2012 in Books

A little late with it, but here's my annual round up on the year's reading.

I took a goal at the end of 2011 to read 48 books this year and I managed to hit that goal. However, in pursuing that goal, there were times I pushed through books I should have otherwise put down, and times I prioritized lighter fare over heavier stuff. Next year I'm taking the goal of completing 36, but having them be more meaningful. I'll be ok with abandoning books that are turning out as disappointing.

I read 31 non-fiction books and 18 works of fiction (though three books were a mix of fic/non-fic, so I had to make a call on which category to put them in). Format-wise, 19 were audiobooks, 12 were e-books, and 17 were on dead-trees. All the e-books were consumed on Amazon's Kindle app on the iPad, or rare occasion I used the phone when I was stuck somewhere with downtime. Four of the books (Seven Fables, The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow, and Hello Skater Girl, The Art of Videogames) were written by friends; I continue to marvel at how lucky and privileged I am to know such people.

My favorite books of the year were as follows: In non-fiction: The Future of the Internet and How To Stop It, Republic Lost, and Rocket Men. In fiction: Rainbows End, Angelmaker, and The Windup Girl.

Here's the full list grouped by topic. An asterisk means recommended, and two means highly recommended.

Business

• Art of the Start
• Venture Deals
• Five Elements of Effective Thinking
• Screw it, Let’s do it
• Screw business as usual
• The Numerati
• Where Good Ideas Come From*
• The Next 100 years
• Physics of the Future

Politics/History

• Bananas
• Library: An Unquiet History
• Rocket Men**
• Republic Lost**
• A Short History of Nearly Everything

Culture/Art/Media

• Just My Type*
• Hello Skater Girl
• Art of Videogames
• Program or be Programmed
• The Influencing Machine*
• Reality Is Broken
• The Information Diet

Technology

• Digital Typography
• Future of the Internet and How To Stop It**
• How to Fix Copyright*
• Some Remarks: Essays and Other Writing

Biographies

• Ben Franklin =- An American Life
• Steve Jobs
• Stories I Only Tell My Friends*
• The Age of Turbulence

Fiction

• Neuromancer
• The Windup Girl**
• Lauren Ipsum
• Seven Fables
• The Mongoliad: Book 1
• The Mongoliad: Book 2
• Anglemaker**
• The Technologists
• Have Spacesuit Will Travel
• Pattern Recognition
• Rainbows End**
• A Visit from the Goon Squad*
• Distrust That Particular Flavor
• The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow*

Graphic Novels

• The Drops of God
• Logicomix
• ADD: Adolescent Demo Division

What do you think? Did you disagree with any of my recommendations? Any faves from last year that I missed entirely? Let me know!