2021 Reading Records

List of books read this year, with brief comments. There are 49 books in total that I can think of that have read the text in full, and the total amount of reading is not large, even less than 100. Many of them have fewer words or are highly entertaining.

philosophy

1. To live or to perish

I came into contact with Antinatalism by chance, and found that it was very consistent with my own thinking. I also learned about David Benatar and read this book published in China. This book had an important influence on me. The ideas and concepts in it gave me great comfort and inspiration, and made me completely accept my own pessimistic tendencies.

social science

2. Misogyny

Chizuru Ueno's works on feminism are well-known and are often recommended as introductory books. Concise, easy to understand, good reading experience.

popular science

3. Major trends in life

Combing the evolution of the earth, the birth and evolution of organisms, is interesting and covers a wide range. The last two chapters deal with humanity and the future, with a personal fondness for the argument that human race within the species drives development, and the author's pessimistic prediction that an energy-intensive society is unsustainable.

4. The other side of normal

The science of biology and psychology is simple and easy to understand. The content should be relatively basic. It may not be necessary to read other popular science works. Personally favorite chapters include "The Biology of Mind Reading", "Beauty and Sexual Attraction"" Fear and Emotional Memory".

5. The patient survives

Very interesting, filling in the blind spots of thinking and knowledge. Physiological properties that now cause disease may be favorable properties for sustaining human survival in a given environment. The second half deals with jumping genes, epigenetics, principles of aging, and death.

6. Virus Planet

It contains fascinating theories and examples, including virus-caused gene transfer and exchange, and the challenge and subversion of the definition of "biology" by viruses. The second half mainly introduces famous viruses and the plagues they cause, including HIV, Ebola, SARS, and smallpox.

7. Cunning Emotions

Covering game theory, economics, and psychology, the fields are complex and not very deep, and the experimental and theoretical parts can be boring to read. However, the amount of text is not large, and there are some interesting contents, such as the chapter "On Sex and Evolution", which can be read.

8. I am all-encompassing

Microbiology science popularization, wonderful and rich content, highly recommended. Overturn the idea that microorganisms are generally regarded as vassals or invaders, expound the importance and necessity of microorganisms to animals and plants, and introduce the concept of whole genome and its controversy and defense. After reading this book, you may open up new perspectives.

Literature/Literary Studies

9. The best decision

16 writers describe their reasons for infertility, including personal experiences and thoughts. The concepts in the book didn't strike me as a shock, but there are things that amaze me, some women experience a strong desire to have children, some women feel guilty, distressed, conflicted, or doubt themselves for not having children or wanting them female identity.

10. Ikaborg

Rowling's new work, a simple adventure story and a political fable, the reading experience is okay.

11. School of Lies

The children's books written by Korean authors have many and obvious political innuendos, the truth of the story is not fully revealed, and the protagonist has not explained what happened after the key choice.

12. Time Museum

Average children's book with adventure and emotional elements.

13. Alice in Wonderland

Drawing version of Hebeka Dortmé, recommended. The illustrations are good, and there is a lot of humor in the story.

14. The Child Who Becomes a Seed

Books written and edited by children are not bad, but I'm not surprised or touched, presumably because there are no children's impressions that can be subverted.

15. 23 letters to Lottie

This book discusses the topic of immortality and death. At present, I only know that "The River Against the Current" and "The Fountain of Youth" have the same theme and use the same setting. It expresses more abundantly on the theme of "Facing Death", covering both the content of facing the death of others and facing the death of one's own. The events in the book are also rich, with different types, emotions and concepts, but the connection is natural and reasonable. There are many contents showing friendship and family affection, but the lack of appeal and shock should be due to the simple way of writing. Sadly, the discussion of immortality does not go beyond the mental framework of other children's books. The worldview remains that only a few can live forever, and the means by which immortality exists are poorly understood. Both immortals and ordinary people are lonely because of the death of relatives and friends, fear immortality or regret choosing immortality, and the protagonists who face the choice of immortality also reject immortality. In short, there is no fresher immortality imagining, and no deeper thinking about death. Perhaps this is the result of the self-limitation of children's book authors. Some readers will love it, but not everyone needs it.

