Book Reviews Coming to the Blog (And My Own Personal Rating System)
I read a lot. Not as much as Stephanie -- she's cleared 2,000 books and counting -- but enough that I have opinions.
For a while those opinions lived in my head, in failed attempts at updating GoodReads, in WhatsApp threads, or in scattered conversations. "You have to read this" texts. Half-remembered titles at dinner. That felt like a waste. If I'm going to spend 8-15 hours with a book, I should write down what it did to me.
So I'm adding a books section to this site. Short reviews, long reviews, whatever the book warrants. Some will be a paragraph. Some will be essays. The goal isn't literary criticism. It's an honest record of what I read, what stuck, and what didn't.
The Wagle Scale
I don't do stars. Stars invite precision where none exists. Instead, every book gets one of four ratings:
Obsessed -- I couldn't stop thinking about it. I'm buying copies for people. This book changed something about how I see the world, or it was so well-crafted I resent everything I read immediately after.
Really liked it -- A genuinely good book. I'm glad I read it, I'd recommend it, and I'll remember it in a year. Most good books live here.
It was fine -- Not bad. Not memorable. The kind of book where three months later someone mentions it and I think, "Oh right, I did read that."
DNF -- Did Not Finish. Life is short. If a book loses me, I put it down. No guilt. A DNF isn't necessarily a bad book -- it might just be the wrong book at the wrong time. I'll say why I stopped.
What I Read
Mostly nonfiction: systems thinking, technology, business, history, behavioral science. Occasional fiction when something pulls me in -- Stephanie has challenged me to do better and I have a reading list for this year. I'm not trying to be comprehensive or balanced. This is what I happen to pick up. I also do audiobooks. I will review the narrator as well.
The Fine Print
Every review has links to buy or borrow: Amazon, Bookshop.org (indie bookstores), and Libby (your library). Amazon links are affiliate links. The others aren't. Read however you want.
Reviews show up in the RSS feed alongside blog posts, so you don't need to check separately.
That's it. First reviews coming soon.