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DOUGLASS'S 50 BOOKS READ IN 2018
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Thank you. I have finished 7 books already, so I have a lot to catch up on!
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1.
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Steven JohnsonFinish date: January 4, 2018
Genre: Science History
Rating: A
Review: How We Got To Now explores six innovations that shaped the world we live in today. However, this isn't one of those books that tells you how something got invented. Each chapter is really about a broad concept and a series of discoveries and inventions surrounding it. Steven Johnson shows how seemingly unrelated achievements influenced each other, and how progress can only happen once every piece is in its place.
Spectacles wouldn't come about until the invention of the printing press led to more people reading. The invention of mirrors made humans more introspective, allowing artists to paint self-portraits, and fueling growth in the writing and reading of memoirs and novels. Water chlorination–the most fascinating subject in the book–completely turned society upside down.
Johnson shows how inventions are almost inevitable, making them more like discoveries than creations, but they can't happen until all the necessary prerequisite discoveries have occurred. We often overlook how distant the precursors can be (medical ultrasounds exist because someone decades earlier was trying to improve the function of lighthouses for maritime safety). It is easy to oversimplify explanations of cultural changes when there are more specific influences (clean water probably did more for women's equality than any direct political action ever did).
Johnson takes you on a journey across many disciplines to show how humans have grown from surviving to thriving. This book is more than a history, it is a philosophical exercise. It does not only expand your knowledge of what happened, it teaches you to look at history and progress in different ways.
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Daniel PecautFinish date: January 5, 2018
Genre: Business/Economics/Finance
Rating: B+
Review: The market is flooded with books about Warren Buffett. This is the 5th one that I have read. Some books assemble or quote Buffett's writings; others reverse engineer Buffett's investment strategy. Often these authors seem to be trying to convince you they have inside information or trying to indoctrinate you into the Buffett cult. University of Berkshire Hathaway is not one of those books. It has details you won't find anywhere else, which makes it a relevant addition to the prolific repertoire of books about Buffett and Berkshire.
U.B.H. is unique in that the authors didn't set out to write a book. They had hit the road in the 1980s, trying to learn as much as they could about Buffett, Charlie Munger, and other investment gurus, so that they could help to serve their clients better. They attended every Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting for than 30 years, plus some other related meetings. This volume includes their notes from 30 annual Q&A sessions with Buffett and Munger, which have known to reach lengths of 6 hours each.
You can't find this specific content anywhere. For example, you could easily do a web search for Buffett's letter from the 1986 Berkshire annual report, but if you weren't one of the 300 people in the room for the shareholders meeting that year, I doubt you'll be able to find video of the 2.5 hour session. Pecaut and Wrenn recorded copious notes at every meeting and published them in an exclusive newsletter at the time. Their notes are organized by year, then by topic, and include direct quotations. No proselytizing or snake oil sales tactics, just pages and pages of Buffett's and Munger's wit and wisdom from decades of long meetings.
Pecaut and Wrenn did something very Buffett- and Munger-esque in writing this book. They set out to learn as much as they could from their idols and apply it to their careers, and doing so naturally evolved into creating a platform to share that knowledge with the next generation of investors and business leaders. If you intend to join that tradition, University of Berkshire Hathaway is a fine addition to your financial education.
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Roxane GayFinish date: January 6, 2018
Genre: Comic/Graphic Novel
Rating: D
Review: Black Panther: World of Wakanda does a great job of setting up Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet, but it is not very good on its own. There is a lot of arguing in circles. Action scenes are short-lived. You can absolutely tell that Roxane Gay is a good writer, but not an experienced graphic novelist. I hesitantly recommend reading this before reading A Nation Under Our Feet, because it makes a lot more sense of what is happening in that book. However, if you get bored with it, push through so that you can get to the good stuff where Ta-Nehisi Coates takes the lead.
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Jeffrey KlugerFinish date: January 18, 2018
Genre: History
Rating: A
Review: This is an excellent history of one of mankind's great adventures. Kluger goes through the back stories of the astronauts, elements of the Gemini and early Apollo missions relevant to the Apollo 8 mission, and–of course–a detailed account of the entire mission. He does a great job of building suspense in the moments where it should be.
