George's Top 10 Reads of 2021

I found myself reading a lot this year since, you know, we're not really going out as much as we used to. There were so many great reads to choose from, but these are my top 5 fiction and nonfiction reads that I happened to come across. Plus a bonus at the end! Read on...

Top 5 Nonfiction

1. The Code Breaker by Walker Issacson is probably the most important book of 2021. It tells the story of Dr. Jennifer Doudna, who won the Nobel prize for chemistry in 2020 and who’s work was instrumental in helping develop the mRNA COVID vaccine and describes not just Dr. Doudna’s work, but goes into an incredible amount of depth on how the vaccine was created and how it works.
2. Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl was published in 1946, but was primarily written by Frankl in the various Nazi concentration camps where he was a prisoner and where he very nearly died. Frankl was a psychiatrist and had been working on a manuscript prior to the war, but his experiences led him to create a school psychotherapy around the belief that meaning is the central motivating force in human life because it was the only thing that kept him alive throughout the tragedy he survived.
3. I read The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel A. van der Kolk after 3 different people recommended it within a couple days of one another. Sometimes the universe holds up a sign telling you to do something, and this book really forced me to take a new look at my life. The book is about different therapeutic treatments for PTSD and trauma, but it’s also a history of our understanding of trauma and the impact it has not just on individuals but our society as a whole.
4. Deep Thinking by Gary Kasparov is my favorite book on Artificial Intelligence precisely because Kasparov, one of the greatest chess masters of all time, is in a unique position to tell the story of its evolution. Everyone knows that IBM’s Deep Blue was able to defeat Kasparov, and the book does give the untold story of how that happened from Kasparov’s perspective, which has never been told before. You can decide for yourself if you believe that IBM cheated (I do), but Kasparov believes the power of AI really belongs in the union of human and AI, not AI alone.
5. You’ve probably seen the TV series based on the book, Mindhunter by John Douglas, but the book is an extraordinary view of how Douglas’s career evolved to allow him to create the idea of profiles for serial killers. It’s not so much a true crime story as it is a masterclass on Douglas’ process on what it means to get inside the minds of criminals.

Top 5 Fiction

1. I’ve avoided reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tarth for a long time even though it’s won tons of awards…in part because it’s so long. But if it were any shorter, I’d be complaining I wanted more! It’s a kind of coming of age story of a survivor of a terrorist attack, and his life revolves around a painting that he takes into his care after the attack.
2. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schuab is like a cross between Faust and Dorian Grey with one of the most vivid female protagonists I’ve ever come across. I won’t give away any other details, you have to read this for yourself.
3. The greatest science fiction series of all time, The Expanse by James S.A. Corey, concluded this year with Leviathan Falls. If you’ve not read the nine novels, novellas, and short stories written in this universe, you’re in for a treat. Or, you can watch the TV series on Amazon…it’s in it’s final season and it’s one of the few TV shows that I can say does the books justice. I think of it less of a Game of Thrones in space, as Breaking Bad with the Universe on the line.
4. I had avoided reading The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher for the sole reason that the TV adaptation was really terrible. Normally I would just recommend one book, but in this case, I read all 17 over the course of about 2 beautiful weeks. Seriously, that addictive. Book 7 is probably my favorite, but all the books build on one another so you’ve got to read them in order!
5. The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix wasn’t my usual read. It’s about a group of southern ladies that starts a true crime book club, and their world is upended when a vampire moves in down the street. But it was so compelling that I had to pick up Hendrix’s other books. He’s one of the new masters of the horror genre.

Bonus

If you’ve managed to read all the way to the end of this list, I’d be remiss to not mention that my book Well Aware came out last year, and it won the Book of the Year award from Business Class News. It’s about how to make cybersecurity easy by making it a habit, and I give examples for how to put those habits into practice by telling the stories of successful leaders who made amazing things happen.

George Finney is a Chief Information Security Officer that believes that people are the key to solving our cybersecurity challenges. George is the award winning author of Well Aware: Master the Nine Cybersecurity Habits to Protect Your Future. George was recognized as one of the top 100 CISOs of 2021 and is a member of Cyber Theory Institute's Zero Trust Initiative, a Master Mentor for the Cyber Future Foundation, and is an Advisory Board member for SecureWorld. George has worked in Cybersecurity for nearly 20 years and has helped startups, global telecommunications firms, and nonprofits improve their security posture.