2018 Books

2018 was a busy reading year for me. I decided, on a whim, that I’d set a goal of reading 20 books. I succeeded in reading 25 different books and one of those I read twice and revisited my notes several times. I read a total of 11191 pages in 2018. Nearly my highest record.

Below is my list of books in 2018. I had a mix of both fiction and non-fiction. I don’t have any spoilers on this page. I’m pretty selective about how I choose what to read. I prefer to have an idea that I will enjoy a book before beginning it.

How I rate my books:

• ⭐️ Hated it and stopped reading
• ⭐️⭐️ Hated it but finished
• ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh but finished
• ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Liked it but wouldn’t read again
• ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Loved it and would read again

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less - Greg McKeown

274 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐

This was the most impactful book on me in 2018. I normally don’t read books more than once, however I read this book twice. This is one of the first books I have read in a long time that spoke directly to me.

Read this book if you feel like your priorities in life are all over the place.

Oathbringer - Brandon Sanderson

1220 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐

Brandon Sanderson books are tomes of delight. When I say tomes, I mean it. This book rounds up at around 1220 pages. The hardcover book built some serious arm strength.

They classify these books Epic Fantasy and this is Sanderson’s best work yet. If you have not read anything by Brandon Sanderson you should. He constructs each world with a sound magic system and everything must play by its rules.

Read this book if you’ve read the first two books, like fantasy, and have a lot of time to read.

Daily Stoic - Ryan Holiday

413 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐

This book was a re-read from 2017 because it gives me daily reminders to center myself. It also helps me figure out what is in my realm of control.

Read this book if you want a daily reminder of the only things you can control in life.

Tribe of Mentors - Tim Ferriss

623 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐

Tim Ferriss gathered an enormous list of people at the top of their respective fields. In doing so, he collected the tricks and habits of these people. It is incredible to see how many common threads exist between seemingly unrelated fields.

Read this book if you want to surround yourself by other successful people.

Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari

580 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐

This book opened my eyes to our species. This book takes us on a journey from where we’ve come from to where we are now.

It didn’t happen throughout the whole book, but his vegetarian views seemed a little preachy at times.

Read this book if you are curious about the origins and evolution of our species.

It doesn’t have to be crazy at work - Jason Fried and DHH

227 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐

I am grateful for this book.

This book explains why crazy is a choice at work. As a business you should figure out your focus and design a company with respect for employees. Your employees and co-workers are giving a significant portion of their life to work where they are. If this is respected your company will go far.

Read this book if things are crazy for you at work and you’ve wondered if there is a better way.

City of Thieves - David Benioff

284 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐

This book painted a picture of life as a civilian during war. I’d read this again.

Read this book to be entertained. The audiobook is really good.

Astrophysics for people in a hurry - Neil deGrasse Tyson

222 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐

I love outer space. I realize after reading this I realize there are great difficulties with traveling through space.

The techniques discussed in detecting black-holes far away was great. We’ve come up with ingenious ways to measure distance really far away.

Read this book if you want some insight about what we know about the universe and how we know it.

Artemis - Andrew Weir

352 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐

I was skeptical reading this book because the reviews were lower than The Martian. However, it seemed interesting to me. I really liked it.

Read this if you want an enjoyable diversion.

Wool - Hugh Howey

528 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐

I liked this book even though I’m not generally into post-apocalyptic books. I probably wouldn’t read more of the series because I felt this book stood well on its own.

Read this for perspective on what happens when we do things because it’s how we’ve done them.

Winter of the world - Ken Follett Book 2 of the century trilogy narrated by John Lee

957 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐

I think I’ve learned more history from Ken Follett books than I did at school. This book explains mob thinking well. The political ideas in this book were much like the question of, “how do you get a frog to jump into boiling water?” You get him to jump into room temperature water and slowly turn up the heat.

Most of history is presented with the frog in the boiling water already. We always picture a unified group of crazies doing horrible things. But, the picture painted here, which is believable to me, is that the water was turned up.

Read this book if you want entertaining history of what happened during World War II. This does not depend much on the first book.

Principles - Ray Dalio

593 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐

This book inspired me to to think about my own principles. I’d say that the middle portion of this book is best.

Read this if you’re looking to setup your on system of principles.

Money master the game - Tony Robbins

689 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐

I have mixed feelings about this book. It offers a lot of information and also no information at all. The concepts are good, but the execution of them are lacking.

Read this book if you are not sure the damage high fees and taxes will do to your investments.

The manual - Epictetus

66 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐

A delightful short read which is still relevant today.

Read this to see how centuries old writing can still apply in a fast paced digital world.

Way station - Clifford D Simak

238 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐

A somewhat older Sci-Fi book which held up remarkably well.

Read this if you enjoy quick Sci-Fi reads without much science.

Shadow of the wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafón

487 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐

I happened to discover this book waiting in the Bilbao airport. The concept seemed interesting. I liked it but wouldn’t read it again.

Read this if you enjoy fiction, know anything about Barcelona, and realize that good books could be lost forever.

The subtle art of not giving a f*ck - Mark Manson

212 pages · ⭐️⭐

This book was a rehash of other ideas. It would have been better if I hadn’t encountered this type of thinking before.

Read this if you worry about what other people think about you and you don’t have time for that.

A short history of nearly everything - Bill Bryson

560 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐

This book covers a lot of ground. Bryson did a ton of research writing this book. I feel like almost every idea associated with a scientist was discovered decades earlier. In most cases the scientific community denounced the first scientist.

Read this if you are interested in our evolution of knowledge and the shoulders of all the giants we stand upon.

All these wonders - The Moth

327 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐

I enjoyed reading about other’s personal accounts. It helps put a fresh perspective on our lives.

Read this to understand that other people really have hard lives and yours isn’t so bad.

Paddle your own canoe - Nick Offerman

354 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐

Meh. I normally don’t read books by comedians. I don’t think I’d read his other books.

Read this if you enjoy comedic ramblings.

Homo Deus - Yuval Noah Harari

456 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐

Possible answers to where we are going as a species. Interesting arguments in the book that we’ve stopped evolving.

Read this if you want to know what our species can evolve into.

Algorithms to live by: The computer science of human decisions - Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths

368 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐️

For someone familiar with the algorithmic concepts in this book the relations to human decisions could have been summed up in a blog post for each topic. I would have preferred less examples of the origins of these algorithms.

Read this if you want to put some of your processes and actions on optimized auto-pilot.

Release It!

378 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐

I enjoyed the first version of this book and I really liked the second version also. Anyone developing software systems should read this book.

Read this book if you manage computer systems and failure is a big deal.

Realm of Racket

320 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐

I read this book as part of a book club that I ran. It was a good introduction to writing Lisp code. I’ve written ELisp prior but Racket has a much cleaner API. I believe that one might be better off with the How To Design Programs v2 guide. Unless, however, you want to write short games.

Read this if you want to learn anything about a Lisp programming language.

Origin - Dan Brown

463 pages · ⭐️⭐️⭐

If you’ve read more than 2 Dan Brown books then I wouldn’t read this. Same formula but different cities. The only difference for me is that I’ve been to the Gugenheim in Bilbao and seen the Dali sights in Barcelona. That was pretty cool.

Read this if you generally like reading Dan Brown books.