Books

The Books I Read in 2022

2022 was an excellent year of reading—a year of spontaneity, of curiosity, and of exploring new subjects. I went into 2022 with a list of “10 Books I Want to Read This Year” and read almost none of them. Most everything on my TO-READ list is older fiction titles; almost everything I read in 2022 was new and nonfiction. So much for that. That being said, the books I did read were very good. I read a total of 17 books last year. I also read (listened to?) my first audiobook, read a small handful of graphic novels, and read…

by Ben Heels January 22, 2023January 22, 2023

Flow [002] A “Fugue State” During Tennis Drills

Today’s bit of flow comes from David Foster Wallace’s first essay collection, A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, in a piece called “Derivative Sport in Tornado Alley.” The essay follows a young DFW as he navigates his adolescence on the tennis courts of Philo, Illinois. In his early teens, Wallace was a robotically good tennis player, though he often downplayed his skill, calling himself “near-great” at best. While his physical attributes were good, his mental game was where he really shined: What I could do was ‘Play the Whole Court.’ This was a piece of tennis truistics that…

by Ben Heels September 12, 2022

Flow [001]: A Series about Relaxed Concentration in Books & Everyday Life

One of the many joys of reading is the feeling you get when an author puts into words something you have thought or experienced—even if it’s the faintest subconscious itch—that you have struggled to articulate yourself. Sometimes it’s as simple as explaining a concept that you couldn’t wrap your head around before, such as in non-fiction. Other times, it’s more abstract; an idea that is never stated directly but is hinted at or explored throughout the book, as is commonly found in long, dense works of fiction. For me, the most recent example of this is what I have come…

by Ben Heels September 4, 2022September 4, 2022

I made a BookTube!

Whenever I get the opportunity to talk about books that I’m passionate about, I tend to soapbox. Books are an incredibly personal thing, so being able to share them with other people (and hopefully convince them to read too) is part of the fun. I’ve always wanted to have an platform to ramble about the books that I love, to be able to share the books in my collection with others, and to connect with other people in the community. So, I made a YouTube channel :^) My first video is a haul of all the books I’ve bought this…

by Ben Heels August 29, 2022

Johann Hari – Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention — and How to Think Deeply Again (2022)

If you’ve ever felt a bit of panic when you don’t have your phone, if you feel guilty for spending so much time on social media, or if you feel like you aren’t spending your time how you want to, then set aside an afternoon to read what Johann Hari has to say. Stolen Focus feels like it arrived at just the right time and in just the right way, not as a video, podcast, or Twitter thread, but as a good old-fashioned book that you have to sit down and spend time with. For me, the timing couldn’t have…

by Ben Heels May 1, 2022August 24, 2022