I don’t read anywhere near as much as I used to—or as much as I’d like to—partially because I used to have a 45 minute each way commute that I used for reading and now I walk to work, but mostly because I’ve fallen out of the habit of reading regularly.
The rating scale I’m using is shamelessly stolen from Frank Chimero. If I don’t like a book, I don’t finish it and it doesn’t get listed, so all of these books are at least somewhat recommended. Books with one heart are ones that I think are really good, books with two hearts are the literary equivalent of Breaking Bad; i.e. books I won’t stop talking about, even long after it has become insanely boring for everybody else. Books that are marked with a star are the ones I’m currently reading (and have reasonable expectation of finishing).
Incidentally, I never watched Breaking Bad. But I have been bored by other people talking at me about it.
2020
- The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s: An Oral History
- The Calculus Affair
- The Red Sea Sharks
- Super Mario Bros. 3
- Super Mario Bros. 2
- Explorers on the Moon
- Destination Moon
- Zigzag Street
- Philosophy 101: From Plato and Socrates to Ethics and Metaphysics, an Essential Primer on the History of Thought
- Ethics 101: From Altruism and Utilitarianism to Bioethics and Political Ethics, an Exploration of the Concepts of Right and Wrong
- Grid Systems: Principles of Organizing Type
- The Elements of Typographic Style
2019
- Universal Principles of Design
- Graphic Design Theory: Readings from the Field
- Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
- The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers
- Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies
- The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.: A Novel
- Atmosphæra Incognita
- The World Without Us
- Rust: The Longest War
- The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman
- What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir
- Time Travel: A History
- The Psychology of Zelda: Linking Our World to the Legend of Zelda Series
- Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance
Older
- Spy Dust: Two Masters of Disguise Reveal the Tools and Operations That Helped Win the Cold War
- Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
- An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything
- War Plan Red: The United States' Secret Plan to Invade Canada and Canada's Secret Plan to Invade the United States
- Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play
- Two Hours: The Quest to Run the Impossible Marathon
- Company Man: Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in the CIA
- Life, the Universe and Everything
- The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- A Burglar's Guide to the City
- Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All
- Thinking, Fast and Slow
- Thrilling Cities
- Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
- Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World
- Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down
- Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation
- Just My Type: A Book About Fonts
- Empire State of Mind: How Jay Z Went from Street Corner to Corner Office
- Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
- The Cluetrain Manifesto: 10th Anniversary Edition
- The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail
- Creativity, Inc: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
- Rework
- Churchill: An Unruly Life
- On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
- Cryptonomicon
Disclosure: If you buy a book using one of my Bookshop links, I'll get a little kickback from them (which I'm likely going to spend on more books). And you'll also be supporting independent bookstores, which is an awesome thing to do.