The Best of What I Read and Watched This Year - 2017

This is my third annual "Best Of" list (be sure to check out 2015 and 2016 for great, but slightly older reading/listening suggestions) where I accumulate the best of what I read and watched in 2017. This list is something I love to do for three reasons:

1. It's a great way to track my media/entertainment consumption habits year over year, and it's interesting to see how my tastes and focuses change over time.
2. It's the holidays, which means vacations (and free time) is inching closer and closer. My hope is this list can help you pass the time during airport delays, cross-country flights or relaxed evenings curled up by a fire.
3. It's fun to write, but hard to curate: making it a nice end of year challenge.

So without any further ado, let's get started.

The best of what I read

American Kingpin — Nick Bilton

Bilton is one of my favorite writers for good reason. In his latest book, Bilton spins the web of how Dread Pirate Roberts (Ross Ulbricht) built and ran a billion-dollar drug empire on the dark web using his laptop and cryptocurrency. The book is well-reported and tells a complicated story with grace.

Option B — Adam Grant & Sheryl Sandberg

Every year Adam Grant makes this list, and this year is my favorite entry yet. This book—whether you've been through something traumatic, difficult or trying—gives a real and honest look at how to deal with hardship and rebound from it. There are terrific strategies inside that can be applied throughout your life and should be on everyone's holiday reading list.

Everybody Lies — Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

After a year as an insights analyst, I'm now knee-deep in reading about data and how to use it to tell a meaningful story. Look no further than Stephens-Davidowitz's book to understand how to use data to get your point across. Plus, he shares some insight on how to survive in a social media heavy world. The biggest takeaway for me is the following quote:

In fact, I think Big Data can give a twenty-first-century update to a famous self-help quote: “Never compare your insides to everyone else’s outsides.” A Big Data update may be: “Never compare your Google searches to everyone else’s social media posts.”

The Data That Turned the World Upside Down — VICE

My second data-focused selection. The team at VICE explains how what posts and pages you like on Facebook can help political advertisers determine your skin color, sexual orientation, political party, religion, drug use and intelligence level.

One More Thing — Wired

Stephen Levy explains the meticulousness of Apple's brand new "spaceship" campus. Among many things: "a two-story yoga room covered in stone, from just the right quarry in Kansas, that’s been carefully distressed, like a pair of jeans, to make it look like the stone at Jobs’ favorite hotel in Yosemite." Apple and team didn't take any shortcuts in developing this ~$5B workspace.

Kit Harington Already Died Once — Esquire

Kit Harington (John Snow) talks about his real life romance with Rose Leslie (Ygritte), apartment hunting and what's next after Game of Thrones.

Serena Williams’s Love Match — Vanity Fair

Serena Williams and Alex Ohanian recently tied the knot, and this Vanity Fair article gives you the back story of how Serena and Alex found themselves deeply in love.

Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? — The Atlantic

With this year marking the 10-year anniversary of the iPhone, this article has us asking at what cost do we use the device we've come to depend on so much.

LeBron James is the Greatest Living Athlete (and Here's Why) — GQ

With his 15th pro season now underway, GQ's Mark Anthony Green illuminates how LBJ is more than just a the greatest player to ever play the game of basketball.

1,834 Days — Player's Tribune

While the U.S. Men's National Team failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup was a very sour moment for me, Christian Pulisic continues to be a bright spot. With this piece, he has me looking very eagerly to 2022.

The best of what I watched

Big Little Lies — HBO

My top pick for television this year, and it's not very close (and yes, I watched Game of Thrones and The Handmaid's Tale). Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman and Shailene Woodly give unforgettable performances while artfully telling a provocative story. There's a reason why this show is up for six Golden Globe awards.

Charlottesville: Race and Terror — VICE

After the tragic events in Charlottesville over the summer, Americans were left wondering how something like this could have happened. In an eye-opening and shocking report, VICE goes on-the-ground to document what happened that day.

Silicon Valley Title Sequence Breakdown — YouTube

There are too many jokes to comprehend in the much too fast opening of HBO's Silicon Valley. Plus, it was great to finally learn that LinkedIn actually made the opening animation.

How To Tie A Quantum Knot — YouTube

It's 2017, so by now everyone is familiar with tech buzzwords of the year: Bitcoin, AI, machine learning, autonomous driving, blockchain. The folks over at PhD Comics do an excellent job of taking an insanely complex topic and distilling it down to understandable terms. Watch to learn more about quantum computing (the building block of AI and machine learning).

Wonder

Starring Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson and Jacob Tremblay, Wonder tells the heartwarming story of Auggie Pullman, a fifth-grader in NYC who suffers from Treacher Collins syndrome. This is the feel-good story of the year and definitely worth your money to see it in theaters rather than waiting until it's available to stream.

Dunkirk

I'd been craving a new Christopher Nolan instant-classic since Interstellar, and Dunkirk doesn't disappoint. While there's not much dialogue in the film, you will frequently forget to blink and/or breathe due to the sheer intensity that Nolan orchestrates on screen. In an interview with Esquire, Nolan explains his thinking behind making the film:

"...Dunkirk is a story that British people were raised on—it's in our bones. It's a defeat . . . and yet a defeat in which something marvelous happens. It has an almost biblical, primal sequence to it. Needing a miraculous rescue, and getting it. It's a fascinating tale not of individual heroics but communal heroism. The distinguishing feature of Dunkirk is the coming together of a community. It's a little surprising that no one has told the story in modern cinema. As a filmmaker, you're always looking for that gap."

The Big Sick

Kumail Nanjiani is lighting up the screen. And at age 39, it feels like he is just getting started. Between his role as Raj on Silicon Valley and as himself in The Big Sick, Kumail is an actor I will be following closely heading into next year.

Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King — Netflix

Minhaj's stand-up Netflix special is one-of-a-kind. To me, Minhaj is a storyteller first and a comedian second. His jokes are poignant, topical and (most importantly) real. Be sure to make it to the very end where he talks about how he landed his role as a correspondent for The Daily Show.

The Final Problem (S4E3 Sherlock) — Netflix

It's not often we get a new season of BBC's Sherlock, but when we do, it is certainly a gift. Season 4 may be the show's best season yet, and the finale gives us Benedict Cumberbatch (who plays Sherlock) in peak form.

I'd also love to hear about your favorites. Please comment with the some of your top articles, books, movies, videos and television shows.

About the Author

Ross Gordon is currently an associate insights analyst for LinkedIn where he helps fuel hiring strategy for a dozen of LinkedIn's top global clients. Ross is an alum of LinkedIn’s Business Leadership Program - Global Sales (a rotational program for early in career talent) is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications and has a passion for storytelling, marketing, technology and effective communication.