Monday, January 13, 2014

2013 in Books (continued)

I've many things I've mean to post, but being early-jan-going-on-mid-jan, I'd better post my annual summary of the year's reading.

Last year, I decreased my target number of books to read from 48 to 36, and then missed that by one, having read 35.

I read 16 works of fiction and 19 non-fiction books (about the same percentage as last year). Format-wise, 9 were audiobooks, 10 were paper-based, and 16 were e-books (e-books trending up for me, and audio books trending down probably due to lowering my target for the year.

Favorite non-fiction books of the year for me were: The Information, The Signal and The Noise, the Blind Giant, and Born to Run. Favorite works of fiction: Nexus, Wool, Metatropolis. (see links below)

Here's the list grouped by topic, asterisk next to recommended titles, two asterisks next to highly recommended books.

Business
Good Strategy: Bad Strategy
The Coke Machine

Overdressed*  (haven't written review yet, but it's good)
Stewardship (haven't written review yet)

Politics/History
Griftopia*

Culture/Art/Media
The American Way of Eating

Technology
The Information**
Who Owns the Future
The Blind Giant**

Fitness/Health/Self-help
Becoming a Supple Leopard*
First: What It Takes to Win

Biographies/memoirs
Love with a Chance of Drowning

Fiction
Amped
Makers*
Nexus**
The Hangman's Daughter (haven't written review yet)
You
Wool** (haven't written review yet, but it's good)
Robopocalpse
A Crack in Space
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (didn't bother writing review)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (didn't bother writing review)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Graphic Novels
The Technopriests BookOne

Thursday, January 2, 2014

2013 in Books

More detailed post later, but here's the gallery version: