Jordan Mattox

For those new to my blog, I have an ongoing email list with friends and acquaintances where I fire off what I’ve read each month. The idea is that others respond and it’s a kind of sharing of our reading lives: a more intimate Good Reads if you will…Often times, it’s just me sharing—and that’s just fine! But I am also going to share with the world what I am reading as well.

1. American Revolutions Alan Taylor 

Taylor is THE early American historian, and I was fortunate enough to interview him for my California history podcast. He has such a depth of understanding of this period that he is able to say things that seem both simple and confusing, confusing because they cause you to rethink what you thought you knew about early American history. 

2. The Joy of X: A Guided Tour of Math from Zero to Infinity Steven Strogatz 

I never found my stride in math in high school or college, but if Steven Stragatz was my teacher, I might have. Often the methods of teaching leave us both grasping for understanding and bored. This book is a revelation, and I already ordered his book on Calculus. He is the teacher that can answer that question: “when will I use this” with gusto and a hundred anecdotes and examples. 

3. Sixty Poems Charles Simic 

This a collection of some great Simic poetry. Our poet laureate from 2007 and a Serbian born American, Simic has such an interesting and quirky style. Here’s one of my favorite lines: “I believe in the soul, so far/ It hasn’t made much difference.”

4. Greenlights Matthew McConaughey

This book was okay. Entertaining at points, but mostly a lot of random and sporadic thoughts, kind of like his famous award acceptance speech. He does have a fascinating story and grew up in a borderline abusive home. 

5. Words without Music Philip Glass

Glass might be one of my favorite composers. He is often labeled as a minimalist: his music moves in building and decreasing patterns centered around a rhythm. You’ll recognize his music if you’ve heard it before. Unlike Greenlights, this book is a fascinating tale of a true artist and master composer. Less interesting if you are not a classical music nerd. 

6. The Kingdom of Ordinary Time Marie Howe 

I love Marie Howe so much. Her poetry is the poetry of the mundane with witty twists and an extremely dry sense of humor underneath it all. There’s also a sense of the transcendent in the mundane, which is the kind of art that I’m always drawn to. I enjoyed this line: “Simone Weil says that when you really love you are able to look at

someone you want to eat and not eat them.” As far as I understand it, she hasn’t put out many collections, but I’ll be getting all of them. 

7. The Anthropocene Reviewed (Signed Edition): Essays on a Human-Centered Planet John Green 

I’ve decided that John Green is basically a secular version of Rob Bell, if you grew up in the evangelical world and get that reference. This collection of essays are trinkets, knick knacks almost. They start with an interesting little story or visit to some place and then draw out some larger conclusion about the human race. These segments are short. I enjoyed this mostly, but kind of left feeling like I just read a bunch of random wikipedia pages with so-so reflections. This was fine I guess.