such as exercise. They explain one should not look at exercise as something that should be done, but one that honors the body. Being able to move the way we can is an opportunity not everyone has, and through exercise we are able to practice these movements in celebration.
I, myself, am a Native, so I do admit I have some biases going into this book. However, Chelsey and Thosh do not limit their teachings to Natives. Any of their lessons can be used regardless of race. Much of their experience simply draws from their upbringing as two Native individuals.
Runner-up: Managing Your Mind: The Mental Fitness Guide By Gillian Butler and Tony Hope
Favorite Fictional Book – Warrior Girl Unearthed By Angeline Boulley
Angeline Boulley is no stranger to my book lists. Following her top-selling novel, Firekeeper’s Daughter, comes the sequel titled Warrior Girl Unearthed.
Like Firekeeper’s Daughter, we follow a mixed Native teenager, Perry. Perry is a rather rebellious girl who is punished by her parents to find a summer job. Despite her initial displeasure, Perry finds herself deeply involved with trying to bring back an ancestor named “Warrior Girl”, who is kept in the museum archives. However, things take a turn for the worst, and Perry finds herself wrapped up in a mystery that more than meets the eye.
Although this is considered a sequel, the book can very much serve as a standalone story. This book takes 10 years after Firekeeper’s Daughter, with the protagonist of the previous book serving more of a supporting character role. I talked about this in my last entry, but I do lean biasedly towards these books(being an Anishinaabe myself). Nonetheless, I feel Warrior Girl unearthed to be a very compelling mystery that is both suspenseful and educational.
Runner-up: Midnight Library By Matt Haig
Favorite Graphic Novel – Strong Female Protagonist: Book Two By Brennan Lee Mulligan and Molly Knox Ostertag
Strong Female Protagonist is another happy accident books. When I was exploring the graphic novels in the library, I happened upon the first volume of this book. The title and cover art, was interesting enough, so I went at it with next to knowing nothing about what the book was about.
This series really took me for a ride. I love superhero genres, and I love ethnics philosophy discussions. This series combines both, with transforming what it really means to be a hero. The story follows a retired superhero, Allison Green, who enters adulthood not sure what to do with her life. In it, she finds herself constantly challenged. Her sense of justice is put to the test, showing that there’s more to heroes and villains than what she once thought. That her career as a superhero didn’t mean she was always the “good person”. As well as finding her push for social change is a lot more complicated than just beating up the simple villain.
Brennan Lee is a philosophy graduate, and it really shows throughout this story. In it, you are exposed to ethnic philosophical principles and mythology, as they parallel to modern social problems we face. Molly Ostertag also does a lovely job in the illustrations. I ended up taking a liking to her work, and went down the rabbit hole of her other stories (Such as Witch Boy and The Girl From the Sea). All of which were very well-done.
Unfortunately, the end of Strong Female Protagonist is a cliffhanger. This series started as a webcomic, and, as of writing this, hasn’t been updated for several years. Not sure when they will be back to introduce the third, and final volume, but for now, I would recommend checking out the first two.
Runner-Up(s): Poorcraft: The Funnybook Fundamentals of Living Well on Less By C. Spike Trotman and Diana Nock and The Last Halloween 1: Children By Abby Howard
Most Interesting Read – Outliers: The Story of Success By Malcolm Gladwell
“It takes 10,000 hours to master a skill”.
This is a quote that many in the self-improvement community are very likely familiar with. It’s one that I think often gets misconstrued into making people believe that there is a quantitative goal one can reach to be a master of a skill.
Before I read Gladwell’s book, this misconstrued idea is actually what put me off wanting to read it. I kept thinking “It’s not about 10,000 hours, it’s the quality of the work that matters” and “10,000 hours is too precise of a number to have any merit”. Well, Outliers: The Story of Success actually echoes these sentiments.
Gladwell emphasizes “10,000 hours to master a skill” is very idealistic. There are many factors that go into it. Such things include: when and where you were born, how lucky you are in your upbringing, and the effort taken into mastering the subject. One such example he uses is how a vast number of professional hockey players are born in the exact same month. This isn’t a coincidence, rather, the cut-off date for child hockey players becomes a make or break situation for how they succeed in the sport.
