Year End Summary:

35 books total. 8 fiction. Best book this year = ‘The Making of the Atomic Bomb’ Notes:

• I read fiction books more quickly. I should read more ‘good’ fiction. Not murder mysteries / easy reading.
• The pandemic undoubtedly increased my reading. It’s one positive that can be taken from 2020. In 2021 I will again target at least 2 books per month, and additionally 30 books for the year. I’m getting through my list of books I knew I wanted to read, and finding more becomes more challenging.

Books read in 2020:

This year (2020) I am attempting to read more. To keep track I’m listing the books I’ve read here along with short comments and notable takeaways. In no particular order.

The Making of the Atomic Bomb, Richard Rhodes

Mar 2020
It’s incredible the progress to realise the progress made between 1900 and 1945 with physics. That they developed two different bombs in parallel was new to me. The sucker punch describing the devastation was akin to the finale of Blackadder Goes Forth.

Longitude, Dava Sobel

April 2020
The battle of a master craftsman and innovator to be recognised for astonishing work on developing clocks was astonishing.

24 Hours at Agincourt, Michael Jones

January 2020
Henry was a great leader, and war was business.

Shoe Dog, Phil Knight

April 2020
From creation to IPO, the story of NIKE. It’s interesting to see a change in how NIKE is now viewed from a grassroots level in the athletics community.

Antifragile, Nicholas Talib

May 2020
Give yourself optionality.

Daemon, Daniel Suarez

May 2020
Fiction for a world being taken over by a daemon invoked upon the death of a games company founder. An eye into the importance of digital security.

Freedom, Daniel Suarez

June 2020 Sequel to Daemon. Unfortunately not as good as the first; felt lackluster throughout and insufficiently interesting to be a page-turner.

Black Hawk Down, Mark Bowden

May 2020 Other than my initial misconceptions that Black Hawk Down was just a film, this was a great story.

Turn the Ship Around, David Marquet

January 2020 Leader-Follower to Leader-Leader. Invest and believe in people.

The Idea Factory, Jon Gertner

April 2020 The number of inventions generated by Bell Labs was phenomenal. The investment in basic research feels like it created more value than the current VC funding of software companies.

Ignition, Kevin Anderson

April 2020 Fictional story of terrorist attacks on NASA rocket launches being thwarted by an injured astronaut in the (wrong) right place at the right time.

As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, Laurie Lee

May 2020 Laurie Lee goes on a colourful adventure tramping through first southern England and then Spain. He experiences the outbreak of civil war; the hardship of poorer classes in the 30s is sobering.

Trouble with Lichen, John Wyndham

May 2020 Fiction tale about the discovery of ‘antigerones’ to extend life. Some interesting ethical considerations…

Never Split the Difference, Chris Voss

May 2020 I think this book will pay for itself many times over.

The Map that Changed the World, Simon Winchester

June 2020 The story of William Smith traipsing around England and mapping the strata. Much more readable than I expected and enjoyable. Surveyors in the early 1800s sounded fun.

Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race, Renni Eddo-Lodge

June 2020 There is a problem and I’m part of it. I was hoping for more actionable points at the end of the book.

The Drunkard’s Walk, Leonard Mlodinow

July 2020 Statistics is necessarily intuitive so do the math.

The Narrow Road To The Deep North, Richard Flanagan

July 2020 Fictional tale about the horrors in a Japanese PoW camp and following the later lives of those involved.

Bad Blood, John Carreyrou

August 2020 [Audio book] - The Tale of Theranos. Stunning account of lies, deceit, and groupthink leading to the rise and fall of Theranos.

Everest The First Ascent: The Untold Story of Griffith Pugh, Harriet Tuckey

August 2020 A great story of the success of evidence-driven experimentation. Includes high altitude physiological research leading to success on Everest. Also reapplied to the Mexico City Olympic games.

The Men Who United the States, Simon Winchester

August 2020
A sweeping tale of America’s development. Canals, roads, rail, the internet. My favourite section was a scam surrounding planted gems solved by geologist Clarence King.

Now you see her, Heidi Perks

August 2020
Fictional. Some moral issues with this book. Not sure which side I was on.

Love and War in the Apennines, Eric Newby

September 2020
PoW in Italy at the time of their armistice. The locals helped hide our plucky escapee through the summer months in the mountains of the Apennines. Ultimately a fruitless endeavor.

Energy, Vaclav Smil

September 2020
Interesting book that bounced around. An appreciation for power consumption/power generation from different sources was useful.

A Piano in the Pyrenees, Tony Hawks

September 2020
Highly amusing. Not many books make you chuckle. Life in the Pyrenees sounds okay.

Backroom Boys, Francis Spufford

October 2020
Tales of British engineering. My personal favourites were the development of the Atari games in Cambridge and the start of Vodafone

Bedside Stories, Michael Foxton

October 2020
Life as a junior doctor sounds grim. Makes my life seem easy.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Heather Morris

October 2020
Horrific. A gripping story. I think it would have been better without the 5% dramatic license.

Factfulness, Ana, Hans, and Ola Rosling

November 2020 Audiobook
There are many take-home points from this. The world is a bad place - but it’s not as bad as we might imagine. I feel like one’s impression of the world comes from what is learned at school, and appreciating change since then is challenging.

Revelation, Bill Napier

November 2020
This fictional tale is based on the supposition that a scientist in the Manhattan Project discovered something that should very much be kept a secret. Enjoyable storylines, but quite long, and took too long to conclude.

The Flying Scotsman, Graeme Obree

November 2020
Autobiography of a phenomenal athlete and innovator. I had not realised before the troubled life that Obree had, or the swings in form. It is a shame he was not better recognised for his achievements at the time.

The Lynmouth Flood Disaster, Eric Delderfield

November 2020
This was the Boscastle before Boscastle. 9” rain in a matter of hours is terrifying. Likely to happen again. Questionable how well prepared the next location that becomes victim to this is.

The Wright Brothers, David McCullough

December 2020
Takeaways are that the development took years of incremental improvement and that they used wing warping not ailerons for control. Remarkable achievement entirely bootstrapped. One wonders what equivalent opportunities still exist like this.

Doors Open, Ian Rankin

December 2020
The fiction revolves around a rich businessman stealing artwork and then becoming entangled in the criminal world. Slight whodunit vibes. Enjoyable quick read.

The Spies of Winter, Sinclair McKay

December 2020
The story of GCHQ emerging from WW2 and facing the new threat from communism, while at the same time coping with the collapse of the empire. Many great minds devoted themselves to this invaluable code breaking which must have been exasperating work under stressful conditions. The reminder of how Turing was treated after the war is sobering.

A Life on Our Planet, David Attenborough

December 2020
To me this reads as a tragedy waiting to happen for I am unconvinced humanity will act before it is too late. I am, however, optimistic that the ideas of billions of people will navigate us through the mess ahead.