The audiobook includes an interview with Frank Borman and audio clips from throughout the mission.
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Eric BarkerFinish date: January 24, 2018
Genre: Self-Improvement
Rating: A
Review: Barking Up the Wrong Tree draws on scientific studies and historical examples to answer 6 questions about success:
1. Should we play it safe and do what we're told if we want to succeed?
2. Do nice guys finish last?
3. Do quitters never win and winners never quit?
4. Is it more important what you know or who you know?
5. How important is believing in yourself?
6. "Work, work work" or "work-life balance?"
The answers are not black and white. Eric Barker finds the most logical approach to each problem based on evidence on both sides of each argument. This book looks through all the hype that is out there in the self-improvement media and consolidates it into simple, practical pieces of advice that you can start using the day you read it. It is a very helpful resource for hard-working individuals who want to do everything it takes to be their best selves.
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Mervyn KingFinish date: January 24, 2018
Genre: Business/Economics/Finance
Rating: A
Review: The End of Alchemy is the most comprehensive book on financial crises that has been published since the Great Recession. Mervyn King headed up the Bank of England during the 2008 Financial Crisis. However, unlike Timothy Geithner and Ben Bernanke, he doesn't set out to defend his actions during the crisis or make excuses for questionable decisions. Instead, King criticizes the system that allowed the crisis to happen, allowed the crises before it, and will inevitably create future crises if it is not changed.
King defines to financial alchemy as the transformation by banks of illiquid real assets into liquid financial assets. Banks finance long term lending with short-term borrowing, a risky practice that–when pushed to its limits–can result in financial ruin for the bank and its depositors if the short-term lending ever dries up. A run on the bank is often blamed on a lack of liquidity, but the real problem is often a lack of capital.
Banks put themselves in these risky positions because there is an economic incentive for them to do so. Central banks have acted as the "lender of last resort" for over a century. King argues that they should instead function as the "pawnbroker for all seasons." If you don't have the capital to use as collateral, we let you fail.
King avoids politics and sticks to economics. He talks about changing our perception from the economics of "stuff" to the economics of "stuff happens." This is an approach we should take in managing the macroeconomy, but also in our households and businesses. We have a whole world revolving around a system of "robbing Peter to pay Paul." It is unsustainable and puts virtually all our assets at risk. Mervyn King is the only banker willing to talk about it.
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Peter CawdronFinish date: January 29, 2018
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: C+
Review: 120 scientists from throughout the world are stationed on Mars when a nuclear war breaks out on earth. They have to figure out who they can trust and how they will survive when they don't really no what is going on back home or why. While the writing isn't spectacular, this is a neat story with interesting relationships between the characters. The author had to put a lot of thought into the science and the cultures involved. There is a bit of a plot twist that makes the second half of the book quite suspenseful. Retrograde is a fun little sci-fi novel to read over the weekend.
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8.
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Anne ApplebaumFinish date: February 23, 2018
Genre: History
Rating: A
Review: You can rarely go wrong with books written by Pulitzer Prize-winning authors. Iron Curtain is a history of the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe from the end of World War 2 through the death of Stalin. Applebaum covers how the Soviet government and the Communist Party micromanaged every aspect of society from radio, art, and music, to politics and elections, business and production, and education and social organizations. These efforts failed almost unilaterally. However, Applebaum comments very little on it and lets the details speak for themselves. She is extremely thorough, and the book offers much to think about for anyone interested in history, politics, sociology, and other subjects.
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by Margot Lee Shetterly (no photo)Finish date: February 27, 2018
Genre: Biography/History
Rating: A-
Review: Hidden Figures is more than I expected it to be. It is a biography of three black women who were NASA computers during the space race, but it is also a history of the civil rights movement from their perspective. Like many African Americans, they fought hard to get a college education during segregation and then took advantage of the labor shortage during World War 2 to get jobs they otherwise would have been overlooked for. They tried to do well enough that they could advocate for equality as well as stay in their positions after the war. The large number of black women who worked as computers made themselves indispensable at NACA during the war and at NASA during the space race. They achieved victories for the civil rights movement within NASA and their local communities. They were amazing women who worked hard for themselves and their families, but also understood that they had a tremendous responsibility to change the country for future generations.
