For 2019 I set a goal of reading 52 books, to average a book a week. While I met this goal, I learned in the process that Teddy Roosevelt sometimes read 3 to 4 book a day, so I’m feeling a lot less smug. As usual, my reading list this year was eclectic, a mix of business books, historical biographies, adventure novels, classics, magical realism and some that were just for fun.

Unlike TR, I’m not a big believer in “speed reading.” While I think it’s very useful in certain situations, I have found both anecdotally, and in my more scholarly research, that comprehension tends to decline when we attempt to read above a certain speed. None of the books on this list, therefore, were “speed read.”

I did decide to include audiobooks, however. I’m a big believer in audiobooks, and I have not found a significant defect in comprehension for books enjoyed that way.

 

 

Farther Than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook by Martin Dugard

 

I spent most of this year on a seven month long road trip across the United States, which got me in the mood for reading travel and adventure stories, starting with this one about the great explorer Captain James Cook, who rose from poverty to become a highly respected officer in the British Navy. From close calls while exploring the Pacific, to his increasing despotism towards the natives, to his ultimate violent end, this book is as engaging as any fictional adventure novel.

 

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

 

This book is partly a memoir of how Stephen King became a writer and partly an instruction book on how to write and how to become a successful writer. It’s an interesting read for any Stephen King fan, or anyone who wants to learn more about the art and business of writing. 

 

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

 

Set in Mexico, this is a classic of generational magical realism, in the vein of One Hundred Years of Solitude. It’s beautiful and moving and one of those books I keep thinking about long after I’ve finished the last page.

 

Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser

 

This is the first book in a series which was apparently quite popular when they came out, starting in 1969. More than one hundred years before that, Thomas Hughes published Tom Brown’s School Days, which had a relatively minor character named Flashman, who was the school bully. Eventually he’s expelled from school, which everyone celebrates.

Fraser decided to write a series about what happened to Flashman after he was expelled from school. He portrays Flashman as a coward, a racist, a misogynist and basically an all around terrible guy, who, through a series of lucky breaks, rises to increasingly high ranks in the British military.

If you’re someone whose easily offended, indeed if you’re someone who gets offended period, you may want to skip this one. The whole thing is, from a political correctness standpoint, pretty cringe worthy. It’s the kind of thing I felt I shouldn’t laugh at, and yet there I was laughing out loud.

If you can accept that Flashman is supposed to be a bad guy, it’s a very entertaining and humorous adventure story.

 

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight

 

I’m a little embarrassed to admit I’m one of those people who reads lots of business biographies, but I totally am. As I’ve made my own entrepreneurial journey, I’ve found it educational, inspiring and sometimes comforting to read the stories of those who came before, and went on to find tremendous success in various senses.

This one by Phil Knight was a particularly engaging memoir, which I think would be of interest even to those who aren’t necessarily into business. It’s a compelling and interesting story about a guy who, while traveling the world as a young man, meets some executives from a Japanese shoe company. The young man gets into the import business, which eventually evolves into the formation of Nike, one of the most valuable brands in the world.

As someone running a fledgling physical products company, there was a lot in this book I could identify with.

 

All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren

 

While on my trip, I tried to read books which were connected in some way to the places I was visiting. This one I read while on my way to Louisiana. For those who aren’t familiar with it, it’s a fictional story loosely based on the real life Louisiana governor Huey Long. It’s also a classic of American literature and is beautifully written. 

 

The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto “Che” Guevara

 

Ernesto “Che” Guevara is probably one of the more colorful, and controversial, personalities of 20th century history. To some he is an inspiring poet revolutionary, a champion of the common man against the forces of corruption and imperialism and a living symbol of standing up to the proverbial man. To others he was a violent guerrilla fighter who helped install ruthless, totalitarian regimes in countries like Cuba, and whose misguided radical socialist policies subjected people in those countries to a generation of dire poverty.

Whatever your feelings on the politics of Che are however, his famous memoir about the motorcycle trip he took across Latin America as a young man is one of the great travel stories of that century. There were certainly sentiments and experiences related to traveling a great distance over a long period, with very little money, that I could identify with, although I cringed sometimes at his treatment of those who showed him hospitality (such as stealing from them, killing their dog and running away, etc.).

Though this book is ostensibly a diary young Che kept while traveling, it was revised after the fact by Che, and perhaps others as well, to support a particular narrative.

