|
| No. | Title | Author | Comments |
| 1 | The Practice: Shipping Creative Work | Seth Godin | On doing important work |
| 2 | The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue | V.E. Schwab | Clever novel. Loved it. |
| 3 | Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving | Celeste Headlee | Productivity is not the goal. Living a good life. |
| 4 | Travels With Charley In Search of America | John Steinbeck | Love the story of Charley and the Yellowstone bears |
| 5 | Snow Country | Yasunari Kawabata | Life of geishas in the 1930s |
| 6 | The Remains of the Day | Kazua Ishiguru | Dignity |
| 7 | A World Without Email | Cal Newport | Work processes for knowledge workers |
| 8 | Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less | Alex Soojung-Kim Pang | Elevate rest to work’s equal |
| 9 | Effortless | Greg McKeown | Effortless state: clear the clutter; effortless action: Simplify the process |
| 10 | The Long Ships | Frans G. Bengtsson | Viking epic |
| 11 | This Must Be The Place | Maggie O’Farrell | A happy marriage |
| No. | Title | Author | Comments |
| 1 | Too Much Stuff – Capitalism In Crisis | Kozo Yamamura | Overly simplified – lacking depth |
| 2 | The Rise of Carry: The Dangerous Consequences of Volatility Suppression and the New Financial Order of Decaying Growth and Recurring Crisis | Tim Lee, Jamie Lee and Kevin Coldiron | Persuasive case |
| 3 | The Simple Life: Plain Living and High Thinking In American Culture | David Shi | The idealistic journey toward simplicity |
| 4 | Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World | David Epstein | “Compare yourself to yourself yesterday, not to younger people who aren’t you.” |
| 5 | Stoner | John Williams | Depressing – main character never really progressed in his relationships |
| 6 | At the Center of Beauty: Solitude and the Creative Life | Fenton Johnson | Well crafted prose on the path from loneliness to solitude |
| 7 | News of the World | Paulette Jiles | Lovely western set in 1870 Texas |
| 8 | Narrative Economics: How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events | Robert Shiller | Applying the math of pandemics to viral stories |
| 9 | The Price of Tomorrow | Jeff Booth | Part about the impact of falling energy costs due to renewables was the most interesting |
| 10 | Middlemarch | George Eliot | Excellent. Loved the insight into 19th-century economics |
| 11 | The Book of Longings | Sue Monk Kidd | Story of Jesus’ wife, without much of Jesus |
| 12 | The Book of Mormon Girl: A Memoir of an American Faith | Joanna Brooks | Well written memoir |
| 13 | Wabi Sabi: Japanese Wisdom for a Perfectly Imperfect Life | Beth Kimpton | Applying wabi-sabi in our daily life |
| 14 | In Praise of Shadows | Junichiro Tanizak | A short eclectic book on dimness |
| 15 | Money: The True Story of A Made Up Thing | Jacob Goldstein | A well-written book on the history of money |
| 16 | When More Is Not Better: Overcoming America’s Obsession with Economic Efficiency | Roger L. Martin | Enlightening |
| 17 | Mexican Gothic | Del Rey | The living house |
List of Annual Readings
| No. | Title | Author | Comments |
| 1 | Digital Minimalism: Choosing A Focused Life in a Noisy World | Cal Newport | Great tips for reducing digital clutter. |
| 2 | The End of Alchemy: Money, Banking and the Future of the Global Economy | Mervyn King | Humble tome on coping with radical uncertainty |
| 3 | Sister Saints: Mormon Women since the End of Polygamy | Colleen McDannell | Fascinating history |
| 4 | A Philosophy of Walking | Frédéric Gros | Beautiful and inspiring. Best book in a long time. |
| 5 | A Stern Man | Elizabeth Gilbert | Lobster wars. Not my favorite. |
| 6 | A Company of One | Paul Jarvis | Being better, not growing bigger |
| 7 | Ecce Homo: How One Becomes What One Is | Friedrich Nietzsche | “I look upon my future, a broad future, as a calm sea, no sigh of longing makes a ripple on its surface.” |
| 8 | The Art of the Siesta: A Book about Stealing Moments of Repose | Thierry Paquot | A manifesto against the overconsumption of time and taking back control by taking a nap |
| 9 | The Red and the Black | Stendahl | “Society in 1830s France.” |
