The Word for Human is Violence
Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Word for World is Forest (1972) examines whether violence is human nature or not.
Humans and killing go together like Subarus and Colorado. We kill one another with such frequency that we’ve developed cute little names for all the different kinds—genocide, xenocide, fratricide, regicide, etc. And of course there’s war—for resources, conquest, religion, independence, glory—which is so synonymous with human history that it seems no fantasy or sci-fi story can exist without it.
Every Book I Read in 2023, Ranked
2023 was the year of reading, and—to a lesser extent—writing. I am on pace for 41 books read this year, after 22 in 2022, and 10 in 2021. I’ve also more than doubled my page count from last year. So, what was the key to unlocking my reading potential? Well, it boils down to two main factors: habits, motivation, and knowing what I like. I have a lot of free time in my new-ish WFH life, yes, but I was unemployed in 2022 and read almost 20 books less, so it can’t only be time.
The key, for me, was building strong habits around reading. I read nearly every night before I go to bed, usually 30-90 minutes. I used to listen to podcasts, but reading calms me and helps me sleep better. That probably made up the bulk of my reading, but I also would make a habit of taking a book outside during a nice day and reading in nature.