2023
The Life and Letters of Nandini Mehta (Walking with Krishnamurti) – Devyani Mangaldas (2018).
How the World Really Works: A Scientist’s Guide to Our Past, Present and Future – Vaclav Smil (2022).
2022
Superfans: The Easy Way to Stand Out, Grow Your Tribe, And Build a Successful Business – Pat Flynn. Invaluable.
How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy – Jenny Odell. Profound.
Fundraising – Ryan Breslow. Info-packed.
Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention – Johann Hari. Sobering.
Reimagining Pakistan – Husain Haqqani. Trenchant.
The India Way – S. Jaishankar. Sweeping.
The Dhandho Investor – Mohnish Pabrai. Clarifying.
2021
How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease – Michael Greger. Life-changing.
Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ – Guilia Enders. Interesting.
Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy – David D. Burns. Uninspiring.
A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy – William Irvine. Tepid.
The Psychology of Money – Morgan Housel. Must-read.
The World Without Us – Alan Weisman. Sweeping.
More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite – Sebastian Mallaby. Engrossing.
Jackpot: How the Super-Rich Really Live—and How Their Wealth Harms Us All – Michael Mechanic. Revelatory.
Exhalation: Stories – Ted Chiang. Entertaining.
The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap – Matt Taibbi. Confirmatory.
Kochland – Christopher Leonard. Inspirational.
The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley’s Pursuit of Power – Max Chafkin. Exciting.
Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life – Luke Burgis. Transformative.
2020
The New Gilded Age: The New Yorker Looks at the Culture of Affluence – edited by David Remnick. Prophetic.
On Saudi Arabia – Karen Elliott House. Surreal.
The Upstarts: How Uber, Airbnb, and the Killer Companies of the New Silicon Valley Are Changing the World – Brad Stone. Inspirational.
RESET: Regaining India’s Economic Legacy – Subramanian Swamy. Hopeful.
Class – A Guide Through the American Class System – Paul Fussell (1983). Outrageous.
Indistractable – Nir Eyal. Revelatory.
Rise of the Robots – Martin Ford. Lop-sided.
The Money Culture (1991) – Michael Lewis. Chuckleworthy.
Life After Google: The Fall of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy – George Gilder. Visionary.
Idea Makers: Personal Perspectives on the Lives & Ideas of Some Notable People – Stephen Wolfram. Exciting.
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World – David Epstein. Hopeful.
A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing of America – Philip Rucker, Carol Leonnig. Horrifying.
Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World – Cal Newport. Confirmatory.
Crush It!: Why Now Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion – Gary Vaynerchuk. Inspirational.
How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at An Answer – Sarah Bakewell. Exhausting.
Startup Growth Engines: Case Studies of How Today’s Most Successful Startups Unlock Extraordinary Growth – Sean Ellis. Info-packed.
Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us – Seth Godin. Inspirational.
Billion Dollar Loser – Reeves Wiedeman. Disgusting.
Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
– Daron Acemoğlu, James A. Robinson. Underwhelming.
Kleptopia: How Dirty Money Is Conquering the World – Tom Burgis. Exhausting.
2019
Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates (fiction) – Tom Robbins. Outrageous.
Turning the Flywheel – Jim Collins. Insightful.
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. – Ron Chernow, narrated by George Plimpton. Boring.
21 Lessons for the 21st Century – Yuval Noah Harari. Tedious (thoughts).
Being Mortal – Atul Gawande. Heart-breaking.
The Attention Merchants – Tim Wu. Comprehensive.
Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning – April Dunford. Useful.
Hooked – How to Build Habit-Forming Products – Nir Eyal. Prescriptive.
How To Build A Car – Adrian Newey. Average.
Fall; Or, Dodge in Hell – Neal Stephenson (fiction). WTF.
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow – Yuval Noah Harari. Thought-provoking.
Bad Blood – Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup – John Carreyrou. Shocking.
Free as in Freedom – Richard Stallman and the Free Software Revolution – Sam Williams (re-read). Inspiring.
Modern Romance – Aziz Ansari and Eric Klinenberg. Fun.
Principles: Life and Work – Ray Dalio. Instructive.
The Unwinding – George Packer. Unsettling.
Why We Sleep – Matthew Walker. Eye-opening (ha).
Breakthrough: A Personal Account of the Egypt-Israel Peace Negotiations – Moshe Dayan (1981). Intriguing.
The Bombay Plan – Blueprint for Economic Resurgence – (edited by) Meghnad Desai and Sanjay Baru. Depressing.
2018
None. See “2018: Books vs TV“
2017
Henderson the Rain King – Saul Bellow
The Lost Peace: Leadership in a Time of Horror and Hope, 1945-1953 – Robert Dallek
Insane Clown President: Dispatches from the 2016 Circus – Matt Taibbi
Kafka on the Shore (fiction) – Haruki Murakami
Cryptonomicon – Neal Stephenson (re-read)
The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future – Kevin Kelly (re-read)
2016
The Wolf of Wall Street – Jordan Belfort
How We Got To Now – Stephen Johnson
Leonardo’s Brain: Understanding da Vinci’s Creative Genius – Leonard Shlain
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World – Cal Newport
A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson
At Home: A Short History of Private Life – Bill Bryson
1Q84 (fiction) – Haruki Murakami
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt – Edmund Morriss
Theodore Rex – Edmund Morriss
Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World – Michael Lewis
The Inevitable Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future – Kevin Kelly
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future – Ashlee Vance
How To Be Alone – Sara Maitland
@War – The Military-Internet Complex – Shane Harris
Hitch-22: A Memoir – Christopher Hitchens
Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products – Nir Eyal
Growth Hacker Marketing – Ryan Holiday
Alexander the Great – Philip Freeman
The Blockchain – Melanie Swan
Cryptonomicon (fiction) – Neal Stephenson (re-read)
Infinite Jest (fiction) – David Foster Wallace (re-read)
Down Under – Bill Bryson (re-read). Also published as ‘In a Sunburned Country’
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Omnibus – Douglas Adams (re-read)
Oblivion (fiction) – David Foster Wallace (re-read)
Vineland (fiction) – Thomas Pynchon (re-read)
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy (fiction) – Stieg Larsson (re-read)
2010
From this blog post.
Nonfiction, A-list
- Descent into Chaos, Ahmed Rashid
- Consider the Lobster, David Foster Wallace
- Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America, Matt Taibbi
- Foreign Correspondent: 50 Years of Reporting South Asia
- Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981 -1991, Salman Rushdie
- In Xanadu: A Quest, William Dalrymple
- The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America, Bill Bryson
- The Life and Death of Krishnamurti, Mary Lutyens
Nonfiction, B-list
- Made in America, Bill Bryson
- In a sunburned country, Bill Bryson
- Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson
- The Checklist Manifesto, Atul Gawande
Nonfiction, C-list (disappointments)
- Viral Loop, Adam Penenberg
- Alwaleed, Riz Khan
- The Nonfiction Collection, Volume 2, Penguin India
- Mindless Eating, Brian Wansink
- Grindhopping, Laura Vanderkam
Fiction
- Turbulence, Samit Basu (big disappointment)
- Theodore Boone, John Grisham (big disappointment)
- Under the Dome, Stephen King (terrific page-turner. It’s Stephen King, after all)