RECOMMENDED NON TECH READING
Reading List: 2019 Edition
Spy agencies, religion, the Mafia, and 14th century British history
After several great discussions about recommended reading at the tech conferences I attended in 2019, I promised once again to publish my non-tech reading list. I completely failed to do this last year, but I did manage it for 2017 and this led to further great conversations on the road in 2018.
I’ve added some commentary at the end of this piece, and also mentioned my favourite reads. If you’re curious as to why I try and read at least 26 books every year (and also attend conferences), then one of my favourite quotes from Charlie “Tremendous” Jones should shed some light on this :)
“You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.”
I mainly read paper (dead tree) books, and sometimes use a Kindle Paperwhite 6" for convenience when traveling light. I’ve read a lot of non fiction this year (mainly in an attempt to help me better understand what’s going on in the world), but I’ve tried to get back in to reading some classic science fiction too — recommendations here are most welcomed!
I also listen to books via Audible when running, in the gym, or travelling, and I try to balance this with listening to The Economist Audio Edition and podcasts like The InfoQ podcast (shameless plug, as I’m a co-host here!), Software Engineering Daily, The Herd with Colin Cowherd (mainly for the NFL coverage), and the Bowery Boys New York City History (exploring my love of all-things NYC!)
I’ve included links on the book titles below, and these are affiliate links that go to Amazon.co.uk. I promise that any proceeds will be exclusively used to buy more books :)
Without further ado…
Paper books (and Kindle)
GCHQ: The Uncensored Story of Britain’s Most Secret Intelligence Agency
Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
Moneyland: Why Thieves And Crooks Now Rule The World And How To Take It Back
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
Why Buddhism Is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment
American History: A Very Short Introduction
Americana: A 400-Year History of American Capitalism
Bullshit Jobs: The Rise of Pointless Work, and What We Can Do About It
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
1984 Nineteen Eighty-Four [re-read]
Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War
Nothing is True and Everything is Possible: Adventures in Modern Russia
Audiobooks
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
A Short History of Nearly Everything
The Ascent of Money [re-listen]
Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics
Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America’s Most Powerful Mafia Empires
The Warren Buffett Way: 3rd Edition
The Science of Everyday Life: Why Teapots Dribble, Toast Burns and Light Bulbs Shine
An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management
The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century
My Favourites
I really enjoyed my reading list this year, and it’s difficult to pick favourites. Reading about the history of the UK and US spy agencies helped me put into perspective what other countries are (allegedly) doing now. Learning more about how the VC-driven tech industry and the capitalist system are straining at the edges was great context for understanding some of the business and global economic challenges we face. I also enjoyed learning about different aspects of religion and the stories that bind us together (or keep us apart). “The Sixth Extinction” was also an excellent read, and this was a strong wake up call to the effects of climate change. I’m keen to read more about this topic in 2020.
From a fictional perspective, I very much enjoyed “Snow Crash” and could clearly see it’s impact on modern movies and TV series, but my favourite read in this category was Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” — I’ll be continuing this series in 2020.
My favourite paper book this year was “Army of None”. This isn’t strictly a non-tech book, as it covers a lot of technical topics: from the history of warfare and the difference between automatic and autonomous weapons, through to an introduction to deep neural networks, an overview of “normal accidents” and the impact on system design, and the future consequences of deploying fully-autonomous weapons. The structure of the book is excellent, the discussion is balanced, and the arguments are well constructed. It certainly made my think about my potential role within the domain of technology, and the ethical and moral responsibilities we have as software professionals.
In regard to the audiobooks I listened to this year, “Five Families” was a epic 33 hour journey through the history of the New York and New Jersey Mafia. As a big Sopranos fan, I recognised many of the real life inspirations for plot lines in this fantastic TV series, which was an added bonus. I also learned a lot about human insecurities, back stabbing, and painting houses…
“Misbehaving” was also fantastic, and provided great history and context around one of my other favourite books, “Thinking Fast, and Slow”. “An Elegant Puzzle” was also excellent, and comes highly recommended if you are a technical leader or are aspiring to be one. However it wasn’t the best book to listen to, due to it’s hierarchical/bullet-point type structure, and so I also bought the Kindle version in order to refer to more easily.
My favourite audiobook this year was “The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England”. The novel approach to exploring history and the storytelling, combined with excellent detail and superb narration, really got me imagining what life was like in the 1300s. I’ll definitely be buying additional audiobooks in this series.
Best wishes for 2020!
I’ve already queued up a few books for this year, including “The Three Body Problem”, “AI Superpowers”, and “Future Crimes: Inside The Digital Underground and the Battle For Our Connected World”. I’ve also developed a bit of a backlog in Audible, with “Narconomics: How To Run a Drug Cartel”, “Red Notice”, and “The Templars” ready to go. I’ll hopefully report back in a year’s time, and let you know what I thought.
Happy new year to everyone! Here’s to a reading-filled, productive and fun 2020 :-)
