Reading & Listening
My broader reading log. Selected favourites are in Bibliophile. Undated finishes appear under Date unknown.
In progress
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80/20 Daily
Personal development · Koch offers daily reflections on applying the 80/20 principle to improve work, health and personal relationships.
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Churchill
Biography · A biography of Winston Churchill that examines his political career, wartime leadership and personal life.
Note
Enjoying the audiobook.
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Dare to Lead
Leadership · Research on courage and vulnerability offers practical methods for difficult conversations and trust within teams.
Note
Partway through the audiobook.
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Fooled by Randomness
Probability and decision-making · Taleb examines how chance shapes financial outcomes and how people mistake random success for evidence of skill.
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The Book of Elon
Business and entrepreneurship · Jorgenson collects Musk’s statements on purpose and engineering, examining the methods behind his companies and ambitious projects.
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The Lessons of History
Philosophy of history · Will and Ariel Durant examine recurring patterns in civilisation, relating human nature to political power and social change.
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The Master and Margarita
Literary fiction · The devil visits Soviet Moscow in Bulgakov’s satire, linking a persecuted writer’s fate with love and religious history.
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The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches
Poetry and travel · Bashō records journeys through Japan in prose and haiku, observing seasonal change and seeking insight through Buddhist practice.
To read
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A Philosophy of Software Design
Software design · Ousterhout explains how to reduce software complexity through module design, clear interfaces and information hiding.
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Complexity
Science · Scientists at the Santa Fe Institute seek shared principles behind complex systems in nature and economics.
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Domain-Driven Design
Software engineering · Evans on a ubiquitous language shared by team and code, with consistent naming across planning and implementation.
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Envisioning Information
Information design · Examples of maps, diagrams and other visual displays explain methods for presenting complex information clearly.
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Seeing with Fresh Eyes
Information design · Tufte examines visual thinking and the presentation of evidence through ideas about meaning, space and truth.
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The Pragmatic Programmer
Software engineering · Hunt and Thomas on specification, feedback and craft; wrong builds often signal under-specification.
Finished · 2026
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From Third World to First
Political memoir · Lee Kuan Yew recounts Singapore’s development after independence and the political decisions that shaped its survival and prosperity.
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Runnin' Down a Dream
Careers · Gurley examines how people find satisfying careers and offers methods for pursuing work aligned with personal interests.
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The Courage To Be Disliked
Psychology · A dialogue introduces Adlerian psychology through questions about personal responsibility, relationships and the pursuit of happiness.
Finished · 2025
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Antifragile
Economics · Taleb studies systems that benefit from volatility and considers how individuals and institutions can respond to uncertainty.
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Before the Coffee Gets Cold
Fantasy · Customers at a Tokyo cafe revisit the past under rules that limit what their journeys can change.
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Breakneck
Geopolitics · Wang examines China's engineering ambitions and industrial development alongside differences between Chinese and American political systems.
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Co-Intelligence
Technology · Mollick examines practical ways to work with artificial intelligence and assess its effects on learning and professional tasks.
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Don't Swipe Right
Crime fiction · A woman's dating app encounters become linked to murders, drawing her into a comic crime mystery.
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Fatherland
Alternative history · Robert Harris' alternate history thriller set in a world where Nazi Germany won WWII.
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Hillbilly Elegy
Memoir · Vance recalls his upbringing and family difficulties while examining working-class life in Appalachia and the American Midwest.
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Meditations
Philosophy · A Roman emperor reflects on duty and self-control through private notes grounded in Stoic philosophy.
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Polostan
Historical fiction · Neal Stephenson's novel set in the early 20th century following a woman between America and Soviet Russia.
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Richer, Wiser, Happier
Investing · Interviews with experienced investors explore their decision methods and the relationship between wealth and personal fulfilment.
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Same as Ever
Psychology · Housel examines recurring human behaviours and their implications for decisions about risk, money and everyday life.
