My Top 10 Books and Top 5 Podcasts of 2019!

In my view 2019 is the year that physical books made a comeback. In previous years a lot of people I know (including myself) would read books on our tablets, touting the benefits of being able to bring lots of books together with us on a trip and to read on the go. Now there are more and more people that are reverting to physical books to have a break from screen time. I've found myself doing this more and more in order to calm my brain down. As an example I've started to keep my phone out of the bedroom and to read 30 minutes each day before bed. I've found it very helpful for improved sleep.

As I've done the past few years I'm sharing below the best books I read this past year. I read around 40 this year and these ones stood out as both informative and enjoyable to read. 

1) The AirBnB Story by Leigh Gallagher

I've always been interested in stories of how tech companies have grown and the lessons that can be generated from them. Earlier this year my wife Atenea and I started hosting our basement on AirBnB, so for me there were benefits on both of these fronts to learn the AirBnB story. Leigh wrote this back in 2017 and in the book she detailed the story of how AirBnB grew and developed into a leading global tech company. I found it interesting how they were able to make it through the chicken or the egg challenge, i.e. you need both hosts and potential guests, but how do you build that at the same time to meet supply and demand. 

My reflections on AirBnB is that personally we both enjoy to host people and to stay in AirBnBs on our travels. But there are real challenges for it in terms of security and its impact on affordable housing in big cities that it needs to address. The book does tackle these in depth and some challenges along the way AirBnB has had in dealing with them.

2) Hockey Fight in Canada by David Shoalts 

This is a book about two key events of the hockey and broadcasting landscape of the past few years:

• How Rogers beat out Bell and the CBC for the NHL broadcasting rights including Hockey Night in Canada
• How Rogers tried to change it up too much in the first year and in the process alienated fans (a bit of a too much too soon scenario)

I haven't watched a NHL game in probably 10 years, but the inside look at deal-making, the changing nature of how people consume media and how to (not) institute change I found fascinating.

3) Empty Planet by Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson

John Ibbitson writes very good opinion pieces weekly in The Globe & Mail, and wrote another of of my favourite books about Stephen Harper a few years back. He teamed up with Darrell Bricker to write this book, which counters the widespread belief of uncontrolled global population growth. The thesis is actually due to declining global birth rates our global population is going to start to decrease in the coming decades and that will lead to a lot of social and economic consequences. The declining birth rate is based on countries not meeting the replacement rate needed to retain their existing population levels (2.1 babies for every 2 adults). The implications of this will be vast in places like China that are skewing older and as countries wrestle with how to continue driving economic growth with aging and decreasing population levels.

In my conversation with friends, there's not too many people I know that are considering having more than 2 kids nowadays (and some who don't want to have any at all) and so for me this definitely holds true as a global risk. 

4) One Minute to Midnight by Michael Dobbs

Yes you're probably getting it by now, my books don't tend to follow any particular theme (except that they are all non-fiction). This book is an oral history of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is a moment of history I knew a bit about, but did not have an in depth understanding. The book takes a minute by minute account (with the benefit of detailed information from the US, Cuba and the Soviet Union) as to what key people were thinking, saying and doing at each step of this moment in time when we were closer than ever before to a global nuclear war. It was fascinating to see how difficult it was to communicate and read the other side without real-time communication (it often took 7 hours for a message to get through from one side to the other). I also found it interesting to peer into the minds of Kennedy and Krustchev as they genuinely feared that someone lower down in the military would make a mistake that would lead to a chain set of reactions, ultimately leading in deadly levels of nuclear retaliation. 

From a business perspective I reflected on this as a classic example of how do you make decisions when you have limited information, unreliable information or both. 

5) Never Lost Again: The Google Mapping Revolution that Sparked New Industries by Bill Kilday

There's been a lot of attention on the big names of our recent digital revolution, such as Facebook, Google, Apple, Uber etc, but an underlying technology that hasn't been thoroughly explored in the public discourse is mapping technology. This books goes into how the precursor to Google Maps was developed and how they eventually developed it into a core application that we use daily. 

Some of the interesting things that stood out to me:

• How the initial technology grew - there was an initial focus on real estate agents, then on TV stations like CNN (during Iraq war coverage), and then to the military.
• As the platform grew they were confronted by challenges as to how to visually handle border disputes and how territories like Taiwan were displayed on the map
• Google Maps was actually the first killer app for the iPhone (which is interesting considering how much the two companies are now in competition)
• Some technologies make previous human skills obsolete - in today's day and age we don't actually need the same navigation skills we used to in order to get around. Some may argue that's a good or a bad thing.

6) The Morning After by Chantal Hebert

If the 1995 Quebec Referendum on Separation had led to a "yes" vote, what would have happened? With 20 years having passed Chantal explores this question with candid interviews from the key players at the time. The interesting thing about a referendum is it can be interpreted in many ways, which is something we can see in our present-day with Brexit. There were some who saw the referendum as a mandate to negotiate that would require a 2nd referendum for ratification, whereas others saw it as a mandate to outright proclaim independence. Additionally she explores areas like how key figures were trying to calm financial markets (as markets like certainty) and how getting official recognition from other countries and the UN would have worked. I also found it interesting how there would have been a call for Chretien to step down in the case of a Yes vote (as could a Quebecker leading Canada have true legitimacy to negotiate with Quebec on the next steps). 

7) Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America by Jeff Ryan

I find it interesting when you explore the business side of a set of consumer products that you yourself used. I grew up on Nintendo and still play their games and systems today. I wasn't aware that they started out making cards, then shifted to toys, then broke into arcade machines and finally into home video games. The story identifies key strategic decisions that helped them grow, and other mishaps that were problematic or in some cases led to the rise of competitors like Sony. 

8) Targeted by Brittany Kaiser

Like many I followed the Cambridge Analytica scandal lightly through the news, but had never dug into it in detail. The author Brittany Kaiser, a liberal, worked there for a number of years and eventually came around to the horrors of what the company was actually doing. This book was truly eye-opening and a stark reminder of the importance of protecting our personal data as well as for us to remember that we are constantly being microtargeted with political ads specific to us.

9) Right Here, Right Now by Stephen Harper

I figured Stephen Harper's first book after leaving office would be a biography or a look back at his time in office. Instead the book serves as a reflection on the state of the world as Stephen sees it and the threats present globally right now. I found he helped me empathize with the drivers that lead to populist movements, the real frustrations of everyday people that need to be addressed. He also expressed how the left think they are open-minded but then they shut down debate and lecture from a "moral high ground" when the view doesn't agree with their orthodoxy. I think everyone on the left wing and center of the political spectrum would get value from this, as a contrast to their current political thinking.

10) Open by Andre Agassi

I picked up this book randomly while staying at an AirBnB a few months back. I don't watch tennis at all, but I was familiar with who Andre Agassi was. This by far was the most honest, authentic (and somewhat dark) biography I've ever read. Andre opens up about how he actually hated tennis, was pushed into it by his abusive father and the challenges he faced with depression and drug use. It's extremely descriptive and truly brings you into these specific moments of Andre's life. 

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In addition to books I thought I'd share some of the podcasts that I found both informative and enjoyable in 2019. Although I no longer host podcasts I still love to listen, especially while on my travels. My two favourite podcasts continue to be The Agenda with Steve Paikin (must listen if you live in Ontario) and The Economist Editors Picks (a weekly summary of the top articles from that week's issue of The Economist). I added a few new one to my rotation this year which I've listed below:

1) #onpoli

This is a podcast also by TVO co-hosted by Steve Paikin and John Michael McGrath. It goes in depth on key political issues through commentary by the hosts as well as interviews. I enjoyed it quite a bit as Steve is much more open about his opinion in this show than in The Agenda where he focuses on interviewing his guests. John Michael is extremely knowledgeable as well on the policy side and together they hosted a number of very interesting episodes in the lead up to the election. My favourites had to do with how minority governments legally work and an inside look at the Leaders' Debate which explored how debates work from the perspectives of insiders. They just wrapped up the 2019 season of the show but I would expect it back in 2020.

2) Slow Burn

I was recommended this show recently and just devoured season 1 on a recent trip to Mexico. Each season goes through a big event that happened and takes you through it as if it's happening in real time. The first season deals with the Watergate scandal and as I was listening to it I was in awe of how similar the events / reaction appear to Trump's impeachment inquiry. The second season focuses on the Monica Lewinsky scandal and the most recent one on the murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G. I haven't gotten into these yet, but based on season 1 I'm a fan!

3) The Herle Burly

Steve Paikin had David Herle on his podcast a few times during the election and referenced the fact that David had started a new podcast which Steve really enjoyed. It's a hilarious yet informative podcast about Canadian politics that brings together David Herle, Scott Reid and Jenni Byrne who have worked for opposing parties. 

4) ESPN 30 for 30

Years ago ESPN started a series of video documentaries about stories that have defined the past few decades of sports. This podcast extension takes it to audio form and includes both multi-episode documentaries and some individual episodes. Ramona Shelbourne did a 5-part series earlier this year on Donald Sterling, the former owner of the LA Clippers NBA team who was kicked out of the league for racist comments caught on tape. She digs into Donald's story, how he acquired the team and ultimately what led to the NBA to force him to sell the team. I knew this story but not at the level of depth that this documentary went into, particularly the backstory of Donald and his wife Shelly.

5) The Book of Basketball 2.0

If any of you are into your basketball you've probably listed to The Bill Simmons Podcast before (the #1 most downloaded sports podcast of all time). Bill started out as a writer - mixing sports and pop culture and expanded this to his new platform The Ringer a few years back. 

Nearly a decade ago he wrote The Book of Basketball, one of my all time favourite sports reads. In it he attempted to rank the best players in NBA history, which is a difficult thing to do with how different each era has been. In this "sequel" he hosts a podcast that mixes prepared text he's readied along with guests to discuss key topics as he tries to put current or recent players in historical context. It's an innovative format for sure (and I'm sure more lucrative in terms of ad revenue vs book sales for Bill), and I've enjoyed it (in particular the recent episode about Dirk Nowitzki - one of my all time favourite players).

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Well there you have it, that's what stood out to me most in 2019! I'd love to hear if there are books or podcasts that resonated with you in this past year, please comment below with any that you'd recommend!

Derek