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10.
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Sebastian JungerFinish date: March 1, 2018
Genre: Social Sciences
Rating: B+
Review: Throughout most of human history we were organized in tribes. In a tribe, everyone knew everyone, and there were close relationships. Everyone had an important role that they had to fulfill to keep themselves and each other alive. There were frequent dangers to the tribe, keeping everyone on edge: predators, weather, starvation, other tribes, etc.
In Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging, Sebastian Junger shows how modern civilization has shifted away from the tribal format. Major problems have arisen in the segments of society that least resemble the early tribes, while studies have shown some interesting benefits to being in a more tribe-like setting.
Mass shootings are most commonly seen in American communities that are suburban and predominantly white and affluent. They are uncommon in ghettos and war zones, where people are struggling to survive. Suicide and depression are less common in those situations too. Junger cites interesting studies to support these claims.
There is a lot we can learn from studying humanity's tribal roots. A little danger and a little camaraderie can go a long way toward making us happier, healthier people.
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by Jay Wright (no photo)Finish date: March 8, 2018
Genre: Sports/Leadership/Autobiography
Rating: B+
Review: When I picked this up, I was not sure if this would be a leadership book, an autobiography, or a basketball book. It turned out to be a little bit of all three but mostly the latter. As a huge fan of college basketball, especially the Big East conference, that didn't bother me.
Jay Wright coached the Villanova Wildcats to an NCAA National Championship in 2016. You can tell when you watch him coach and hear him talk about his team what a great leader he is, but this book really captures what is special about Coach Wright and the Villanova basketball culture.
Jay Wright is what business writer Jim Collins would call a "Level 5 Leader." His is humble but driven. He has worked excessively hard at his craft. He beats blames himself for every mistake made by his organization. However, he constantly gives everyone else in the organization credit for its successes. He never accepts credit for himself.
This book takes you behind the scenes through decades of Wright's coaching career, including his time as an an assistant and head coach at Villanova. You get to find out a lot of things that were said and done behind closed doors when the media wasn't in the locker room.
Throughout these stories, you don't learn a lot about Jay Wright or what makes him great. All he talks about is the greatness of his players, his colleagues, his family, etc. Every example he gives of a leadership concept is demonstrated through a story about the actions of one of those other people. He rarely uses any decisions he made himself as an example of leadership. His approach to talking about leadership is itself a display of his leadership style in that he doesn't make it about himself.
Jay Wright is a model of great leadership in sports and in life. This book demonstrates that, but mostly it is just a fun depiction of the amazing basketball tradition at Villanova and its incredible accomplishments.
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Neil deGrasse TysonFinish date: March 20, 2018
Genre: Science
Rating: B
Review: Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson explains astrophysics from the big bang through the expansion of the universe to life on earth and possibly beyond. There are some interesting scientific facts in here that I was not aware of. This is a great book for people like me who do not have a lot of scientific expertise but are fascinated by science.
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Tyler CowenFinish date: March 27, 2018
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating: D+
Review: Tyler Cowen is one of the top bloggers about economics, and the title of this book makes it sound like it is about economics. However, this book is more of a weird mélange of concepts from assorted fields, including but not centering around economics. Seemingly unrelated ideas are jumbled together to make an awkward case about how the human mind is being reshaped by information technology.
The book's thesis is that technology is leading people to obsessively collect and order information. This is a notorious trait of people on the autism spectrum. Cowen, a self-identified autistic, thinks very positively about autism and doesn't like to see it as a disorder or disability, but simply as a different way of processing information. Cowen argues that technological activities like blogging, social networking, and wikis are making humans think more like autistic people.
