At the end of last year I came across a Bloomberg best books of 2018 list which gave me some great holiday reading. Inspired by that I thought it would be nice to reflect on what I read last year by writing down all the books I read last year. Reading on my phone/iPad makes remembering this a lot easier as most of this was checking back through that history. There’s a few scattered paperbacks around the apartment and I did some book borrowing this year but I think I got them all.
With each book I included a few thoughts about them or what prompted me to read them. Going back through this list really brought back memories of 2018 and the various places my mind and body went last year.
I can see some broad themes in the list. My usual interests in aviation, war, and religion show up. I didn’t read as many technical books as I would have liked but 2017 was a very technical book heavy year for me so I must have needed a break. I got onto a good track of business and productivity books and I think I’d like to find more of those in 2019.
Under the Banner of Heaven, Jon Krakauer
I was coming off a big mountaineering reading kick at the end of 2017 and of course John Krakauer’s Into Thin Airis a classic. I was looking for another Krakauer book to read and since religion is a subject I enjoy reading about I picked Under the Banner of Heaven. I read this on a trip to San Francisco for my friends wedding. I really distinctly remember taking the Caltrain to and from San Francisco to the wedding and reading this book on the train.
No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith, Fawn Brodie
Under the Banner of Heaven cites this book a lot so I picked up a copy.
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
One of those books I’d always heard about and had never actually read. I think I got pointed to it by Under the Banner of Heavensince they both involve murder. I can’t entirely remember why I picked it up but it was a great read.
Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, Johann Hari
The War on Drugs seems normal to anyone who grew up in our era but it’s incredible how recent of a phenomenon it really is. This book traces the history of modern drug prohibition and talks about alternative theories to drug addiction and ways to solve it aside from prohibition. I was reading this one on a trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in February.
Ready Player One, Ernest Cline
There was a lot of buzz around the movie coming out and Fred recommended this book to me years ago. I always tell people I’ll read their recommendations eventually but it may take some time. Before the movie came out I gave it a read. I grew up playing video games so I thought it was a really fun read. The controversy around it when the movie came out rang pretty true to me.
War Diaries: 1939-1945, Astrid Lindgren
My mom recommended this one to me. It was only published recently and is a truly remarkable read. Astrid Lindgren wrote these diaries before she wrote Pippi Longstocking and anyone knew who she was. As a Swede I’ve always been aware that Sweden and World War II have a complicated history. It was interesting to read a contemporary Swedish perspective on the war and to view World War II from a different point of view. Most notable to me was hearing about Finland and the Soviet Union fighting multiple battles during the war. That’s something that doesn't really get brought up much in the US but from the perspective of Lindgren that was one of the most important events of the war.
Also at the end she mentions she made up a character for her daughter called Pippi Longstocking. What a foreshadowing.
Born on the Fourth of July, Ron Kovic
Bruce Springsteen talked about this book in his Broadway show and I read it because of that. This was a truly moving book. It’s inspiring the lengths that Ron Kovic went to to get out the message of how veterans were being treated and the cost of war. Reading this book will take you directly to the true meaning of“Bornin the USA”.
One Bullet Away, Nathaniel Fick
Born on the Fourth of July got me on a small war book kick and I’m a sucker for books about Iraq and the Marine Corps. I either read this on a flight to Raleigh or Los Angeles. I can’t remember.
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, Michelle McNamara
The Golden State Killer was captured via a DNA testing website and I read the news stories about it. I’d never heard of the Golden State Killer before he was caught but when I read about him I was horrified on a very visceral level. His crimes and the way he committed them are truly chilling. This led me to the book. McNamara died before finishing the book but the book is credited with sparking interest in the case leading to the DNA testing that actually captured the killer.
Dispatches, Michael Herr
I can’t remember how I found it but this was one of the best war books I’ve ever read. Definitely the best about the Vietnam War. It blends truth and fantasy together so seamlessly that you feel you are there.
Bad Blood, John Carreyrou
I saw an article about it when it came out. This book is a great example of reality is stranger than fiction. You really can’t believe the lies and deceit involved in this company unless you read the book. If someone had told you about them a few years ago before it all broke there’s no way you’d believe it. But it’s the truth.
For me this book was a good reminder of the dark side of Silicon Valley growth at all costs mindset and the human cost associated with it.
Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain
I think the reason for this one is pretty clear. Sadly Anthony Bourdain died and I read his book after that. I wish I had found it earlier. It’s both sad and inspiring to read someone’s works for the first time right after they die. It’s sad in that you didn’t understand them in life but also inspiring to see them live on through their work.
Deep Work, Cal Newport
Part of a productivity book kick. This year one of my big focuses was cutting out short attention span activities and trying to learn to focus again.
Remote: Office Not Required, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
I’m from Hawaii so remote work has a lot of appeal to me. I’m a big believer in the future of remote work and this book is a must read for anyone interested in working remotely or who has an employee interested in working remotely.
