Month: December 2020

With the end of the year here, I have made my list of all the books I read during the year of 2020. Despite this year being negative for so many reasons, one of the positives I have found in it is the extra free time I have had to read books. Instead of commuting to school/the office everyday, and with many things like sports being cancelled, I have found myself with extra free time to fill. For the most part, I have tried to fill a large portion of this extra free time with reading, and I am happy to see that the number, and volume of books that I was able to read has increased from previous years. Here is my list, in the order I read them:

1. Alexander The Great, by Philip Freeman (330 pages). An excellent biography of the ancient Macedonian king and conqueror by one of my old Pepperdine professors, Freeman also has a great ability to incorporate his storytelling skill into it as well, making this seem like so much more than a bland chronology of events, and more like a novel that you just want to keep reading. It was fascinating to learn about the massive influence that Alexander the Great had on the world, and the incredible feats he accomplished, all before dying at the very young age of 32.
2. Never Give In, by Stephen Mansfield (225 pages). I wanted to read some sort of biography about Winston Churchill this year, but instead of reading a thousand page book, of which there are many, I found this little gem, which is sort of a mixture of a biography about the man and a commentary on his character traits. Among the many great character traits of Churchill was his mantra to “never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense.”
3. 12 Rules For Life, by Jordan Peterson (368 pages). I had heard so many people talking about this book ever since it came out, and I finally decided to read it this year after listing to a podcast with the author. Overall, a very insightful book on how to bring more order into your life through a series of 12 rules, such as my personal favorite: “Set your house in perfect order before your criticize the world.”
4. The Freedom of a Christian/Letter to Pope Leo X, by Martin Luther (63 pages). One of Luther’s major reform treatises, in this work Luther describes his belief in the enormous freedom that Christians have simply because of their faith in God. They are, in other words, justified by their faith.
5. Fortitude, by Dan Crenshaw (244 pages). Dan Crenshaw is a current U.S Representative, and a former Navy Seal who was nearly blinded when an IED destroyed his right eye and nearly his left as well. In this book, Crenshaw discusses what he believes all Americans can do to collectively make our nation stronger and more resilient. An excellent read from someone who may differ from me in some ways politically, but whom I have a lot of respect for nonetheless.
6. Don Quixote, by Miguel De Cervantes (940 pages). A world classic that’s one of the most highly praised books ever written, Don Quixote is the story of a 16th century man who reads too many books on chivalry, goes crazy, and becomes a self-made knight-errant who is accompanied by his squire, Sancho Panza. Within this charming, hilarious work, there are countless lessons and morals to learn from Don Quixote, who strives to live up to the highest honor code of chivalry. I’ve never quite read a book like Don Quixote.
7. Richard The Third, by Paul Murray Kendall (464 pages). I wanted to read some kind of book about Medieval Europe, so I chose this biography about Richard III, a 15th century King of England. While it is definitely a well written book by a knowledgeable author, I found the style of it somewhat dry, and I had a hard time getting through this dense biography. However, Medieval Europe interests me a lot, so that was enough to keep me going with this book.
8. A Doubter’s Almanac, by Ethan Canin (551 pages). I bought this novel several years ago, and I finally read it this summer. I didn’t even know what it was going to be about when I started reading it, but it was honestly the best modern day novel I have read in a long time. I recommend!
9. Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius (99 pages). I reread this book again this year, and it is packed full of amazing philosophical understandings by the 2nd century Roman emperor. This writing greatly influenced the development of the stoic philosophy, which teaches, among other principles, to take care of what you can, don’t worry about what you cannot, and to not let the opinions of others negatively influence you.
10. Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder (301 pages). This book is the story of a real world hero named Paul Farmer, a selfless, yet driven doctor whose mission was to cure the world of disease. For Paul Farmer, no one’s problem is too small for his attention, and no country is too poor or helpless to try to rid it of infectious disease.
11. The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky (776 pages). After reading War and Peace last year, I wanted to read something from Russia’s other famous author, Dostoevsky. To my surprise, I found this work to be much less enjoyable to my personal taste than Tolstoy’s masterpiece, and similar to Richard The Third, I also had a hard time getting through this one. Though it is an admirable piece of literature, I guess this one just wasn’t for me. However, I’m thinking about reading it again in several years to see if the second time’s the charm.
12. Agincourt, by Bernard Cornwell (437 pages). This was an excellent historical novel based on the famous battle during the Hundred Years War between England and France. Although it was pretty gruesome in a lot of chapters, it was full of charm and suspense that led to me reading this book pretty rapidly. I’ll probably be reading more of Cornwell’s books in the future.
13. The Woman in the Window, by A.J Finn (427 pages). The first thriller book I have read in a long time, I forgot how addicting these are. Full of the usual twists and cliff hangers, I read this book faster than I ever thought I would, simply because I couldn’t put it down.
14. Character is Destiny, by John McCain (455 pages). This book is one of several that the late Senator John McCain wrote throughout his life; this one focusing on men and women throughout history who have exemplified all types of good character traits that defined their lives, and that we should emulate. John McCain didn’t believe in destiny, but rather that a person’s character is what would make them happy or not in life.
15. A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman (337 pages). A feel good novel about an old man whose wife has died, but who comes to find meaning and happiness again through the people around him; people whom he probably never would have associated with.
16. The Soul of America, by Jon Meacham (272 pages). I really liked this book by Presidential historian Jon Meacham, which details times in our history when we have gone through struggles and crises, but how better times come afterwords. Our country today is facing its own set of struggles and crises, but as Meacham says, we cannot loose sight of our better angels.
17. The Code. The Evaluation. The Protocols, by Jocko Willink, Dave Berke, and Sarah Armstrong( 84 pages). This is a really powerful book that lays out a blueprint for striving to become, as the authors describe, an eminently qualified human. At its core, this comes down to identifying your path, getting on the path, and staying on the path by means of “unmitigated daily discipline in all things.”
18. The History of Russia in 50 Events, by Stephan Weaver (85 pages). This was a really interesting, short book on the history of Russia, from the earliest civilization to the modern times, told through the details of 50 broad events/time periods.
19. Profiles in Courage, by John F. Kennedy (225 pages). Similar in format to John McCain’s book, here JFK chronicles times in U.S history when members of the Senate have displayed great acts of courage even when they knew their constituencies would not approve; they did the right thing regardless of the outcome. A very special book in American history.

