Books read during 2023

Happy New Year! Another year has passed but before I reflect on the books that I have read (and listened to) over the past year, I thought I would share some science around the benefits of reading, in case you need some motivation (borrowed from Neil Pasricha who has a podcast “3 books” - https://www.3books.co which has interesting guests talk about their top three books).

The Annual Review of Psychology, in 2011, said that reading triggers our mirror neurons and opens up the parts of our brains responsible for developing empathy, compassion, and understanding. Reading makes you a better leader, colleague, parent, and sibling. Another study published in Science Magazine found that reading literary fiction helps us improve our empathy and social functioning. And, finally, a 2013 study at Emory University found that MRIs taken the morning after test subjects were asked to read sections of a novel showed an increase in connectivity in the left temporal cortex — the area of the brain associated with receptivity for language. Just imagine the long-term benefits of cracking open a book every day. Wishing you a happy, book filled 2024!

#booklist , #booklist2023 , #readinglist , #readinglist2023

1.???? Elon Musk - Walter Isaacson ???????????

I chose this book partly due to my intrigue of Elon Musk and all that he has achieved and, partly because Walter Isaacson is a great biographer (I had enjoyed his biography of Steve Jobs some years ago).? Isaacson did not disappoint.? He shadowed Musk for two years and through hundreds of hours of interviews presents tales of the tragedy, triumphs and turmoil, from Musk's childhood growing up in South Africa followed by his early commercial ventures at Zip2 and PayPal days through to the current ventures of Tesla, SpaceX, OpenAI and, his most recent investment (gamble), Twitter. I agree with the Economists recommendation: “Whatever you think of Mr. Musk, he is a man worth understanding— which makes this a book worth reading.”?

2.???? Rassie - stories of life and rugby – Rassie Erasmus ??????????

After the South African Springboks won the Rugby World Cup in October 2023 I wanted to know more about the man who played a large role in the win as Director of Rugby (basically the co-coach). The book, published before the 2023 world cup, charts Rassie Erasmus’ exemplary career as a player, whose innate rugby instincts, ability to read a game differently, and appetite for hard work set him apart.? Erasmus talks about his effective racial transformation of the national team and appointing the Springboks’ first black captain, Siya Kolisi, ?leading to victory in the 2019 Rugby World Cup and followed by triumph at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.?

3.???? The Gates of Europe - Serhil Plokhy. ???????

Serhii Plokhy is the professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard University. ?With the Russian invasion of Ukraine I wanted to learn more about the history of Ukrainian and came across this book written before the 2022 invasion. ?There is lots of detail in this book and at times I found it tough going.? What is clear is that the histories of Ukraine, Poland, the Baltics and Russia are intricately linked and that Ukraine has been shaped by empires that exploited the nation as a strategic gateway between East and West—from the Romans and Ottomans to the Third Reich and the Soviet Union.?

4.???? Concorde - Mike Bannister ??????????

I remember when I first saw the sleek streamlined shape of the Concorde at Heathrow, with its pointed beak like nose.? Mike Bannister was the youngest Concorde pilot in 1997 and went on to be British Airways' Chief Concorde Pilot. The book explores the origins, development, service, highs, lows and, finally, the terrible crash which ended the Concorde’s flying life.? I found the story riveting and a part consolation to having missed ever to have flown in the Concorde.

5.???? Outlive by Peter Attia ??????????

Peter Attia is a medical doctor practicing, what he calls Medicine 3.0 which focuses on prevention rather than merely dealing with the symptoms once we are sick (which he refers to as Medicine 2.0).? He goes into the four main causes of death - heart disease, cancer, neurodegenerative disease, and type 2 diabetes and related metabolic dysfunction and what we can be doing way before any symptoms are detected by traditional Medicine 2.0 to give us the best chance against them. Spoiler alert: exercise is a key component and others are nutrition, sleep, emotional health and supplements.

6.???? Budapest: Between East and West by Victor Sebestyen ??????????

This book was on the Economist’s best books of 2022. A great book on the history of Budapest, which also covered more broadly Hungarian history in as much as it linked to that of the capital city.? It contains many interesting tit bits such as that Elizabeth Taylor, during the depths of the cold war, hosted her 40th birthday party in the communist controlled city.

