In
trying to keep a pace of reading a book a month, here is my 2017 list
of books with a short comment each and my subjective grade. I gave these seventeen books, eleven A grades, four B grades and two C grades.
Imperium, Conspirata and Dictator Trilogy by Robert Harris. Fictional life of Cicero told through his slave Tiro. Compelling and eye opening. (A+)
Gallic Wars Julius Caesar, translated by Carolyn Hammond. Caesar's notes from his Gaul campaign. Propaganda in the best sense of the term. Crystal clear translation. (A+)
Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar Tom Holland. Writing was a bit too sensational for my taste. On the other hand, we are talking about the House of Caesar here - so you have that! (B)
Alexander Hamilton. Ron Chernow. Inspired that runaway hit on Broadway. However, writing was too turgid for me. (C)
The Great Decision: Jefferson, Adams, Marshall and the Battle for the Supreme Court. Cliff Sloan, David MckEan. Breath-taking story about how the Supreme Court asserted itself as a co-equal branch of the US Government. A must read! (A+)
Thinking Fast and Slow. Daniel Kahneman. Stunning revelations on how ours minds work and the mental mistakes we make. My book of the year. (A+)
The Longevity Economy Joseph Coughlin. The director of the MIT AgeLab describes the challenges and opportunities that lie in the gap between what we are assuming and what is confronting us as reality in terms of increased human longevity. (A)
The Second Machine Age Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson from MIT describe what progress in technology holds for us. (A)
Homo Deus Yuval Noah Harari. Future Shock re-visited on a bigger, grander scale with more urgency. (A+)
I was happy to slightly increase the pace of my reading over last year. Don't know if I can repeat that this year!
My first book of this year is How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer by Sarah Blakewell, which was a New Year's gift from my friend. Looking forward to reading it!
Fiction
Imperium, Conspirata and Dictator Trilogy by Robert Harris. Fictional life of Cicero told through his slave Tiro. Compelling and eye opening. (A+)
Conclave Robert Harris. Novel set in the Vatican about the election of a new Pope. Entertaining and educational. (A)
The Burning Room. Michael Connolly. Last book in the Bosch detective series. Workmanlike. (B)
Non Fiction
Gallic Wars Julius Caesar, translated by Carolyn Hammond. Caesar's notes from his Gaul campaign. Propaganda in the best sense of the term. Crystal clear translation. (A+)
Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar Tom Holland. Writing was a bit too sensational for my taste. On the other hand, we are talking about the House of Caesar here - so you have that! (B)
Leonardo Da Vinci. Walter Isaacson. The author continues his string of biographies that includes Jobs. I just had this vague tickle that the author was "painting by the numbers" unlike the subject he was writing about. (B)
American Lion John Meacham's biography of Andrew Jackson has echoes for today that are unmistakable. (A)
Alexander Hamilton. Ron Chernow. Inspired that runaway hit on Broadway. However, writing was too turgid for me. (C)
The Great Decision: Jefferson, Adams, Marshall and the Battle for the Supreme Court. Cliff Sloan, David MckEan. Breath-taking story about how the Supreme Court asserted itself as a co-equal branch of the US Government. A must read! (A+)
The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris. David McCullough. Anecdotes about famous Americans who were in Paris in the 1800s. The idea of the book sounded better than the book itself. (C)
Sholay: The Making of a Classic Anupama Chopra. Loved every line of the book - took me back to my teen years. (B+)
Business and Economics
Thinking Fast and Slow. Daniel Kahneman. Stunning revelations on how ours minds work and the mental mistakes we make. My book of the year. (A+)
The Longevity Economy Joseph Coughlin. The director of the MIT AgeLab describes the challenges and opportunities that lie in the gap between what we are assuming and what is confronting us as reality in terms of increased human longevity. (A)
The Second Machine Age Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson from MIT describe what progress in technology holds for us. (A)
Homo Deus Yuval Noah Harari. Future Shock re-visited on a bigger, grander scale with more urgency. (A+)
2018
I was happy to slightly increase the pace of my reading over last year. Don't know if I can repeat that this year!
My first book of this year is How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer by Sarah Blakewell, which was a New Year's gift from my friend. Looking forward to reading it!
Here is my 2016 list of books.
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