# Favorite books read in 2017 ## Business **Principles: Life and Work** by Ray Dalio How to live and work effectively? This book explores, in great detail, Ray Dalio’s own approach, how he arrived at it, how he put it in practice, and why he believes it works. Not all lessons are every where applicable, but there’s something to learn from here. **WTF?: What's the Future and Why It's Up to Us** by Tim O'Reilly Tim O’Reilly counters the zeitgeist’s prevailing pessimism about the future of tech and offers an inspiring vision of how things could/should be. Written with learning, humility, and love. **The Upstarts: How Uber, Airbnb, and the Killer Companies of the New Silicon Valley Are Changing the World** by Brad Stone Much like Brad Stone’s earlier work The Everything Store explored the history and rise of Amazon, this book examines the rise of Uber and Airbnb, along with a few other companies that didn’t quite rise so far. Published in early 2017, so it doesn’t take into account the most recent upheavals at Uber. **Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future** by Andrew McAfee A splendid book, replete with riches. Vital for understanding where we, as a society and an economy, are and where we’ll be heading in the decades ahead. **Radical Candor: Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity** by Kim Malone Scott Preaches the importance of radical candor: a combination of caring personally and directly challenging. Contrasted, in sometimes humorous tales from the field, with the failure modes of ruinous empathy and obnoxious aggression. Clearly and concisely written, with lessons applicable to all, whether manager or individual contributor. **The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads** by Tim Wu A comprehensive history of advertising, thoughtfully told, from the penny press to the native ad. ## Science fiction **Invisible Planets: An Anthology of Contemporary Chinese SF in Translation** by Ken Liu Translated from Chinese by Ken Liu (who translated *The Three Body Problem*), this collection of science fiction short stories offers new and intriguing perspectives on both classic and novel themes. Hao Jingfang’s Folding Beijing struck me as particularly moving and poignant; an imaginative meditation on inequality, class, and power. **Stories of Your Life and Others** by Ted Chiang Succinct almost to the point of austerity, Ted Chiang’s hauntingly written tales waste not a word to weave a web of wonder, delight, and, at times, echoing mystery. **House of Suns** by Alastair Reynolds Set outside the Revelation Space universe, Alastair Reynolds manages to craft a compelling tale that spans galaxies and offers new mysteries of its own. ## Design **Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative** by Edward R. Tufte A classic that long rested on my bookshelves but that I hadn’t properly read, cover to cover. Dated in parts, stunningly farsighted in others, the book is treat to enter into and read. **The Shape of Design** by Frank Chimero Delightful meditations upon the nature of design, and indeed, of this wonderful world we find ourselves in. ## History **Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar** by Tom Holland Caesar is dead. Long live Caesar. This book explores the immediate history of Rome after the murder of Julius Caesar, narrating the machinations and consolidations of power that led to the reign of the emperors for the next several hundred years. **Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic** by Sam Quinones Powerful exposition on the modern history of the opiate drug trade in the United States: how it came about, how it prospered, how its tale interweaves with that of prescription painkillers, and how it rages on today, with more Americans dying each year to drug overdoses than die in car crashes. ## Philosophy **The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life** by Mark Manson Stoicism for the digital age. Entertainingly written, with profound lessons hidden beneath seemingly casual prose. **The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion** by Jonathan Haidt Each of us arrives at our most deeply held convictions through rigorous application of reason, right? Wrong. This book illustrates how and why. ## Politics **Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed** by James C. Scott An amazing book. Introduces the powerful lenses of *legibility* and *metis*; illustrates, with examples from scientific forestry to communist Russia, the dangers of hubris and model-blindness. Thought provoking, particularly considering the increasing legibility and inherent reductionism of a future mediated by ever-more-prevalent technology. **The Way of the Strangers** by Graeme Wood Why would someone join the Islamic State? This book examines that question both at the personal and global level. ## Science **Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That'll Improve and/or Ruin Everything** by Kelly Weinersmith You know that sparkle in your eye when you learn something new? This book is full of those sparkles. **Seven Brief Lessons on Physics** by Carlo Rovelli Short (86 pages!) and sweet. Evocatively explores seven aspects of modern physics and communicates the author’s passion for his field. ## Classics **The Old Man and the Sea** by Ernest Hemingway Somehow I hadn’t read this classic until this year. Hemingway at his finest: a simple tale, beautifully told. ## Economics **The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War (The Princeton Economic History of the Western World)** by Robert J. Gordon Argues that 1870 to 1970 comprised the most productive hundred years of history and that future growth will not reach those heights of productivity any time soon. Strongest in its economic history, offering insights into the everyday and illustrating the impact of now-commonplace inventions such as the car, lightbulb, indoor plumbing, television, and flight. ## Fiction **Reamde** by Neal Stephenson A fun, rollicking romp across worlds both virtual and real, told with Stephenson’s usual brilliant flair for detailed history and similarly detailed prognostication. ## Memoir **When Breath Becomes Air** by Paul Kalanithi Moving, meaningful, lyrically written. A powerful reflection on what it means to be human. --- From [@dominik](https://biblioqueue.com/@dominik/2017) on biblioqueue.