Below are the 6 books that I categorize as “History/Biography/Documentary”.
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
This book focuses on the period from Nike startup to the first big success with air cushion. You would know more of the founder, Phil Knight’s characteristic and Nike’s culture. I have two major takeaways from this book:
- One is that Nike started or even invented the best mutual-benefitial way to cooperate with athletes, the company tried their everything to build products that really improve the performance of athletes, they love sports.
- Another one is that, someone among us, they are just born to be successful, there are many paths. According to the book, Phil is not a type-A person like Elon Musk, but he still managed to attract enough talented colleagues and mentors to build the company and fight to succeed.
Owls of the Eastern Ice by Jonathan C. Slaght
Very relaxing read, and well written. To put it simple, this book is about bird watching and bird research. But the author writes it well by adding his feeling to the cold, introduction to the forests, etc., to not make the reading boring. This book opens a window to the researchers who work hard in dangerous environments to help the earth, love those people, respect those people.
Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
I was drawn to this book while reading Empire of Pain. This book is about Ireland history. The author, like always, gathered tons of history materials to piece the fractured history together.
I always feel frustrated when reading history stories about how people try to kill each other. I mean, we are actually no different, but the hate, the resent have been creating so many tragedies. Very sad, every time thinking about it.
Mémoires d’Hadrien by Marguerite Yourcenar
The book is written as if it was told by Hadrien first person. Only when I finished the book, did I realize the book was not from Hadrien, but from the author, who used the creative way to introduce Hadrien in a way that makes readers think it is from hadrien himself.
Nothing much to say about Hadrien, but a bit surprised to know how civilized Roman had already become in the 100s AC. They know philosophy, astrology, poem, literature, math and so on.
Green Lights by Matthew McConaughey
This book will definitely lead you to know more about Matthew. I respect his courage, to halt his stable movie career to look for new possibilities in movie acting. After nearly two years of benching, he finally came back in Dallas Buyers Club, Wolves of Wallstreet and Interstellar.
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Old classic famous book. I read it just to learn why it was so famous. It is a trip of finding your true self, to know what you want, what you want to become. But this book did not match my current state, I am still in the stage of yearning everything.
Following 5 books are novels.
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Another old classic famous book. I started it multiple time in the past years, but always failed to continue. This year I finally completed reading it. While reading, it felt like a stream of consciousness, by jumping between timelines, wars and home life. It is about time travel, it is about war, and I can feel the pain the author tries to convey.
向日葵の咲かない夏 by Shusuke Michio
A thriller by the Japanese author Shusuke. The story line is really strange, and I liked the weirdness very much.
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
We all know this book, and I finally completed it. While reading, I felt Kafka is not in the right state of mind. Then I researched his life and experience, I was deeply sorry for his experience, and he must be in great pain in his heart and mind. But to myself, I probably won’t read his other books in the near term.
The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin
A warming story during war. I love the rhythm of how this book tells the story, not so hurry, not creating suspense deliberately, but just to tell you the story, like how your grandparents do. It worths reading.
If We Cannot Move at the Speed of Light (Hubble) by Kim Cho-Yeop
This is a book composed by many short SciFi stories. The author is from Korea, she is observant, as her stories always present an unnoticeable side of women or girls. At the same time, the SciFi part is also intriguing. I love reading those books that I could see through the author’s eyes, to look at the world in a totally different angle.
Lastly, tech books.
Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann
The only tech book I finished this year. This book is too large and I spent months to complete it, by reading a few pages every day. This book helps readers to know more about how databases work fundamentally. You do not need to read into every detail in the book, but by completing the book, it helps to build a high level framework to interpret technology problems.
