Summary:

My goal for 2023 is to read 24 books, with a stretch target of 36 books. Having only read 6 fiction books in 2022, I’d like to increase this to at least 10.

Review:

As of 26th December I have read 35 books and I am on track to read my stretch target of 36 books. My favourite books this year are Eject Eject, Chip War, and Battle of the Beams. I’ve only read 4 fiction books though.

Run, Swim, Throw, Cheat: The Science behind drugs in sport, Chris Cooper

Jan 2023
A little technical but it gave an insight into possible future methods of doping, and it seems there are several fruitful avenues to keep cheats busy. The discussion around bans for recreational drugs, and drugs that offer little genuine advantage is something I would agree with.

Tell me the planets: Stories of brain injuries and what it means to survive, Ben Platts-Mills

Jan 2023
Stories of the author’s experience working with survivors of brain injuries. The book follows several characters and shares Platt-Mill’s experiences supporting them and the many challenges that they face.

The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe

Jan 2023
Following the men who became the Astronauts. Why were these men willing to take on the risks involved in strapping into a rocket? What sort of person did it take?

Rain Dogs, Adrian McKinty

Jan 2023
A good detective story set in N. Ireland during the Troubles. Suitably easy reading whilst on holiday.

Winners: And how they succeed, Alastair Campbell

Feb 2023
Objective, strategy, tactics. Enjoyed his parallels between sport and other walks of life.

Running with the Kenyans, Adharanand Finn

Feb 2023
Move to Iten (Kenya), run higher mileage, and get faster. I was surprised at how recent this book is, I had always assumed it was a ‘classic’.

Freezing Order, Bill Browder

Mar 2023
A sequel to Red Notice which is no less thrilling. Mr Browder has powerful enemies. I expect publishing books to gain the support of Western populations to be a key part of his security strategy.

No Surrender, Hiroo Oneda

Mar 2023
Deployed in 1944 and instructed to fight a guerilla war, Oneda-san spent 30 years on a Philippine island fighting the good fight. Remarkable endurance and willpower.

The Price of Time, Edward Chancellor

Apr 2023
A history, and commentary, on interest and monetary policy. Low rates begot low rates, and are the villain. Interest is the pressure toward the correct allocation of capital.

Business Adventures, John Brooks

Apr 2023
Written in the 60s, the book tells twelve stories in twelve chapters. Xerox, the Ford Edsel, Wall Street woes, and employee IP disputes. As ever, some chapters are more interesting than others.

All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Remarque

Apr 2023
Having watched the film it was nice to read the book. The film misses some key parts of the book like Paul’s visit home, and also overly dramatises Paul’s death which happens only in the final paragraph. The day Paul Baumer dies, the report of action is ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’.

Atoms and Ashes, From Bikini Atoll to Fukushima, Serhi Plokhy

Apr 2023
6 nuclear accidents, starting from hydrogen bomb testing through to Three Mile Island, Chornobyl, and Fukushima. The premise of the book is that nuclear accidents will happen and that the impact is significant. I would compare this to aircraft crashes and driving - aircraft crashes happen, and when they do the severity is bad, but overall compared to driving it is much safer.

The Tour De France, Christopher Thompson

May 2023
More academic than expected but a good history of the Tour with excellent coverage of the personas, agendas, and motivations behind the Tour.

King Rat, James Clavell

May 2023
Fiction based on the Changi POW camp, detailing the struggle to survive for the British, Aussie, and American troops. The King lives a lavish lifestyle with his American ways until the currency in the POW camp is devalued at the end of the war and he loses his power.

My Silent War, Kim Philby

May 2023
An autobiography that must be taken with a pinch of salt given Philby’s recent defection to Russia at the time of writing. Quite an astonishing achievement to penetrate the highest levels of British Intelligence. The colourful style from this era is always enjoyable to read.

Frostquake, Juliet Nicolson

May 2023
For the hobbyist meteorologist, this lacked detail about the mechanism behind the extreme cold snap. It was, however, an interesting insight into the zeitgeist of the early 60s.

The 15:17 to Paris, Sadler et al

May 2023
Thought it would be more focused on the events of the day and the attempted terrorist attack, was more of a biography of the three Americans involved.

