The Books I Read in 2017
A Mostly Complete List
17 DEC 2017
As far as I can tell, this is the entire list of books I read this year, organized by rating. There were many I got part way through and had to give up on (at the bottom) and even more I’ve probably forgotten about. What did your 2017 reading list look like? What are your plans for 2018?
Happy Reading,
Brendan
Books I Finished This Year:
101 Letters to a Prime Minister (5/5)
This might be my favourite book I read all year. It’s a book about books. How fitting.
It’s a collection of letters from award winning author Yann Martel (The Life of Pi, amongst others) to Prime Minister Stephen Harper during the course of his second term. With each letter, Martel includes a book and a recommendation to the former PM to enrich his perspectives of the world. Many of these letters make far more sense in context (particularly Michael Ignatieff’s book), but the letters in and of themselves are brilliant and thoughtful.
Almost every one describes the book being gifted and why it was chosen to be sent, which alone would be worth reading the collection for, but Martel goes deeper by selecting novels that play a poignant role in our fast-changing society. Witty, thoughtful, open, and occasionally outright hilarious, Martel takes the humble book list to new heights by putting them in the context of the political, economic and social climate.
I don’t think I will ever read all 101+ books Martel recommends (some letters contain multiple books) but I loved reading about each of them and why they were chosen. Many have made it onto my list for next year.
I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves the written word nearly as much as I do, and especially to those looking for a good place to start.
Antifragile by Nassim Taleb (5/5)
Holy Moses, I love this book. There are few books in your life that fundamentally change the way you think about things — what Ryan Holiday calls Quake Books — and this is one of those for me. Fragility, and the concept of Antifragility, feels unnatural and forced, but truly undermines so much of our lives that we don’t understand. The book explains everything you need to know in the first 2 chapters, but it isn’t until the author goes through many examples over the next 10 chapters that the theory really soaks in. I read the whole book and immediately went back and read the first two chapters again. I will likely re-read this book many times over my life, it’s that good. Absolute game-changer. Would recommend to anyone who does work around risk or risk management, especially in finance, logistics, product management or engineering.
The Dip, The Icarus Deception, Linchpin by Seth Godin (5/5)
These books are very different, but I grouped them together because they all hint at the same themes: going out on your own, the opportunity to choose yourself, the perils of sticking and quitting, and why, when you really get down to it, you don’t need more time, you just need to decide.
The Dip can be read in an afternoon, or two evenings. Imagine giving up Netflix for 2 days (not even the whole week!) and reading something that changes your life. I’m not saying it will, but can you really risk it?
These three books I would give to anyone who is struggling to find direction or purpose, or needs a strong kick in the pants. I encourage you to buy a copy of each, read them, take notes, and then give it away to someone you care about. These all make wonderful holiday gifts.
Anything You Want by Derek Sivers (5/5)
This book was so. Good. So good, in fact, I bought it to give to a friend who runs her own photography business. She found it a revelation. In a world full of VC-backed billion-dollar cash drains that call themselves “businesses”, it’s unique to find examples of people going against the flow and being happy with it. Derek Sivers is one of those people. He started CD Baby as a side project to put his own music online, and grew it to a multimillion-dollar business in a few years. Once it reached the size he wasn’t enjoying running it anymore, he sold it for $22 million and put it into a trust for music education. He’s one of my heroes.
This is a book about building something the way you want to build it. It’s about going against the flow and being content with the world you are creating. It’s about building a business the way you want to. As he says in the book, it’s about getting anything you want, and living the life you’ve imagined.
This is a book for anyone who wants to start their own business, or already has, and doesn’t know where to take it next. Before jumping into hypergrowth mode, try giving this book a go. It’s written to be a book you can read in an hour (it took me 2, but I was taking notes) and might just change your life. It’s very much in line with the Seth Godin books on this list, but deserves its own category because of how good it is. I think every strudent, particularly business students, should read this book before starting university or college. Would recommend to everyone.
The Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant (5/5)
This is the book everyone should have to read in school. Why didn’t we read this in Grade 11 History instead of whatever garbage they assigned? This book fundamentally changed the way I think about the world — another Quake book as Ryan Holiday says — and will forever contextualize every historical book I read from here on out. Ray Dalio put it as one of the 3 books he recommends to every graduating student.
From two of the greatest historians of the past century, Will and Ariel Durant, The Lessons of History is a brilliant summary of the fundamental trends of human history. Short enough to not be ominous or daunting, this book looks like it could be read in 2 hours. It took me nearly 5 times that amount of time, as every single sentence packs a punch. With zero fluff, it gets to the core of several different topics, with each chapter summarizing a different lesson of history, such as Race and History, War and History, Technology and History, and Geography and History.
I will certainly be re-reading this book over the next few years, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who works in the field of international relations, history, politics, or the social sciences. In general, I think it’s one of the top 10 books I’ve ever read, and in my humble opinion, should be read by everyone.
The Idea of Canada: Letters to a Nation by David Johnston (5/5)
This year was Canada’s 150th anniversary, a big celebration for a relatively young country, and likely the biggest national milestone I will live through (unless healthcare keeps improving!). In celebration of this event, David Johnston, Governor General of Canada at the time, and former President of my Alma Mater (University of Waterloo), culminated this collection of letters he wrote to individuals throughout his time in office.
As a daily habit, Mr. Johnston would write a few letters every morning, to whomever he had been thinking about the day before, prior to the demands of the day taking his attention. Some of them are heart-warming, some of them authoritative and challenging, and many open, thoughtful, and generous. Reading a book has never made me feel more proud to be part of this country and to call its mosaic of cultures and backgrounds home.
Deeply thought-provoking and encouraging, Johnston effortlessly captures the Canadian ethos of openness and diversity, pride and humility, politeness and community, and invites the reader in. I highly recommend this to all Canadians, and non-Canadians, who want a better grasp of our country’s pulse. I loved it so much, I gave it to my family to read over the holidays.
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi (5/5)
I don’t think I’ve cried so much reading a book in my entire life. Even so, I couldn’t put this one down. Will definitely be re-reading it, and there’s a great reason it was one of the most-requested book in libraries around Toronto, Canada, and North America this year.
A memoir by Paul Kalanithi, a neurosurgery fellow and surgical doctor who discovers near the completion of his fellowship he has stage-4 cancer and likely won’t live to see his life’s goals realized. Devastating, reflective, and heart-wrenching, Dr. Kalanithi takes us through the trials and tribulations of being a doctor in one of the most demanding fields in medicine, and then through his own personal struggle with his mortality quickly eroding. Finished by his wife, it was without a doubt the most emotional book I’ve ever read.
I would recommend this to anyone with dreams of pursuing a career in the medical field, those seeking to better understand the trials doctors and medical staff deal with on a daily basis, or anyone grappling with the eternal questions of mortality and how to face death with grace. Paul’s memoir will go down as one of the best books on my bookshelf for decades to come, and we owe a huge debt of gratitude to Paul for his writings.
The Art of Learning by Joshua Waitzkin (5/5)
This is one of my top 5 favourite books of all time. A reflection on what it takes to achieve a expert level in any subject, and on what the learning process of a master really looks like. Josh really delves into the weeds of meta-learning, and the other universal skills to succeed in a new arena, and how you can cultivate those practices in your own life.
Overall, it serves more as a philosophical treatise of how you should think about the process of getting better, particularly when going from good to great, and what some of the common stumbling blocks are.
I’ve read this book 3 times now, each time getting something totally different from it. I will read it again next year, and the year after. I would also highly recommend it to students of all ages, or anyone who seeks to improve themselves in a particular subject area.
Managing Your Day-to-Day from 99u (4/5)
A collection of essays on how to deal with the daily grind as a creative, from some of the best in the business. By 99u, an arm of Behance, and the first of a series of books on being a better creative worker, this collection helped to reframe some of the struggles I was having this year.
