I’ve already mentioned that 2013 was a “down year.” I didn’t make it near my goal of 50 books. I did join two sites last year to help me keep track of what I read online. Pocket is a great reading list, where you can add articles you want to read from a browser button or app add-on, then go to your queue, after reading them mark them finished. This really simplified my to-read list of article links. Often times I prefer the easy read layout of pocket to the original site anyway. Pocket connects to a site called Degreed. “Degreed is a community of college students, professionals, and lifelong learners dedicated to advancing their education. When you join Degreed, you get tools to help you track, organize, share, and validate everything you learn.” When I finish an article in Pocket it gets tracked by Degreed. According to the site I’ve read 407 articles since I signed up.
The Rating System:
Loved It – 8
Liked It A lot – 8
Liked It – 6
It Was Okay – 5
Kinda Bad – 1
Bad – 1
It Stunk – 0
Total = 29
So now we come to the choosing of the 2013 Book of the Year. The books in the running this year are Nobody’s Princess, The Try: Reclaiming the American Dream
This is a great list of books, and I think you should read them all. Two of them really stand out to me as important books because of my connection to agriculture. In fact we are all connected to agriculture. Our farmers grow our food, fiber, fuel, flowers, and forests. In our culture I see many people who are lost on the understanding of how modern agriculture works to do all that. Our Daily Bread and The Last Hunger Season will help you get a better picture of why our modern agriculture system developed, and maybe help you appreciate it a little more.
It’s because feeding the world is so important that Norman Borlaug is one of my hero’s. He was honored this year on March 25th, 2014, National Ag day and the anniversary of his 100th birthday (#Borlaug100) with a statue on Capital Hill in Washington DC. How can you not appreciate a man who save 1 billion live from starvation? That’s why Our Daily Bread is my choice for 2013 Book of the Year.
This video was put together to honor him during #Borlaug100
“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” ― Haruki Murakami