My favorite books from a crazy year

Danny Zuckerman
Aug 8, 2017 · 4 min read

Of course the question I get most often post-travel is: “What was your favorite place?” I expected the regular requests for travel advice. But the time away has also made me a go-to adviser on another topic: book recommendations. It makes sense — with all my free time I did read a lot. A ton, actually: 2–3 books per week at times. Here are some of my favorites from a crazy year of travel, politics, historical events and forced reflection.

International novels

I made a habit of reading a book from each place I visited. These were the best of them, a trip to the country without ever leaving your couch.

Cover of this Egyptian novel

Beer in the Snooker Club (Egypt): echoes of past revolutions ring true in the current time, said my Egyptian friend who read this after I wouldn’t stop raving about it.

Burmese Days (Myanmar): George Orwell’s firsthand account of Burma under British colonial rule prepared me to dive into Burmese culture and history in a way that changed my two weeks there.

Beauty is a Wound (Indonesia): gorgeous, challenging, spiritual and graphic. At times you won’t know whether to flinch or smile, quote a passage to a friend or hide your blushing face.

The White Tiger and Holy Cow(India): India is challenging. These books, far more fun and fast-paced than many others recommended for the startling country, make the culture and history more accessible.

It’s Our Turn to Eat (Kenya): this one’s not a novel. It is a thriller, a memoir, and a commentary on a country all wrapped in one. It’s hard to find copies of this dramatic whistle-blower story inside Kenya — too hot to handle.

Thinking Big

Are the titles in this section ambitious enough for you? Away from the pace of normal life, I surprised myself by diving into philosophies and deep history. None are challenging to read, all will challenge your current view of the world.

Audio version of Lessons of History

Lessons of History: more deep insights per paragraph than any book I’ve ever read. Short, simple, and full of quotes that will make you sound like the most enlightened person at any dinner party — and you will be.

The Happiness Hypothesis: part survey of philosophers and religions, part original thinking, Jonathan Haidt (author of The Righteous Mind) examines what makes us happy and why — pulling together science from psychology, biology and evolution in a way that is dead simple to follow.

Meaning of Life: an audio-book compendium of lectures on what we are here for, both religious and philosophical takes. Will make up for years of doodling through high school and college courses.

A Short History of Everything and A Little History of the World: exactly what they sound like — two very different histories of the world in a couple hundred easy pages. The former is more scientific, the latter more historical.

Beginnings of Infinity: the first book that is truly hard to read — Deutsch claims that ‘good explanations,’ which humans are uniquely capable of, makes all of history up to this point a mere preamble for the infinity that comes next.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: I can’t believe how long it took me to read this book. Fun, beautiful, difficult and different. I won’t try to recap, I’ll just say that it’s a much-needed alternative view in an age that has in many ways made reason dogmatic.

Sapiens: I’m torn on this. Huge, interesting ideas. Hard to contextualize and critique. I think I need a re-read and a discussion group.

Non-fiction

Against Empathy: the most challenging — and convincing — book I’ve read in a long time

The Unwinding: reads like a novel, and without ever being explicit shines a direct light on the changes and dynamics in American society that brought us to our current situation.

How Adam Smith can Change your life: an easy intro to Adam Smith’s “other” book, Theory of Moral Sentiments. It’s popular to hate on economics these days, but Smith’s prescience on humanity and his own predictions on the ill-effects of capitalism give a far more productive lens to think about human relationships — economic and otherwise.

The Master Switch: for anyone who thinks the Internet is destined to stay open, read this history and think again.

Shoe Dog: shocked at how much I loved Phil Knight’s (at times cheesy) tale of athletics and entrepreneurship in building Nike.

Skills and How-to

I’m a type-A nerd, even when on sabbatical. I loved these books and found them shockingly useful.

How to win Friends and Influence People: despite constant recommendations I avoided this for a long time — it just sounded bad. But this classic is not about manipulation, it’s about understanding people and having good relationships. It’s changed how I interact with people, especially in disagreements.

High Output Management: like I said, I’m a nerd…

The Hard thing about Hard Things: …and type-A.

Danny Zuckerman

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"The best way to get the right answer on the Internet is not to ask a question, it's to post the wrong answer." (Cunningham's Law) | 3Box.io

Zig Zag Zuck

Travel reflections and other musings from the road

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