Books

(This is 99% for my own reference so I can remember what I read when I'm old next year)

Alright, I felt childish making a list of youtube videos, so I'm now it's time for book reviews.

I started go through some of my favorites from this year, but all the stuff I read last year is still sitting there in my mind, begging for closure. So these are books of 2009....in no particular order.

Dead Reckoning - A collection of adventure/travel/explorer memoirs from the late 1800's. People dressing up and trying to sneak into Tibet and such. Didn't read them all, but a few were really good. Writing style was so different then.

Travels With Charley - I love Steinbeck. This book was great cause we read it during our trip around the country (or maybe after...I can't remember) so it felt very applicable. Mainly Steinbeck's stories from driving around America along with his thoughts on our country's culture.

Confessions of a Street Addict - Jim Cramer. That guy drives me insane. Didn't finish it because I got annoyed that his investing strategy was based completely on cheating.

A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market - Easy, enjoyable read. Although I don't know a single other person who would enjoy reading it. Actually, Sarah's uncle might like it...haha.

Free - Chris Anderson's latest book (guy who wrote The Long Tail). Really good discussion/investigation of the changes in our economy and how the free price point affect us (this blog is free, i will probably mention it on twitter which is free, while using free wireless at the coffee shop, etc.)

The Disciplined Trader - Good book. You wouldn't like it.

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator - My favorite book of all time. Probably the 5th or 6th time I've read it. Again, not sure if I know a single other person that would like it though...which is sad 'cause it's brilliant.

Awakening the Entrepreneur Within - This is by the E-Myth guy. I really like the concepts in E-Myth but not so much this one.

History of Love - Fiction. Just realized those first few were all non-fiction. Read this book in Costa Rica, which helps, but it was great either way.

Same Kind of Different As Me - It was good. Thoughtful book, you've probably already heard plenty about it.

The White Tiger - About India. I loved it. Thought it was really well done and fit perfectly with my stereotypes about India. Whether or not that makes it accurate, I don't know, but I really liked it. Also fiction.

The 10 Most Beautiful Experiments - Sarah and I read this on our trip. Talks about the story and the people behind the most 'beautiful' scientific experiments of our history. Interesting book although a good reminder that I do not need to be in the medical field.

The Things They Carried - This won some awards and is about Vietnam. Sarah really liked it...I thought it was alright.

The Road - It's at the dollar movies if you'd rather save the time. Great book and incredibly well-written.

Outliers - Sarah and I read this on the trip as well. Classic Gladwell. Interesting, repetitive, and important. Well-researched as always, although that may be why it seems long to me...you can tell me stuff in a book and I will believe you, you don't have to prove it.

Crazy For The Storm - Memoir of some kid who was in a plane crash with his dad and had to get off the mountain on his own. It was alright...didn't change my life though. The kid grew up in Malibu so it's hard to relate.

The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work - Alain de Botton is great. Read some of his stuff if you get a chance. Ben Harmon swears by his architecture book. Oh, that's next on the list.

Architecture of Happiness - See above. He's British.

The New Market Wizards - Another investing/trading classic. Detailed interviews with the best money managers in the world. Good stuff, but again, anyone reading this wouldn't like it.

The New New Thing - About Silicon Valley and specifically about some famous guy with a really generic name that I can't remember. It's written by Michael Lewis though, and he's great (although he did write 'the blindside' and that automatically makes me skeptical). I love his other books and found this one fascinating as well.

The Knack - Can't remember much...probably not a good sign.

Banker to the Poor - Auto-Biography of Mohammed Yunus who started Grameen Bank and is the father of the whole micro-finance movement. Very worthwhile read. Fascinating individual and inspiring book.

Dead Aid - Can't remember the authors name, but she's some girl with the most impressive resume a 30-something could possibly have. Basically argues against the model of aid that has been present in Africa for almost a century. Very convincing and convicting. Her and Bono fight a lot these days.

The Talent Code - See Outliers. Even more scientific though. Also really well-researched and thought-provoking.

Superfreakonomics - Great book. I love that kind of counter-thinking and really enjoyed the book.

Octavian Nothing - This was a weird book that I read 'cause Sarah did and it was about...i don't even know. Slavery and racism and other stuff like that. But it was teen fiction so not as heavy as it sounds.

Into Thin Air - Love Krakauer's stuff. Crazy first-hand account of the deadliest day in Everest's history. I know I'm at least a decade late on this one...sorry.

Under the Banner of Heaven - More Krakauer. Very historical, detailed, interesting.

Poisonwood Bible - This may sound strange, but I loved this book. Almost certainly my favorite book of the year. Barbara Kingsolver tells an incredible story and I just loved it. The story, the setting, the characters...all amazing. A lot of people don't like it, but I was sad when it was over.

Devil of Our Own Design - Really good book about the financial system and a bunch of other arcane stuff that I find fascinating. Every person who saw me reading it asked how I liked the new Dan Brown book. It was different than that...trust me.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - This is also by Kingsolver but I mostly read it cause some days we just really want to move to a farm. Or as I like to say it 'I wanna move up to Nashua, get a little spread, get some sheep, and tend to them.'

That's all I remember. Glad I made that list...been meaning to do that forever.

My goal for 2010 is to read fewer books and actually do some stuff. It's not looking good so far...

- jeremiah