| 10 | Breakfast at Tiffany’s | Truman Capote | “When seriously explored, the short story seems to me the most difficult and disciplining form of prose writing extant.”-T. Capote |
| 11 | Broke Millenial Takes On Investing | Erin Lowry | Good basic investing book |
| 12 | The Simple Path To Wealth | JL Collins | The case for 100% in stocks |
| 13 | Lost and Wanted: A Novel | Nell Freudenberger | Well written novel featuring physics and ghosts |
| 14 | Everyday Chaos: Technology, Complexity, and How We’re Thriving in a New World of Possibility | David Weinberger | Good overview of AI and its consequences |
| 15 | How To Do Nothing | Jenny Odell | The importance of connection to place |
| 16 | Chances Are…: A Novel | Richard Russo | Entertaining beach read by a master storyteller |
| 17 | An Economist Walks into a Brothel: And Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk |
Allison Schrager | 3 steps: What do you want? Is there a risk-free way to get it? and if not, how much risk do you need to take to get what you want? |
| 18 | We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins At Breakfast | Jonathan Safran Foer | The environmental cost of eating animal products |
| 19 | Stillness Is the Key | Ryan Holiday | Nice overview of eastern and western traditions on stillness and solitude |
| 20 | The Dutch House | Ann Patchett | Interesting, but felt like I never truly understood characters’ motivations |
| 21 | Safety-first Retirement Planning: An Integrated Approach for a Worry-free Retirement | Wade Phau | Best book I have read for how to think about and use annuities |
| No. | Title | Author | Comments |
| 1 | Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work That Lasts | Ryan Holiday | Helpful perspective today’s marketing environment |
| 2 | Little Fires Everywhere | Celeste Ng | Brilliant work. Best novel I’ve read in a long time |
| 3 | The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance | Henry Petroski | Fascinating history |
| 4 | Lincoln in the Bardo: A Novel | George Saunders | Different. |
| 5 | Skin In the Game | Nassim Nicholas Taleb | Always thought provoking |
| 6 | The Tao of Pooh | Benjamin Hoff | Loved it |
| 7 | The Rooster Bar | John Grisham | Flat |
| 8 | Thinking In Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts | Annie Duke | Outcome versus decision process |
| 9 | The Three Simple Rules of Investing | Michael Edesess, Kwok L. Tsui, Carol Fabbri and George Peacock | Interesting take on rebalancing |
| 10 | Warlight: A Novel | Michael Ondaatje | Decent story of espionage post WW2 |
| 11 | Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis | John C. Goodman | Thought provoking |
| 12 | Mastering The Market Cycle | Howard Marks | Excellent |
| 13 | Pachinko | Min Jin Lee | Not my favorite |
| 14 | The Formula: The Universal Law of Success | Albert-László Barabási | Intriguing |
| 15 | Balanced Asset Allocation: How to Profit in Any Economic Climate | Alex Shahidi | Thought provoking |
| 16 | This Is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn To See | Seth Godin | Brilliant |
| No. | Title | Author | Comments |
| 1 | The Death of Money: The Coming Collapse of the International Monetary System | James Rickards | Interesting insights on gold |
| 2 | Run | Ann Patchett | Good |
| 3 | Essays in Idleness and Hojoki | Chomei, Kenko | Excellent |
| 4 | The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of Scandinavia Utopia | Michael Booth | Narrow |
| 5 | Complexity: A Guided Tour | Melanie Mitchell | Good overview |
| 6 | The Philosophical Investor: Transforming Wisdom Into Wealth | Gary Carmell | Okay |
| 7 | Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of Misfits and Millionaires Trying To Reinvent Money | Nathaniel Popper | Excellent overview of Bitcoin’s early days |
| 8 | Living With A Wild God: A Nonbeliever’s Search for the Truth about Everything | Barbara Ehrenreich | Interesting |
| 9 | The Accidental Universe | Alan Lightman | Fascinating |
| 10 | Truants | Ron Carlson | Early work |
| 11 | You Are Not a Gadget | Jaron Lanier | Insightful |
| 12 | The Samurai’s Garden | Gail Tsukiyama | Tender story, beautifully written |
| 13 | Rule #1:The Simple Strategy For Successful Investing In Only 15 Minutes Per Week | Phil Town | Viable but will take more than 15 minutes |
