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+title: Books Read in 2021
+date: January 17, 2022
+---
+<p>
+Here's a list of books I read this past year. As mentioned at the end of
+<a href='<%= path_to 'blog_books-read-in-2020' %>'>last year's post</a>, I
+started out the year with quite a few positions finished cover-to-cover, but as
+the amount of time I needed to spend on work and my thesis increased during the
+year, there were a few months where I had no time at all for leisure reading. By
+the end of the year I once again started finding more time for reading and
+decided to jump into Plato's works.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Anyways, here's the list:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<ol>
+  <li>
+    <p>
+    <b>The Shallows</b>, Nicholas G. Carr. Words of warning about how the
+    internet and computer technologies negatively affect our lives. In my
+    opinion, Carr's takes aren't quite spicy enough, and the Ellul book
+    mentioned below gives a much fuller picture of how cautious we should be of
+    technology. That said, this might work as a decent wake up call for anyone
+    not quite yet ready to jump into 300 pages of dense sociology that Ellul
+    presents.
+    </p>
+  </li>
+  <li>
+    <p>
+    <b>The Great Gatsby</b>, F. Scott Fitzgerald. Finally got around to reading
+    this classic.
+    </p>
+  </li>
+  <li>
+    <p>
+    <b>The Enchiridion</b>, Epictetus. A very quick read, works as a nice
+    summary of the stoic position.
+    </p>
+  </li>
+  <li>
+    <p>
+    <b>Foundation</b>, Isaac Asimov. Finally got around to reading this sci-fi
+    classic.
+    </p>
+  </li>
+  <li>
+    <p> <b>The Technological Society</b>, Jacques Ellul. I actually started
+    reading this in 2020 but didn't get far, picked it up and finished the rest
+    of the way in 2021. A very good read, highly recommended reading if at any
+    point you've run across Ted Kaczynski's manifesto and any part of it
+    intrigued you.
+    </p>
+
+    <p>
+    Ellul takes a deep dive into how technology (or more generally,
+    <i>technique</i>, which by his definition is any process that is the best
+    currently known for achieving a particular goal) has interacted with and
+    changed our humanity.
+    </p>
+  </li>
+  <li>
+    <p>
+    <b>First Philosophers</b> (second half, on the sophists), Robin
+    Waterfield. As mentioned in last year's post, I read half of this in 2020.
+    Honestly the first half on the presocratics was much more interesting. Now,
+    at the end of 2021, I don't remember much from the sophists at all.
+    </p>
+  </li>
+  <li>
+    <p>
+    <b>Can Life Prevail</b>, Pentti Linkola. A much more radical take on
+    what it means to "save the envrionment" than what you'll hear on TV. Linkola
+    spent his life studying the declining health of European forests and bird
+    life, and fishing using traditional methods. He speaks about nature from the
+    point of view of a brother, not a virtue signaling committee.
+    </p>
+  </li>
+  <li>
+    <p>
+    <b>Crisis of the Modern World</b>, René Guénon. Though written in the
+    1920s, the symptoms of crisis Guénon described have only grown stronger by
+    the 2020s. He ends up dealing with some of the same subjects as the Ellul
+    book mentioned previously, but from the point of view of esoterics and
+    tradition rather than technology.
+    </p>
+  </li>
+  <li>
+    <p>
+    Plato's dialogues. I'm reading from the version of his complete works edited
+    by John M. Cooper and D. S. Hutchinson. I haven't officially committed to
+    going through the whole thing, I'll just keep going until I'm bored and
+    decide to switch to something else. Here's the dialogues I got through this
+    year:
+    <ol>
+      <li>
+        <p> <b>Euthyphro</b>. Happens days before Socrates' trial. Socrates
+        and Euthyphro discuss the meaning of piety and justice.
+        </p>
+      </li>
+      <li>
+        <p>
+        <b>Socrates' apology</b>. Plato's rendition of Socrates defending
+        himself in court against the charges of impiety and corruption of the
+        youth.
+        </p>
+      </li>
+      <li>
+        <p>
+        <b>Crito</b>. Socrates' friend visits him in prison, trying to convince
+        him to attempt an escape before his execution. Socrates explains, much
+        to Crito's disappointment, why it would be improper for him to do so.
+        </p></li>
+      <li>
+        <p>
+        <b>Phaedo</b>. Several of Socrates' friends visit him the day of his
+        execution. Socrates attempts to lift their spirits with a discussion
+        about death and the afterlife, before (spoiler alert) drinking the
+        kool-aid.
+        </p></li>
+      <li>
+        <p>
+        <b>Theaetetus</b>. Socrates speaks with a young student of philosophy
+        about the nature of knowledge. They try out a few different potential
+        definitions, unhappy with each, arriving at absurdities and
+        contradictions with each attempt. This dialogue has an overall very
+        conversational and even light-hearted style, while getting into some
+        really complex and dense case analysis at times.
+        </p>
+      </li>
+    </ol>
+  </li>
+</ol>
+</p>