The 38 Books That I Devoured And Destroyed This Year
Clocking in at 19,627 pages, these are the books that kept me from getting any real sleep this past year — and kept me sane while getting my SaaS thoroughly kicked.
If you’re looking for the “top business books” I read this past year that helped me grow my SaaS-based businesses, you’ve come to the wrong place.
Sure, I read some business books. But — like most of the business books I’ve read — I wound up questioning the cost of the book against the actual value I walked away with. (And that’s one of the reasons that I’m writing this monster at the moment.)
Instead, these are the non-business books that I read this past year — the ones that I attribute to keeping and maintaining my sanity while I slogged and tripped through my most audacious year ever as a bootstrapper.
Every night before I went to bed, these are the companions that I took with me to sleep — the companions that spoke to me, taught me, and quieted my overactive brain so that I could actually get some REMs before waking up and crushing it again.
So here they are, complete with my “Cliff’s Notes” 😜
Enjoy.
The Prisoner of Zenda | Anthony Hope
Cliff’s Notes: A wonderful Victorian-era action and adventure piece. Think “Trading Places” with a Victorian-era English gentleman infiltrating a powerful Eastern European monarchy. It’s in the spirit of Haggard, but (dare I say?) much more satisfying.
[In case you didn’t know, I have a “thing” for Victorian-era literature. Yes, that makes me a tad bit eccentric I suppose, but did you really expect anything less from me? 🤪]
Discourses, Fragments, Handbook | Epictetus
Cliff’s Notes: If you’re a fan of Stoic writings (such as Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations), you really owe it yourself to go “back to the classics”. Epictetus was a Stoic who lived right around the time of Musonius Rufus yet well before Marcus Aurelius. His writings represent the core principles of Stoicism. Read this if you want to improve your life.
The Art of Happiness | Epicurus
Cliff’s Notes: Although I love me some Stoic writings and philosophy, I actually consider myself a Hedonist. “Hedonism” tends to get a bad rep, often being synonymous with “excess”, while actual hedonism is more about maximizing pleasure and happiness, while guarding against it turning into excess (which, in turn, actually minimizes pleasure and happiness). Going “back to the classics” on this subject is something that I do annually.
Walkaway | Cory Doctorow
Cliff’s Notes: This is the one book on this list that I struggled with. I tend to heavily vet whatever I read to make sure I don’t waste my time with dross or drivel, but this one found a way to slip through that filter. I didn’t particularly enjoy this book, in all honesty. That might be in part because I’m a staunch capitalist and this thing seemed to have a (more than healthy) smack of Marxism throughout, or maybe because it reminded me of a poorly executed imitation of a Neal Stephenson work (which in and of itself says a lot, as you’ll see). Either way, if you’re into Communist dystopian futures complete with weird-ass singularities that hate on capitalism, this book is for you (it wasn’t for me — I honestly really wanted to “walkaway” from it).
State of Fear | Michael Crichton
Cliff’s Notes: I love me some Michael Crichton. To me, he’s the Jules Verne of our time (I told you I had a thing for Victorian literature). That being said, this book was an interesting read from an author I’ve always had mass respect for. In it, he takes a contrarian view towards global warming, taking the side of global warming “detractors”. The scientific community has vociferiously condemned the research and method he extols in this work, but that shouldn’t stop you from reading it. It’s a great storyline, full of suspense and action, and it gives some alternative views and angles to consider in the pursuit of trying to fully understand the climate change phenomenon impacting all of us.
Under the Black Flag | David Cordingly
Cliff’s Notes: I loved this book. In part, because my original career choice was to become an historian (yes, I’m weird), but also in part because it’s just fascinating. Well researched and detailed, this book will help you get an authentic appreciation for what the piracy age in the Caribbean was really like, expelling common myths and misconceptions (sorry, Jack Sparrow!)
She | H. Rider Haggard
Cliff’s Notes: Simply put: Haggard is the shit when it comes to Victorian-era action and adventure, and this book doesn’t disappoint. In it, Haggard blends adventure and period-appropriate terror in one masterful work. [Caveat emptor: Contains some sensitive subject matter from the period it was written in.]
