Jacob’s 2016 Book Report

Last year I wrote my first year-end book report, taking a week in December to remember a few things about the books I read over the year. Below is this year’s installment with favorites for a handful of categories.

History

Favorite of the year: Apostle: Travels Among the Tombs of the Twelve by Tom Bissell

At the beginning of the year I decided I wanted to read more history books in 2016 so I kicked off the new year with Gombrich’s Little History of the World. I then promptly forgot about my goal of reading more history and waited until September to ramp up to Andrew Marr’s A History of the World. After that took about a month to read the first volume of Will Durrant’s The Story of Civilization: Our Oriental Heritage. All three of these books are admittedly a bit Eurocentric, but the first two were good quick survey-style reads and Durrant’s was incredibly detailed and fascinating. Most interesting trivia fact that I remember is how ridiculously many people are descendants of Genghis Khan (something like 1 in every 200 men on Earth).

I read three other books that probably fall into the history category, though less formally. The Prime of Life by Steven Mintz was about the history of adulthood and how it has changed over the last few hundred years. Some really interesting studies and commentary including the following quotes:

It is during the twenties that many of the most lasting adult relationships form. The friends acquired during the twenties are self-consciously chosen in a way that earlier friends are not… Marriage, however, has often, but not always, led to a diminishing of friendship ties…

2/3 of mothers of young children are in the paid labor force… By the early 21st century about 40 percent of children under four were cared for by a day care center or by a non relative.

Contrary to what many think, the history of adolescent and early adult sexuality is not simply a story of the steady liberalization of attitudes and behavior. In fact, even in recent years, rates of intercourse have varied widely. In 1991, 54% of high school students engaged in sexual intercourse; a decade later, the figure had fallen to 46%.

Lift: Fitness Culture, From Naked Greeks and Acrobats to Jazzercise and Ninja Warriors by Daniel Kunitz was a fun read. I think my biggest take away from reading this book was the idea of developing a sort of Greek ‘arete’ attitude toward exercising- treating my workouts as a way to inflict something on myself that makes me stronger mentally as well as physically. Fun fact: “Gym” means “naked” in Greek. The Greeks had a sand-filled gymnasium area in the courtyard where Plato studied under Aristotle (Plato was supposed to have been a pretty successful athlete at the Greek competitions). They considered physical fitness as a crucial aspect of overall moral virtue.

Lastly, leading up to Christmas I read Apostle: Travels Among the Tombs of the Twelve by Tom Bissell. I thoroughly enjoyed both Bissell’s stories of visiting the places where the 12 apostles are thought to be buried and his thoughtful analysis of the early Christian church and its evolution.

Memoirs, Biographies, and Autobiographies

Favorite of the year: Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

This was another good year for memoirs. Shoe Dog was the chronicling of the rise of Nike by Phil Knight. I was surprised by the narrative quality of this book and enjoyed the twists and turns as he risked a lot to go from a nobody to the leader of one of the biggest brands in the world. I also loved that almost every night he sat in his armchair and called his dad on the telephone. This autobiography was as riveting as any novel I read this year.

I read most of When Breath Becomes Air on a camping trip. Beyond giving me much greater respect for the insane pressure all my friends at med school feel, it reaffirmed the idea that life is short and ought to be cherished. I thought that it was a rather well articulated story.

Street of Eternal Happiness by China correspondent Rob Schmitz was a close second in my list of favorite memoirs this year. The book tells the stories of a handful of Shanghainese from displaced old folks to a flower shop owner who is just trying to get her fat son married to a pretty girl.

Hillbilly Elegy was an important book for me this year, not because it ‘explained Trump’s success’, but because gave me just a small glimpse into some of the struggles of a life in a poor, rural midwestern home. I really appreciated that J.D. Vance didn’t try to generalize the experiences of people from the midwest or propose overly simple solutions to some of the challenges he experience growing up. He just told a good story of his own early life.

The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World was both inspiring and depressing. Inspiring in that Alexander von Humboldt was one of the most amazing explorers of all time. Depressing in that it made me realize that there’s not many places on earth that are still very undocumented. One of the most thrilling parts of Humboldt’s adventures was the fact that he had no idea what he was going to find when he got there. With my guidebook/tripadvisor-soaked travel style I rarely get to experience that feeling.

Mr. Hockey is the incredible story of Gordie Howe who played hockey over 5 decades (and even played on the same NHL team as his sons). A really fun read.

There were a few others including In the Country We Love by Diane Gurrero, The Wright Brothers and John Adams by David McCullough, and Manhood For Amateurs by Michael Chabon. All good.

Fiction

Favorite of the year: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. I read most of this in between jobs (and in the Bahamas) so that might be a small part of why it was so enjoyable, but this book has well deserved acclaim. Some of the many things I loved about it: two friends, living in New York, trying to make it in the comics industry, some good drama, and some magic tricks as a cherry on top. Last year was the year I fell in love with David Foster Wallace’s writing; this year belongs to Michael Chabon. What makes him such a joy to read is his ability to tell a brilliant story of failure and success with diction that consistently surprises you.

