Zinsser's <i>On Writing Well</i>. (i.e. on writing non-fiction)<p>The first half of <i>To The Finland Station</i> (1940) was absolutely fascinating (the second half is the story of Marx, Lenin etc which I know more about so didn't read) - about 19th C French historians, and the origins of socialism. I had no idea that 'socialisms' was the name given to those experimental farms/communities all over the US in the early-mid 19th C - that's what the word meant at the time - there's a lot on the history of those. Brilliantly written.<p>Scott McCloud's <i>Understanding Comics</i> - the history, science and philosophy of comics. Plus it's a comic.<p><i>Crucial Conversations</i> - I added this to <i>You Just Don't Understand</i> on my 'Essential Guides for Anyone in a Relationship' list. Equally important for other areas of life.<p><i>Deep Work</i> on different ways people like/need to work.<p><i>On Not Being Able To Paint</i> (1950) by Joanna Field (Marion Milner). I read her <i>A Life Of One's Own</i> and <i>An Experiment in Leisure</i> (both from the 1930s) 25+ years ago, and loved them dearly. <i>A Life Of One's Own</i> is about her using her diary to learn about herself, something I'd started doing at the time. I owned a copy of <i>On Not Being Able To Paint</i> for many years, but never read it through until very recently. It's surprisingly great. It's about her learning to paint, or rather, learning what painting is, and I found she learns pretty much exactly the things I learnt when I spent 5 years writing orchestral music. (after having been a pianist and painter for many years) Well, maybe I was too young to appreciate it before.<p>Books I'd read before, but read at least twice more this year: the Zanders' <i>Art of Possibility</i>, Austin Kleon's <i>Steal Like an Artist</i> and <i>Share Your Work!</i>. Various essays of G.K. Chesterton and Robert Louis Stevenson.