The Beautiful and Damned | F. Scott Fitzgerald
Cliff’s Notes: Fitzgerald is a unique writer. While most of us might be familiar with his well-known masterpiece, The Great Gatsby (despite the awful movie bearing its name), there is more depth to the writer than just that. In The Beautiful and Damned, Fitzgerald demonstrates his most masterful skill — that of smashing the jaw of a lesser writer in as few words as he could muster the strength to write. Fitzgerald would have owned Twitter’s 140 character limit with poise and ease — he frequently turns benign-looking statements into existential-shattering prose, without looking like he’s breaking a sweat. Capturing the exuberant yet despondent spirit of the gilded age better than a Polaroid could have, Fitzgerald delivers in this masterwork, which will send you into a spiral of existential examination every other sentence or so.
The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories | H. P. Lovecraft
Cliff’s Notes: Lovecraft was a disturbing bloke if ever there was one. Despondent, disconnected, and visionary in a way the world had not seen before, he broke a mold with his writings — when you read them, you can’t help but feel that you’ve been lifted from this simplistically existential plane into something new and strange. The visions he weaves are both simultaneously beautiful and disturbing, leaving you breathless as you finish and contemplate each individual “story” (or hallucination, as your preference may determine).
The Andromeda Strain | Michael Crichton
Cliff’s Notes: It’s hard to believe that Crichton was only in his early twenties when he penned The Andromeda Strain — and in the 60s at that. About a biological alien invasion of sorts, Crichton deftly captures the dawn of the modern scientific age in a novel that simultaneously captures the spirit of his age — complete with red-walled military-industrialist silos equipped with computers that are programmed to kill you and everyone else should anything go wrong.
Fevre Dream | George R. R. Martin
https://www.amazon.com/Fevre-Dream-George-R-Martin/dp/055357793X
Cliff’s Notes: Another early-year throw back to an exceptional author, Fevre Dream was written by George R. R. Martin (of Game of Thrones fame) back in 1982. It’s a vampire novel (of sorts) that addresses (and tackles) vampiresque topics not fully explored until True Blood hit everyone’s screens decades later. Like his other works, Fevre Dream features rich and in-depth character developments that make you sad when the book is over. Set in the era of steam boats in mid-1800s New Orleans, Fevre Dream is a vampire novel unlike any other you have read (fuck Lestat). [Caveat emptor: Contains some sensitive subject matter from being set in the south in the mid-1800s.]
The Dinosaur Lords | Victor Milan
Cliff’s Notes: I didn’t know what to expect with this book, to be completely honest with you. I was in a Barnes and Noble with my girlfriend looking to see what else George R. R. Martin had available for consumption when she came across this thing. Looking it over, I had decided that it would either be fucking awesome or fucking awful. Sadly enough, it fell somewhere in the middle. Dinosaur Lords held promise — a Game of Thrones with dinosaurs — but it failed to fully deliver on either premise. The character development was lacking (despite throwbacks to Game of Thrones, including a character strikingly similar to Jaime), and the dinosaurs were… disappointing. To top it all off, he ended the first book on an absolute cliff hanger that just plain pissed me off. Sad to say, I won’t be joining him for the second book.
Dune | Frank Herbert
Cliff’s Notes: Dune is fucking amazing. I have rarely found a book that left me as impacted and as satisfied as Dune. Take everything you love about Lord of the Rings (up next), add some Star Wars and other awesome shit while removing all of the cruft, and you get Dune. Dune is amazing, not just because of when it was written (1960s) and the topics that it explored at the time (ecology, terraforming, etc.), but because of how captivating the storyline is. Dune shaped the future — without it, we most likely would not have Star Wars, Tremors, or pretty much any other modern science fiction book or movie. It was that influential (in fact, Star Wars is basically a total rip off of Herbert’s genius). If you haven’t read Dune, you need to stop whatever you’re doing and grab a copy.
The Lord of the Rings | J. R. R. Tolkien
https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-50th-Anniversary-Vol/dp/0618645616
Cliff’s Notes: Ugh. The Lord of the Rings. I often ask myself why I decided to undertake this undertaking. It’s wonderfully fantastical, sure. But it’s a fucking slog at the same time. Spoiler Alert: There is a lot of walking. Lots and lots of walking. There were times when I was like “when is thing going to be over?!”, especially when I realized that it was only one-half into the third “book” (it’s considered “one book” with three volumes) that The Ring got dropped into the fucking volanco, leaving another three hundred or so pages of who-the-fuck-knows-what left to go. If you’re hard-core, go for it. If not, watch the movies and save yourself some time.