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The Anthology of Balaji
Technology · Jorgenson collects Srinivasan's ideas about technological change and their implications for business, political institutions and individual decisions.
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The Beginning of Infinity
Philosophy · Deutsch examines explanations and knowledge as foundations of progress, arguing that problem-solving can extend without fixed limits.
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The Black Swan
Economics · Taleb examines rare events and the limits of prediction, questioning how people interpret uncertainty after unexpected outcomes.
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The City and Its Uncertain Walls
Literary fiction · Murakami's novel about a librarian who discovers a mysterious walled city that blurs dream and reality.
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The Infinite Game
Management · Sinek examines leadership decisions through the idea of sustained participation in business rather than short-term competitive outcomes.
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The Murder After the Night Before
Crime fiction · Dark comedy thriller about a viral night out turned murder case, by Katy Brent.
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The ROI of Thought Leadership
Business · Anderson and Marshall examine methods for measuring how published expertise contributes to commercial results and organisational reputation.
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The Silence (Columbia River Book 2)
Crime fiction · Detective Mason Callahan and FBI agent Ava McLane investigate connected murders and threats tied to a terrorist conspiracy.
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The World for Sale
Financial history · Blas and Farchy examine commodity trading companies and their role in global markets and political affairs.
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VOX
Dystopian fiction · Women face a strict limit on spoken words in a dystopian America that suppresses their rights.
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Wuthering Heights (Penguin Red Classics S.)
Literary fiction · Emily Bronte's passionate and destructive love story between Heathcliff and Catherine on the Yorkshire moors.
Finished · 2024
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A Man Called Ove
Contemporary fiction · A widower's ordered life changes when new neighbours draw him into their family and wider community.
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A Man Without Breath
Crime fiction · A Bernie Gunther novel set during WWII, investigating a mass grave discovered near Smolensk.
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American on Purpose
Memoir · Ferguson recalls his Scottish childhood and entertainment career while describing his move to America and eventual citizenship.
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Atlas Shrugged
Philosophical fiction · Industrial leaders withdraw from a society that constrains private enterprise in Rand's novel about individualism and production.
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Atomic Habits
Personal development · Small changes to routines and environments form a practical framework for building useful habits and changing behaviour.
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Beartown
Contemporary fiction · An assault involving a young hockey player forces a Swedish town to confront loyalty and collective responsibility.
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Between the Bridge and the River
Literary fiction · Ferguson's comic novel follows characters whose lives become connected across several continents.
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Brave New World
Dystopian fiction · A society organised around biological engineering and consumer pleasure suppresses personal freedom through conditioning and social control.
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Brideshead Revisited
Literary fiction · Evelyn Waugh's novel about the spiritual and romantic entanglements of an aristocratic Catholic family.
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Excellent Advice for Living
Personal development · Kelly collects short practical observations about relationships, work and everyday judgement from his experience of life.
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Extreme Ownership
Leadership · Willink and Babin connect lessons from military operations to accountability and decision-making within business leadership teams.
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Feeling Good
Psychology · Burns introduces cognitive therapy techniques for recognising distorted thoughts and changing the behaviours associated with depression.
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Field Grey
Crime fiction · A Bernie Gunther novel spanning decades of German history through the eyes of a reluctant detective.
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Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
History · Weatherford examines Mongol expansion and its consequences for trade, governance and cultural exchange across the medieval world.
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German Requiem
Crime fiction · Detective Bernie Gunther investigates a postwar case against the background of occupied Vienna and Germany's wartime legacy.
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Greeks Bearing Gifts
Crime fiction · A Bernie Gunther novel set in 1950s Munich and Greece, where a war-era murder resurfaces.
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Gweilo
Memoir · Booth recalls growing up in colonial Hong Kong through childhood encounters with the city's people and customs.
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How Innovation Works
Technology · Ridley uses historical examples to examine how experimentation and incremental change contribute to invention and economic development.
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Indonesia Etc.
Travel · Pisani travels across Indonesia to examine regional differences and everyday life within a large and diverse country.