Those who are born right around the beginning of hockey season for their age group will have a much larger advantage, physically, than those born nearly a year later. With this, their ability to get the best opportunities dominoes as they mature with the sport.
One other example goes into Bill Gates. Gladwell goes into a very thorough examination of Gates’ life. Detailing how Gates’ was fortunate enough to be born into many, very exclusive, opportunities that guided him to working in computer science when studying it was very inaccessible. As he got older, he was able to pioneer the industry right when technology and competition levels was at the utmost advantage for him.
I found Gladwell’s book to be a very interesting read that shed’s light on the idea of “You just got to put in the effort”. There are a lot of influencers nowadays who will spout out that it is just a matter of hard-work, very much neglecting the opportunities that they were given whereas it’s not often available to others. Some of which will cite Gladwell’s infamous “10,000 hours” principle. A principle that I now understand is only solely cited by those who hadn’t actually read the book.
Runner-Up: Look Back By Tatsuki Fujimoto
Least Favorite Read – The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies by Robert Kirk
When it comes to fairies, elves, and fauns, the knowledge most people are familiar with can be traced back to Robert Kirk’s book. Mind you, Kirk wasn’t the one who created these creatures, and he’s probably not even the first person to document them. Kirk just remains as one of the most familiar writers of them for English-speaking audiences.
Both Kirk and his work, The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies are, to say the least, interesting to learn about. The edition of this book I read had a very long preface describing the history of Kirk. One, that was largely criticizing and speculating Kirk’s character and work. Before Kirk wrote this book, he spent many tireless nights on translating the Bible to Gaelic.
Emphasis on “tireless”, as Kirk’s publication of the Gaelic Bible is theorized to have attributed to his questionable mental shifts that started from upon writing this book to his early death. During Kirk’s writing, it was claimed he put lead in his mouth to keep him up at night in a race to finish his work. This claim has been since noted when discussing behavioral changes Kirk underwent during his writing of The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies . There was an increase in mood swings, forgetfulness, and general rambling observed by his friends and family.
This may be one explanation as to why his book seems to be very grounded in irrationality. Often times when he does make a claim about seeing Elves, Fauns, and Fairies, he would brag that he was chosen by them to be seen. Those who did not see them were mocked by Kirk as not being special. Whenever something unexplainable happened, Kirk often made the claim that it was Fairies that were to blame.
I am thankful for the preface in the book, as Kirk’s work by itself is hard to read. If you are not already fully onboard with the belief of Fairies’ existence, Kirk will very likely not persuade you. Rather, he gives very baseless ideas to humor those who want to believe instead of taking an objective look at it. For me, I went out it to explore the mythology of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies, but was left disappointed, as Kirk doesn’t do a good job explaining it. It’s very padded with ego, and much of the mythology can be better explained in other works. Kirk may have been one of the first to write to an English-speaking audience on the subject, but he was by-far not one of the best.
Runner-Up: The Adventure of the German Student By Washington Irving
Final Thoughts
This was a belated write-up. I actually finished my 200th book over 6 months ago and am now approaching my 250th book(For those unfamiliar, completing this off will also tick off another Quest item for me).
For these set of 100 books, I ended up leaning heavily into book recommendations. These books either ranged from what was showcased at the front of the library, provided to me by friends, or critics choice selections.
I honestly felt there were a lot of good books to read this time, and it made going through the 100 books are breeze. I find that I will get through books a lot faster if I pick up ones I really want to read as opposed to books that are recommended. I’ve been trying to get through the classics(Even bought a bucket list poster for it), but when it’s hard to vibe with a book, it just makes doing reading quests so much harder.
So for the next 100 I am going to focus away from reading books that aren’t books I don’t readily want to read. If I do find a book that is boring, I will just shelf it and start anew. My journey right now is one to take the time to learn the things I want to learn, instead of things I feel like I must learn. I felt I’ve done a lot of the latter for much of my education, so while I am on break from graduate school, I can explore these interests more heavily.
Who knows where I’ll be by my 300th book? For now though, I wish you all a happy reading!