I read 51 books in 2025 (about the same as in 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2021.) With a difference: I used AI to read 44 of them in the last week of the year. Mind blowing The Ants by Bert Hölldobler. Finally, after 20 years of wanting to read it. It lives up to the hype. Wind and Truth (The Stormlight Archive, #5) by Brandon Sanderson. The only fiction I’ve taken notes for. (About 500 points.) Life changing (or at least, perspective changing) ...
I read 52 books in 2023 (about the same as in 2022, 2021 and 2020.) Here’s what I read (best books first). Fiction The Kingkiller Chronicle. I picked it up before a flight to London in 2014. Read it through the flight. Read it late into the night at our AirBnB. Skipped my workshop prep. Read it during the workshop breaks. Read it on the flight back. And I re-read it every year or two. The language is beautiful and the story gripping. I feel miserable this series isn’t complete. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Stormlight Archive. Another series I re-read regularly. Brandon Sanderson takes the scale of the story up a notch in every book. Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Andy Weir’s books. Since my daughter re-reads The Martian (laughing loudly), I picked up Project Hail Mary. It’s a brilliant depiction of alien physiology and communication, with a weird kind of humour I love. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Egg by Andy Weir ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Martian by Andy Weir ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Red Rising Saga. A pleasant discovery of a new series. Somewhat like The Hunger Games and Divergent. Red Rising by Pierce Brown ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Golden Son by Pierce Brown ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Morning Star by Pierce Brown ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Blake Crouch’s books. The two I read were both time-travel related and I love that genre. These do a great job of exploring some of the deeper implications of time-travel. Recursion by Blake Crouch ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Dark Matter by Blake Crouch ⭐⭐⭐ Ready Player One by Ernest Cline ⭐⭐⭐. It’s as good as the movie with slightly different scenes. The Reckoners by Brandon Sanderson. Another series I re-read. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Firefight by Brandon Sanderson ⭐⭐⭐ Calamity by Brandon Sanderson ⭐⭐⭐ The Year of Sanderson. Brandon Sanderson’s kickstarter raised $41m for 4 books this year (mostly Cosmere). The stories themselves were OK but the hints they drop about the Cosmere are invaluable. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson ⭐⭐⭐ The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson ⭐⭐⭐ Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa. After Death Note, it felt like a let-down when it started. A mundane story. Then it grew funny. Showed shades of a much deeper story. I’m mid-way through the series and I’m hooked. Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 1 by Hiromu Arakawa ⭐⭐⭐ Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 2 by Hiromu Arakawa ⭐⭐⭐ Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 3 by Hiromu Arakawa ⭐⭐⭐ Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 4 by Hiromu Arakawa ⭐⭐⭐ Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 5 by Hiromu Arakawa ⭐⭐⭐ Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 6 by Hiromu Arakawa ⭐⭐⭐ Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 7 by Hiromu Arakawa ⭐⭐⭐ Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 8 by Hiromu Arakawa ⭐⭐⭐ Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 9 by Hiromu Arakawa ⭐⭐⭐ Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 10 by Hiromu Arakawa ⭐⭐⭐ Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 11 by Hiromu Arakawa ⭐⭐⭐ Mono no Aware e altre storie by Ken Liu ⭐⭐⭐. A nice short story Traitors Gate by Jeffrey Archer ⭐⭐⭐. A well-writter fast-paced average story. Mistborn: Secret History by Brandon Sanderson ⭐⭐⭐. Average story but with lots of “secrets” about the Cosmere. Asterix and the Griffin by Jean-Yves Ferri ⭐⭐. Some good jokes but not as good as the original series. Non-fiction ...
I read 52 books in 2022 (about the same as in 2021 and 2020.) Here’s what I read (best books first). Mind-blowing Man’s Search for Meaning. Viktor Frankl. It’s 75 years old and timeless. Who we are is independent of what’s around us. This book shows us why. This story is a great example. My best book of 2022. The Paper Menagerie. Ken Liu. I cried all the way from the beach to home. The skies joined me. It’s short. Touching. It healed a wound I can’t speak about. The most touching book of 2022. The Data Detective. Tim Harford. 10 powerful, down-to-earth rules for how to make sense of data, and avoid being fooled. I plan to incorporate every one of these into my talks. The most useful guide to working with data in 2022. The Extended Mind. Annie Murphy Paul. Explains how we think not just inside our brains, but in our bodies, in our physical environment, and in the people around us. The most effective guide to transforming my thinking in 2022. Life-changing ...
On my Goodreads 2021 reading challenge, I read 52/50 books in 2021. I managed 47/50 in 2020 (see 2020 reviews) and 26/24 in 2019. Here’s what I read (best books first). Mind-blowing The Almanack of Naval Ravikant. It’s the best non-fiction I’ve read in 5 years. It focuses Wealth and Happiness. It’s short. I finished it in a day. But it’s deep. I can spend a decade practicing just a single sentence. It’s available at navalmanack.com as a free e-book and audio book. Rhythm of War. The 4th book of the Stormlight Archives is an action-packed fantasy. A great gift for teenagers. In an extra-ordinary magic system, Brandon Sanderson builds up to the greatest climax I’ve read. What an ending! Death Note #1-#12. Light Yagami gets hold of a “death note”. If he writes a name on it, they die. “L” is out to catch him. In a cat-and-mouse psychological thriller, Light and L work next to each other, share their plans, and still try to outwit the other. It’s like chess. The pieces are visible. But it’s the strategy that counts. A brilliant comic series. Life-changing ...