7.???? Born in Blackness - Howard French ????????

This book was on Bill Gates’ summer reading list.? The author argues that the history of the modern world places Europe at the centre.? This revisionist history book however provides a historical narrative of Africa’s role which starts with Portugal’s conquest for gold in the continent in the fifteenth century which over time turned to the more lucrative (and horrendous) trade in people and how slaves became the engine of growth on the sugar, tobacco and cotton plantations of the new world which ultimately drove development and growth in Europe and the USA.? Certainly a perspective which was missing from the history I learnt at school.

8.???? Africa is not a Country - Faloyin Dipo ??????

My quest to better understand African history continued with this book.? The book starts with the Berlin Conference of 1884-85 where the European powers sliced up Africa without too much consideration of the ethnicity or language of the people living there (hence some straight-line borders on the map) and the resultant post-colonial history of some of these countries.? The book also deals with the stereotypical portrayal of Africa by the West as a “country” where lions and elephants roam and people wear skins, and often as a dark, poor and backward place.? He criticises the humanitarian aid industry which perpetuates this image.

9.???? From Strength to Strength - Arthur C Brooks ????????

A friend gave me a copy of this book.? The author talks about the “striver’s curse”, ?people who strive to be excellent at what they do, often finding, as they move through middle age, that their inevitable decline is terrifying and their successes increasingly less satisfying. The author sets out a plan for avoiding the curse which he discovered through his own seven-year journey in which he was able to develop his "second curve" for his second half of adulthood. Great perspective on career path and purpose as we get older.

10.? The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck - Mark Manson ????

I had resisted buying the catchy title in the many airport bookshops I passed through until it came up as a 99c offer on my Kindle.? And then it sat on my Kindle for a while before I decided to get to it and even then, I almost put it down within the first two chapters.? But I persevered and it got marginally better.? The main ideas of the book (life offers a lot of choices and having the right values to be able to choose what to pursue/care about will largely determine your happiness) are not new but the presentation and anecdotes used was certainly different.? Do not read if you don’t appreciate liberal usage of the F-word or need a more scientific support for the points put forward.

11.? Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin ??????????

I really enjoyed this NY Times fiction bestseller which follows the lives of two childhood friends from the 1980s who reconnect at college and go onto become creative partners in a video game design company, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.?

12.? Lessons in Chemistry – Bonnie Garmus ????????

I read this book on my daughter’s recommendation.? Set in the 1950s and 60s about a bright aspiring female chemistry graduate who is not satisfied to be told what a woman’s place is at work and in society and challenges these at all levels.? As I read this I noted the chemistry connection to Katalin Kariko, the Hungarian biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2023 for her work on mRNA vaccines. The book reminds us how much has changed but also that more change is still needed.

13.? Two Caravans - Marina Lewycka ????????

A book about a motley bunch of migrant labourers, mainly from Eastern Europe but also Africa and China, who have travelled to England chasing economic betterment, which is not attainable in their home countries.? It sheds light onto the way the labourers are exploited, the awful living conditions and the prejudices they encounter and the cruelty of battery chicken farming, as well as ridiculing the excesses of western living.? The seriousness of the themes is “lightened” by the humour which made this book.

14.? The Road - Cormac McCarthy ??????????

A friend recommended this 2007 Pulitzer Prize winner and is the first (and won’t be the last) book I have read by this author who passed away in 2023 and is considered one of the greatest American novelists.? It is set in a post-apocalyptic burned-out America where a father and his young son walk westwards in the hope to reach the warmer climate of the coast to escape the onset of winter. ?There is very little food and the few people they encounter are either thieves or have resorted to cannibalism.? Not an easy read but the imagery and language usage are outstanding.

15.? Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury ??????????

Ray Bradbury is one of my favourite science fiction writers and this classic did not disappoint.? Set in the not-so-distant future where books are banned as a means of the government controlling the narrative imposed on the population via government indoctrinated TV.? The protagonist is a “fireman” whose job it is to burn books and the houses where these are found hidden. But he soon becomes disillusioned with this censorship and seeks out those who hide and memorise books to preserve it for future generations.? The book can be seen as a commentary on the role of mass media destroying the interest in reading of literature.