16. Tianlu

Naoko Anbo, always recommended.

17. Research on fairy tales in the occupied areas of Northeast China

Chen Shi's paper "Research on Puppet Manchukuo Fairy Tales" can be downloaded from CNKI. "Implanted fairy tales" and decolonization literature are interesting.

Documentary

18. How far is left behind?

Interviews with left-behind children, the content is small, not recommended, but you can watch it if you are interested.

19. The truth about generic drugs

Brilliant, highly recommended. It reveals the inside story of many drug production, and also involves medical and social conditions in different countries.

20. Euthanasia scene

Recommended reading, the author interviews people from different countries and records the different attitudes people hold on topics such as death, emotion, and freedom. Switzerland can provide services for foreigners, Belgium can euthanize the mentally ill, and Spain passed euthanasia regulations this year.

21. My second student

An interesting and bright personal observation record, the yellow light mainly narrates the background, experience and development of the students, and the main line is the influence of the times on the personal destiny.

22. Don't you want to return home

It records the different aspects of Sanhe youth's life in detail and can be used as a reference book for understanding Sanhe youth. A friend said that the sociological community has a bad opinion on this research. One year's field is the pass line. The first book of this book has never been to the field, and the second book has only been in the field for half a year.

23. Bankruptcy after old age

24. The old and later generations go bankrupt

25. High school students are poor and busy

26. A society that does not allow fertility

27. Nursing to kill

The tragic reality of Japan, many difficulties are inevitable in other countries, it is recommended to focus on reading, in addition to "Women's Poverty", "Tokyo Poor Women", and "Unequal Corpses".

Suspense / Reasoning

28. Disintegration of causes

Seven stories involving elements of dismemberment, some of which are connected. Easy and fun to read as a casual read.

29. Death Nurse

Excellent social faction mystery novel, it is recommended to read it together with "Nursing Murder". This book is nothing but narrative trickery with little to no reasoning.

30. Sweeping Rat Ridge

The subject matter is good, with a bit of depth, and the writing is average, but it can still be read. The emotion and logic of a certain plot line is outrageous and unacceptable. I feel that reading the commentary may be enough, or reading the book. I have checked the comments and explanations of the author's other works, and it is recommended not to read or only read the tricks and puzzles.

31. Xiaotao nonsense

The more interesting works in this book are "A Letter from Home", "Xiao Tao's Ghost Stories" and "Gluttonous Snake". The first two highlights are horror, the latter is mysterious.

32. The Silent Patient

The reasoning elements are only narrative tricks, and you can watch elements like original family, psychological trauma, and psychoanalysis.

33. The Mystery of the Corpse Village

The setting is reasoning, the tricks are not clever, and the character psychology and logic are not reasonable enough.

34. The Mystery of the Magic Eye Box

Continuing the protagonist and background setting of "The Mystery of the Dead Man Village", the tricks and logic are better than the previous one, but I don't want to read Masahiro Imamura's novels again.

35.99% Abduction

It's cool with few reasoning elements, and such a reasonable, coherent high-tech crime should have been novel in 1989, and it's pretty cool to read today. At the same time, I recommend "Klein Pot" by Okajima, a novel that imagines and explores virtual reality.

36. Then, the door was shut

generally.

37. The Alphabet Puzzle

38. All suspects

39. Absolute alibi

40. The Trick Museum

41. Chamber of Secrets Collector

Seiichiro Oyama's book, recommend the first three books. The last two books are generally average, and there are a few of them that I feel better, "Bread's Ransom", "Vengeance Diary", "Flame" and "The Secret Room with No Inside Story".

42. Atavistic

43. Chinese New Year

44. The wicked man

45. Ghost Flag

46. God's Code

47. The dead live forever

48. Whispers of the Dead

49. Feeder Association

The series "Notes on Naduo" are all books that I read when I was in a bad mood. "The Dead Live Forever" is not bad, there is a bright spot at the end of "Attorney", and the imagination and ending of "The Feeder Association" are interesting.