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I posted my 2018 Book recommendations based on topics. Media Recommendations here.
- Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction by Derek Thompson. [Review]
- A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety by Jimmy Carter. [Review]
- Gandhi Before India by Ramachandra Guha. [Review]
- Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell. [Review]
- The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee. [Review]
- My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (trans. Ann Goldstein). [Review]
- The Electronic Sweatshop by Barbara Garson. [Review]
- Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. Astoundingly Prescient!
- Americana: A 400-year History of American Capitalism by Bhu Srinivasan. [review]
- Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian.
- Janesville by Amy Goldstein.
- Conspicuous Consumption by Thorstein Veblen.
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.
- Beyond a Boundary by CLR James.
- Enchiridion by Epictetus.
- The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark.
- Rise of Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future by Martin Ford.
- Disgrace by JM Coetzee.
- This Divided Island: Life, Death and Sri Lankan War by Samanth Subramanian.
- Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl.
- Attrib by Eley Williams.
- Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre by Walter Kaufmann.
- Montaigne by Stefan Zweig.
- John Adams by David McCullough.
- Anthropic Bias: Observation Selection Effects in Science and Philosophy by Nick Bostrom.
- The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa. Trans. by Stephen Snyder.
- The Inner Citadel by Pierre Hadot. Trans. by Michael Chase.
- How to be a Stoic by Massimo Pigliucci.
- Bruges-la-morte by Georges Rodenbach. Translated by Mike Mitchell.
- Prediction Machines: Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence by Ajay Agarwal, Joshua Gans and Avi Goldfarb.
- The Infidel and the Professor: David Hume, Adam Smith, and the Friendship That Shaped Modern Thought by Dennis Rasmussen.
- The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard.
- Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking by Daniel Dennett
- Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatzky. Trans. by Olena Bormashenko.
- Liberty by Virginia Woolf.
- Essays in Idleness by Kenkō and Hōjōki by Chōmei. Translated by Meredith McKinney.
- Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction by Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner.
- Snow by Orhan Pamuk. Translated by Maureen Feely.
- Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman.
- Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. (Re-read).
- The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World by Niall Ferguson.
- The Efficiency Paradox: What Big Data Can’t Do by Edward Tenner.
- The Customer Centricity Playbook by Peter Fader and Sarah Toms.
- Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee.
- Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou. [Review]
- Never Stop Learning by Brad Staats.
- Exit, Voice, and Loyalty by Albert O. Hirschman.
- How not to be wrong by Jordan Ellenberg.
- The Great A&P and Struggle for Small Business in America by Marc Levinson.
On the Reading Desk
- The Blockchain and the New Architecture of Trust by Kevin Werbach.
- Three-Body problem by Cixin Liu (Trans. by Ken Liu).
- Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik
Long Project: Over time, I have been reading Kristin Lavransdatter, the Norwegian trilogy (the Wreath, Wife and the Cross) by Sigrid Undset. I am about less than a third through the 1168 pages.
Tsundoku / Anti-Library of 2018
I fell short of my 2018 reading goal, but this is only a good thing in Umberto Eco’s lexicon. Life is short, there are always miles to go, and promises to keep. Here are the recent books that are hovering on my radar and beckoning my time. The pleasure is in the knowledge that this ever-changing queue of books may occasionally reduce, but will never get empty, even as I read more.
On Science/tech front, I am looking forward to reading Lost in math: How Beauty Lead Physics Away about pursuing research for beauty’s sake — a topic that fascinates me. I am excited by the tome The Prophet and The Wizard by Charles Mann.
In the Automation/AI front, Gigged by Sarah Kessler and Army of None by Paul Scharre are next on my list.
On Biographies/History books, I am looking forward to reading Inseparable: The Original Siamese Twins By Yunte Huang (about Original Siamese twins who settled in America, married different women and raised many children) and God Save Texas: A journey in the soul of Lone Star State by Lawrence Wright (as I am fascinated by Texas).
About India, I am looking forward to reading Gandhi: The Years changed the world 1914-1918 by Ramachandra Guha (I enjoyed his Gandhi before India) and Army of Empire: The Untold Story of the Indian Army in World War I by George Morton-Jack (a story not much covered in Indian History).
On the Fiction Front, on my radar are Milkman by Anna Burns (as I am a sucker for Irish writing), Circe by Madeline Miller and Odyssey by Emily Wilson (both from Philadelphia!). Severance by Ling Ma seems like an astounding new Foreign SF in the vein of Cixin Liu’s book.
The folks at NYRB have just published a translation of Uwe Johnson’s Anniversaries. The volume is too humongous for me to pick up now. However, this lovely review at Weekly Standard (RIP!) calls it one of the greatest novels of the 20th century.
I also discovered Hiking with Nietzsche: On Becoming Who you are by John Kaag. I find that the great outdoors and philosophy books go perfectly hand in hand.
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Other Book Lists. If you are curious about other book lists: I like (and learn a lot from) Tyler Cowen’s 2018 recommendations. I am always curious about Bill Gates’s five best. Here is the NY times best books list which I found unsatisfying in breadth this year. The expansive, really fun-to-play NPR book list is a good starting point. You may like the favorite books of the pop-culture aware folks at the AV Club and President Obama’s books, movies and music list. The list from GQ asks the best book authors to cite their favorites of the year — their choices are fascinating.
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See 2017 Books (Book recommendations from 2017 are here). See 10 notable books read in 2016.