Cowen praises the panacea of Internet technology. He also branches out into ideas from economists ranging from the Austrian school to behavioral economists. He connects this wide variety of ideas into a somewhat simplified concept, although not quite effectively. While the construction of the book leaves much to be desired, Cowen presents ideas worth thinking about as we consider what the best ways are of using all the powerful information and technology that is now at our fingertips.
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14.
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Michael LewisFinish date: April 7, 2018
Genre: Psychology
Rating: A-
Review: Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky spent hours and hours discussing theoretical concepts in psychology, developing an amazing working relationship that would completely change multiple fields in the social sciences.
Their discussions led to countless experiments and papers that rewrote our understanding of how the human brain worked. They identified and analyzed cognitive biases, invented prospect theory, explained loss aversion, and developed the entirely new field of behavioral economics. By exploring how the human mind calculates probability, their research in prospect theory changed the way doctors diagnose illnesses and eventually earned Kahneman a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics.
Michael Lewis makes their prolific, often esoteric studies accessible to the layman, while telling the amazing story of two peculiar men whose friendship changed the world.
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But I think you are missing a few things in the posting:
Finish date:
Genre:
Rating:
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by Scott Nations (no photo)Finish date: April 19, 2018
Genre: History
Rating: B
Review: This book describes the 1907, 1929, 1987, 2008, and 2010 stock market crashes. Scott Nations' thesis is that crashes tend to follow a pattern where some new financial construct causes investors to let their guard down. The false sense of security allows for a rapid market run, then some event triggers it to come crashing back down. The introduction of algorithms and computer-directed trading has also sped up this process and created new vulnerabilities in the market.
The 2010 Flash Crash doesn't fit as well into the formula as the others. The market quickly recovered and did not have the lasting impact that the other four had. It probably could have been left out of the book.
This book was an interesting read with details from all five crashes that I was unaware of. At times Nations goes back into events decades ahead of a crash to thoroughly explain how everything came into place. It is a different approach from books that tend to focus on economic or technical aspects of market crashes.
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by John W. Newstrom (no photo)Finish date: April 22, 2018
Genre: Business
Rating: C
Review: Newstrom provides a comprehensive overview of organizational behavior (OB). He incorporates the latest research in this relatively new and rapidly evolving field of applied science. Most importantly, he convincingly emphasizes that managers should make it a priority to understand OB, incorporate OB principles in decision-making, and to keep up with the latest research in this evolving field. This text has been updated in many editions to do the same.
Organizational Behavior can be dry, but as textbooks go the writing is very good. There are helpful charts and tables, although there must be at least a half dozen charts that are set up on 4-square X-Y grid. Those kind of all blur together and become less effective because of it.
The only major problem with the book is the nonsense at the beginning and end of each chapter that McGraw-Hill probably forced into the book. Textbook publishers are the worst! Newstrom's core content in this book is solid.
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17.
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Omar El AkkadFinish date: May 5, 2018
Genre: Fiction/Dystopian
Rating: A+
Review: For a long time, America has been the bully of the world, tampering in others' affairs, driving nations against themselves, bombing them with unmanned drones, and doing seemingly everything possible to keep stability from returning to them. It is also one of the biggest contributors to pollution and global warming.
In the future–as Omar El Akkad imagines it–the tables have turned. Rising oceans and intense storms have flooded the coastal cities, while further inland once fertile environments are desiccated by heat and drought. Efforts to ban the behaviors responsible for the damage result in the breakout of a second American civil war. And the rest is history.
The novel is both the story of a family and the story of a nation at war with itself. The narration, which mostly follows the life of a young girl from Louisiana through the war, is interrupted by excerpts from primary sources during the war, like books, speeches, and military documents. The pieces brilliantly fit together into an epic tragedy.
There are many layers to American War: family, politics, history, war, morality, loyalty, patriotism, revenge, psychology, etc. El Akkad masterfully weaves them together with superb use of literary devices and a dynamic plot full of twists and turns.
This is not a book that tells readers what to think or that provides a clear picture of the way things should be. It is honest, realistic, and therefore painful and chaotic. The prose is beautifully written and not overly complex, but it is not an easy read. It will make you hurt, and it will make you think. There will not always be answers, and it will not always make sense. This will make a lot of readers uncomfortable with it.