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Influence, New and Expanded
Psychology · Cialdini examines principles of persuasion and the situations in which social cues influence individual choices and behaviour.
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Intellectuals
Biography · Johnson examines the personal conduct of influential thinkers and questions its relationship to their public moral claims.
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Machines Like Me
Science fiction · Ian McEwan's alternate-history novel about a man who buys a synthetic human and the ethical dilemmas that follow.
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Meditations
Philosophy · A Roman emperor reflects on duty and self-control through private notes grounded in Stoic philosophy.
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Metropolis
Crime fiction · A Bernie Gunther novel set in 1928 Berlin as the Weimar Republic teeters on the edge.
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Neuromancer
Science fiction · A former hacker takes a dangerous job that links corporate power and artificial intelligence within networked cyberspace.
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Novelist as a Vocation
Essays · Murakami reflects on his writing career and the habits, judgement and endurance involved in producing novels.
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Poor Charlie’s Almanack
Investing · Munger's talks and writings examine investment judgement through mental models drawn from economics and other disciplines.
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Prague Fatale
Crime fiction · A Bernie Gunther novel set in Nazi-occupied Prague where Gunther investigates a murder among SS officers.
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Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order
Economic history · Ray Dalio's analysis of historical patterns in the rise and fall of empires and their implications today.
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Prussian Blue
Crime fiction · A Bernie Gunther investigation connects events in Berchtesgaden during 1939 with dangers in France during 1956.
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Sapiens
History · Harari traces human development through changes in social organisation and the beliefs that support collective action.
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Scaling People
Management · Johnson presents management practices for hiring, organisational planning and communication as teams and companies increase in size.
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Snow Crash
Science fiction · A hacker investigates a threat that links virtual reality and language in a fragmented future society.
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Target China
Geopolitics · Engdahl presents his argument that American political and financial interests seek to constrain China's international influence.
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The 80/20 Manager
Management · Koch applies the 80/20 principle to management decisions, showing how selective effort can improve organisational results.
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The 80/20 Principle
Personal development · Koch explains how uneven distributions of effort and results can guide decisions about work and daily life.
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The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
Personal development · Jorgenson assembles Ravikant's ideas about building wealth and happiness, with attention to independent judgement and long-term choices.
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The Crowd; study of the popular mind
Social psychology · Le Bon examines collective behaviour and argues that crowds transform individual judgement through suggestion and shared emotion.
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The Dawn of Eurasia
Geopolitics · Bruno Macaes' argument that Europe and Asia are merging into a single supercontinent of power.
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The Doll's House
Horror · A mother and daughter move into a new home where a handmade doll accompanies disturbing events.
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The Goldfinch
Literary fiction · A boy survives a museum bombing and becomes obsessed with a stolen Dutch painting that shapes his life.
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The Good Doctor
Literary fiction · Two doctors at a neglected South African hospital develop a difficult relationship amid personal and institutional change.
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The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Management · Horowitz draws on his experience as a technology executive to examine difficult decisions in running companies.
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The Lady From Zagreb
Crime fiction · Bernie Gunther investigates wartime intrigue through a case that takes him between Berlin and Yugoslavia.
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The Last Lion: Visions of Glory, 1874–1932
Biography · The first volume traces Churchill's childhood and political career from 1874 to 1932, before his wartime premiership.
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The Network State
Politics and technology · Balaji Srinivasan's vision for building new countries as online communities that eventually acquire territory.
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The Other Side of Silence
Crime fiction · A Bernie Gunther novel set in 1950s Riviera, where old wartime secrets catch up with him.
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The Pale Criminal
Crime fiction · A Bernie Gunther novel set in 1938 Berlin as the Nazis tighten their grip on power.
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The Psychology of Money
Personal finance · Housel uses short accounts to examine how behaviour and personal experience shape saving, investing and financial decisions.
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The Rational Optimist
Economics · Ridley argues that exchange and specialisation support innovation and improvements in living standards across human history.