Audiobooks:

1. Extreme Ownership, by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. I discovered Jocko’s podcast this year, and soon thereafter I listened to this book that he wrote with his fellow former Navy Seal, Leif Babin. Essentially, extreme ownership entails taking complete responsibility for everything single thing in your life, not deflecting blame every chance you get. Especially in positions of authority, the leader is responsible for everything that goes on with their subordinates. If something goes wrong, it is the leader’s responsibility to take ownership of it.
2. The World: A Brief Introduction, by Richard Haass. This was a really cool book about the modern workings of the world, and why the world’s systems are the way they are. As Haass said in the book, this book might not enable the listener to become fluent in international relations, but they will at least be conversational. Overall, a very informative book about material that interests me a lot.

Favorite book of the year: Don Quixote.

Runner up: Extreme Ownership.

While there are obviously many different motivations that drive people to achieve happiness and success in the world, and different people get inspiration from different things, one common source that I imagine is prevalent amongst most people is having role models and inspirational people to look up to to try to emulate. Maybe for a young child, this is hearing a famous singer on the radio and wanting to be a star singer someday as well. Or maybe for an aspiring entrepreneur, this is seeing someone like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos and striving to emulate their same work ethic and “outside the box” thinking and innovation. In a book I read earlier this year, Fortitude, by Congressman Dan Crenshaw, who is someone I admire quite a bit, I thought he did a really good job at exploring this idea about finding your heroes to help you strive to be a better person in all walks of life.

Crenshaw refers to this in the book’s chapter, “Who is Your Hero?,” as the idea of hero archetypes. As he explains, people have been looking to heroes, real and fictional, for as long as civilization has existed, and used lessons from them to apply to their own lives to become better versions of themselves. “It’s a very human thing to tell stories of the people, often mythical characters, whom we should learn from.”(37). However, having heroes does not mean looking to one person and idealizing them as the one person who you want to emulate in all ways; everyone, no matter how praise worthy they are, has their own set of faults and unworthy characteristics if one looks past the surface. You might, for example, look at someone like Napoleon Bonaparte or Alexander the Great and admire them for their great leadership abilities, and the influence that they had on the world. Both of them, however, had numerous faults, including a seemingly general disregard for human life in their quests for power. Emulating everything about either of these men would obviously be a bad thing. Hero archetypes, on the other hand, is a more abstract way of thinking about your heroes. As Crenshaw writes, these hero archetypes are “symbols or stories that project a set of ideas, values, and collective knowledge. In another sense, heroes are the visualization for a set of goals you are setting for yourself”(37). Whatever path I’m on in life, there is always someone who has done a better job than me, handled a situation more effectively, or gone farther with fewer resources. Finding these people, and trying to learn their methods and mindsets, can only lead to good things.

