Retrospective 2020-01

This is a retrospective of my reading last year.

Introduction

Looking back, I realize that I read less than half of what I used to read. I also realize that I published very few book reviews (see end of post). The reason is that I started painting and love it!

Below are lists of the books I have read, I am currently reading, and want to read. You can jump to the end of the post if you hate these kinds of lists.

Read

I read the following books during the year (in the order read):

Order Out of Chaos: Man’s New Dialogue by Ilya Prigogine and Isabelle Stengers (*****)
A classic! Highly recommended.
Joy: The Surrender to the Body and to Life by Alexander Lowen (***)
Teeming: How superorganisms work to build infinite wealth in a finite world by Tamsin Woolley-Barker (***)
Clever Digs: How Workspaces Can Enable Thought by Jenny Quillien (***)
With the End in Mind: Dying, Death, and Wisdom in an Age of Denial by Kathryn Mannix (*****)
I read this book when my parents passed away. Glad I did!
On Creativity by David Bohm (*****)
Everything David Bohm has written is worth reading.
The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards (***)
The Way of Zen by Allan W. Watts (****)
Animate Earth: Science, Intuition and Gaia by Stephan Harding (*****)
Harding uncovers the beauty and vitality of our living Earth.
The Truth Will Set You Free: Overcoming Emotional Blindness and Finding Your True Adult by Alice Miller (***)
The Way to Be Free: Talks and Conversations with Students by John G. Bennett (***)
Creative Thinking / How We Do Things: Lecture discussions from Coombe Springs by John G. Bennet (***)
Energies: Material, vital, cosmic by John G. Bennett (**)
Transformation by John G. Bennett (***)
Intimations: Talks with J. G. Bennet at Beshara by John G. Bennett (***)
Meaning of Life and the Universe: Transforming by Mae Wan-Ho (****)
A selection of essays by Mae-Wan Ho. The scope and content of the book is unique.
Safeguarding Our Common Future: Rethinking Sustainable Development by Ingrid Stefanovic Leman (****)
Leman exposes taken-for-granted assumptions that condition our way of seeing the world and structure our ways of thinking. Recommended.
On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane by Emily Guendelsberger (****)
A book about human rentals. Guendelsberger examines the day-to-day experience of low-wage work in America in the mid-2010s.
Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky (***)
Bohm-Biederman Correspondence: Creativity in Art and Science by David Bohm and Charles Biederman (*****)
Most interesting. I particularly appreciate David Bohm’s intellectual honesty.
Blackfoot Physics: A Journey into the Native American Worldview by F. David Peat (*****)
Peat explores and acknowledges another way of knowing.
Pathways of Chance by F. David Peat (****)
A Question of Physics: Conversations in Physics and Biology by Paul Buckley and F. David Peat (*****)
Buckley & Peat’s conversations with Roger Penrose, Ilya Prigogine, Robert Rosen, and David Bohm are particularly interesting.
Does It Matter? by Alan W. Watts (***)
The Book On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are by Alan W. Watts (*****)
Watts explores the mystery of our existence as expressions of nature and unique actions of the universe. A fascinating read.
Maverick: The Success Story Behind the World’s Most Unusual Workplace by Ricardo Semler (****)
A bestseller from the 1990s. Semler’s message is to put the quality of all life first. Here is my review.
The Seven-Day Weekend: Changing the Way Work Works by Ricardo Semler (***)
The Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire (***)
The Philosopher’s Stone: Chaos, Synchronicity and the Hidden Order of the World by F. David Peat (*****)
This book is a journey into the heart of what Peat believes is a living universe. A key theme is that form and structure emerge spontaneously, for every level in nature has its own authentic life.
Seven Life Lessons of Chaos: Spiritual Wisdom from the Science of Change by John P. Briggs and F. David Peat (*****)
Life is impossible to control and that’s exciting. Live life to its fullest!
From Certainty to Uncertainty: The Story of Science and Ideas in the Twentieth Century by F. David Peat (*****)
What is of particular relevance to Peat’s argument in this book is that nonlinear systems are also found in human organizations.
New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton (**)
Synchronicity: The Bridge Between Matter and Mind by F. David Peat (****)
The image used in this book is one of an order of orders, which are capable of extension into infinitely subtle levels at one end, and into the explicate orders of matter at the other.
Gentle Action: Bringing Creative Change to a Turbulent World by F. David Peat (****)
Peat’s message is that we must be respectful of the contexts in which we find ourselves so that our actions may be more gentle and more creative.