| 14 | Humans Are Underated | Geoff Colvin | Robots will do everything that humans will permit |
| 15 | The Retirement Miracle | Patrick Kelly | Generalities on Indexed Universal Life Insurance |
| 17 | Leap: Leaving a Job with No Plan B to Find the Career and Life You Really Want | Tess Vigeland | Very relatable |
| 16 | The All of It | Jeanette Haien | Delightful tale of an Irish priest, a parishioner, and fly fishing |
| 17 | The Bone Clocks | David Mitchell | Apocalyptic |
| 18 | A Field Guide To Getting Lost | Rebecca Solnit | Elegant |
| 19 | Pig In Heaven | Barbara Kingsolver | Bean Tree sequel from 2005 |
| 20 | Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style | W. David Marx | Fascinating |
| 21 | Are You A Stock Or A Bond?: Identify Your Own Human Capital for a Secure Financial Future | Moshe A. Milevsky | Ground breaking |
| No. | Title | Author | Comments |
| 1 | Trying Not To Try: The Art and Science of Spontaneity | Edward Slingerland | Great intro into early Chinese philosophy |
| 2 | The Zhuangzi: The Essential Writings | Zhuangzi | Illuminating |
| 3 | All The Light We Cannot See | Anthony Doerr | Excellent except ending |
| 4 | Intertwingled: Information Changes Everything | Peter Morville | Some interesting ideas on web site structure |
| 5 | The Dao of Capital | Mark Spitznagel | Roundabout |
| 6 | Saved | Ben Hewitt | Minimalism and what is money |
| 7 | How Much Money Do I Need To Retire | Todd Tressider | Solid |
| 8 | Information Doesn’t Want To Be Free | Cory Doctorow | Eye opening |
| 9 | The Good Creative | Paul Jarvis | Unremarkable |
| 10 | The Essential David Bohm | edited by Nichol Lee | Fascinating insights |
| 11 | True Wealth | Juliet B. Schor | She gets it |
| 12 | What To Do When It’s Your Turn | Seth Godin | Choose yourself |
| 13 | Embracing Defeat – Japan In The Wake Of World War II | John W. Dower | Illuminating |
| 14 | Risk Saavy: How To Make Good Decisions | Gerd Gigerenzer | Instructive |
| 15 | Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less | Greg Mckeown |
| No. | Title | Author | Comments |
| 1 | Audition | Ryu Murakami | Unpleasant |
| 2 | The Housekeeper and the Professor | Yoko Agawa | Uplifting story. |
| 3 | The Street of a Thousand Blossoms | Gail Tsukiyama | Lovely |
| 4 | Retiring Sooner: How to Accelerate Your Financial Independence | Darrow Kirkpatrick | Same old same old |
| 5 | How Much Is Enough?: Money and the Good Life | Robert and Edward Skidelsky | Thought provoking |
| 6 | The Confessions | Saint Augustine | Inspiring |
| 7 | The Consolation of Philosophy | Boethius | Fascinating |
| 8 | Collected Epistles | Ignatius of Antioch | Instructive |
| 9 | The God Delusion | Richard Dawkins | Fighting against a god foreign to me |
| 10 | Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now | Douglas Rushkoff | Fascinating |
| 11 | The Invention of Hugo Cabret | Brian Selznick | Just okay. |
| 12 | Enders Game | Orson Scott Card | Disappointing |
| 13 | The Hunger Games Trilogy 1 & 2, part of 3 | Suzanne Collins | Just okay |
| 14 | The Nicomachean Ethics | Aristotle | Classic – one of the best books read this year. |
| 15 | Flight Behavior | Barbara Kingsolver | Realistic. |
| 16 | Everything I Know | Paul Jarvis | Better than many self-published books on creativity |
| No. | Title | Author | Comments |
| 1 | Cloud Atlas | David Mitchell | Both intriguing and disturbing. Brilliantly written. |
| 2 | Adapt: Why Success Starts with Failure | Tim Harford | Be willing to fail, but with margin of safety so you can learn and adapt from it |
| 3 | The Misbehavior of Markets: A Fractal View of Financial Turbulence | Benoit Mandelbrot | Fractal market losses are far worse, happen more frequently, cluster together and are unpredictable |
| 4 | To Big to Know: Rethinking Knowledge | David Weinberger | Building smart rooms—that is, how to build networks that make us smarter |
| 5 | Grouped | Paul Adams | Marketing to small group of connected friends |
| 6 | The Smarter Science of Slim | Jonathan Bailor | Summary of latest weight loss research |
| 7 | The Click Moment | Frans Johannsan | Seizing Opportunity in an Unpredictable World |
| 8 | Antifragile | Nicolas Nassim Taleb | Brilliant Black Swan Followup |
| 9 | Born Standing Up | Steve Martin | Fascinating autobiography. Shows how hard he worked. |