 

The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

 

At the other end of the ideological spectrum from Che we have Adam Smith, who is sometimes called “The Father of Economics” or “The Father of Capitalism.” His seminal work The Wealth of Nations is no doubt one of the most influential economics books ever written. Though it’s sometimes simplified to just the famous “invisible hand” metaphor, the book actually touches on a wide range of relevant topics, from the economic implications of slavery, to the indirect effects of colonialism on the economy of the mother country, to the relative balance of power between England and her American colonies, to education, international trade and currency devaluation. The ideas in Smith’s book have all kinds of practical relevance to the modern world, despite the fact that it was first published in 1776.

 

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

 

Moby Dick is one of the great American classics which everyone ought to read at some point. The writing style is diverse, with some parts reading like an adventure story, others more like a fire-and-brimstone Old Testament Bible story and still others reading like a textbook on whale biology and behavior.

 

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport

 

Not only am I the kind of person that reads business biographies, I’m also the kind of person who reads books on productivity! Cal Newport basically talks about the difference between “shallow work,” like checking emails and sitting through meetings, and “deep work,” in which we actually challenge ourselves intellectually and produce something, and he talks about the dangers of spending too much time in the shallow end.

A lot of it’s kind of common sense, but it’s a good reminder about the importance of making time for the work that matters most.

Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs by John Doerr

 

John Doerr is one of the great venture capitalists of our times. In case you’re not familiar with him, he’s been involved with Google and Amazon, among other companies. He’s perhaps more of a numbers guy than a writer, and a lot of this book was a bit heavy on the acronyms and ‘corporate speak’ for me, but I liked the basic idea of OKRs, a form of structured goal setting. I particularly liked the idea of boiling down goals that are out of your control into goals that are, and also the idea of cascading objectives within an organization.

 

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow

Ron Chernow’s magisterial biography of John D. Rockefeller, the Standard Oil founder whose often regarded as the richest person in human history, and certainly the richest in US history. Unlike the stereotypical gilded age ‘robber baron,’ Rockefeller was actually very frugal and even austere. Deeply religious, and as philanthropic as he was ruthless, Rockefeller is practically an archetype of American business personalities.

This volume is definitely for the committed reader. It goes into a lot of detail on various Standard Oil business deals and legal battles, and took me a few tries to get through, but there’s definitely a lot of good business history in it.

 

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

This book had been on my list for a while as one of the ones you’re supposed to read at some point. Written in the 5th century BC by the ancient Chinese military leader Sun Tzu (sometimes written Sunzi), it’s basically a play book, as the name suggests, for being good at war.

In modern times it’s been regularly applied to non-war disciplines like business, politics and sports. A lot of it, I would argue, actually is specific to war, despite what your business school professor may lead you to believe. Soil types, for example, aren’t usually a big factor in corporate office politics.

With that said, the part of Sun Tzu’s teachings which does translate well to other disciplines is when he talks about getting inside his opponent’s head. He encourages the reader to think how the enemy will think and lead them to believe what it’s convenient for them to believe. That is a useful skill indeed.

I enjoyed it, and it’s not a very long read. It often gets lumped together with Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince, which I would also recommend to those interest in really old books about strategy.

 

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

I’ve read all of Candice Millard’s books (the other two being The River of Doubt and Hero of the Empire, both of which are excellent). This one’s about the assassination and death of President Garfield, an incident I was not that familiar with.

 

The Exploration of the Colorado River and its Canyons by John Wesley Powell

When I’m traveling, I love reading books which are connected somehow to the places I’m visiting. For those that don’t know, the Colorado River runs through the Grand Canyon. John Wesley Powell looms large in Grand Canyon history as he was one of the first (white) men to really explore it. His party chose a lot of the geographical feature names which are still used today, and it was interesting to hear the stories behind them while actually visiting.

Unlike James Cook, who was primarily an adventurer / explorer and seemed to regard any purely scientific discoveries as secondary, John Wesley Powell was chiefly a scientist. That is to say, he talks a lot about geology and the like.

He also gives first hand accounts of his interactions with Native Americans in the area, which is fascinating.

 

King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard

King Solomon’s Mines is one of the great classics of the adventure genre. If parts of it seem a little cliche today, it’s only because H. Rider Haggard has been so often imitated since. Specifically he’s credited with creating the ‘lost world’ sub-genre.