From essays on self-care and morning routines, to how to unplug and recharge, I gifted this book to a dear friend who tends to burn the candle from both ends. For all those looking to make a living doing design, art, or something in a creative field, this book is a field guide to not burning out. I would highly recommend it to anyone who needs a game plan to manage the stress of working for yourself.
Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur (4/5)
Rupi Kaur’s first collection of poetry that catapulted her to the world stage. A proud Canadian and a fellow University of Waterloo alumni, I finally got around to reading the entire collection. Heart-breaking, extremely powerful, and effortless, Kaur finds a way to cut straight to those feelings each of us has felt or experienced, but didn’t know how to describe.
In those in-between moments, Kaur finds the words. Her greatest gift is describing the universally personal, the things so many wish they could find the words to describe but didn’t know others have also gone through. In this volume, many of her pieces are especially dark and agonizing, reflecting on periods of abuse and negative relationships, but ultimately rising from the ashes to show that even the hardest events can be overcome.
A deeply moving experience, and one in which certain pieces have gone so far as to make it onto the walls of our home as art, I would recommend this collection to anyone who doesn’t know where to start with poetry, or is going through a particularly rough time. I will also note that Rupi Kaur particularly empowers women, and as such, I think this is a very important read for the women in your life who are going through periods of change.
30-Second Einstein (3/5)
A short, bite-sized primer on Einstein’s life and work. Each two-page fold contains one concept that Einstein championed, from Brownian motion to the Photoelectric effect, from special relativity to general relativity and black holes, and all in easily digested pieces. The whole book took me about 2 days to read, and much longer to ponder over, but takes a complex topic (advanced theoretical physics) and puts it in layman’s terms. I enjoyed it, and would recommend it to my dad (who loves physics but lacks the technical background) but any serious physics enthusiast will find it leaves the reader wanting more (maybe that’s the point?).
The Warrior Ethos by Steven Pressfield (3/5)
A short book about what it means to think, feel, breathe and act like a warrior, from someone who has lived that reality. It’s not for everyone, and I personally didn’t get a huge amount out of it, but for many people (present and throughout history) this was a reality of life. War is a terrible thing that should never be glorified, but there’s still a lot we can learn from those who live with that reality. I would recommend this to anyone who has a military background or grew up in the environment, or needs a short, powerful read to push them to the next level. Sometimes life can feel like a battle, whether we want it to or not, but we had best prepare for the worst.
The Everything Store by Brad Stone (3/5)
A fascinating history of Amazon, how it came to be, who the key characters in its development were, and how it has grown into the behemoth it is today. Particularly interesting to me is the profile of Jeff Bezos and some of his earliest lieutenants who built the company from a garage. An amazing story of brilliant foresight, trendspotting, and ruthless focus to achieve many consecutive unrealistically ambitious goals. Blew my mind. Also gave it to my grandfather to read (he loves biographies) and he loved it as well. It made him feel a lot more comfortable with the realities of today’s tech companies and the impact they have in the world. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to get a better handle of tech companies, loves biographies, or just wants to understand what it takes to build a world-class organization. A word of caution, however, that not everything Amazon has done or continues to do is positive, and with disruption comes harm to many.
Black Hole Blues by Janna Levin (3/5)
The first of two books I read this year by Janna Levin, renowned physicist and author, about the LIGO project and its search to detect ripples in spacetime caused by massive astrological events. In particular, I loved the depth of insight into the personalities of those involved. Published in 2016, this book takes on particular interest as the leaders of this project announced resounding discoveries of gravitational waves and were awarded with the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for it. Empowering, easy to read, and insightful, Levin allows the reader to delve into the mysteries of particle and theoretical physics without the need for a background in the subject. I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in physics, astronomy, or where the next great leap in our understanding of the universe is going to come from.