My Goodreads 2020 Reading Challenge target is 50 books. I’m at 45/50, with little hope of getting to 50. (I managed 25/24 in 2019.) The 10 non-fiction books I read (most useful first) are below. The Lean Startup by Eric Reis. The principle of Build - Measure - Learn is useful everywhere in life too, not just in startups. Never Split The Difference by Chriss Voss. Shares principle-driven strategies to convince people. The 4 Disciplines of Execution by McChesney, Covey & Huling. Teaches how to build execution rigor in an organization. A bit long at the end, but the first section is excellent. Sprint by Jake Knapp. A detailed step-by-step guide to running product development sprints that you can follow blindly. How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams. Dilbert’s author shares his strategies for life. Very readable, intelligent, and slightly provocative, but always interesting. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. Written as a story (like The Goal). Talks about the 5 problems in teams and how to overcome them. The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle. Explains the elements of strong cultures - belongingness, shared vulnerability, and shared purpose. Data-Driven Storytelling by Nathalie Henry Riche et al. Shares the latest points of view on telling data stories. My team and I read these chapters as a group. Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek. Inspiring when I read it, but I don’t remember what it said. Deep Work by Cal Newport. Shares tactics to focus. Practical and useful. I also started, by haven’t finished these four: ...
These are the Pulitzer prize winning non-fiction books. I’ve read only two: Godel, Escher, Bach and Guns, Germs and Steel. These were the very best books I have EVER read. If that’s any indication to go by, I want to finish this whole list. 1962: The Making of the President, 1960 by Theodore H White 1963: The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman 1964: Anti-intellectualism in America by Richard Hofstadter 1965: O Strange New World by Howard M Jones 1966: Wandering Through Winter by Edwin Way Teale 1967: The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture by David Brion Davis 1968: Rousseau & Revolution Story of CIV Volume 10 by Will Durant 1969: Armies of the Night by Norman Mailer 1970: Gandhi’s Truth: On the Origins of Militant Nonviolence by Erik H Erikson 1971: The Rising Sun by John Toland 1972: Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45 by Barbara W. Tuchman 1973: Fire in the Lake by Frances Fitzgerald 1974: The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker 1975: Pilgrim At Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard 1976: Why Survive?: Being Old in America by Robert N Butler 1977: Beautiful Swimmers by William W Warner 1978: Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan 1979: On Human Nature by Edward Osborne Wilson 1980: Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter 1981: Fin-de-siecle Vienna: Politics and Culture by Carl Schorske 1982: The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder 1983: Is There No Place on Earth for Me? by Susan Sheehan 1984: The Social Transformation of American Medicine by Paul Starr 1985: The Good War: An Oral History of World War II by Studs Terkel 1986: Common Ground by J. Anthony Lukas 1987: Arab and Jew by David K Shipler 1988: The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes 1989: A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan 1990: And Their Children After Them by Michael Williamson 1991: Ants by Bert Holldobler 1992: Prize by Daniel Yergin 1993: Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America by Garry Wills 1994: Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire by David Remnick 1995: The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time by Jonathan Weiner 1996: The Haunted Land by Tina Rosenberg 1997: Ashes to Ashes by Richard Kluger 1998: Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond 1999: The Annals of the Former World by John McPhee 2000: Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II by John W. Dower 2001: Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert P. Bix 2002: Carry Me Home by Diane McWhorter 2003: A Problem from Hell by Samantha Power 2004: Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum 2005: Ghost Wars by Steve Coll Comments Jayant 30 Mar 2006 2:12 pm: Thanks a ton for the list. Pulitzer books in non-fiction are just gems! Arun 31 Mar 2006 8:08 am: Ouch, haven’t read even one of these. And i thought i read more non-fiction than most!!! S Anand 31 Mar 2006 9:45 am: Next on my reading list are Ants (don’t be fooled: though it’s really about ants, it’s apparantly a fascinating read), Annals of the Former World (which I developed a liking for since I read A Short History of Everything), and Carl Sagan’s Dragons of Eden. Sanchaari 31 Mar 2006 2:14 pm: Hi Anand, I liked your Bolg style, can I take some ideas from here? Which blogging site you are using? S Anand 31 Mar 2006 4:47 pm: Feel free to pull ideas. But I don’t use any blogging software. I write entries in Excel, and my Perl program converts that to HTML, which I then I FTP. Not much help, I’m afraid…
The Code Book by Simon Singh is the last book I read. It’s also the only non-fiction I managed to finish in two years.