For these reasons, this book is not going to take the world by storm this year. However, as more people read and process it, they will realize what a masterpiece it is. It very well could go down as one of the great novels of our time, and one that every high school or college student is reading and analyzing 50-100 years from now.
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James C. CollinsFinish date: May 6, 2018
Genre: Business/Self-Improvement
Rating: B+
Review: Good to Great, which is sort of a prequel to Collins's bestselling Built to Last, is a study of 11 established companies that suddenly broke out and outperformed the market in an unbelievable fashion. 11 comparison companies that remained stable in the same industry and environment are used in the study.
Each good-to-great company displayed a certain style of leadership that Collins calls "Level 5 Leadership." Each focused on getting the right employees onboard before figuring out what to do with them. And there are 5 other concepts that were common between them which each get a chapter in the book. These concepts have to do with psychology, core philosophies, management strategies, organizational behavior concepts, and more.
Each of the 7 concepts in this book could be applied to starting and running your own small business, to finding good businesses to invest in, to managing in any business or organization, to teaching and coaching, to your own personal creative endeavors, and so much more. Using these businesses and their leaders as an example, Collins and his team provide a research-based model for becoming the best in the world at something.
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Steve MariottiFinish date: May 23, 2018
Genre: Business
Rating: B+
Review: The Young Entrepreneur's Guide is an excellent resource for anyone thinking about starting a business or trying to improve their small business. Whether you are trying to expand your side hustle, invent a new product, or launch a start-up, Mariotti covers everything you need to know.
The book's 22 chapters cover everything from the entrepreneurial lifestyle to legal structures and liability concerns to taxes and finance to writing a business plan. Concepts are covered in an accessible manner. No previous business knowledge is needed and esoteric topics are avoided. If you are excited about starting a business, you can breeze through this book. It is also organized in a way that makes it easy to go back to for reference.
I chose this as the textbook for my high school Introduction to Entrepreneurship class this year. It was very helpful for covering everything my students need to know. Many of the students enjoyed reading it because it is not written in a dry textbook style and each chapter shares at least one young entrepreneur's story. Mariotti set out to write a book that is engaging for young people who might be interested in business, and this book accomplishes that.
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by Troy Cockrum (no photo)Finish date: June 9, 2018
Genre: Education
Rating: A-
Review: I taught in the same school as Troy Cockrum for 2 years early in my teaching career. I learned a lot from him then, so when I heard about this book coming out I was excited to read it. Cockrum has a big vision and is willing to take risks to try new things in the classroom. He is an innovator.
Firefly Classrooms begins with some of Cockrum's PhD research. He lays out 10 elements to student tasks that make them authentic. The 10 elements can be incorporated into large projects that students do individually, in small groups, or as a class. Each following chapter focuses on each element. Cockrum gives examples of activities he has done in his classroom that exemplify the element.
Each lesson example in this book could work in many classrooms, but certainly not every classroom. This is a great resource for teachers to pick up 1 or 2 ideas they could use right away. More importantly, it is a catalyst teachers can use to generate their own lesson ideas.
My biggest takeaway from Firefly Classrooms is not the specific projects that Cockrum shares, but the experiences that his students had when he opened up doors for them. Each #fireflyclass activity sets some limits that force the students to be creative, but it primarily leaves room for them to think outside the box. His students have come up with many enlightened and original ideas. Teachers who utilize this resource should be able to create their own engaging lessons that get similar results for their students. I am very excited to try some new ideas in my classroom next year that I discovered in this book or thought of while reading it.
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by Robert Burton (no photo)Finish date: June 16, 2018
Genre: Science/Nature
Rating: A
Review: I set up a bird feeder last summer and another this spring. I have become fascinated with the various species I see visiting my feeders, and birdwatching is becoming a hobby of mine. I picked this up planning to skim it for ideas. I ended up reading all of it because every page is full of interesting facts about bird behavior and what we can do to support the ecosystems that birds need. This is a valuable resource for anyone interested in birds, science, and environmental causes.