Sherlock Holmes Volume II by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (3/5)
A fun read for the train, these bite-size mysteries are fun and endearing, and firmly place Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the arena of greatest writers of all time. His stories revolutionized the mystery genre, and carry as much value today as they did when they were written. A great travel read because you can consume them one story at a time without losing anything. This volume didn’t have some of his most famous stories, but I found them entertaining and enjoyable nonetheless. I would recommend them to anyone traveling by train anywhere, or taking an extended vacation with extra time on their hands, looking for an entertaining read.
The Promise of Canada by Charlotte Gray (3/5)
The second book I read in celebration of Canada’s 150th, and one I had high hopes for, but ultimately missed the mark in many ways for me. Charlotte Gray has cemented her reputation as one of the best biographers in the country, and this collection of short essays was no exception, and I commend her on her somewhat unorthodox choices of personalities to profile, but I learned a great deal about some of the builders of this great country of ours. In particular, Sir George Etienne-Cartier, Justice Bertha Wilson, Emily Carr, and Sir Tommy Douglas. The diversity of backgrounds and perspectives on this great nation was very welcome, in particular the number of female icons profiled, and serves as a great reminder that many of the lives that built Canada into the cultural force it is today went unrecognized for their contributions.
Where this one missed the mark for me was the pacing of the biographies. Many dragged endlessly onwards, discussing details that neither furthered my understanding of them as a person, or how their context fits within the national whole. That said, each of the cultural icons chosen pieced together a more complete mosaic of how our country has grown, and for that, I commend the author.
I would recommend this to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the building blocks of our nation, and how its formation has grown from a northern outpost to a global champion, as I for one learned more from this book than I did from half the courses I took in high school. In particular, I think all Canadian Grade 11 History students should have to read this as well.
The Cool Impossible by Eric Orton (3/5)
From the coach showcased in Christopher McDougall’s Born to Run comes the anticipated follow-up guide to running better. As someone who has struggled with long-distance running for a long time, I found the philosophy inspiring and refreshing. In particular, the focus on building a foundation (literally) from the ground up, is a perspective I’ve never thought about. The exercises on strengthening the feet and ankles, specifically the slant boards, has changed the way I view running forever, and something I have implemented in my own life for soccer training (not quite the same arena, but similar exercises). However, I did find the majority of this book unnecessary. The Coles’ Notes version would have sufficed, and I would recommend that if you’re going to give it a go, that you buy it and expect the training to last over the course of a year. The tables of timings, heart rates and running schedules are difficult to implement by borrowing it from a library. If there’s one thing you should take away, it’s that first you need to strengthen your feet, then ankles, then calves, then hamstrings, then quads and hips, in that order, and anyone who tells you otherwise is skipping steps. I would recommend this for the fitness enthusiast in your life, or for anyone who wants to finally check the box of running a 5-minute mile or a marathon.
The Alchemist by Paul Coelho (3/5)
So many people recommended this book, I thought it deserved a read. A short, powerful story, it was a great cottage-weekend read, but I have to say I was disappointed. Perhaps it is a function of overhyping what is otherwise a great book, and building expectations that can’t be met, but I found the story uninspired. Following the quest of a lowly shephard on his journey to find a buried treasure, and ultimately, to find his place in the universe and within himself, the story winds and weaves through years as the protagonist learns and reflects. There are many brilliant nuggest of wisdom in this one, but the story as a whole was lost on me. I suppose it’s worth a second reading, but the underlying messages seem less magical than I had hoped. I still believe that fiction has the power to provide wisdom and truth to depths that even non-fiction can’t reach, but I was expecting more from such a highly recommended story.
