Summary:

As of 2020, I am aiming for 2 books per month, with an additional target of 30 books in the year.

End of year summary:

31 books this year. Particular highlights included Catch-22, Unbroken, and Red Notice. I managed a few classics, further should follow in 2022. The lack of lockdown curtailed some reading. Next year I intend to read another 2 books per month with 30 as the stretch goal.

Red Notice, Bill Browder

Jan 2021
Gripping book which starts with tales of making boatloads of money in Russia and with legislation for human rights. The amount of corruption in Russia is mildly terrifying.

Catch-22, Joseph Heller

Jan 2021
Enjoyable fiction with suitable satire throughout. Now I understand what a catch-22 is.

The Big Moo, Seth Godin

Feb 2021
Bitesize advice - easy to read and probably some truths.

Are Prisons Obsolete?, Angela Davis

Feb 2021
Interesting book (essay). The title should probably be ‘Prisons Are Obsolete’. I am not sure if the UK situation is akin to America.

The making of the fittest, Sean B. Carrol

Feb 2021
Good technical details - the repetition of natural selection is fascinating (ie antifreeze fish in the Arctic / Antarctic) - it’s interesting to think about current selection pressures (anthropological ones)

The Paper Menagerie, Ken Lui

Feb 2021
Alarming to read a first-hand account about the CCP making people ‘disappear’, and people so desperate to leave they will sell themselves. Tragic that the author could not reconcile with his mother while she was alive.

Skunkworks, Ben Rich (et al)

Mar 2021
Been on the list for a while, and was an excellent read. Incredibly achievements with a relatively small and lean team. Makes you wonder how much more we could be doing now with the right investment. Also, RS-71 -> SR-71 is an amusing mistake.

Jakob’s Colours, Lindsay Hawdon

Mar 2021
A clever novel in which a Roma boy tries to survive WW2. Flashbacks to the lives of his parents provide insight into Gypsy’s hardships. Unsurprisingly colourful descriptions, but not a page-turner.

Lion, Saroo Brierley

Apr 2021
A child gets lost in India, survives the streets of Calcutta, gets adopted, and then uses Google Earth to find his home. I watched the film, and the book matched up well. Astonishing number of memories from before the age of 5.

Deep Thinking, Garry Kasparov

Apr 2021
Mostly musings by Kasparov on the development of Chess engines. I liked the comment that things are intelligent until we learn how to make a machine do it, and then, in the world of 1s and 0s, we deem them no longer intelligent. Following reading this I played Stockfish on its highest level and got destroyed in 12 moves…

The Coldest March, Susan Solomon

May 2021
Really enjoyed this account of Captain Scott’s journey to the Pole. Especially impressed by the winter sled trip made by Bowers, Wilson, and Cherry-Garrard. To me, it seems likely that Bowers and Wilson could perhaps have survived. Truly unimaginable conditions though. My mind was blown when I realised the title refers to the month not the act of walking.

Russians Among Us, Gordon Corera

May 2021
Russia’s approach to the West is fascinating - the lengths they can go to to infiltrate society to gain mostly benign information is amazing. To what end is this worthwhile? One wonders what is happening nowadays. A nice complement to Red Notice.

The Word is Murder, Anthony Horowitz

June 2021
Meta murder mystery - parts were good but I struggled to get my head around the 1st person references to him writing the book. Part 1 of 3. tbc whether I’ll read the others.

Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond

June 2021
Been inching through this - it was more academic than expected. The book aims to explain Western dominance in the last 500 years. The shift from hunter/gatherer to farming in the fertile crescent, and the domestication of animals is interesting. The early differences become magnified over time. Similar in ways to Prisoners of Geography but at a more fundamental level than political level.

The Gene Hunters, William Cookson

June 2021
In a parallel universe, I may have been a geneticist. Very interesting read.

Wintergirls, Laurie Halse Anderson

July 2021
Wanted to learn a bit more about EDs. Fiction seemed a decent option.

The Sentence Is Death, Anthony Horowitz

July 2021
The second installment in this series; enjoyed this one more than the first. Leaves you wondering what is true/real and what is fiction. I will probably read the third when it comes out.

The Rodchenkov Affair, Grigory Rodchenkov

August 2021
A book telling the story of Russian doping; an excellent partner to the Icarus documentary and enlightening both the prevalence of doping and the ineffectiveness of testing until very recently. Makes you wonder what is happening now.

Fake Law, The Secret Barrister

August 2021
Learned a lot about the legal system in the UK. Quite interesting to read the non-media side of many of the stories.

Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand

August 2021
A biography for Louis Zamperini; Berlin Olympic 5000m contender who has a knack for unfortunate events during WW2 but against all odds surviving them. Phenomenal optimistic ability and a fantastic Bank Holiday weekend read.

The Power of Geography, Tim Marshall

August 2021
Follow on from Prisoners of Geography. Considering its name there was significant emphasis in each chapter on the history (albeit how geography shaped this). Always intriguing to consider global power struggles.

Ottoman Turkish Bows, Adam Karpowicz

September 2021
Unfortunately, I could only get the e-book of this; it would have been great to leaf through. The bible on composite bow construction and no doubt an excellent text for the future in which I have a garage.

The Jelly Effect, Andy Bounds

October 2021
Easy to read. Not what I was expecting. Key message: stop throwing jelly.

The Strangest Man, Graham Farmelo

October 2021
Biography of Paul Dirac. Strange man indeed. Enjoyed learning about his background as an Engineer.

A Corinthian Endeavour, Paul Jones

November 2021
The British hill climb (cycling) scene is extremely niche and full of characters. Having qualified to ride the national I read this book to learn more about the history. My appetite to ride fixed on some of these epic climbs has greatly increased.

Playing the Moldovans at Tennis, Tony Hawks

November 2021
Tony Hawks adventure; is always a good read with a few chuckles. Turns out Moldovan footballers are not very good at tennis. I wonder if I could beat them.

Spitfire, Jonathan Glancey

November 2021
Iconic British engineering; is a mix of the developments and performance of the plane and the heroics performed by it / its pilots. Crazy to think they were building ~40L engines back in the 40s.

A Line to Kill, Anthony Horowitz

December 2021
Third in the series. Still a struggle to parse the real/fiction aspects of this but again very clever. The door is left open for further developments.

1984, George Orwell

December 2021
Probably my favourite classic yet; the final third was depressing. Well written and thought-provoking.

Red Roulette, Desmond Shum

December 2021
A mirror of Red Notice which I started the year with. Enjoyable but shocking.