Saturday, January 2, 2021

2021 Reading List

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Gottfried Leibniz (a prominent German polymath and one of the most important logicians, mathematicians and natural philosophers of the Enlightenment) upheld that 

the librarian was the most important factor in the aid of learning. [1]

When public libraries were first established, Librarians would assist individuals in developing a personal syllabus of reading materials in order to better develop themselves.

In looking at my "to be read" list, I found there were far too many for me to ever read, certainly too many to read in a year.

I gathered all the titles from my Goodreads and library holds and wish lists and put them in a spreadsheet. I included the call number in a separate column and sorted them by call number. Then I assigned a month to each call number, and repeat.

I now have a list of 111 titles for 2021. Each month has 9 or 10 books, both non-fiction and fiction titles. A book with 250 pages should take about 10 hours to read; so 10 books = 100 hours, or around 3 hours a day. One hour before work, one hour on my lunch break, one hour in the evening. Where an audio book exists I listen during my commute so I knock out almost 2 hours per day during my drive.

Throughout the course of the year I will read about:
  • Sensory perception, movement, emotions, & physiological drives
  • Conscious mental processes & intelligence
  • Differential & developmental psychology
  • Applied psychology
  • Poetic books of Old Testament
  • Devotional literature
  • Christian experience, practice, life
  • Practical Theology
  • Social theology and inter-religious relations and attitudes
  • Social processes
  • Culture & institutions
  • Financial economics
  • Commerce (Trade)
  • General customs
  • Human physiology
  • Personal health & safety
  • Home & family management
  • Sewing, clothing, management of personal and family life
  • Child rearing; home care of people with disabilities & illnesses
  • Management & auxiliary services
  • Office services
  • General management
  • Rhetoric & collections of literary texts from more than two literatures

What's on your reading list for 2021?

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Sources:
1. Mukherjee, A. K. Librarianship: Its Philosophy and History. Asia Publishing House (1966) p. 107

3 comments:

  1. That is an incredibly ambitious reading list! I love that you gathered and consolidated all your lists. And I love that your goals are so big!

    I have one master list, which I am constantly adding to. It's not a to-read list so much as where I go to choose what to read next. I could never read everything on it in my lifetime.

    I also read books that aren't on The List. One great thing about working in a library is I read more broadly now, as books cross my path.

    On my reading list for 2021? Just to keep reading, more books, more time spent with them.

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  2. It may prove to be too ambitious... we'll see. I have already dropped one title because it didn't interest me enough. With so many books and so little time I am giving myself even more permission to put down books that aren't compelling.

    I have already started the next spreadsheet with more titles of interest.

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  3. Your post inspired me to make a sub-list of The List, for my next 15 books to read. I will likely read others in between those 15, but this list will help direct me and stay focused.

    I think it's important to give up on books that aren't a good match for us. If we are committed to finishing every book no matter what, then we'll naturally narrow our choices of what books we start. I'd rather cast a wider net and throw some back. And as you said, so many books and so little time.

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