Read/Listen
“There’s always room for a story that can transport people to another place.”
2020 Reads
I read 504 books in 2019. That’s a personal record. Here’s what I’ve read in 2020:
Monkey Time by Michael Hall
Little Black Ant on Park Street by Janet Halfmann
The Honeybee by Kirsten Hall
Clark the Shark Loves Christmas by Bruce Hale
It’s an Orange Aardvark! by Michael Hall
Grown Your Own by Esther Hall
Clark the Shark by Bruce Hale
Dino Bites by Graig Hall
Clark the Shark Dares to Share by Bruce Hale
A Walk on the Tundra by Rebecca Hainnu and Anna Ziegler
The Darkest Dark by Chris Hadfield
Laughing Giraffe by Mwenye Hadithi
Enormous Elephant by Mwenye Hadithi
Who’s Hungry? by Dean Hacochen
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
User Friendly by Cliff Kuang with Robert Fabricant
The Topeka School by Ben Lerner
All Over Creation by Ruth Ozeki
The Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself by David Lipsky
The Sagas of Icelanders
Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell
Walt Disney by Neal Gabler
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
We Dream by Space by Erin Entrada Kelly
2020 Listen:
Podcast: Design Matters with Debbie Millman
If there's a weekly podcast I refuse to miss, it's Design Matters.
Funny, thought-provoking and insightful, Design Matters focuses on creatives in various fields who challenge the status quo.
Favourite episodes: Rochelle Udell, Timothy Goodman, Thomas Kail, Richard Saul Wurman, Sam Winston, Seth Godin
Podcast: 99% Invisible
I have a coworker to thank for introducing me to Roman Mars, one of the talented voices behind 99% Invisible. If you've always wondered about cow tunnels, or mobile home skyscrapers, or the connection between skateboarders and kidney shaped pools, you can geek out to this audio bundle of joy. When I first started listening, I binged on all of the past episodes because I was hungry to learn all of the things I didn't know.
Favourite episodes: Mini series (featuring the ice ship in Alberta), The Containment Plan, The Athletic Brassiere, Person in Lotus Position
And other podcasts, such as:
Writer's & Company (CBC)
Everything is Alive
The Allusionist
The Design of Business, The Business of Design
The Anthropocene Reviewed