Currently reading

I have started reading the following books:

The Epochal Nature of Process in Whitehead’s Metaphysics by Bradford F. Wallack
Customer Experiences with Soul: A New Era of Design by Simon Robinson and Maria Moraes Robinson
The Art of Gathering: Create Transformative Meetings, Events and Experiences by Priya Parker
Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within by Robert E. Quinn
The Phenomenon of Life: Toward a Philosophical Biology by Hans Jonas
The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe by Roger Penrose
Originals: How Non-conformists Change the World by Adam M. Grant
Utopia for Realists: And How We Can Get There by Rutger Bregman
The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order by George Monbiot
The Whisper: A lyrical conversation with the multitudes by Fateme Banishoeib
Quantum Implications: Essays in Honour of David Bohm by Basil Hiley and F. David Peat (Editors)
Notes on the Synthesis of Form by Christopher Alexander
An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization by Robert Kegan
The Phoenix Project. A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win by Gene Kim
The Invention of Capitalism: Classical Political Economy and The Secret History of Primitive Accumulation by Michael Perelman

Want to read

I want to read the following books (in the order added):

Decentralisations: Why and how to make it work by Jan Wallander
Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box by The Arbinger Institute
The Act of Creation by Arthur Koestler
Bioteams: How to Create High Performance Teams and Virtual Groups Based on Nature’s Most Successful Designs by Ken Thompson
Conversations for Action and Collected Essays: Instilling a Culture of Commitment in Working Relationships by Fernando Flores
The Science of Life: The living system–a system for living by Paul A. Weiss
Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life by Thomas Moore
Beasts and Gods: How Democracy Changed Its Meaning and Lost Its Purpose by Roslyn Fuller
The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters by Emily Esfahani Smith
Belief and Organization by Peter Case
Change the World: How Ordinary People Can Accomplish Extraordinary Things by Robert E. Quinn
Transformative Ecological Economics: Process Philosophy, Ideology and Utopia by Ove Jakobsen
The Origins of Creativity by Edward O. Wilson
The Anthropic Cosmological Principle by John D. Barrow
Dying for a Paycheck: Why the American Way IS Injurious to People and Companies by Jeffrey Pfeffer
The Dramatic Universe: The Foundations of Natural Philosophy by John G. Bennett
The Art of Community: Seven Principles for Belonging by Charles H. Vogl
Education and Ecstasy by George Leonard
The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures: Simple Rules to Unleash A Culture of Innovation by Henri Lipmanowicz
The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure by Victor Turner
Douglas McGregor on Management: Revisiting the Human Side of the Enterprise by Gary Heil
True Success: A New Philosophy of Excellence by Tom Morris
The Tyranny of Metrics by Jerry Z. Muller
Cosmopolis: The Hidden Agenda of Modernity by Stephen Toulmin
Life Takes Place: Phenomenology, Lifeworlds, and Place Making by David Seamon
Blake and Tradition by Kathleen Raine
Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics in the Age of Crisis by George Monbiot
These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore
Forest Bathing. How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness by Qing Li
Rain of Ashes by robert wolff
Delight’s Muse on Christopher Alexander’s the Nature of Order: A Summary and Personal Interpretation by Jenny Quillien
Collaborative Intelligence: Thinking with people Who Think Differently by Dawna Markova
Presence-Based Leadership: Complexity Practices for Clarity, Resilience, and Results That Matter by Doug Silsbee
Education in a Time Between Worlds: Essays on the Future of Schools, Technology, and Society by Zachary Stein
The Road to Unfreeedom: Russia, Europe, America by Timothy Snyder
The Age of Heretics: A History of the Radical Thinkers Who Reinvented Corporate Management by Art Kleiner
Love, Life, Goethe: Lessons of the Imagination from the Great German Poet by John Armstrong
Drawing for Science, Invention & Discovery: Even if you can’t draw by Paul Carney
The Writings of William James by William James
A Process Model by Eugene Gendlin
Integral City: Evolutionary Intelligences for the Human Hive by Marilyn Hamilton
Regenerative Leadership: The DNA of life-affirming 21st century organizations by Giles Hutchins
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
The Lonely Crowd: A Study o the changing American Character by David Riesman
The Drawing Projects: An Exploration of the Language of Drawing by Mich Maslen
Systemic Consulting: The Organisation as Living System by Siebke Kaat
Human Evolution: A Pelican Introduction by Robin I.M. Dunbar
A Blue Fire by James Hillman
The Nature of Economies by Jane Jacobs
Gandhi’s Truth: On the Origins of Militant Nonviolence by Erik H. Erikson

Reviews

I published the following book reviews during the year:

Book Review: Enlivenment by Andreas Weber
Book Review: Matter and Desire by Andreas Weber
Book Review: Biology of Wonder by Andreas Weber
Book Review: Biopoetics by Andreas Weber
Book Review: Clever Digs by Jenny Quillien (short)
Book Review: Maverick by Ricardo Semler

Summary

Looking back, I am grateful that I have (re)discovered the joy in painting! Going forward I feel a need to finalize my posts on organizing between and beyond. I also feel a need to move between and beyond words through my painting!