October

Learning

• Tons of new things to learn at work.

Coding

• Didn't have much free time to work on side projects after starting the new job.

Reading

• Increased the reading goal in Goodreads from 80 to 90. I think if I keep the same pace, I should be able to reach this target, which at the start of the year looked quite unlikely. My original reading target was quite modest of about 30 books.

• Read two books from Bell Hooks which I found thought provoking.

  • Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics by bell hooks

  • The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love

• Reading The Bhagavad Gita, the translation by Ekanath Easwaran is without a doubt the most thought provoking philosphical book I read this month, and possibly this year! No wonder the Gita is popular among even intellectuals in the Western tradition because a lot of what Gita talks about readily transcends those boundaries once you get past the Vedic/Hindu jargon. Easwaran's translation does a very good job on that front, in my opinion. I liked this book so much that I bought a hard copy of the book to keep as a reference!

Activities

• Started doing medium long runs over the weekends again. For me these are the runs which takes more than one hour, but less than two hours.

• Went on a hike to Leith Hill, Surrey. The weather was surprisingly great for an Autumn day on the day!