Updated 31 Dec 2010
Here’s my reading list from 2010, 35 books.
Red China Blues, by Jan Wong (5/5)
Learning from Las Vegas, by Robert Venturi, et al. (4/5)
The Style of Takemiya, by Yuan Zhou (4/5)
The Attacking Style of Kitani Minori and Soo Bong Seo, by Yuan Zhou (4/5)
How to Play Handicap Go, by Yuan Zhou (4/5)
Coders at Work, by Peter Seibel (3/5)
Writing and Enjoying Haiku, by Jane Reichhold (3/5)
Twenty-One Stories, by Graham Greene (4/5)
RYA Tactics, by Mark Rushall (5/5)
Illustrated sailing tactics. Excellent detail with very specific situations and hints for each phase of the race.
Pomodoro Technique Illustrated, by Staffan Noteberg (4/5)
Obviously written by a software dev who has used Scrum and XP. It’s a decent intro, but is it any better than the original website?
A Rulebook for Arguments, by Anthony Weston (3/5)
A basic intro of 45 rules for formulating an argument, including “formal” logical approaches and style rules. Seems to be aimed at college students writing papers.
Nothing Special, by Charlotte Joko Beck (4/5)
Collection of zen lectures and Q&A with students. Covers a good range of topics. A bit repetitive, so read in small chunks.
Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain (4/5)
A bit repetitive by the end, but very enjoyable.
The Bounty, by Caroline Alexander (5/5)
The Gun Seller, by Hugh Laurie (4/5)
Very Douglas Adams’ey or maybe Wodehouse’ian.
The Systems Bible, by John Gall (4/5)
“The most effective approach to coping is to learn the basic laws of Systems-Behaviour”
Factory Girls, by Leslie Chang (5/5)
Inversion of power in China as village girls become the top earners in the family.
Super Sad True Love Story, by Gary Shteyngart (3/5)
Near-future satire of a decimated America, Facebook generation. Interesting, but ultimately a bit thin.
Racing Skipper, by Mike Golding (4/5)
Up Till Now: An Autobiography, by William Shatner (4/5)
How to Live in 24 Hours Per Day, by Arnold Bennett (3/5)
The Glass Castle: A Memoir, by Jeannette Walls (5/5)
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K Dick (4/5)
Hard to read this without just imagining Blade Runner, but it’s ultimately a very different story at the core.
The Razors Edge, by W Sommerset Maugham (4/5)
Siddhartha goes to Paris.
Yes Man, by Danny Wallace (4/5)
Man says yes to everything. Hillarity ensues.
Bicycle Diaries, by David Bryne (5/5)
The Art of Learning, by Josh Waitzken (4/5)
Former chess prodigy (Searching for Bobby Fischer) examines his personal process for learning and his parallels between chess and Tai Chi.
Leading Lean Software Development, by Mary Poppendick (5/5)
Understanding Dan Level Play, by Yuan Zhou (5/5)
Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall (4/5)
The One Straw Revolution, by Masanobu Fukuoka (3/5)
The Paleo Solution, by Robb Wolf (3/5)
A Beginner’s Guide to the World Economy, by Randy Epping (3/5)
How to Have a Beautiful Mind, by Edward De Bono (4/5)
How Life Imitates Chess, by Garry Kasparov (5/5)