The Island of Dr. Moreau | H. G. Wells
Cliff’s Notes: Much better than the Val Kilmer movie of the same name, The Island of Doctor Moreau explores the implications of the pseudo-science vivisection, which is basically a fancy way of describing the random surgical mutilation of animals. Another (late) Victorian era science fiction novel, The Island of Doctor Moreau is a short yet poignant exploration of the human soul in a time when the morality of humanity was being explored and “vivisected” by the authors of the age.
Cryptonomicon | Neal Stephenson
https://www.amazon.com/Cryptonomicon-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0380788624
Cliff’s Notes: Like almost all Neal Stephenson novels, Cryptonomicon had such moments of promise that you couldn’t help but feel completely disappointed by the time it was (finally) over. Decades before Bitcoin, Cryptonomicon explored the concepts and implications of a digital currency — and the unsavory characters who would benefit and profit from it — in a novel that spans from the time of the second World War. Like all of Neal Stephenson’s works, it takes a few hundred pages before you start to “get into it” — only to have whatever feelings you had about it to be destroyed by the last ten pages of the book. (Sorry, not sorry.)
In a Dark, Dark Wood | Ruth Ware
https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Wood-Ruth-Ware/dp/1501112333
Cliff’s Notes: I saw this title at Barnes and Noble and grabbed it on an impulse. I thought it would be much “scarier” than it actually was, but it wasn’t 100% bad. At the same time, it wasn’t really 100% good either. It was an enjoyable enough diversion, but smacked of a PG version of R. L. Stine’s Fear Street meets some kind of a luxury cabin in the woods mashup.
Vurt | Jeff Noon
https://www.amazon.com/Vurt-Jeff-Noon/dp/0312141440
Cliff’s Notes: Whatever drugs the cool “cypher” kids were doing in the early 90s were not enough to express whatever Jeff Noon was looking to capture in his novel Vurt, a virtual reality drug fueled dystopian cyberpunk world complete with half-human/half-dog hybrids (who shit all over the floor, just like real dogs). If you want a trip down memory lane to (re)explore early 90s cypher/cyber culture, this might bring back a rush of memories. If you’re not “hip” to that era, maybe you’ll learn a thing or two. If you’re neither nor, you might want to give it a whirl just to expand your mind. Just know it’s a bit of a mindfuck.
The Russian Debutante’s Handbook | Gary Shteyngart
Cliff’s Notes: Wow, what a great debut novel. Take a fictitiously hip early 90s Eastern European city that silently screams “Prague”, plop in a wimpy yet intelligent expatriate con-artist, and you get this odd menagerie of a story, complete with early 90s hipsters, hucksters, and hustlers. Throw in a set of strangely placed references to Ohio, and you’ve got this entertaining diversion, which I found delightfully humorous and engaging.
Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture | Douglas Coupland
https://www.amazon.com/Generation-X-Tales-Accelerated-Culture/dp/031205436X
Cliff’s Notes: Coupland is the bomb — simply put, he is the Dostoyevsky of Generation X. He effortlessly captures the humor, wit, and cynicism of my generation, while demonstrating the vulnerability and restrained hope and promise that we all felt in what were some dark and heavy times — full of philosophy, existentialism, and the dying light of individualism.
Quicksilver | Neal Stephenson
Cliff’s Notes: Neal, oh Neal. You write these these sprawling epics that make me feel ashamed of writing anything less than 1,000 pages, but every time, I can’t help be feel disappointed with how you choose to end these things. Quicksilver is no exception to the “Stephenson Rule” as I call it. The premise of the book shows such promise, chronicling a young Isaac Newton throughout his early and formative years (complete with appearances by a young Leibniz), but it fails to deliver much more to the reader other than a thousand pages of dead tree corpses marked by the smear of (often) indecipherable ink.
Pattern Recognition (Blue Ant) | William Gibson
Cliff’s Notes: Being a huge fan of Neuromancer, I think I was expecting more from this book than I should have. It’s still expertly written in Gibson’s signature style, but its substance and material fell below the water mark of what I’ve come to expect from him as an author. It’s still an enjoyable diversion, but don’t expect to have your ice broken.