| 10 | Icarius Deception | Seth Godin | Pick Yourself. |
| 11 | Voluntary Simplicity | Duane Elgin | Economics of simplicity. |
| 12 | Nature Principle | Richard Louv | Reconnecting to Life in a Virtual Age |
| 13 | Small is Beautiful | E.F. Schumacher | Interesting economics |
| No. | Title | Author | Comments |
| 1 | Eating Animals | Jonathan Safran Foer | Compelling case for vegetarianism |
| 2 | The China Study | T. Colin Campbell | Medical/scientific case or veganism |
| 3 | In Pursuit of Elegance | Matthew E. May | Elegance (Shibui) = Symmetry, Seduction, Subtraction and Sustainability |
| 4 | Poke the Box | Seth Godin | Start. Then Ship. |
| 5 | Program or be Programmed: Ten Commandments for a Digital Age | Douglas Rushkoff | Be aware of biases embedded in technology |
| 6 | The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms | Nassim Nicholas Taleb | Seek a poetic, noble, elegant, robust and heroic life |
| 7 | Siddhartha | Herman Hesse | Om, the music of life, perfection. |
| 8 | The Grapes of Wrath | John Steinbeck | Shocking, but very well done. |
| 9 | The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle | Steven Pressfield | Be a professional |
| 10 | The Art of Non-Conformity | Chris Guillebeau | Average. Focus on great work. |
| 11 | Brain Rules | John Medina | Sight, Emotion, Short Attention, Repetion |
| 12 | The Wholeness of Nature | Henri Bortoft | See comprehensively by experiencing the whole through the intrinsic connections found in the parts |
| 13 | Do the Work | Steven Pressfield | Follow up to The War of Art |
| 14 | The Idea Hunter | Andy Boynton and Bill Fischer | Curiosity and Breadth |
| 15 | The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood | James Gleick | Logical Depth |
| 16 | Bursts: The Hidden Pattern Behind Everything We Do | Albert Laszio Barabasi | Prioritization = Power Laws and Burstiness |
| 17 | State of Wonder | Ann Patchett | Amazonian saga |
| 18 | The Lord of the Rings | J.R.R. Tolkien | Classic |
| 19 | Obliquity: Why Our Goals Are Best Achieved Indirectly | John Kay | Indirect approach to life |
| 20 | End Malaria | Michael Bungay Stanier | Multiple authors give their take on doing great work |
| 21 | Linchpin | Seth Godin | Make Art |
| 22 | Exorbitant Privilege | Barry Eichengreen | Currency wars and history |
| 23 | Country Driving | Peter Hessler | Fascinating experiences in China |
| 24 | We Are All Weird | Seth Godin | Normal Distribution Flattening, Fatter Tails |
| 25 | The Education of a Millionaire | Michael Ellsberg | Makes case for not going to college |
| 26 | Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel For Brilliance | Jonathan Field | Techniques for overcoming the lizard brain |
| 27 | Content Rules | Ann Handley, C.C. Chapman and David Meerman | Overly basic tome on blogging, video, podcast, etc. |
| 28 | Steve Jobs | Walter Isaacson | Insight full account, particularly on Jobs’ design philosophy |
| 29 | The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris | David McCullough | Delightful account of American artists in Paris during the 19th century |
| 30 | Zarrella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness: The Science, Design and Engineering of Contagious Ideas | Dan Zarrella | Some helpful hints for Twitter |
| No. | Title | Author | Comments |
| 1 | Sonic Boom | Gregg Easterbrook | Positive thoughts on the global economy and innovation |
| 2 | The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine | Michael Lewis | Sad tale of financial abuse |
| 3 | Iconoclast: A Neuroscience Reveals How to Think Differently | Gregory Berns | Simply Put: Think Different, Face Fear, Social Intelligence |
| 4 | The Lacuna | Barbara Kingsolver | Beautiful and clever |
| 5 | The Signal | Ron Carlson | Master story telling as always |
| 6 | Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocoust | Immaculee Ilibagiza | For book club – sad |
| 7 | The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict | The Arbinger Institute | For book club – best of the self deception lot |
| 8 | Smart World: Breakthrough Creativity and the New Science of Ideas | Richard Ogle | Tune into the dynamics of key networked idea-spaces – original and insightful |