The story’s about a big game hunter who goes looking for a lost world which is supposed to contain a great treasure. Even though it was written in the 1800s, it’s still an engaging read. I enjoyed the gritty descriptions of British hunters and military men in Africa at the height of European colonialism.

 

The Myth of the Strong Leader: Political Leadership in the Modern Age by Archie Brown

The title could be interpreted as referring to two different big ideas, both of which this book discusses. First is the so called ‘big man’ theory, which many historians are now rebelling against. Such historians believe we have historically put too much emphasis on individuals rather than broader social movements. For example, we focus on Hitler, but perhaps Hitler was only the product of a broader social movement which existed without him, and which would’ve elevated some other leader with similar qualities if it hadn’t been for him. Along that same vein, Archie Brown argues that in modern democracies we talk about Gordon Brown or Bill Clinton winning elections, when in fact, the author argues, the victories and defeats have more to do with the political parties and how voters feel about them in particular election years.

Personally, my feeling is that previous generations of historians probably did over emphases individuals to some degree, in large part just because that’s how we as humans tend to best relate to stories, but there is also a tendency by younger generations to, in my opinion, go too far the other way.

History, as I see it, is an interplay between individuals and broader social movements (which are, of course, ultimately made up of individuals). Hitler, FDR and Churchill were all products of their times and societies, of course, and if it hadn’t been them, it’s possible other leaders with somewhat similar qualities might have emerged in their place. But they wouldn’t have been quite the same, and in my opinion the intimate characteristics of Hitler, FDR, Churchill and other leaders did have a real impact on the sweep of human history.

History only seems inevitable after the fact.

The other big idea which Archie Brown was, I think, more likely referring to with the title is his argument that our society tends to glorify hyper dominant, strong leaders when, according to Brown, those leaders are actually not the most effective. He argues in favor of leaders who consider a variety of viewpoints and try to build consensus, leaders who see themselves as part of the team, rather than the sole decision maker.

Again, I think it’s a matter of balance. I agree with the qualities he endorses in a leader, though I also feel sometimes strength is necessary in a leader for that leader to be effective.

Brown’s book also includes interesting profiles on a wide range of 20th century political leaders from countries all over the world. Separate and apart from any central premise, Brown’s book is a useful work on political and leadership theory in general.

 

Stickeen by John Muir

Again, I tried to read books which were connected to places I visited along the way. Stickeen is actually set in Alaska, which I did not make it to, but it’s author, the great naturalist John Muir, is more closely associated with Yosemite, which was around where I was when I read this one.

It’s a short, sweet story about a time Muir got stuck out on a glacier with a dog named Stickeen.

 

The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone

I believe I read this around San Francisco rather than Seattle, but still, West Coast tech industry.

Amazon is the primary market for my own business, Nesse Distribution, so I was curious to learn more about the company’s backstory. This book turned out to be more critical of Bezos and his company than I’d expected. Particularly unsettling to me personally were passages such as the one in which a former Amazon executive said “Selling on Amazon is like doing heroine,” in that it gives you a rush of sales, but is ultimately bad for your business, because they’re going to gradually eviscerate your profit margins.

Evidently the Bezos family disputes parts of this book, so I’ll try to give them the benefit of the doubt and take it with a grain of salt. In any case, though, it’s an interesting history of the company.

 

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier

I’m a big Daphne du Maurier fan. Rebecca is another great book, and a more famous one, if you’re not familiar with her. This one is about a girl whose sent to live with her vile, low life uncle. Hitchcock later did a movie version, though I haven’t seen it yet.

If you do want to get a taste of Daphne du Maurier in movie form, I’d recommend the 2017 version of My Cousin Rachel, starring Rachel Weisz, which I think does a great job of capturing the mood and tone of du Maurier novels.

 

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling*

Kipling’s classic. Contrary to what some Disney fans might believe, the stories in the book version aren’t all about Mowgli, and the ones that are about Mowgli are sometimes very different than the animated movie. For example, Kaa the snake is a friend of Mowglis in the books, not a villain.

 

The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling*

In case you want the full story of Mowgli and the others.

 

Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing

In case you’re not familiar with him, Ernest Shackleton was a British arctic explorer. In the early 1900s he set out to cross Antarctica, but when one of his ships got stuck in the ice, the men became stranded. So began one incredible trial for survival after another. Hearing the story, I could hardly believe anyone survived to tell it. This book reads like an adventure novel, but is even more interesting because it’s all true.

