Books I Read in 2010

At the start of 2010 I had set myself one goal: read 25 books before the year ends. I am happy to report I made it! Here is the list (roughly in reverse chronological order), and a few lines about each book.

1. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick: an alternate history "science fiction" novel, though there is no science in it. It has many layers upon layers of intrigue. It's fascinating, but rather confusing. I probably need to read it a couple of more times to start understanding all the different strands.

2. The Last Theorem by Arthur C. Clarke, Frederick Pohl: A disappointing last one from the mater. See my review here

3. Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge: scifi - speculations on the society in the mid 21st century; heavy on augumented reality; a bit too long, a bit difficult to follow/visualize; but still a good read

4. Fingerprints of God by Barbara Bradley Hagerty: The Search for the Science of Spirituality; a good review of the state of the subject, but could be better presented if not for the authors bias. My full review here.

5. Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt: To be accurate, it should be called "laissez faire capitalism in One Lesson". That is not to disparage this book: it's very succinctly written in a no-nonsense way, and crystal clear in what it propounds. Most of it makes a lot of sense logically, but whether it's all applicable in the real messy world which includes people and their irrationality, and the human values of fairness etc. is questionable.

6. Superfreakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner: highly entertaining sequel to the smash hit Freakonomics. I am sure you have read it, so I don't have to tell you about it :)

7. Drive by Daniel H. Pink: "the surprising truth about what motivates us"; well, not terribly surprising if one has heard about Maslow's pyramid of needs; but still a good read, especially for people managers

8. The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen: "when new technologies cause great firms to fail"; a new perspective on how technology businesses evolve; a must read for anyone in hi tech where such disruption happens at a feverish pace

9. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell : "how little things can make a big difference" - pop sociology, good for entertainment, and not much more. as a book, it gets repetitive and disjointed after a while. my full review here

10. Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke : Hugo Award winner of '74; great page turner, no unnecessary suspense, but I was hoping that everything would make sense in the end - but did not. Still not bad at all.

11. Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama: No need to mention Obama's writing skills. His story telling is very engaging. I listened to the audio book, and he reads it fantastically: uses different accents (not always consistently, but enough to add a dimension); a must read to understand the man.

12. The Value of Nothing by Raj Patel : This book is about Socialistic Economics. Even if you think "socialism" is a bad word, you'll still do well to pay attention. My review here

13. Empire by Orson Scott Card : political novel; need to suspend disbelief, and then, it's entertaining

14. The End of Wall Street by Roger Lowenstein : does a good job of describing the events during the peak of the financial crisis of 2008 that led to the "great recession"

15. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe : brilliant adventure classic

16. The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 by Paul Kurgman : short, well written book describing the mechanics of financial crises - mostly focussing on the Asian and Latin American crises of the latter part of the 20th century

17. How Markets Fail by John Cassidy : a very good history lesson on 20th century economics. My review here

18. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell : "thin slicing" - i.e. snap judgments are powerful and many times accurate argues the New Yorker writer. Informative and entertaining.

19. The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley: prosperity advances when "ideas have sex"; trade is to ideas, as sex is to organisms; despite all doomsaying, the world has been getting better and better for ever

20. Washington Rules by Andrew J. Bacevich : A scathing critique of America's self anointed role as the savior and policeman of the world, and the American military-political nexus that keeps this sham alive out of self interest. Full review here

21. The End of Faith by Sam Harris : The athiest's bible ;)

22. Moneyball by Michael Lewis : science and economics applied to baseball front office. fascinating account of Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane's career and revolutionary management techniques

23. Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb : real world is extremely random - not Gaussian but fractal - the exceptions that we ignore in making forecasts are usually the ones that really matter - extremisthan vs. mediocristhan

24-27: The Ender Quartet by Orson Scott Card : a magnificent science fiction saga, consisting of the refreshing, surprising and thrilling "Ender's Game", the masterful "Speaker for the Dead", the cerebral and somewhat contrived "Xenocide" and the inevitably underwhelming conclusion, "Children of the Mind". See my review here.