One Book A Month - Four months and four books done

My last book-post is already two months old. Well, the good thing is, I finished the book I will talk about today last week and I'm still on track with the one book a month thing!

What I'm reading now

As mentioned in my last post I've been reading Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain.

It took me longer to finish this book than I expected. However, I'm pretty happy did read it. This book is basically an introduction to different character traits in humans. As the title suggests, the book is mainly focussing on introversion and extraversion and how our society deals/looks onto these traits. By using a long list of scientific experiments the author takes you along her own journey in understanding what these two words (introversion and extraversion) mean.

The book came with a lot of nice quotes by famous people. This is one I liked a lot.

What I found somewhat of an eye-opener is the way we as a society deal with the two. In the past century, it became more and more of an ideal to be extroverted. In schools, where group work became more and more important, and offices spaces that became more and more open to stimulate interaction and communication.

Of course, to some extent this is good. On the other hand, for some people, this works against their comfort, productivity and eventually happiness or health. Over the past years, companies and schools are luckily slowly moving towards a more mixed setup where both types are accommodated to.

Well, of course, everyone has their opinion about this stuff. The bottom lines is that people need to be aware of how both types (typically) work and listen to both.

This book, to me, simply acts as an eye-opener to this whole idea. And I think everyone should have such a moment. so a real "must read" if you ask me :)

List of 2019

• Het Achterhuis - Anne Frank, the original version of Anne Frank's "The Diary of a Young Girl". In my opinion (even before reading it) everyone should, at least once, read this book. It gives such an intense insight into the life of Anne Frank in the second world war. Something that made me feel connected with this book is the fact that Anne Frank stayed in Aachen with her grandparents before moving to Amsterdam (see the picture below of her swim hall card issued in Aachen). In the book, there are many references to Aachen and of course Amsterdam.

• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life - Mark Manson . This is a popular read that I've seen everywhere I went (airports, book stores, and even the internet). I figured, why not give it a go. It's a really fast read, written in a comprehensive language. The book is sort of an anti-self-help book in which Mark Manson explains how to be a better person by just not giving a fck about unnecessary things. Instead, according to Manson, you should give your limited amounts of fucks, to things that matter to you. I can conclude that this also is a book I can highly recommend. And since it's such a quick read, it definitely won't harm you :)

• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind - Yuval Noah Harari. This one was recommended to me by a friend. It is more or less a review of humans on earth from the moment they've first arrived until current times and the future. It is a sobering book that describes in detail how we have been treating our environment and where we are heading towards. This is a book that basically every human should read :) And hey, according to the cover, even Bill Gates and Barack Obama recommend this book (not my friend ;) ). What more do I need to say...

Recap of 2018

• Eighty-Four - George Orwell
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
• Of Mice And Men - John Steinbeck
• The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
• To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
• Post Office - Charles Bukowski

What I'm reading now

Currently, I'm making my way through a book titled The Shack by William P. Young. This book was recommended to me by a friend after having several hours of discussion about religion and what it means to us. And I must say, so far it is quite a nice read. Without spoiling too much, it is about a guy who gets to spend, after having a whole bunch of setbacks in his life, a weekend with the holy Trinity.

Although I'm not done reading the book yet, I already think this is a book that makes you look at life differently. Even though I would classify myself as an atheist, it changes my view of the world a little bit. My friend who read the book already keeps telling me the end of the story is pretty crazy, so I'm very eager to finish it soon!

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I'm really curious about your opinions regarding the Quiet-book. Share in the comments if you like!

Thanks for stopping by // Michel

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