War Doctor, David Nott

June 2023
Surgery in war zones - challenging stuff! Certainly elements of a slightly troubled character but he seems to care. Particularly the chapters on Syria were quite graphically shocking.

Running up that hill, Vassos Alexander

June 2023
An enjoyable book about the Spartathlon and Vassos’ experience in running the race. Includes several sections of interviews/advice with the Ultra-running elite like Scott Jurek and Killian Jornet.

Ultra Marathon Man, Dean Karnazes

June 2023
It’s interesting reading these books to see that the training the ultra crew does is not much more than regular runners. Seems the game is mostly in the mind.

Invasion, Luke Harding

July 2023
Additional detail about the start of the Ukraine war. Covering some of the background politics and the status, and essentially concluding with the widely held Western view that Russia has essentially lost. Interesting to hear about the shift in the view on Zelensky pre and post-war.

Butler to the World, Oliver Bullough

July 2023
Post-empire Britain finds itself at the service of the mega-rich via e.g. British Virgin Islands, Scottish Limited Partnerships, and betting in Gibraltar. Depressing view on the British approach internationally.

Eject, Eject, John Nichol

July 2023
A fun book about the development of Martin Baker ejector seats from the first trials in the late 40s through to the fully automated seats today. Great to learn about how the technology advanced and nicely interspersed with tales of what happened post-ejection.

The Battle of the Beams, Tom Whipple

August 2023
Telling the story of the radar in WW2 and in particular, the accomplishments of RV Jones who worked with a small team to implement radar countermeasures helping to save many lives by misdirecting German bombers.

The Story of Hut 6, Gordon Welchman

August 2023
Coincidentally I stuck with a WW2 theme and read about Bletchley Park. Welchman was a maths fellow at Sidney Sussex and became integral to the success at B.P. His descriptions of the enigma machine and the methods used to crack the code were understandable. The book gives a good idea of the scale of the effort required to consistently break the code (daily or twice daily at the end of the war), but the information gathered was invaluable.

One Hit Wonder, Tony Hawks

September 2023
I’ve read about Hawks’ exploits against the Moldovan football team and enjoyed his colourful storytelling. One Hit Wonder is a similarly comical effort to compose another hit. His efforts take him all over the world, chasing down that next big hit.

The Twist of a Knife, Anthony Horowitz

September 2023
A continuation of the the Hawthorne series. Good twist at the end though I still find writing in first person with a mixture of real life and fiction quite odd.

Hello World, Hannah Fry

September 2023
Largely topics I’d previously read about, which made this less interesting than it might otherwise have been. Also, it was written pre-GPT4 and the rise of OpenAI, which does seem to have accelerated AI significantly.

Not a Penny More and Not a Penny Less, Jeffery Archer

September 2023
Liked this as fiction goes. From an earlier era and with several twists in the tale.

The blood lactate response to exercise, Arthur Weltman

September 2023
More of a literature review. Some useful insights into training with lactate. Very interesting.

Range, David Epstein

October 2023
Talking about the value of a broad range of experience in some sporting and many professional examples. Enjoyable read and had some actionable points.

Blunders of Our Governments, Anthony King

October 2023
From poll tax to the Millennium Dome, child support agency, exit from the ERM and many others. It feels like HS2, Brexit, and the COVID response will be in future editions. Whilst reflecting and learning from mistakes is good, the analysis does have the benefit of hindsight, and I am not sure that these blunders were so obvious at the time.

Chip War, Chris Miller

November 2023
An enjoyable read about the development of semiconductors. I had not realised the role defense budgets had in the development of chip manufacturing. The book majored in the history of the 60s to early 2010s and the various countries and companies involved in chip manufacturing before concluding with a section on the Huawei sanctions and Taiwan.

Latitude, Nicholas Crane

November 2023
In the 1700s a crew of French scientists plus a few Spanish made sail for South America and measured the distance of three degrees of latitude, thus determining that the earth is an oblate sphere. Astonishing how long the measurements took and how dysfunctional the team was. It’s also amazing the variety of measurements they become involved with.

Moondust, Andrew Smith

December 2023
Musings about the men who went to the moon. More about the people involved than the technology.