The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling

Another of Kipling’s most famous stories, this one’s about two bums in British controlled India who decide to strike out for a region which has had little contact with Europeans. There they plan to improve their lot in life by using their Western education, and more importantly their Western weapons, to dominate the local populace and turn themselves into kings.

It’s an interesting window into the mind and worldview of European imperialism, of which Kipling was a proud member.

 

Empire of Blue Water: Henry Morgan and the Pirates who Ruled the Caribbean Waves by Stephen Talty

This is another book that reads like a grand adventure novel, but is all true. Captain Morgan was a British privateer sailing from Port Royal, on what is now Jamaica. It’s really an incredible story, and a nuanced look at the world of piracy, both it’s glamorous side, and it’s grotesque, brutish side.

 

Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt by David McCullough

It seems like I end up reading at least one book on the Roosevelts each year. For 2019 it was Mornings on Horseback. McCullough in this book focuses on the early life of TR. Certainly they’re a fascinating and inspiring family, and McCullough does a good job of bring them back to life.

 

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

Ava Lavender is a kind of generation magical realist book in the vein of One Hundred Years of Solitude or Like Water for Chocolate, but set in the Pacific Northwest, where I spent a lot of time last year. It’s a whimsical and sometimes haunting story of love and growth and change. I look forward to seeing where the young Leslye Walton’s career goes from here.

 

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert M. Pirsig

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a modern classic that defies easy categorization. A ‘fictionalized autobiography,’ a brilliant exploration of philosophy, a character study of a mad man? There’re different levels at which it can be interpreted. It’s not necessarily an easy read, but it certainly gets you thinking, and is one you’re likely to keep thinking about long after you’ve finished it.

Thinking in Systems: A Primer by Donella H. Meadows

I’m very interested in the field of systems theory. Systems are all around us, from the natural world, to the economy, to how we engineer machines and software. As our inventions, and our society, become increasingly complex, it’s helpful to understand the fundamental building blocks of how systems really work.

I don’t necessarily agree with all the conclusions Meadows reaches in this book, but it’s a good introduction to the field.

 

The Bridge: How the Roeblings Connected Brooklyn to New York by Peter J. Tomasi, illustrated by Sara Duvall

This is a graphic novel about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge and all the hurdles that had to be crossed to make it a reality.

Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull

For those, like me, who are interested in the intersection between art, technology and business, Pixar is one of the great model companies. In this book, Ed Catmull, one of the companies founders, takes us through many of the trials and triumphs during the making of movies ranging from Toy Story to Up (both of which I love, by the way). He also gives a lot of good, practical advice on how to organize and run creative companies, including the importance of empowering artists, and talks about the difficulties and opportunities of Pixar eventually being absorbed into Disney. He even invites us into several of Pixar’s legendary creative meetings.

 

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

One of those books a lot of people read in school, but I never did. About growing up poor and different.

Living on the Spine: A Woman’s Life in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains by Christina Nealson

Christina Nealson is a writer, spiritual guru and something of a celebrity in certain circles. This particular book is a memoir about her time living off the grid in a very remote area of the Colorado mountains. I was particularly interested to read it since her closest neighbors at the time were my parents and I (when I was little). Christina Nealson also officiated my parents wedding.

 

Sam Walton: Made in America by John Huey and Sam Walton

Sam Walton’s folksy memoir about the founding of Walmart. He reminds me a little of John D. Rockefeller.

 

George Lucas: A Life by Brian Jay Jones

Like a lot of people, I’m a huge Star Wars dork. I also happen to be into filmmaking, so this book was right up my alley. Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Spielberg both appear as supporting characters. It’s a well written, fascinating story that reminded me a little of Isaacson’s famous Steve Jobs biography.

 

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard

Ever since childhood, I’ve been fascinated by classical history. Mary Beard is a highly respected scholar on ancient Rome. In this book she discusses not just what happened, but why we know it happened, why we think it happened, or why it might not have happened. For example, she explores why many of the horror stories we hear about emperors like Caligula, Nero and Domitian may have been greatly exaggerated.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain

I’ve long been a Tom Sawyer / Huck Finn fan, and this is Mark Twain’s other most famous book. It’s very entertaining, and also more political than I’d expected. (Twain was highly critical of the romantic tendencies that were popular in his day, and also uses the book to champion the common man and what he sees as American practicality as opposed to European formality and frivolity.)