How the Universe Got Its Spots by Janna Levin (3/5)
The second book I read from Janna Levin, and not nearly as strong a showing as the previous book, but one I must say I enjoyed much more for the first half, and much less for the second. If this book stopped at page 200, I would’ve been extremely satisfied, but unfortunately the second half of the book left a lot to be desired. Levin walks us, in the form of short letters to her mother, from basic principles to the edge of theoretical physics where she is carving new paths as a researcher. It is one of the best summaries of Einstein’s work on special and general relativity I have ever read, and I would recommend the first half of this book to anyone interested in Physics as a topic. The second half, however, where she divulges into her own research on the curvature of the universe and the afterglow of the Big Bang, I found as dry and stale as the other papers I have read on the topic. An interesting format in the form of letters to her own moth, Levin continues to break barriers between thoughtful writer and author, and world-renowned Physicist.
Chess for Dummies by James Eades (3/5)
I actually enjoyed this book quite a bit, but it felt a little too scattered to be all that useful. I’ve taken a renewed interest in the game of chess, and in particular, how one thinks about evaluating a position and learning a new strategy. For a game so old and well studied, there are new strategies emerging all the time. In particular, applications of AI to the field have taken the game to new heights.
This book was a good introduction to the subject, how to think about preliminary strategy, and basically, how not to lose in the first 10 moves (although, against a really good player, you probably still will). There were great tidbits throughout and some strategy pointers I adopted as well.
It left a lot to be desired, and really didn’t inspire a love for a game so much as an anxious feeling around how complex and difficult to understand it can be. I would have strongly preferred learning the game from first principles (King + Pawn v King, and upwards from there) rather than the traditional catalogue of opening moves on down. Not a bad primer, but there are much better chess books to be found.
Lee Kuan Yew by Graham Allison and Robert D. Blackwell (3/5)
This is a series of musings from speeches and letters by Lee Kuan Yew, President of Singapore for nearly 30 years. His perspective on global economics, political forces, and how to build a nation from the ground up have made him a respected voice the world over. He is credited with transforming Singapore’s economy from a resource-based economy, to a knowledge-based economy, and for promoting the small southeast-Asian nation into an international force. When Lee Kuan Yew visits western nations, Presidents and Prime Ministers roll out the red carpet. He certainly has a lot to teach us as the world is increasing a global village.
I found this collection a little too sporadic, but I learned a great deal and changed many of my perspectives. In particular, as East Asian plays a more and more important role in the shape of our global economy, heeding the warnings and insights of a grandmaster is critical.
I would recommend this to anyone taking on international business or global relations, or for anyone with a strong interest in how the world will continue to shift from Western Powers to a more global balance.
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (2/5)
Emma and I took a train trip across Canada this summer, and as part of the journey, gave each other a collection of books to read. This was one of her picks, and was certainly not one I would have chosen for myself. I do, however, believe passionately in reading things you don’t agree with or wouldn’t have normally read, but I must admit this was a struggle. If it wasn’t for being cooped up in a train car for 4 days with nothing else to occupy my time, I don’t think I would’ve gotten through it.
It tells the story of a young girl in the southern United States during the years of segregation, and her perspective of the world around her changing. It deals with race issues, intolerance, and power struggles in an era full of prejudice. Ultimately, it is a coming-of-age story for a girl trying to understand the world, and remarks on the power of the women collective. Emotional, heart-wrenching at times, and thoughtfully crafted, I found it touching and clever. My gripe with it is that it is painfully slow to develop, and in my opinion, spends too much time on character development with a very weak plot overall. It also seems to end a little too rosey for my tastes. But what do I know? Read it and disagree with me — Emma still loves it. I would recommend to anyone struggling to find their place in life, particularly around the ages of puberty.
The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck by Sarah Knight (2/5)
This was a gift from Katie, Emma’s sister, who we visited in Vancouver. It was a bit of a joke given that Emma sometimes “cares too much”. Coming home on the train, I read it in one sitting, and found it laugh-out-loud hilarious at points, but wholy unnecessary. There were a few tidbits I found useful however.
The concept of having “policies” against certain things (baby showers, engagement parties, family get-togethers that aren’t holidays) was a revelation. Putting your foot down, and in particular, not discriminating against a given party, puts the leverage on the inviter to explain why you should break your own rules for their isolated case. How many times have we gone to an event out of obligation, only to be dissatisfied, bored, and substantially poorer. If only we had a good excuse, we say, we might have avoided these terrible situations. But with the “policy” principle, we just outright avoid all events of a given category, and no one is the wiser. Brilliant.