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Daniel PecautFinish date: June 18, 2018
Genre: Personal Finance
Rating: B+
Review: In Save, Spend, Invest, Give, Daniel Pecaut shares his expertise on personal finance as the CEO of an investment firm for over 30 years. Pecaut is a value investor inspired by value gurus like Warren Buffett and John Templeton. However, this is not so much a value investing guide as it is an inspirational personal finance guide.
The book is divided into three parts. Book 1 talks about money as a tool, the empowerment that comes from saving and investing, opportunity cost, compound interest, and other big personal finance concepts. Book 2 talks about maximizing returns through a value investing approach. Book 3 is an inspirational story of Pecaut's experience giving through financial donations and personal involvement in non-profit organizations.
This is not really a how-to book. It does not explain how to write a good budget or do discounted cash flow analysis. Pecaut looks at the big picture and motivates readers to budget, save, avoid debt, keep a value mindset, and give back. This quick read can be inspirational and motivational to anyone who wants to manage their money in the most effective way possible.
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Andrea WulfFinish date: June 26, 2018
Genre: Biography/Science
Rating: A
Review: "As he stood at the top of the world, looking down upon the mountain ranges foldeed beneath him, Humboldt began to see the world differently. He saw the earth as one great living organism where everything was connected, conceiving a bold new vision of nature that still influences the way that we understand the natural world."
The most famous scientist of his time, Alexander von Humboldt was an explorer, writer, and speaker. His vision and studies combined many sciences as well as art and poetry. His view of nature as a living organism gave birth to the field of ecology. He influenced thinkers like Goethe, Jefferson, Thoreau, Darwin, and more. Particularly in the U.S., his significant contribution to science and history is largely forgotten, despite being more important than ever.
Humboldt was the first to observe how human behavior could irreversibly destroy environments, kill off species, and even change the climate. Despite proof of this going all the way back to his work in the 1800s, humans still have not responded properly to these facts. Humboldt's work is as important today as it was 200 years ago.
The Invention of Nature is a biography of Humboldt that emphasizes his influence on how we see and interact with the world. Wulf studied primary documents in many languages and put together this definitive summary of Humboldt's life and work. It's 400 pages are densely packed with quotations from Humboldt and his contemporaries. It is not a quick read by any means, but it is intelligent and inspiring.
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24.
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Michael LewisFinish date: July 4, 2018
Genre: Sports/Economics
Rating: A
Review: Moneyball is an amazing multi-genre book that is changing the way that millions of people think about sports as well as other topics. The statistics used to evaluate baseball players were not an accurate portrayal of player value. When Bill James blew that wide open with his Baseball Abstract, most of baseball didn't notice. Those who did shrugged.
Once Oakland A's manager Billy Beane started winning against all odds by using sabermetrics as the basis for player selection, people finally started paying attention. Even then, it took a long time for baseball to come around.
People tend to think about things and do things the way that they have always been done. It is rare that people reevaluate the fundamental basis of anything and start over. This creates discrepancies between market value (the perceived value) and intrinsic value (the actual value). This is the basis of value investing, which has made Warren Buffett one of the richest people in the world. It is also what allowed Billy Beane's $40 million payroll to compete with $100+ million payrolls in Major League Baseball.
Michael Lewis, in his always brilliant style of writing, shares the story of Billy Beane, his players and staff, and some other personalities like Bill James. He gets into the psychology of baseball as well as the game statistics to show what exactly makes a successful career in the sport. He examines techniques like studying derivatives instead of big events. This book makes the reader better equipped to reexamine which metrics are more important, and how much more important one is than the other.
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The History Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Moneyball (other topics)The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World (other topics)
Save, Spend, Invest, Give (other topics)
Audubon North American Birdfeeder Guide (other topics)
Firefly Classrooms: 10 elements of authentic tasks that make learning visible and social (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Michael Lewis (other topics)Andrea Wulf (other topics)
Daniel Pecaut (other topics)
Robert Burton (other topics)
Troy Cockrum (other topics)
More...
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