 

Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill: A Brief Account of a Long Life by Gretchen Rubin

Like Teddy Roosevelt, Winston Churchill is another historical figure I keep reading books about. Love him or hate him, he’s a fascinating man, and I personally have always found him inspiring. I was also intrigued by Gretchen Rubin’s approach to this book, that is, for each chapter to look at her subject a different way. For example, one chapter might portray Churchill as a great father, another might portray him as a terrible father, still another may look at Churchill’s possible relationship with depression or his relative strengths or weaknesses as a military commander.

To me the model seemed like an excellent way to get a condensed overview of a variety of different perspectives on a complex subject. Rubin also did one on JFK, which I haven’t read yet.

 

Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean by Les Standiford

I spent a lot of 2019 in Florida and I became interested in the significant role that railroads, particularly that of Henry Flagler, played in the development of the state. While railroads drove development, however, hurricanes were pushing powerfully in the opposite direction. This is the story of a visionary businessman and an incredible engineering feat, but also of workers laying tracks through remote swamps and struggling to survive hurricane after hurricane.

 

The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success by Albert-László Barabási

I tend to be resistant to self help books that promise silver bullets to life’s most challenging problems, but that’s not what this book is. Rather, it came out of academia and explores the findings of a research team analyzing big data to learn about human success and achievement. Why does the work of some artists sell for many times that of similar work by another equally talented artist? What are the early indicators of highly impactful career in science? How much of success in sports comes down to luck?

It’s a fascinating book that I’ve found myself thinking back to often since I read it.

 

The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made by Walter Isaacson and Evan Thomas

I’m a long time Walter Isaacson fan. This one is about the so called foreign policy establishment which guided the US from World War II through Vietnam. It’s interesting reading about the behind-the-scenes discussions for some of the big decisions, concepts, strategies and events we all learn about in history class.

 

The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery by Sarah Lewis

Ostensibly this is a book about how people, particularly (but not exclusively) in creative fields, gain mastery, how we go from being bad to great. Really, this book is about a lot of things, but they’re all interesting.

 

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

I loved The Golden Compass when I read it as a kid, but somehow I’d never read it’s sequel. This one’s great too!

 

Rise and Fall of the Borgias by William Landon**

The Borgias was a powerful and infamous family during the Renaissance. They certainly make more interesting reading, like real world Game of Thrones.

 

Law School for Everyone: Corporate Law by George S. Geis**

If you’re going to be in business, its helpful to know a little about the structure and legal functioning of corporations.

The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho

Most people know Paulo Coelho for The Alchemist, but this is another great story of magic and following your dreams.

How Conversation Works: 6 Lessons for Better Communication by Anne Curzan**

This is an interesting academic analysis of the structure and unspoken (pun intended) rules of conversation. Most of us know these rules without thinking about them, and find it off putting when someone doesn’t follow them, but Anne Curzan gets you to stop and really think about them for a moment.

 

The Historical Jesus by Bart D. Ehrman

I’d been interested for a while in reading something more academic about Jesus as a historical figure, and December seemed like the perfect month to do it. As many books as have been written about Jesus, I found it harder than I expected to find one that even tried to be impartial. Most, it seems, either try to convince you to believe in Jesus as the son of God, or actively try to poke holes in Christianity. Ehrman, however, struck a good middle ground.

 

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

A Christmas Carol is probably the most famous secular Christmas story in our culture. As often as we’ve all heard it, I was interested to read it in it’s original words. It’s well written, and short by Dickens standards, and I can definitely appreciate why it’s become such a classic.

 

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury’s famous, iconic dystopian future novel about a government that burns books.

Epileptic by David B.

I was curious to read more graphic novels, and this is one I’d heard was supposed to be very good. I would agree! It’s a memoir about the authors childhood and youth, his relationship with his brother who has epilepsy, and about his family at large. It’s both a great story and beautifully illustrated.

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

This is another one many people read as kids. I’d seen the movie, but never read the book. It’s sad, but also sweet and moving.

 

 

 

* Combined into one volume.

** Released originally as audiobook rather than paper book.

 

DISCLOSURE: This page may contain affiliate links, meaning if you click the link and buy the book I get a small commission. Obviously it didn’t affect which books I read, or which books I decided to refer to here. Amazon Associates is just an easy way to generate matching book cover thumbnails and other Amazon product links, and I personally find Amazon links helpful when I’m looking at reading lists. Affiliate commissions really didn’t have anything to do with my decision to publish this list.

 

“book” feature image by Noah Dibley.