Reading

Here, I list the nonfiction books I still keep on my shelf — or remember well enough to include — along with the ratings I’d give them. It’s not a complete archive of everything I’ve ever read; it’s simply a record of the books that stayed with me. I’d love to remember every single title and retroactively attach a “finished on” date, but after nearly a decade of active reading... that’s probably impossible.

A note on my ratings: they’re scored on a 1–10 scale and reflect how much a book personally mattered to me and how much I enjoyed it — not how “objectively good” I think it is. A book can be excellent at what it sets out to do yet still receive a modest score if it didn’t leave a lasting impact on my worldview. Conversely, some books are mind-shifting and deeply impactful even if the prose is clumsy or downright painful to get through — and in those cases, I tend to rate them higher than their writing alone deserves. Practical or highly specific books can be useful in the moment, but unless they meaningfully change how I think or who I am, their scores simply land lower within this system.

The scale is closer to Japanese restaurant reviews than Western Goodreads-style ones: a 5 or 6 means good (like a typical 4.5/5), 7 or 8 means great, and anything above 8 is truly exceptional.