The Crisis of Islam, Bernard Lewis
Bernard Lewis was a famous scholar on Islam who died last year. I saw his obituary in the New York Times and I’d never heard of him before but the obituary tied together his work and the invasion of Iraq which piqued my interest. You may see it in other books here but the Iraq war is a fascination of mine so I was curious how the Bush administration used Lewis’ work to justify an invasion.
Are Your Lights On? Donald C. Cause and Gerald M. Weinberg
This is a great book about problem solving. It’s short and written in a very approachable manner. I actually read this right before Jerry Weinberg died. I saw it recommended on Hacker News I think and picked it up. A few weeks after I finished it I saw that he had died.
Friendly Fire, C.D.B. Bryan
I’ve always had an interest in war books and I think Vietnam is a fascinating cultural cross section of war, politics, and America. I’m too young to have been there but I think we still see the changes it made to our society. To me Vietnam is when American’s stopped trusting their government. Friendly Fire causes that theme by following the journey of an American family from loyal patriotism to questioning everything the government tells them.
Shade It Black: Death and After in Iraq, Jess Goodell with John Hearn
We think about soldiers in war creating death and suffering death but we don’t think about those who work with the dead after they pass. This book is the story of a Mortuary Affairs soldier in Iraq. Mortuary Affairs processes the bodies of servicemen and women in the field before their journey back to the United States. It’s a side of the cost of war that we seldom think of or see.
I remember reading this book on the flight to Traverse City, Michigan. It’s not a long flight but it’s not a long book either.
Rework, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier-Hansson
I loved Remote so much that I read their other book.
It Doesn’t Have to be Crazy at Work, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier-Hansson
This one came out after I started following DDH on Twitter so I heard about it there. I loved their other books so I read this one too. Short but to the point. It really packs a punch. I appreciate their willingness to look critically at how they do business.
Joel on Software, Joel Spolsky
I’ve read a lot of Joel’s blog posts but I finally sat down and read the book. It’s really a greatest hits of the blog so I had seen a lot of it before but few can write engaging and deep technical work like Joel Spolsky. Worthwhile for anyone in the software industry.
Designing Data-Intensive Applications, Martin Kleppmann
I wanted a technical read and I had a week long vacation to Michigan. The woods are perfect place to read and I spend hours every day reading this book including some lovely nights by the fire. This was a dense read and I think powering through it was the way to read it. I learned a ton.
Mindfulness In Plain English, Bhante Gunaratana
I was interested in meditation and I found this on the meditation subreddit. It was a fantastic book and I spent a month practicing meditation after it. The habit lapsed but the book taught me a ton.
Blind Trust, John Nance
Recommended to me by a pilot coworker after the Lion Air disaster last year. It’s an exploration of aviation safety focused on post-deregulation United States aviation. John Nance paints a pretty scary picture of the state of safety at that time but also talks about the path forward.
To me this book is about failure analysis. It’s one that I was able to take a lot from outside of just aviation as the art of looking at a disaster and critically thinking about why it happened is valuable just about anywhere. True study of failure is the only way to improve and it’s impressive how aviation has studied failure with the goal being to improve safety. The situation has gotten much better since this book was written due to the techniques Nance writes about.
Mormonism: Shadow or Reality?, Jerald and Sandra Tanner
I was taking a trip to Salt Lake City for a football game so Mormonism was on the brain and I picked this up. It was about 10 times as thick as I expected and looked like a textbook. The level of detail they got into and the sorts of documents they accumulated really is impressive.
The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II, Iris Chang
Fred lent me this one. It’s a horrifying book not just because of the content but because of how little is known about the Rape of Nanking in the West. The book points out that it was the first Western audience book to actually explore the topic. It also talks about contemporary denial of the Rape of Nanking in Japanese politics. A tragedy is made far more sad when no one is able to learn from it and try to prevent it from ever occurring again.
Hawaii Under the Rising Sun: Japan’s Plans for Conquest After Pearl Harbor, John J. Stephan
Fred lent me this one too. I grew up in Hawaii but never for a second thought about what Japan wanted to do with Hawaii had they won the war. This one really changed my perspective on something I thought I already knew the gist of (PearlHarbor).
The Noma Guide To Fermentation, René Redzepi and David Zilber
I learned how to make yogurt last year and this was an interesting extension of those fermentation skills. I ended up fermenting blueberries, asparagus, and tomatoes from this book and hope to experiment with vinegars and miso in the future.
Without You There Is No Us, Suki Kim
North Korea was in the news a lot last year to say the least and I found this book recommended as a good one on life on the inside of the regime. It’s about an American teaching at a private school in North Korea (I think the only one there). A really fascinating look behind the veil.
Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Manual, Wizards of the Coast
I’m including these since they were actually very long reads. My friends from Hawaii and I picked up DnD this year and played over video all year. I took a stab at DMing so I ended up reading all the literature. I had a blast. It was pretty different from what I expected and I’m glad I tried playing despite my initial aversion.