2017 in books: 'Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.'

When I did this last year, I opened the post by saying that I didn’t get to read anywhere near the volume I would like to. Looking back on this year, I could say exactly the same. I am glad that I stood by my resolution to cut off the self-help/ personal growth/business /leadership bullshit books because everytime I read something of this sort these days, all it takes is few pages and I vomit in my mouth a little. I do this annual post for a very selfish reason, I get new book recommendations from people I value in return for writing it. There is no clear pattern as you can see in my list and I am a bit of schizophrenic, yet curious reader. I hope this serves you as an inspiration perhaps.

The Girl Who Played Go  - Shan Sa

Beautifully told story of the Sino-Japanese- conflict in Manchuria told dually from both sides. Just a beautiful storytelling and an interesting little book that spins around the game of GO.

The Bees - Laline Paull

This one is tricky though. It’s an award-winning first novel by the author and I picked it up by the chance. It’s effectively human society patterns and behaviors transplanted into the beehive. So yes, the protagonists are bees and wasps and it’s weird but it will also grab your attention in this strange way. Give it a go if you are looking for something different!

Zmizet -  Petra Soukupova

Growing up in 80’s and 90’s in a socialist and occupied country by soviets sets the scene very close to home, literally. Great storytelling once again and full immersion in the story, the feeling I love so much.

Trigger warning - Neil Gaiman

I generally don’t like short stories collections because they confuse me, but this is Gaiman. I can’t even! Loved every page. He is genius and I am so jealous of imagination, the magic of every world he invents!

Zitkovske bohyne - Kate?ina Tu?ková

Fascinating, just fascinating, the mix of occultism, animism and naturalism, back to where we all come from, love it. Lost or on the way out cultures in my native land are incredibly rare and poorly documented. Shame though it has a bit of novel / factual combo and doesn’t really know which the book wants to be.

Genghis Khan and the Making  of the Modern World - Jack Weatherford

This has to be the most fascinating book of my entire year, but I will probably say this several times more. Screw Elon or Steve, GK boy here is the man when it comes to building an empire for generations to come. Absolutely fascinating to learn about all aspects of Mongol culture be it the nomadic nature, their own ‘religion’ and openness and respect towards every other or their unique warfare approach, symbiosis with nature or family life and values. So made me want to go and experience Mongolia this year!

Marco Polo - Laurence Bergreen

So interesting, especially in the context of the previous book! MP here wasn’t really a that much of an explorer or traveler as he’s hyped to be but rather an opportunist and bit of a weirdo and it’s clearly hard to say what he really witnessed first hand and what he simply made up, however, his story and portrayal of the late Mongol emperor and his conquest of China is probably the most fascinating to me.  

Alexander the Great - Philip Freeman

A here needs no introduction if you paid any attention at 7th-grade history class. His vision for the world, political skill and crisis management are just out of this world. Super engaging and well-written book if you are a history buff.

Deep Work  - Cal Newport

Yeah, this is the one exception to my rule about NO BS this year and man it sucked. I mean COME ON!! Yeah, it is obvious that if one is to produce meaningful something they need focus and depth. But you kinda put that on a fridge magnet or into a tweet now it has 280 characters, but don’t make it a book. I understand it’s a good business but a massive meh from me.

The Wright Brothers - David McCullough

Not an aviation geek but this is just a fantastic tale of imagination, innovation, passion and grit. How anyone can change the world and how they can share while they do that. Beautiful minds!

Fur Volk and Fuhrer: The Memoir of a Veteran of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler - Erwin Bartmann

This is my weird book of the year. I am definitely interested in human psychology - the applied one, not the book stuff. You have to approach this book with a very open mind because you are looking at first-hand account of some of the worst human atrocities and genocide of modern times and also because you are dealing with a Nazi piece of shit, however, he might try to convince you otherwise. He makes the war from the perspective of the most prestigious army unit in all of Germany sound almost a gentlemanly affair which is disgusting but I am fascinated by the power of propaganda and brainwashing that went on there.