The Lost World: A Novel (Jurassic Park) | Michael Crichton
https://www.amazon.com/Lost-World-Novel-Jurassic-Park/dp/0345538994
Cliff’s Notes: It made me weep to read this book, knowing that there was an abomination of a movie that bore its name that existed in the real world. If you loved Jurassic Park but hated “the second of its name” as a movie, don’t hesitate to read this book. In fact, Jurassic World borrowed elements from this book, including camouflage dinosaurs (see, Crichton had that shit thought out years ago).
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon | David Grann
Cliff’s Notes: If ever there was a book that would make you question your own sanity as a startup founder, this would be it (even though it has nothing to do with computers or software). The Lost City of Z follows British explorer Percy Fawcett in his unrelenting and maddening quest for the Lost City of “Zed”, a city which he believed was the Amazonian mashup of El Dorado meets Ancient Egypt — despite any physical proof that such a thing could even exist in the Amazon. If you’ve ever “believed” something without proof, this book might show you just how right — yet deadly wrong — you are at the same time.
The Arabian Nights (Vol 1–3)| Anonymous
Cliff’s Notes: I decided to read The Arabian Nights after having read numerous references to it in The Count of Monte Cristo (which I read in 2016, and which I would *highly* recommend). Apparently, it was quite in fashion at the time, having recently been translated into French, and all the cultured elite were abuzz with its stories. Although insightful and “magical”, the stories are surprisingly rough in nature — not something I was quite expecting. But once you move past that, it’s actually quite fascinating. Although written in a different tone and style than you might be accustomed to (it’s a translation of stories hundreds and hundreds of years old), the stories are actually quite clever, and give you a different perspective.
Snow Crash | Neal Stephenson
https://www.amazon.com/Snow-Crash-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0553380958
Cliff’s Notes: I actually liked Snow Crash as a novel, despite the 100 or so pages dedicated purely to Sumarian theology and philosophy. Another early 90s exploration of “cyberpunk” culture and values, it delivered masterfully on that front — while simultaneously diverging down a weird street of ancient and modern religion and philosophy. If you “did computers” in the early 90s and you liked Ready Player One (which I also *highly highly* recommend), then this book might be for you. It’s uncannily weird — in a good way (despite still finding a way to adhere to the “Stephenson Rule”).
King Solomon’s Mines | H. Rider Haggard
https://www.amazon.com/King-Solomons-Mines-Penguin-Classics/dp/0141439521
Cliff’s Notes: Like I said before, Haggard is the Victorian Shit™. His novel, King Solomon’s Mines, actually originated as a bet with his brother about whether or not he could write a better adventure story than Treasure Island (coming up soon). In my esteemed opinion, he did just that — and then some. Introducing Allan Quartermain (forget The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) — while setting the stage for Crichton’s Congo — King Solomon’s Mines is an epic Victorian treasure hunt. [Caveat emptor: Contains some sensitive subject matter from the period it was written in.]
Treasure Island | Robert Louis Stevenson
https://www.amazon.com/Treasure-Island-Robert-Louis-Stevenson/dp/1505297400
Cliff’s Notes: Stevenson’s Treasure Island is an undisputedly classic adventure story that introduced much of the world to “pirates”, including buried treasure, “X” marks the spot, and their (sadly mostly fictional) language and colloquialisms (savvy, me hearties?). Despite these “pirate stereotypes”, Treasure Island is an enjoyably good read, and one that won’t leave you looking at Long John Silver’s the same way when you’re done.
Seveneves | Neal Stephenson
https://www.amazon.com/Seveneves-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0062334514
Cliff’s Notes: Neal knocked this one out of the park, in all honesty. Although it still follows the “Stephenson Rule”, it does so in a less sophomoric manner, and showcases a much richer storyline than his other works. In Seveneves, Earth is about to be destroyed by an asteroid. But rather than try to destroy the asteroid, the race is on to get humans and other species in to space — so that a fragment of the population can “wait out” the impending destruction of Earth — and have an opportunity recolonize it thousands of years later. In the process, the characters have to solve and overcome a slew of obstacles and problems. Think of it like Armageddon meets The Martian meets Star Trek.
Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair’s Youth | Hermann Hesse
https://www.amazon.com/Demian-Story-Sinclair%C2%92s-Penguin-Classics/dp/0143106783
Cliff’s Notes: Hesse is one of those rare voices in literature, who, when he opens his mouth, forever changes the world. In Demian, Hesse explores the nuances of good, evil, morality, and the freedom of choice as they play out in the life of a coming-of-age youth. Both darkly disturbing and beautiful at times, Hesse walks the fine line of what it means to be human with skillful ease.
The Picture of Dorian Gray | Oscar Wilde
Cliff’s Notes: A dark descent into madness juxtaposed against the backdrop of eternal beauty, The Picture of Dorian Gray was considered an “evil book” by many people in its day. In it, Oscar Wilde brazenly (yet deftly) pushed the boundaries of what society at his time was willing to embrace (or even tolerate for that matter). Ever the aesthetic antagonist, Wilde’s wit and humor shine, all the while making profound statements about art, beauty, and morality. More than just a gothic horror novel, it is simultaneously a statement about society and the people who occupy it.
Siddhartha | Hermann Hesse
https://www.amazon.com/Siddhartha-Penguin-Classics-Deluxe-Hermann/dp/0142437182
Cliff’s Notes: In Siddhartha, Hesse explores the multi-faceted nature of humanity in a way that only he can do, following the rise and fall (and rise again) of a man seeking spiritual enlightenment. Hesse’s rich writing style brings the story of Siddhartha to life, written as if it were a thousand year old myth or legend being retold to the reader. Weaving powerful imagery with a direct writing style, Siddhartha is a book that has something to teach to everyone who is willing to read it.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms | George R. R. Martin
Cliff’s Notes: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a prequel of sorts to A Game of Thrones. It’s a collection of three novellas that occur roughly a hundred years before the events that take place in A Game of Thrones, chronicling the early adventures of “Dunc and Egg”. The stories are astoundingly well written (as is pretty much anything George R. R. Martin does), but what’s unique about these stories when compared to those in the series of A Song of Ice and Fire (starting with A Game of Thrones) is that the tone of the storytelling (and the tone of the stories themselves) is much lighter and more in the voice of a set of chivalrous stories being retold from long ago. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms welcomingly adds to the lore of A Song of Ice and Fire while simultaneously filling in some backstories in an interesting and entertaining way.
A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, and A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire) | George R. R. Martin
Cliff’s Notes: Do yourself a favor and read the books if you love the show. Or if you’ve never seen the show — just read the books. George R. R. Martin’s magnum opus is probably the most addictive series of books I’ve ever read (and I read a lot, if you couldn’t tell). I’m not going to go on and on about it, I’m just going to say “read it”. And do yourself a favor — don’t judge the series by the first book. The first book, although it’s good, is nowhere near as good as the the other books as the series progresses. If you’ve seen the show, you might think you’re just reading the show with the first two books, and in a way, you are. But if you keep going, you’ll be richly rewarded.
Honorable Mention
Mistborn | Brandon Sanderson
Cliff’s Notes: I’m including Mistborn in here as an honorable mention, since I haven’t finished reading it yet (and so can’t technically include it in my end of year tally). Mistborn was recommended to me by someone working the counter at a Barnes and Noble, and I wish I knew her name so that I could thank her personally. So far, I am absolutely in love with this book and am really looking forward to the rest of the series (there’s five books in it so far). Mistborn has it all — a fluid, fast-paced storyline set in a creatively dystopian alternative world, chalk full of action, adventure, and intrigue. “Mistborns” possess the ability to turn the use of ten different metals into ten different powers, from influencing the emotions of others to pushing and pulling metal objects. What’s most impressive is the application of physics as it pertains to these different powers. For example, a Mistborn can push a coin, using it like a weapon — or they can “anchor” that coin on the ground and push off from it (while simultaneously pushing and pulling on other sources of metal) to basically simulate flight. Out of all of the books I’ve read this year, I would put this one as one of my top favorites.
Have a Recommendation?
I’m always looking for great books to read — if you’ve got a favorite, leave it in the comments below for me and others to discover!