| 9 | You Say More Than You Think: Use the New Body Language to Get What You Want | Janine Driver | Helpful tips |
| 10 | Hamlet’s Blackberry: A Practical Philosophy for Building a Good Life in the Digital Age | Williams Powers | Take time to reflect |
| 11 | Graceful | Seth Godin | Extends Linch Pin |
| 12 | The Great Reset | Richard Florida | Geographic fallout from the Great Recession |
| 13 | Cognitive Surplus | Clay Shirky | Using the world’s excess mental power |
| 14 | Simple Guide to Minimalist Life | Leo Babauta | Simplify |
| 15 | About Grace | Anthony Doerr | Beautiful novel |
| 16 | The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle | Haruki Murakami | Unusual |
| 17 | Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation | Steven Johnson | Ideas, innovation. One of best books this year. |
| 18 | Wabi Sabi: For Artists Designers Poets and Philosophers | Leonard Koren | Inspiring |
| 19 | Wabi Sabi: The Japanese Art of Impermanence | Andrew Juniper | More detail on Wabi Sabi |
| 20 | The Unknown Craftsman: A Japanese Insight into Beauty | Soetsu Yanagi | Favorite book this year |
| 21 | Arranging Things: A Rhetoric of Object Placement | Leonard Koren | The depth of displays |
| 22 | Which Aesthetics Do You Mean: 10 Definitions | Leonard Koren | Not his best |
| 23 | The Flower Shop: Charm, Grace, Beauty & Tenderness in a Commercial Context | Leonard Koren | New ways to arrange flowers |
| 24 | Fault Lines | Raghuram G. Rajan | The fissures that led to the Great Recession and how they haven’t been fixed. |
| 25 | Beatrice and Virgil | Yann Martel | Falls well short of Life of Pi |
| 26 | The New Capitalist Manifesto | Umair Haque | A compelling pathway out of our global economic and environmental funk |
| 27 | Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual | Michael Pollan | Straightforward eating guide |
| No. | Title | Author | Comments |
| 1 | The Secret Life of Bees | Sue Monk Kidd | Wonderful novel based in the South |
| 2 | The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World | Niall Ferguson | Liked section regarding inflationary aspects of gold |
| 3 | Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges | C Otto Scharmer | Theory U = Downloading, Seeing, Sensing, Presenscing, Crystallizing, Prototyping, Performing |
| 4 | How We Decide | Jonah Lehrer | Rely on emotional brain to make complex. Think about thinking |
| 5 | Stabilizing An Unstable Economy | Hyman P. Minksy | The theory of debt, crash and the lender of last resort. |
| 6 | Gold Standard In Theory & History | Barry Eichengreen | Gold standard no panacea |
| 7 | Into the Beautiful North: A Novel | Luis Alberto Urrea | Novel of Mexico and Immigrants |
| 8 | Five Skies | Ron Carlson | Master Story Teller |
| 9 | Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism | George A. Akerlof, Robert J. Shiller | Behavioral Finance |
| 10 | Create Your Own Economy | Tyler Cowen | Uses autism as a platform for writing tedious book |
| 11 | The Lost Symbol | Dan Brown | Masonic novel |
| 12 | Stop Acting Rich: And Start Living Like A Real Millionaire | Thomas J. Stanley | Cynical – disregards those that pay up for true quality |
| 13 | Wall Street Revalued: Imperfect Markets and Inept Central Bankers | Andrew Smithers | Fed, bubbles and effectiveness of P/E’s based on normalized earnings for valuation criteria. |
| 14 | This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly | Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff | First bank failures, then deep recession, then sovereign defaults |
| 15 | Fixing Global Finance | Martin Wolf | The case for global rebalancing |
| 16 | The Panic of 1819: Reactions and Policies | Murray N. Rothbard | Speculation and Collapse |
| 17 | The Holy Grail of Macroeconomics: Lessons form Japan’s Great Recession | Richard C. Koo | Balance sheet recessions |
| 18 | Ahead of the Curve: Common Sense Guide to Forecasting Business Cycles | Joseph H. Ellis | Focus on trailing one year data |
| 19 | The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us and What We Can Do About It | Joshua Cooper Ramo | Complexity and world disorder, one of the best books read in 2009 |
| 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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