Book reviews

Because writing reviews has turned out to be a fantastic learning processing. Like programming, I find that I look back on old reviews and see the same immaturity I see in my old code. That’s a good thing.

And I don’t think I would have improved to the degree that I have if I weren’t doing it in public. Maybe only a handful of people will ever read a given review of mine. But the idea of the exposure still pushes me to improve.

I get that same motivation when I write (mostly technical) content for this website. Usually I’m teaching myself how to do things by writing about them. By imagining a public audience, I am forced to think more logically and clearly than if I were just cobling together notes for myself. The end result is far stronger (and more useful!).

It’s the same process with book reviews: I’m thinking out loud about what I’ve just read. I find myself less and less at a loss for words and I think I’ve gotten increasingly coherent.

I’ve had the same experience in improving my art by posting pages of my sketchbook to Instagram as I mention here. (Update: I haven’t "rage quit" Instagram, but am now on Mastodon and would like to transition entirely.)

I take way more notes than I did before I started writing reviews. (I write them on sticky notes and put them in the margins.)

I find myself thinking, "that’s going in the review!" as I read nonfiction. (Nothing but the story is going on in my head while reading good fiction.)

I get to do my part to fill the world with the type of book reviews I like, which:

My reviews make excellent notes to myself - if I can’t remember a book I’ve read, I can just read my review and that often pulls it right back up into my memory. (Sometimes it doesn’t, which can be an amusing experience.)

Finally, it’s cathartic to scorch a really bad book and fulfilling to glow about a really great book.