Moonglow by Michael Chabon. This book is in the same vein as one of my other all-time favorites, Angle of Repose, in that the novel is written from the point of view of the grandson, but is mostly telling the story of a grandparent. I find stories of people trying to understand their grandparents’ lives really powerful and inspiring. It made me sad that every old person doesn’t have someone listening to and documenting their life stories and inspired to spend more time with my grandparents.

Some other notables: The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas, Tigerman by Nick Harkaway, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, Seveneves (Sci-fi) by Neal Stephenson

Graphic Novels

Favorite of the year: Here by Richard McGuire

Here by Richard McGuire is a very cool comic that spans hundreds of years while holding the geographic location the same. Quite a cool concept and pulled off in a great way. I enjoyed it a lot and highly recommend.

Burma Chronicles and Jerusalem by Guy Delisle were both fun and interesting as his stuff always seems to be. Also really find his drawing style- and even his colors in Jerusalem- delightful.

Making Comics by Scott McCloud. I’d heard good things about this book and it satisfied on most accounts. Easy to read, thought-provoking for comic artists and story tellers.

Fantasy

Favorite of the year: Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series

The Dark Tower 1–7 by Stephen King. Paul, Tyler and I formed a quasi-book club to take on this series (though this was Pauls 3rd? time reading through). What a wild ride! Not for the faint of heart in terms of physics-bending and including a modest amount of magic, but all anchored by Roland, our heroic gunslinger. Something I’m very happy I read and is one I plan to reread in the next 5 years. Blaine is a pain. Long days, pleasant nights.

Summerland by Michael Chabon was a whacky adventure involving quite a bit of baseball and as much as I love almost everything else Chabon has penned, I didn’t love this. It wasn’t the way it was written, but more a failure with regards to the story arc, in my opinion.

Game of Thrones 1 & 2 were fun. I haven’t watched any of the HBO series so it was kind of fun to be in on the ‘Winter is coming’ joke. I couldn’t convince myself to read more than 2 in a row and I didn’t make it back to the third book yet, but hope to in the next year.

Mistborn 1-3 by Brandon Sanderson. I liked these as much or more than the Stormlight books I read last year. The physics of the magic Brandon Sanderson has imagined in this universe is really some of the most incredible and intriguing of any fantasy world and the story is quite good to boot.

Sabriel by Garth Nix wasn’t really my cup of tea. I couldn’t really get into it even though I wanted to.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. A lot of negative criticism about this play, but I thought it was fine. Kind of fun to be back at Hogwarts for a quick moment.

Misc. Non-fiction

Favorite of the year: But What If We’re Wrong by Chuck Klosterman

But What If We’re Wrong by Chuck Klosterman. Some brilliant and intriguing thinking behind this book. CK takes a look at the present through the lens of how we look at the past. What gets remembered and mentioned in history books? How do we condense rock and roll into a single artist that represents it? Covers a bunch of topics. He could be totally wrong about it all… but it’s still a blast.

An interesting quote from Klosterman in an NPR interview about the book:

I mean, I guess in a way you could say it’s sort of like recency bias, that we sort of always view that the most important time in the history of the world is now and that our understanding of the world right now is going to exist in perpetuity.

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life by Scott Adams. A surprisingly insightful book about how to be successful by just trying a bunch of things and seeing what sticks, as well as a handful of life-hacky type things about how he’s optimized his diets and workouts and stuff. He is a staunch advocate of coffee.

Life Reimagined by Barbara Hagerty. All about how middle-age can be one of the best times of your life if you have a good attitude and take advantage of some of the advantages offered at that stage of life.

Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant. Meh. Would it surprise you if I told you that only people who think differently are going to… think differently enough to try to change things? This book was a decent book on innovation, but as of this writing nothing meaningful has really stuck with me.

Brian Christian’s Algorithms to Live By. The kind of book that you think about while you look for a parking space, then try to explain to your wife that there’s an algorithm you read about for optimal stopping (and it was something like 30% in), but then she asks for the practical application of that algorithm and you say you need to reread that chapter and get back to her. And then you circle the lot again..

Reread Stuff Matters by Mark Miodownik. So good. I think if I had 9 lives one of them would be well spent studying material science in depth.

Smarter, Faster, Better by Charles Duhigg which as I write this I remember absolutely nothing about. ;(

Industries of the Future by Alec Ross. TL;DR = if you want a stable job over the next 30 years work in robotics, cybersecurity, big data or genetics. Read this while considering joining a genetics startup as a designer. Instead joined a big data company..

Others: How to Have a Good Day by Caroline Webb, Ego is the Enemy, Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World by Michael Lewis, Designing Your Life, Seinfeldia by Jennifer Armstrong, White Planet