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The Secret History
Literary fiction · A group of university classics students become involved in a killing that changes their relationships and loyalties.
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The Star Principle
Business · Koch examines businesses that lead growing market niches and explains how that position can inform investment decisions.
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Thinking, Fast and Slow
Psychology · Kahneman examines intuitive and deliberate thinking through research on judgement, cognitive biases and decisions under uncertainty.
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Tools of Titans
Personal development · Ferriss collects practical routines and advice from interviews with people working in business, sport and creative fields.
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Tribe of Mentors
Personal development · Ferriss gathers advice from people across several fields, focusing on routines and decisions that shape their lives.
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Very Very Lucky
Contemporary fiction · Prowse's novel examines relationships and everyday pressures through a story about recognising sources of happiness in life.
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What You Do Is Who You Are
Management · Horowitz uses historical examples to examine how leaders establish organisational culture through decisions and daily conduct.
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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Philosophy · A motorcycle journey becomes a framework for examining quality, personal identity and approaches to scientific and practical knowledge.
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Zero to One
Business · Thiel and Masters examine how start-ups can create new markets through distinctive products and long-term business decisions.
Finished · 2023
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Jakarta Undercover
Reportage · Emka reports on Jakarta's nightlife and adult entertainment venues through encounters across the city's underground social circles.
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Just Keep Buying
Personal finance · Maggiulli examines saving and investing decisions through financial data and practical questions about building long-term wealth.
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Man's Search For Meaning
Memoir and psychology · Viktor Frankl's account of surviving the Holocaust and his theory that meaning is the primary drive in human life.
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Norwegian Wood
Literary fiction · A young man remembers relationships and losses in Tokyo as he faces adulthood during the late 1960s.
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Sir David Jason - A Life of Laughter
Biography · A biography follows British actor David Jason's career and the television roles that established his public reputation.
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The Name of the Wind
Fantasy · Kvothe recounts his childhood and university years as he explains the experiences behind his growing reputation.
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The Night Circus
Fantasy · Two magicians compete within a travelling nocturnal circus, where their developing relationship complicates the terms of their contest.
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The Secret Hours
Spy fiction · Mick Herron's standalone spy novel about an inquiry into MI5's past operations.
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The Slow Regard of Silent Things
Fantasy · Auri tends her hidden underground world in a novella set beside the events of the Kingkiller Chronicle.
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The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
Historical fiction · David Mitchell's historical novel set in a Dutch trading post in feudal Japan.
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The Wise Man's Fear
Fantasy · The second Kingkiller Chronicle novel, following Kvothe's adventures in a foreign court and the Fae.
Finished · 2022
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Bad Actors
Spy fiction · Disgraced British intelligence agents confront a political crisis in another instalment of Herron's Slough House series.
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Joe Country
Spy fiction · Mick Herron's Slough House novel where disgraced MI5 agents face personal and professional danger.
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London Rules
Spy fiction · Mick Herron's Slough House novel where a far-right attack intersects with MI5 office politics.
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Real Tigers
Spy fiction · A kidnapping draws the discarded agents of Slough House into a conspiracy within Britain's intelligence establishment.
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Slough House
Spy fiction · Discarded British intelligence agents face another threat in Herron's series about the team led by Jackson Lamb.
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Spook Street
Spy fiction · A family connection draws the Slough House intelligence agents into another case involving secrets from the past.
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The Metaverse
Technology · Ball examines the technologies and commercial structures behind virtual worlds and their possible role in digital life.
Finished · 2019
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The Silent Patient
Psychological thriller · A woman shoots her husband and then never speaks again; a therapist becomes obsessed with uncovering why.
Finished · Date unknown
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1929
Financial history · Sorkin examines the speculation and financial decisions surrounding the Wall Street crash and its social consequences.
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Atlas Shrugged
Philosophical fiction · Industrial leaders withdraw from a society that constrains private enterprise in Rand's novel about individualism and production.
