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TOPICS

Find ideas on what to read next. Plus, essays on some notable works.

Exciting things that pertain to the reading life.

Essays on how to think better.

Essays on faith.

Reflections on life events.

Thoughts on travel experiences.

SPECIAL SERIES

Favorite Books Lists

2023: Best Books of 2023 Part 1

2022: Best Books of 2022 Part 1, Best Books of 2022 Part 2.

2021: Best Books of 2021 Part 1, Best Books of 2021 Part 2.

2020: Best Books of 2020 Part 1, Best Books of 2020 Part 2.

2019: Best Books of 2019 Part 1, Best Books of 2019 Part 2.

2018: Best Books of 2018 Part 1, Best Books of 2018 Part 2.

2017Best Books of 2017 Part 1, Best Books of 2017 Part 2.

2016Best Books of 2016 Part 1Best Books of 2016 Part 2.

2015Best Books of 2015 Part 1Best Books of 2015 Part 2.

 

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Understanding Poverty

Understanding Poverty: The Reading List

Kinship: A Better Model for Altruism

A Circle with No Outsider

 

Reflections on Home and Belonging

Home-Longing: Thoughts on Home and What It Means. A Prequel.

Home in Language: Why Speaking in Your Mother Tongue is So Refreshing

Tribe: Home in Community

 

Individuality, Creativity, and What Makes You, You

Individuality: What Makes You, You. 10 brief points on what makes you who you are.

Individuality and Creativity: A Christian Perspective. A Judeo-Christian view on identity.

Hamilton: How Genius Work Happens. An amazing example of individuality and creativity.

Curiosity: The Key to Maximal Learning. What makes learning the most effective.

Why Self-Learners Rule the 21st Century. How to get ahead in the Internet Age.

 

Excellence and Continual Learning

Excellence: Why It Matters. Excellence as a service to humanity.

Anatomy of Excellence. The ingredients that make up excellent people.

Before Learning: The Role of Awe in Life and Learning. On learning from minds that are superior than yours.

After Learning: The Role of Reflection in Gaining Wisdom. The need to reflect on what we’ve learned.

How To Be An Excellent Student. Learn as a wisdom seeker.

The One Trait Inspiring People Have in Common.

 

Sabbath 

Restless Sabbath: When You Can’t Stop Hustling on the Day of Rest

Sabbath in the Time of Corona

Sabbath: The Pause in the Rhythm of Creation

Consciousness of Time: Wisdom in the Sabbath

The Bridge to Eternity

Between Jerusalem and Athens

An essay series on culture and worldview.

Between Jerusalem and Athens. Series overview.

When A Single Narrative Is Not Enough. On avoiding single-mindedness and telling a one-sided story.

From the Equad to the World. On the silos of knowledge that prevent communication and collaborations across artificial barriers that are much needed to solve complex real world problems.

Engineering With Soul: A Spiritual Dimension to Work. On the separation between the mind, body, and soul—the components that make up our humanity—that causes an unfulfilling life.

Wonder and Fear: Thinking Two Thoughts at Once. On the reality that two seemingly contradicting experiences can coexist at once.

Asian and Western Minds, Part 1: Why They Differ. Asian and Western cultures are descendants of two different ancient philosophies, namely the ancient Chinese and Greek cultures, respectively. This essay is on the core principles of each culture and how they affect today’s societies.

Asian and Western Minds, Part 2: How They Differ. This post highlights the key findings of Richard Nisbett’s social psychology experiments, observations on how specifically Asian and Western minds differ.

A Child of East and West, Part 1. The chronicle of an Indonesian in America. This is the story of my upbringing in the East and my cultural experiences after moving to the West.

A Child of East and West, Part 2. Continuing the story with my life in the West and the re-discovery of the East.

Theoretical Dichotomies: When Either-Or Thinking Gets You Nowhere. When a paradigm categorizes things too much and has difficulties reconciling paradoxes. Real life is messier than theoretical analyses.

 

Child of All Nations

Human Strudel

If I Lived Then

I’m Complicated, And So Are You

Which Mirror Tells the Truth?

Bird’s-eye View, Personal Secrets

A Child of All Nations

I Live Now