After college, I resolved to read one book a month. It can be fiction, non-fiction, technical, business-oriented, or whatever as the goal was to always be absorbing and digesting new ideas and information, even just for fun. At Clarify.io, we have a bi-weekly bookclub based on the same idea.
If I’ve missed a good one I should read, please leave a comment below.
So here are the 40 books I completed in 2015:
Clarify Book Club
- Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases… by Jez Humble
- Purple Cow by Seth Godin
- Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel
- The End of Nice: How to be Human in a world run by Robots by Richard Newton
- Note: Rich is one of the founders of Clarify’s predecessor company and joined us for the discussion in person.
- Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
- Spin Selling by Neil Rackham
- The Halo Effect: And Eight other Business Delusions that Deceive Managers by Phil Rosenzweig
- The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen
- The Mythical Man-Month by Fred Brooks
Jim Bernheimer
- I really wasn’t sure about this series but after getting it a shot, I enjoyed it. For context, imagine Tony Stark is a jerk (surprise!) and a billionaire but not the genius behind his tech but an entire team with a few minor geniuses behind the scenes. This is the story of one of those minor geniuses.
Jim Butcher
- The Dresden series is another good one where the things that go bump in the night are not only real but in active war with each other and the worst things on the edge of our reality. If you like Larry Correia, this is a different spin on it.
- Skin Game by Jim Butcher (book 15)
Larry Correia
- I found the Monster Hunter series and immediately loved it. As an old school Dungeons and Dragons player and a fan of the occasional conspiracy theory, it’s a great and compelling storyline with fun characters that doesn’t take itself too seriously. If you like Jim Butcher, you’ll like these.
Vox Day
- I’ve been reading Vox Day in some way, shape, or form for over 10 years. Even when I disagree with him, I find his clarity of thought and analytical teardowns impeccable.. to the point where I usually come around and agree with him. This one is a play by play of what happens over and over again online, most recently in tech but I can see it coming elsewhere.
Marion G. Harmon
- In this world. super powers have manifested and have formed response teams to respond to natural disasters, villains, and generally help society. This series is told from the newest member of a team just after her powers manifest.. it’s a fun story and a nice diversion.
Ryan Holliday
- This book was both great and horrifying. Holliday walks you through his practices and antics in getting and building press coverage for his clients. It’s great so check it out.
Alan Janney
- I picked up this series when I was on a superhero kick and enjoyed it throughout. I look forward to seeing where he takes the series and characters.
Kevin Mitnick
- I’ve been a fan of Mitnick since he was in prison and have learned both the light and dark side due to his influence and activities. If you’re working in security – physical or software – you need to check this one out. Most of the time, the weak spot in security is not your tech but your people.
John O’Brien
- A New World: Storm (final book in series)
- A New World: Untold Stories (short stories)
Dave Ramsey
- If you believe “the money is the root of all evil,” you should probably read more. Picking up this one is a great place to start.
Matthew Russell
Logan Rutherford
- This was another during my superhero kick and the first one was fun. The second one was still amusing but I’d like to see where he’s going with it.
Dr. Seuss
- As you might be able to guess from this selection, I had a major life event this year. While I normally wouldn’t list these, I read them often enough that I feel zero shame doing it.
- The Cat in the Hat
- The Cat in the Hat Comes Back
- Green Eggs and Ham
- Fox in Socks (twice, this one is hard!)
Daniel Suarez
- I originally read Daemon from Suarez years ago and sincerely loved it. This book lives up to the high bar that first one set. Even better, I had the chance to meet him this past summer and chat with him sitting around a campfire. It was awesome.
- Influx by Daniel Suarez
John C. Wright
- I initially picked up Wright at the insistence of a friend and while I didn’t start these with high expectations, the level of thought and understanding of implications was amazing.
I have a few more books underway but didn’t finish them in 2015.
Note: People always ask me how I manage to read so much. I read most things via Kindle so I have everything everywhere and I read every night before I go to bed, an hour or two every weekend, and on down times when I travel (flights, waiting, in cabs).