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Be Useful
Personal development · Schwarzenegger draws on his career to discuss purposeful work, ambition and practical methods for pursuing goals.
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Coraline
Fantasy · A young girl discovers a parallel world behind a mysterious door that seems perfect but hides sinister secrets.
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Dune Messiah
Science fiction · Paul Atreides faces political conspiracies and the consequences of religious power after becoming emperor of the known universe.
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Ender's Game
Science fiction · A gifted child trains for an interstellar war through military games that test his judgement and humanity.
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Hitch-22
Memoir · Hitchens recounts his childhood, political commitments and literary friendships across a life in journalism and debate.
BibliophileNote
Recommended in audio.
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Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Science fiction · Arthur Dent escapes Earth's destruction and travels through an absurd universe with an alien guidebook writer.
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Liar's Poker
Finance memoir · Lewis recounts his years at Salomon Brothers and the bond trading culture of 1980s Wall Street.
BibliophileNote
Recommended in audio.
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Meditations
Philosophy · A Roman emperor reflects on duty and self-control through private notes grounded in Stoic philosophy.
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Money
Literary fiction · A film director's appetite for money and consumption drives a satire of excess and self-deception.
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Neuromancer
Science fiction · A former hacker takes a dangerous job that links corporate power and artificial intelligence within networked cyberspace.
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Neverwhere
Fantasy · Neil Gaiman's urban fantasy about a Londoner who falls into a magical world beneath the city's streets.
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Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order
Economic history · Ray Dalio's analysis of historical patterns in the rise and fall of empires and their implications today.
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Project Hail Mary
Science fiction · A lone astronaut must recover his memory and solve a scientific mystery to prevent Earth's extinction.
BibliophileNote
Recommended in audio.
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Romeo and Juliet
Drama · Young lovers from rival families pursue a secret relationship that ends in tragedy amid inherited conflict.
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Same as Ever
Psychology · Housel examines recurring human behaviours and their implications for decisions about risk, money and everyday life.
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Secrets of the Millionaire Mind
Personal finance · Eker argues that beliefs about money influence financial behaviour and proposes exercises for changing those beliefs.
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The Alchemist
Philosophical fiction · Paulo Coelho's fable about a shepherd boy who travels from Spain to Egypt in pursuit of his personal legend.
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The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
Personal development · Jorgenson assembles Ravikant's ideas about building wealth and happiness, with attention to independent judgement and long-term choices.
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The Courage to Be Disliked
Psychology · A dialogue introduces Adlerian psychology through questions about personal responsibility, relationships and the pursuit of happiness.
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The Elements of Typographic Style
Typography · Bringhurst examines type selection, spacing and page composition, with historical context and practical guidance.
BibliophileNote
This book started a minor obsession with typography. It has had a major influence on how this website looks, especially its font choices.
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The Fountainhead
Philosophical fiction · Ayn Rand's novel about an uncompromising architect who fights against conformity and collectivism.
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The Graveyard Book
Fantasy · A boy raised by ghosts in a graveyard discovers the living world and the dangers beyond it.
BibliophileNote
A particular favourite in audio.
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The Infinity Machine
Technology biography · Mallaby examines Demis Hassabis and DeepMind through the development of artificial intelligence and the pursuit of superintelligence.
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The Psychology of Money
Personal finance · Housel uses short accounts to examine how behaviour and personal experience shape saving, investing and financial decisions.
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The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
History · Shirer traces Nazi Germany from Hitler's rise to power through its wartime expansion and eventual defeat.
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The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
Information design · Principles and historical examples explain how statistical graphics can present quantitative evidence clearly and accurately.
BibliophileNote
Tufte has had a major influence on how I organise and visualise information, including the layout and use of colour on this website.
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Thinking in Systems
Systems thinking · An introduction to feedback loops and system behaviour explains how interconnected structures produce patterns and resist change.
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Tools of Titans
Personal development · Ferriss collects practical routines and advice from interviews with people working in business, sport and creative fields.
No books in this selection.