After reading Crenshaw’s book, I thought about who some of my hero archetypes would be, and without naming anyone that I know personally, a few of them include:

Bruce Dickinson: The lead singer of my favorite band, Iron Maiden, Bruce is a truly authentic person who tirelessly pursues the things that he is passionate about in life. He had a rather rough childhood, attended boarding school, joined Iron Maiden in his early 20’s, became a professional fencer, earned a commercial pilot’s license, and has continued to produce outstanding albums with the band far into their career. Perhaps what I admire most about Bruce, along with the entire Iron Maiden band, is that they make music exactly the way they want to, without worrying about what anyone else will think. Their songs are about historical figures, historical military battles, epic mythical tales, and even a song about the R101 airship; and despite very little radio play, they have an extremely large and loyal fanbase who love the music they make. Ryan Holiday, the bestselling author on philosophy and stoicism, has claimed that pretty much everything he has learned about writing is from Iron Maiden. People, me included, love the authenticity of Bruce and the band. My hero archetype of Bruce Dickinson that I want to emulate is someone who rigorously pursues their passions, and who shares their interests with the world in my own unique way.

Jocko Willink: A former Navy Seal who hosts a weekly podcast that I have become a big fan of this year, Jocko seems like the epitome of a person with habits and character traits to emulate; he served honorably as a U.S Navy Seal for 20 years, he wakes up at 4:30am every morning(seriously every morning, look at his Instagram account for proof), he runs a successful apparel company, a leadership consulting firm, owns a jiu jitsu gym, and has authored a number of successful books. A good way to sum up the hero archetype of Jocko Willink is to be someone who takes extreme ownership; everything in your world, whether it seems like it at first or not, is your responsibility, not someone else’s. I honestly think about this all the time when something isn’t going right, or I want to blame someone else for some problem or nuisance. Maybe I get frustrated if the sink is full of dishes(if I do the dishes, this won’t be a problem anymore). Or maybe, someday if someone works for me and they do an unsatisfactory job at a particular task, I get frustrated and want to punish them(what if instead I think, “I obviously did a poor job explaining the job to this person, I will be more thorough next time,” or “I need to be more careful when I go through the hiring process to find a better fit for the job”). It may seem weird at first, but if you take responsibility for everything in your own life rather than trying to blame someone else, even if it seems justified, everything will work out better.

Alexander Hamilton: Along with many others, Ron Chernow’s excellent biography, Hamilton, as well as the Broadway play that it inspired, introduced me to the incredible human that was Alexander Hamilton. A soldier in the Revolutionary War, a statesman, and an incredibly prolific writer and speaker, Hamilton was instrumental in the formation of our earlier nation. While many time in history, people with strong ambitions in politics and government end up leaving a lot of destruction in their wake(I mentioned Napoleon and Alexander the Great earlier), Hamilton’s ambitions evidently were much more virtuous; he was determined to make the American government as durable and long lasting as possible, and on countless occasions was not afraid to stand up for what he believed to be right. On one occasion, at the Constitutional Convention, in a hot room during the mid summer with poor ventilation, he argued his case in an over six hour long speech, with no break for lunch. As Chernow put it in his book, “It was predictable that when the wordy Hamilton broke silence, he would do so at epic length”(231). From Hamilton, I learn to speak my mind for what I believe is right, and never stop reading, studying, and writing.

As Crenshaw writes, having these hero archetypes means that you try to take the best qualities of all of these people, and implement them into your own life to make your world better. However, it is understandable that many people may not know what they should focus their life on, and who in turn should be their hero archetypes. Therefore, I thought it would be appropriate to end with what Crenshaw calls the “American Ethos;” something that all of us, no matter our life goals or political differences, can live by, and from there, determine our heroes as we see fit. It goes like this:

“I will not quit in the face of danger or pain or self-doubt; I will not justify the easier path before me. I decide that all my actions, not just some, matter. Every small task is a contribution toward a higher purpose. Every day is undertaken with a sense of duty to be better than I was yesterday, even in the smallest ways. I seek out hardship. I do not run from pain but embrace it, because I derive strength from my suffering. I confront the inevitable trials of life with a smile. I plan to keep my head, to be still, when chaos overwhelms me. I will tell the story of my failures and hardships as a victor, not a victim. I will be grateful. Millions who have gone before me have suffered too much, fought too hard, and been blessed with far too little, for me to squander this life. So I won’t. My purpose will be to uphold and protect the spirit of our great republic, knowing that the values we hold dear can only be preserved by a strong people. I will do my part. I will live with Fortitude.”

I believe that anyone who believes and tries to live by these principles is a good example of a hero archetype.