Happy new year!  “And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been, full of work that has never been done.”

Here is my 2018 year-end list of books and movies. These are not necessarily the best. These are not necessarily even from 2018. Instead, these are just books and movies I got around to recently and recommend.

Christopher Robin, a wonderful movie about the creative process and the Zen of Winnie the Pooh. “Sometimes doing nothing leads to the very best something.”

Ego is the Enemy, by Ryan Holiday, a smart book about doing your best work. “Impressing people is utterly different from being truly impressive.”

Mastery, by Robert Greene, a mentor to Holiday. “You must value learning above everything else.”

Reading is not the only way to learn, but it is one way.

Thanks for reading.

Wherever I go I feel at home when I see my books or my friends’ books on the shelves.

Books are the best gifts and that’s what I’m buying this holiday season. My recommendations include anything by Ryan Holiday, particularly The Obstacle is the Way and Trust Me, I’m Lying, a timely “cult classic that predicted the rise of fake news – revised for the post-Trump, post-Gawker age.”  Also, former Seahawk running back Curt Warner has a book out, which he co-wrote with his wife and local novelist Dave Boling, The Warner Boys: Our Family’s Story of Autism and Hope.

As for novels, Today Will be Different by Maria Semple is a good one to read at the end of the year or the beginning of next year. Whatever you read, thanks for reading.