The 8 Best Books I Read in 2019

As in 2017 and 2018, here are my top book recommendations from 2019. Paradoxically, even though I read many more books in 2019 (35 in all), I actually have fewer ones to recommend than previous years. Partly that's because a lot of my reading was for work (i.e. books I may not have chosen otherwise), and partly because that’s just the way things go sometimes. Still, all the ones on this list were exceptional and I’d recommend them to anyone:

8. Thirst by Scott Harrison (Memoir): So much to learn in this redemption story of a New York bad boy gone good. Refreshingly, unlike other memoirs of great entrepreneurs I’ve read recently (Steve Jobs, Phil Knight of Nike), I didn’t end up disliking the man. Harrison is a visionary and inspiring changemaker, and his flaws are less off-putting than they could be. A nice reminder that you can build a great enterprise and not be an awful person to be around.

7. City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte (Fiction): I’m going to steal Conan O’Brien’s spot-on review: “This deliciously madcap novel has it all: murder in Prague, time travel, a misanthropic Beethoven, tantric sex, and a dwarf with attitude.” I’d add also the great fun of setting a novel in a European castle with some 16th century hallucinogenic drugs. Interesting side note: Magnus Flyte is not a man, but actually the pseudonym of two women who tend to write more serious stuff under their real names.

6. Babylon's Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo by Lawrence Anthony (Memoir): When a South African conservationist showed up on a mission to save the animals of the Baghdad Zoo from American bombs and Iraqi looting, he got unexpected help not just from the courageous Iraqi zoo employees but also dozens of ordinary American soldiers. Together, they saved not only the zoo but also many other wild animals held captive in disgusting underground zoos in Baghdad. A classic good-versus-evil story because it contains both the unspeakable brutality and the uplifting heroism we humans are capable of. It is also a wonderful example of the difference a single person can make in the world.

5. Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue by Ryan Holiday (Non-Fiction): In other true stories that you can scarcely believe, this one is about how a billionaire American tech entrepreneur set up a conspiracy against a massive media company by leveraging a disgraced athlete’s sex tape with his best friend’s wife. Yeah, there’s a lot happening in that previous sentence. That’s because so much of this story is astonishing, but most astonishing is that it all happened in such secrecy that even the victims (a large and famous company with a fierce team of lawyers) had no idea what was happening to them until after they had been destroyed.

4. The Artist's Journey: The Wake of the Hero's Journey and the Lifelong Pursuit of Meaning by Steven Pressfield (Non-Fiction): Ostensibly a self-help guide to the aspiring artist, this book is deeply relevant to any type of meaningful work, or even just any creative life. Think Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet updated for the 21st century. I want to carry it everywhere with me, just to keep re-reading lines like these:

Put your ass where your heart wants to be.

The great secret that every artist and mystic knows is that the profound can be reached best by concentrating upon the mundane.

Do you want to write? Sit down at the keyboard.

Wanna paint? Stand before an easel…

Want the goddess to show up for you? Show up for her.

3. The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony (Memoir): You may have heard once about a herd of elephants who somehow intuited that their ‘friend’ Lawrence (who they hadn’t seen in several months) had died and then walked for 12 hours to his house to pay their respects right before his funeral. An insanely remarkable story of the relationship between a herd of deeply intelligent wild elephants and the person who repeatedly saved their lives. Both a love story and an adventure story that you will never forget.

2. Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results by James Clear (Non-fiction): Ever wanted to lose weight and keep it off, or work out more, or start your own business, or attempt any other life goal? This book explains why you failed before and what you can do to succeed the next time. As Clear writes, “You don’t rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems”. I read this book in January and it changed how I lived the rest of 2019. It will influence how I pursue any goal going forward. I loved it so much I designed a 4-hour workshop around this book, which is now a mandatory part of our flagship social innovation management program at Amani Institute.

1. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, by Max Brooks (Fiction): Normally, I’d never pick up a book about zombies. And thus I would have missed a truly great novel. Our story moves around the world detailing how humans react to the spread of zombie attacks. Originally written in 2006, you can read it in 2019 as an allegory for climate change. So how will humans react in the face of catastrophic climate failure? The answer will scare you silly and these stories will stay with you for months... Ok, I know this description will not persuade skeptics of the zombie genre; it took several nudges from a good friend over nearly a decade before I picked it up. And yet it was the best book I read all year! I shared it with my partner, an even bigger avoider of the horror/fantasy genre than me, and she devoured it in just a few sittings. If there’s one left-field book you read it in 2020, make it this one.

Honorable Mentions:

As mentioned, much of my 2019 reading was for work. So here are 2 almost-additions to the list above. If you are in the market for a book about 1) how to innovate to scale your company, then check out Blue Ocean Shift: Beyond Competing by W. Chan Kim and Rene Mauborgne, or 2) ways to think radically differently about your work, then check out The Art of Possibility by Rosamund and Benjamin Zander.

Over to y’all! I’m looking for 2020 recommendations. What was your favorite book of the last year?