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| No. | Title | Author | Comments |
| 1 | Finding Flow | Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi | Flow: When goals are clear, feedback relevant, and challenges and skills are in balance, attention becomes ordered and fully invested. |
| 2 | Retire on Less Than You Think | Fred Brock | Some helpful sections and links, particularly on cost of places to live and health insurance. |
| 3 | The How of Happiness | Sonja Lyubomirsky | Best when describing research on goals |
| 4 | The Mind of the Market | Michael Shermer | A little too random, not enough synthesis Best when discussing capitalism and democracy. |
| 5 | The Blue Star | Tony Early | Beautiful story. |
| 6 | Ron Carlson Writes a Story | Ron Carlson | Best book I have ever read on writing short fiction |
| 7 | The Middle Class Millionaire | Russ Alan Prince and Lewis Schiff | The “new rich” come across as money obsessed and workaholics |
| 8 | Predictably Irrational | Dan Ariely | Excellent summary of studies within behavioral economics |
| 9 | What Now? | Ann Patchett | Humorous essay that touches on the writing life and its quintessential activity – staring |
| 10 | The Adventures of Johnny Bunko | Daniel H. Pink | Clever career guide in Manga form |
| 11 | No More Mondays – and Other Revolutionary Ways to Discover Your True Calling at Work | Dan Miller | Okay. Much of it I have read in other places |
| 12 | It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be | Paul Arden | Short but poignant |
| 13 | Refuse to Choose | Barbara Sher | Discussion of the Scanner personality |
| 14 | The Renaissance Soul: Life Design for People with Too Many Passions to Pick Just One | Barbara Lowenstine | Similar to Refuse to Choose. |
| 15 | A Perfect Mess:The Hidden Benefits of Disorder | Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman | The art of disorder |
| 16 | Everything is Miscellaneous | David Weinberger | Very well done |
| 17 | Made to Stick | Chip Heath and Dan Heath | Thesis stuck |
| 18 | Lost on Planet China | J. Maarten Troost | How China appears to the traveling layman. Fascinating |
| 19 | The Dip | Seth Godin | Succinct as always |
| 20 | Tribes – We Need You to Lead Us | Seth Godin | Inspiring |
| 21 | The World Is Curved: Hidden Dangers to the Global Economy | David M. Smick | Best finance book of the year |
| 22 | Outliers | Malcolm Gladwell | Fascinating Thesis – A bit too drawn out at parts |
| 23 | Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change How the World Learns | Clayton Christensen, Curtis W. Johnson, Michael B. Horn | Same theory different venue |
| 24 | Back of the Napkin | Dan Roam | Getting Ideas Across with Pictures |
| 25 | Presentation Zen | Garr Reynolds | Designing the Perfect PowerPoint |
| 26 | Slide:ology | Nancy Duarte | Designing the Perfect Powerpoint v2 |
| 27 | Creativity | Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi | Detailed study on the topic |
| No. | Title | Author | Comments |
| 1 | The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid | Bill Bryson | Just Okay. A Walk in the Woods and his book on Australia were much better. |
| 2 | The Fate of Africa | Martin Meredith | A well documented history of a sad state of affairs |
| 3 | The Poisonwood Bible | Barbara Kingsolver | Life changing – best novel I have read this decade |
| 4 | Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future | Bill McKibben | Thought provoking thesis of why go local |
| 5 | The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable | Nassim Nicholas Taleb | Brilliant Analysis |
| 6 | The Broker | John Grisham | Not his best. |
| 7 | The 4-Hour Work Week | Timothy Ferriss | Poorly written. Example of the hubris of exatrapolating one’s short-term personal success into a “system” that anyone can learn |
| 8 | The Road | Cormac McCarthy | Beautiful prose but sad and disturbing |
| 9 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows | J.K. Rowling | It’s over. |