Overall, I think this is the classic case of a book that should’ve been a really good article or TED Talk. Ironic, because there is a TED talk about the book that summarizes the whole thing in 20 minutes or less. You’re better off watching the video than reading the book, but it was worth a few chuckles. Would recommend to anyone who needs to toughen up a bit and stop being such a pushover — you know who you are.
The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking (2/5)
I wanted so deeply to love this book, but I found it far too sporadic. Hygge, as a concept, is fascinating and novel, and something I commend the author for bringing to the global focus. It has, once again, cemented Denmark as a landmark nation in a variety of areas, and shown yet again that the Danes punch well above their weight. That being said, with all of the focus on the conceptual Hygge, I found the book to be distinctly lacking in structure and direction. A seeming mishmash of approximate concepts for which Hygge might fit within thrown together between two covers, and pushed upon curious North Americans. Despite the lack of clarity in some regards, it was a fun, jovial read, and one that easily got my mind off of other daily struggles at the time. I think we should all strive to make our homes more Hyggelig, and I’m grateful for a quick escape from reality. I would also recommend reading this in the late-fall, early winter, as I found it particularly challenging to implement some of the suggestions in the 25-degree weather (in particular, candles). This would make a fun holiday gift, accompanied with some unscented candles, hot chocolate, and warm mittens.
Unshakeable by Tony Robbins (2/5)
I was very disappointed in this book, and almost ashamed to list it here, but there were some golden nuggets for people lost without a hope in the world of finance. It can be summarized, essentially, in invest in low-cost index funds. That’s about it. Also, you should do better at budgeting.
There were some gems of wisdom in the 4 principles he mentions, but they are fairly obvious and well iterated in many other places. As someone who pays close attention to his finances, and has read quite a bit on the topic, this book barely skimmed the surface, and I might pose, comes close to doing more harm than good by suggesting if you understand these principles, you’re good. I do understand where he’s coming from, in particular for people who don’t have control over their finances or are new to the subject, but you definitely shouldn’t stop here.
It’s like trying to climb a mountain, getting to the base camp and someone telling you not to bother and you’ve learned the basic principles of mountain climbing, so save yourself the hassle and go home! Not entirely wrong, but certainly incomplete.
I would recommend as a very basic primer, but The Little Book of Common Sense Investing is a much better starting point. Go there instead.
Books I Didn’t Finish, but Deserve a Second Chance:
Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman! By Richard Feynman
79 Short Essays on Design by Michael Bierut
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Getting There by Gillian Zoe Segal
The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday
Models of My Life by Herbert Simon
48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
A Mind At Play by Jimmy Soni
Principles by Ray Dalio
Godel Escher Bach by Douglas Hofstadter
Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
Deep Simplicity by John Gribbin
Faraday, Maxwell and the Electromagnetic Field by Nancy Forbes and Basil Mahon
Andrew Carnegie by David Nasaw
The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond
More Money than God by Sebastian Mallaby
The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom
Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky
Impact Investing by Anthony Bugg-Levine and Jed Emerson
The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid by C. K. Prahalad
Books I Gave Up On:
Some books deserve a second chance, and it’s not to say I will give up on these ones forever, but it is to say that they don’t feel like the right fit right now. Here’s to not always finishing what we start, and knowing that it’s okay to walk away sometimes.
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
The Life and Death of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs
The Upside of Inequality by Edward Conard
A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines by Janna Levin
The Lonely City by Olivia Laing
Read Hard from The Believer
A Matter of Degrees by Gino Segre
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed*
Parable of the Sower by Olivia Butler*
I’m sure there are more I’ve forgotten about…
*I made it very close to the end of both of these books, but had to skim the last bits as I just didn’t have it in me to keep going at that pace.
