books on Kali Kambo

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 21:39:11 -0500

Finished reading: Twelve Months by Jim Butcher 📚

Gentleness is power that chooses to restrain itself. That is under control. Gentleness is someone strong who makes the choice to be careful with that strength.

–pg. 335

Happiness is peace in action. And peace is happiness at rest. And neither one has to be perfect to be real.

–pg. 462

Books I read in 2025

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 18:51:07 -0500

Books with an asterisk (*) are ones I liked a lot.

*How to Resist Amazon and Why by Danny Caine (non-fiction)

*Crossover vol 1: Kids Love Chains by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw (graphic novel)

Fables: Book One by Bill Willingham (graphic novel)

Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber (non-fiction)

*Essentialism by Greg McKeown (non-fiction, reread)

Unthink by Erik Wahl (non-fiction)

The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman (fantasy)

If you’d like to see books I’ve read in the past, I have a whole list going back to 2011. 📚

I joined The Story Graph a few weeks ago, and I’ll be tracking my 2026 reading there. If you want to be book friends, I’m @kalikambo. I’ll still post about books I’m reading here on this blog, too.

Fri, 26 Dec 2025 22:38:54 -0500

Finished reading: The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman 📚

3/5 ⭐️

The first half is especially slow-paced, and it feels like the book is much longer than it needs to be. Many of the chapters could have been cut without missing anything important.

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 13:29:29 -0500

Finished reading: Unthink by Erik Wahl 📚

I picked this up at the public library without knowing anything about it. The book is mostly made of up anecdotes and some historical references. It feels like a lot of snippets, which is not what I want out of a book. But here’s a quote I liked:

Intellect without intuition is a smart person without impact. Intuition without intellect is a spontaneous person without progress.

Sat, 09 Aug 2025 21:39:11 -0500

📚 Finished reading Essentialism by Greg McKeown

I read Essentialism 5 years ago, and I just finished reading it again. It has super helpful advice for how to prioritize things at work and in your personal life. 5/5 ⭐️

Here’s one of my favorite quotes from the book:

But in fact we can easily do two things at the same time: wash the dishes and listen to the radio, eat and talk, clear the clutter on our desk while thinking about where to go for lunch, text message while watching television, and so on.

What we can’t do is concentrate on two things at the same time.

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 22:44:16 -0500

I read Essentialism by Greg McKeown for the first time in 2020. It feels like a good time for a refresher, so I’m re-reading it. 📚

Mon, 05 May 2025 19:08:30 -0500

Finished reading: Bullshit Jobs: A Theory by David Graeber 📚

Finally finished reading this. I found notes that I started reading this in 2023 (?!?). I did put the book down for several months, more than once.

A lot of chapters could be condensed. Plus, overall the content is depressing considering gestures around at the world.

I’m not sure I can recommend the book. But if the idea is interesting to you, check out the essay that David Graeber wrote first, that later became the basis for this book.

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 18:15:14 -0500

Finished reading: Crossover Vol. 1: Kids Love Chains by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw 📚 I liked the premise, but I’m not sure I’ll read more of this series.

Sat, 04 Jan 2025 23:19:17 -0500

Finished reading: How to Resist Amazon and Why: The Fight for Local Economics, Data Privacy, Fair Labor, Independent Bookstores, and a People-Powered Future! by Danny Caine 📚

Good overview of Amazon’s workplace conditions, unions (and union busting), data collection, and effects on the economy, small businesses, and politics. The book is written from the perspective of a bookstore owner, but a lot of his points apply to any kind of small business.

My favorite part of the book was the end, which encourages people to be pro-small business and engaged in your local community.

Books I read in 2024

Fri, 03 Jan 2025 19:43:22 -0500

I had a slow year for reading books in 2024.

Here are my favorite 2 from the year:

Moonbound by Robin Sloan (sci-fi and fantasy)
Paved Paradise by Henry Grabar (non-fiction)

And the other 3 I read:

Principles for Newsletters by CJ Chilvers (non-fiction)
Things are what you make of them by Adam J. Kurtz (non-fiction)
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (sci-fi)

I have a whole bookshelf of unread books, so here’s to more reading in 2025.

If you’d like to see books I’ve read in the past, I have a whole list going back to 2011. 📚

Paved Paradise (or, cars ruin everything)

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 22:58:19 -0500

I finished reading Paved Paradise by Henry Grabar. 📚

Overall, I liked the book. A lot of it is about how parking space requirements determine where and what size buildings can be built. (AKA we can’t have nice things because we need space to store cars.)

Grabar talks a lot about reducing parking spaces but not as much about reducing our reliance on cars.

My main criticisms of the book are 1) the author doesn’t talk much about improving public transportation and 2) the author doesn’t really address accessibility.

Public transportation

Many chapters of the book focus on larger cities with good bus and subway systems. Yes, you can live in New York City without a car. But for smaller cities and towns, a car is often the only way you can get to your destination.

You need good public transportation systems so that reducing parking spaces does not also reduce people’s ability to move around town.

I would have liked to see more discussion about areas where there aren’t effective public transportation options.

Accessibility

An issue with eliminating street parking is, you take away parking spaces that are the closest to destinations.

People with physical disabilities may not be able to park 5 blocks away from where they want to go. That can be a lot of extra walking for some people. That can be enough of a reason to stay home.

I would have liked to see discussion about accessibility, since limiting where cars can go will also limit where people can go.

Recommendation

If you’re interested in how parking regulations shape cities and neighborhoods, I recommend reading Paved Paradise. But its main discussion—reducing parking spaces—is only one piece of the solution to relying on cars less.

Sat, 26 Oct 2024 22:14:47 -0500

Ice cream truck appearances are circumscribed by unwritten curb-control maps established by custom, negotiated by handshake, and enforced with violence. The history of ice cream truck rivalries is bloody. In 1969, armed rivals held up two Mister Softee garages in Brooklyn and the Bronx, taking nothing but the vital blender blades from thirty-nine trucks—rendering them useless before the blockbuster Fourth of July weekend.

Paved Paradise by Henry Grabar 📚

I was not expecting to read about ice cream truck crime today. 😧

Steal Like An Artist: Routine Art

Tue, 14 Sep 2021 22:26:00 -0500

This is the best advice I have read about creative work:

Be boring. (It’s the only way to get work done.)

It’s from Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon, which is an excellent book for anyone interested in creative work. It’s full of practical advice.

Most people have to practice their art for a while before they can make a living off of it, so in the mean time, they need a regular job. Austin says, get a job you can tolerate, pay your bills, and build a routine. When you have regular hours that you work, you know what time you have left, and you can carve out time to write stories, compose music, take photos, draw…whatever it is that you do.

Better yet, Austin points out that if your job doesn’t take a lot of creative energy, you’ll be happy to pour that energy into your hobbies. You take care of yourself, and you keep your mind in the right place to produce art.

This is more useful than the advice I’ve seen that focuses on craft. Other books I’ve read on writing tell me to set a daily word count goal and find a distraction-free space—which is fine, but they don’t connect creative work to the rest of your life.

Steal Like An Artist is the first book I’ve read that blends creative work with the average, day-to-day things. It’s the first time I’ve said, “Yeah, that’s something I can try today.”