| 10 | Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster | Dana Thomas | Eyeopening |
| 11 | Mr. Pip | Lloyd Jones | Beautiful setting, haunting story. |
| 12 | Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconcious | Gerd Gigerenzer | Very well done. Eye opening. Second most influential book I read this year. |
| 13 | Season of Life | Jeffrey Marx | Book club book. What it means to be a man. |
| 14 | Microtrends: The small forces behind tomorrow’s big changes | Mark J. Penn | Decent. Not much depth. Trends seemed self evident. |
| 15 | How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read | Pierre Bayard | Relieves the guilt of not finishing books, skimming books and forgetting books. |
| 16 | Stumbling Upon Happiness | Dan Gilbert | Detailed description of why we can’t predict how we will feel in the future. |
| No. | Title | Author | Comments |
| 1 | The City of Falling Angels | John Berendt | The oddities of Venice. Not particularly spellbounding, but interesting nonetheless. |
| 2 | Oaxaca Journal | OIiver Sacks | Pleasant profile of a week in Oaxaca. Heavy on ferns and other plants. |
| 3 | The Number | Lee Eisenberg | Ramblings on the New Retirement. Basic Theme: Save alot and find purpose in life beyond golf. |
| 4 | Drinking Coffee Elsewhere | ZZ Packer | Beautiful prose, disturbing themes. |
| 5 | The Final Solution | Michael Chabon | Okay. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay was much better |
| 6 | Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed | Jared Diamond | Eye opening, sobering, and way too long. |
| 7 | The Way We Eat – Why Our Food Choices Matter | Peter Singer and Jim Mason | Excellent overview of the ethical issues surrounding food production and consumption |
| 8 | The Ominvore’s Dilemma | Michael Pollan | Most interesting book read so far this year. The corn chapters were fascinating |
| 9 | American Theocracy | Kevin Phillips | Long and disconcerting |
| 10 | Cesar’s Way | Cesar Millan | Makes dog raising seem both straightforward and time consuming |
| 11 | The White Man’s Burden | William Easterly | Excellent profile on why small scale attempts to relieve suffering are more effective than big plans. |
| 12 | The Reluctant Mr. Darwin | David Quammen | Exquisite biography of Charles Darwin |
| 13 | Success Built to Last | Porras, Emery & Thompson | This year’s requisite self help book. Some notable quotes |
| 14 | Prodigal Summer | Barbara Kingsolver | Exquisitely written. Perfect summer reading. |
| 15 | Audacity of Hope | Barack Obama | Hopeful indeed. |
| No. | Title | Author |
| 1 | Writers on Writing Vol. 2 | New York Times Essays |
| 2 | Complexity, Risk & Financial Markets | Edgar E. Peters |
| 3 | The 80/20 Individual | Richard Koch |
| 4 | Go It Alone | Bruce Judson |
| 5 | A Whole New Mind | Daniel H. Pink |
| 6 | Seeing What’s Next | Clayton Christiansen |
| 7 | The World Is Flat | Thomas L. Friedman |
| 8 | Now Discover Your Strengths | Marcus Buckingham & Donald O Clifton |
| 9 | Cities of the Plains | Cormac McCarthy |
| 10 | 1776 | David McCullough |
| 11 | Hot Commodities | Jim Rogers |
| 12 | The Bean Tree | Barbara Kingsolver |
| 13 | Freakonomics | Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner |
| 14 | In a Sunburned Country | Bill Bryson |
| No. | Title | Author |
| 1 | Cold Mountain | Charles Frazier |
| 2 | The Last Juror | John Grisham |
| 3 | Bel Canto | Ann Patchett |
| 3 | Girl with a Pearl Earring | Tracy Chevalier |
| 4 | A New Kind of Flying | Ron Carlson |
| 5 | Waiting | Ha Jin |
| 6 | The Cabal | Elaine Gilchrist |
| 7 | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay | Michael Chabon |
| 8 | Old School | Tobias Wolff |
| 9 | East of the Mountains | David Guterson |
| 10 | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime | Mark Haden |
| 11 | Life of Pi | Yann Martel |
| 12 | Life 2.0 | Richard Karlgaard |
| 13 | On Paradise Drive | David Brooks |
| 14 | Running Money | Andy Kessler |
| 15 | Soloing | Harriet Rubin |
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J.D. Stein’s List of Annual Readings