The Canterville Ghost

Oscar Wilde tells a funny little ghost story that’s really about the relationship between a rising America and old Europe. 

It’s funny and silly and short. Read it, ideally to your kids, next Halloween.

Candide

Voltaire tells an outlandish satire. 

My overwhelming experience of this book was disorienting silliness. I didn’t know much about it going in, except that it has long been considered a classic, and kind of as with Don Quixote, it’s shockingly goofy. 

Underneath the antics, it’s clearly roasting some Leibniz philosophical optimism position. “The best of all possible worlds” seems to stand in, in Voltaire’s eyes for something exceedingly dumb. I’ve never encountered Leibniz before, so it seems like Voltaire won the battle since the days when Leibniz was worth roasting. 

It was fun, but it didn’t make its claim to such celebrated status clear to me. 

I wouldn’t especially recommend it, but you should lean towards thinking of me as a philistine in this case probably.

I spent ~25 hours per week reading in 2024. 

I’m doing 10-15 hours per week in 2025. 

I dedicate some (not even close to all) of my leisure time to reading. I read 45-60 minutes per day to my kids. 

I fill car rides and other dead time with audiobooks. 

I’d love to say “give up Netflix!” But really I suspect the biggest difference is that I read a few hours per day and it’s all either books or Farcaster. No news, almost no articles, no podcasts, etc. 

Extreme barbell strat. Venerable classics and viral memes 🏋️‍♀️

i have to ask, man. how are you able to read so many books?

a good light read / palate cleanser / something different