Well, that's a crazy year in the record books ... and, speaking of books, here's the list of books I read this year. Ironically, everyone being locked at home meant that generally I did less reading than normal. Fewer audiobooks because there was no commuting, for example, but also even just in terms of having free time to read, I found I had less, because so many activities were cancelled, there was a lot more family together time and less time where I had blocks to just sit down and read without someone else coming along to interrupt.
- Exhalation by Ted Chiang
- God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World -- and Why Their Differences Matter by Stephen Prothero
- For the Killing of Kings by Howard Andrew Jones
- Upon the Flight of the Queen by Howard Andrew Jones
- Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim
- Kill the Farm Boy by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne
- An Economic History of the World since 1400 by Donald J. Harreld (Great Courses)
- The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revoluion by Francis Fukuyama
- Law School for Everyone by Molly Bishop Shadel (Great Courses)
- Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Others Don't by Jim Collins
- Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi
- A Game of Birds and Wolves: The Ingenious Young Women Whose Secret Board Game Helped Win World War II by Simon Parkin
- The New Testament by Bart Ehrman (Great Courses)
- Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi
- The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli
- Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes by Maria Konnikova
- Making Sense: Conversations on Consciousness, Morality, and the Future of Humanity by Sam Harris & others
- Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
- Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
- The ABCs of Educational Testing: Demystifying the Tools That Shape Our Schools by W. James Popham
- Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Unravel the Dusk by Elizabeth Lim
- Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie
- A Promised Land by Barack Obama
- The Freedom Maze by Delia Sherman
- The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths by Mariana Mazzucato
- Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson (unfinished)
- No Country for Old Gnomes by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne (unfinished)
Breakdown
Format:
And for anyone who is interested in looking into the past to see some of my previous book lists...
Prior to 2008, I didn't keep a precise running record of the books that I read.
Format:
- Audiobooks: 13
- Electronic: 3
- Kindle: 3
- Dead tree books: 12
Subjects:
- Total Fiction: 13
- Science Fiction: 3
- Fantasy: 10
- Non-Fiction: 15
- Science: 2
- Physics: 2
- Psychology: 2
- Technology: 1
- Religion: 2
- History: 5
- Politics/Law: 4
- Business/Economics: 4
- Education: 1
- Philosophy: 1
These numbers don't quite match up, because some books cover multiple areas, and so I've included them in all relevant categories. So, for example, a book on free will would fall in both Psychology and Philosophy (and possibly even Religion) categories. And a book on Politics might drift enough into the realm of Philosophy (or vice versa) that I count them as both, or both might explore enough historical groundwork that I feel the need to include it as a History book.
I've also included The Great Courses audios that I listen to through Audible.com. Though not actually books, I figure that a 10+ hour course on a subject contains about the same informational content, if not presented structurally in quite the same way as it would take in a written book.
The HistoryI've also included The Great Courses audios that I listen to through Audible.com. Though not actually books, I figure that a 10+ hour course on a subject contains about the same informational content, if not presented structurally in quite the same way as it would take in a written book.
Podcasts
In addition to listening to audiobooks, my intake of thinking consists enough of podcasts that it seems worth including them as a category. Here are the podcasts that I have listened to in 2018 on a fairly regular basis:- You Are Not So Smart
- Making Sense with Sam Harris
- The Glenn Show
- Talk Nerdy with Cara Santa Maria
- Very Bad Wizards
- What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law
- The Lawfare Podcast
- Rational Security
- The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg
- Advisory Opinions
- Left, Right, and Center
- All the President's Lawyers
- Today, Explained
- The Weeds
- Stuff to Blow Your Mind
And for anyone who is interested in looking into the past to see some of my previous book lists...
Prior to 2008, I didn't keep a precise running record of the books that I read.