Norse Mythology - Neil Gaiman

Ok, ok, am a fanboy. This is like two of my favorite things meet. Neil and Thor, I mean for real, read this, I say no more!

Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy: Ernest Hemingway’s Secret Adventures - Nicholas Reynolds

I think I read all the well-known books by Hemingway when I was growing up so it’s really interesting how this book puts my romanticized childhood hero in a juxtaposition of being a double agent and what not. Great dive into the darker side.

Rasputin - Douglas Smith

An extremely long book, horrible for my attention span, but behold! The Romanovs, the czar, Rasputin, the drama! I came to a conclusion that this dude was Garry V of the 1900’s basically a massive douche, but once again the power of information or its lack of, the manipulation of humans, fascinating!

Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Humans Decisions - Brian Christian, Tom Griffiths

Very cool book to pick up if you didn’t study math or computer science but yet are well and alive in the 21st century. How computers problem solving approach can be applied in ordinary human life offers a beautiful perspective, if you logic that is.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck - Mark Manson

This book just blew up this year and everyone around me and their mom read it. It’s good, it’s swimming against the stream of the BB (Business Bullshit) books but once again, a blog post would do..

Shaq Uncut: My Story -  Shaquille O’Neal, Jackie MacMullan

So cool! I love the stories behind successful people, but holistically successful. Shaq is a giant in many sense of the word and his business acumen was pretty surprising!

1Q84 - Haruki Murakami

I battled with this book, in my edition some 950 pages nearly half a year as with 7kg cabin bag it was kinda not so practical to travel with, but I enjoyed it immensely and will re-read it someday. I really enjoy this reality-based fiction books with superstructure layer where just few elements are off from what we consider normal. It’s also fun to observe the evolution of Murakami san writing and storytelling style, so different from his notorious early books!

Einstein: His Life and Universe: Walter Isaacson

Blew my mind, I am surprised none of my start-upy, entrepreneur friends are not raving about it yet. I didn’t read Steve Jobs but I appreciate the research and the foundation Isaacson lays down before he wrote this. Also I really like that the book is written for masses and noobs like me with zero knowledge of physics other than if you drop something it’s going to fall to the ground. He makes extra special effort to explain the science behind Einstein’s theories and I really enjoyed this, but not as much as I loved the nature of the contrarian and creative thinking Einstein to me represents. Such a beautiful mind so much ahead of the curve that we only begin to appreciate it!

The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt - Toby Wilkinson

I think after reading this, I am bit obsessed by this ancient culture and I am kind of convinced they were the original aliens, the divine and human elements mixing in the faraon dynasties, the ultimate worship, propaganda, symbolism, astronomy, architecture obviously, all of this milenia before  Just makes want to pick up more books on this topics.

A little extra, these are technically podcasts, but I’ve listened to them for 20+ hours each this year, which would make pretty solid book volume so I wanted to include them as well.

I have also spent about Hardcore History - Dan Carlin

This guy is mad! The way he narrates this audio is so engaging and while he downplays his knowledge pretty much all the time the research he has to go through is intense. He only releases new episode every six months or so, but massively disrupts the written accounts - often the propaganda of the winners of the respective times. Worth your time if you didn’t pay attention in the history class.

Pribehy 20. Stoleti - Pamet Naroda

This little special, I love this project documenting all the terrors and hero stories of the communist's occupation and second great war by recording eyewitness interviews for the generations to come. I can’t stress how important and would love to see more people who need context into the political situation back home today. Makes all these stats of holocaust and Russian occupation so much more human and that’s really important.

I am looking forward to being optimistic about how much I will read in 2018, given I have resolved that I like books much better than people, it should easy but lets see. If you were to pick up at least one book from my reading list, please let me know how you found it and let's argue across the globe and the internets. Also I would really appreciate if you dropped in comments one book you found special this past year.

“If you have enough book space, I don't want to talk to you.” 

― Terry Pratchett