A Year in Books; My Full 2016 Reading List

December 2016 was very straightforward when it came to my reading: every free minute I had went into reading the four book series The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Cato. It’s also the best book I read in 2016, so this post is both a wrap-up of 2016 and covers my reading list for December.

The Years of Lyndon Johnson

The year is officially over and I was, in fact, reading right up till the end of the year. After recommending The 48 Laws of Power to a friend (my favorite book of 2015), he countered with The Years of Lyndon Johnson. This work spans over 3,000 pages across four books. Astonishingly the author has worked on this series for over 30 years now and a fifth book is still in the making!

*LBJ, Mount Everest of readers* Ryan Holiday called finishing this series “one of my proudest reading achievements”. Shane Parrish, another amazing reader and seeker of wisdom, listed the series as part of the great works he hopes to get to in his lifetime.

Considering that each book in this series has taken many years to complete, it will come as no surprise that this is a true work of art. You get to know former USA president Johnson as if you were with him for most of his life; by the time you get to the third book, you can almost feel what Johnson must have felt. As he enters the world of the USA senate, full of old men he can suck up to and manipulate, full of power that’s his for the taking, you just know it’s going to be an incredible spectacle, because by then you understand him, you can think like him.

Yet what truly makes this book great are the numerous side-roads the author takes to provide biographies of all the other important characters that play a role in Johnson’s life. Each one of those stories could almost be individual books by themselves; entire chapters chronicling the lives of legendary figures like John F. Kennedy and Coke Stevenson in great detail.

And then there is the larger picture. The story it tells of power, of America, of democracy; it’s mind blowing. It’s fascinating, it’s shocking, it’s beautiful. You realize, as one so often does when studying history, that many of the things we consider “modern” problems are actually far from unique. You can find tons of excerpts that might sound like they were from a recent presidential election, while tin fact they’re describing Johnson’s campaign against Coke Stevenson in Texas almost a century ago!

Be warned though: this truly is the Mount Everest of reading. Ever since picking up the first book on the 21st of November, I read as if my life depended on it, during every free minute I had: during meals, on the subway, in bed, on the toilet, in queues, on airplanes, waiting in the kitchen while boiling water for my tea, on new year’s eve, everywhere, all the time. Still, it took me until just before midnight on the 31st of December to finish these four books. If you don’t read a lot, there’s no point of getting started on this, as it will literally take you forever. But if you think you can handle it, I highly recommend it; I can’t wait until the fifth book comes out!

The full overview, in order of preference

I spent all my time with Lyndon B. Johnson, but I did get lots of other reading done in the other months of 2016. Below the full overview, organized from favorite to least favorite (this is hard, especially mixing up fiction and non-fiction):

The Path to Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson I (see intro above)
Means of Ascent: The Years of Lyndon Johnson II (see intro)
Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson III (see intro)
The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson IV (see intro).
What Makes Sammy Run? (fiction): egotism, money, and power in Hollywood in the 30s, but still super relevant. Awesome read.
Flow: instead of merely going into the how of flow, a large part of the book discusses the why: why flow is important for anyone’s life, not just for athletes and other super-performers. (full review)
Sapiens: the amazing story of Homo Sapiens and our history on this planet.
The Art of Living: this book completely changed my meditation habit and made me realize I’m 90% on the way of being a true Buddhist.
Letters from a Stoic: while not an easy read, this is an invaluable and timeless guide on how to live a virtuous and fulfilling life. (full review)
City of Thieves (fiction): could not put this down; just buy it and read it.
The Sense of Style: the only style guide I have so far read, but I enjoyed this enormously; you have to be a writer or a language freak to enjoy this though.
Deep Work: for anyone who has problems focussing on their work or getting the stuff that matters done, look no further; this is the book for you. (full review)
Switch: must-read for anyone interested in behavior change.
The Circle (fiction): must-read book that illustrates where we’re headed if we don’t get our devices and narcissistic online habits under control.
Technology versus Humanity: the quote “mobile devices are the new cigarettes” best sums up the overall message: the author foresees an epidemic of “digital obesity” at the hands of the “digital overlords” (e.g., Google, Facebook, Amazon).
The Coaching Habit: super practical book on coaching that any leader can apply immediately.
Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus: find out what’s wrong with capitalism and modern society, and what to do about it. (full review)
Pines (The Wayward Pines Trilogy) (fiction): this sci-fi story grabbed me from the first pages and I wish it never ended…
Wayward (The Wayward Pines Trilogy) (fiction): luckily there was a second part to the series…
The Last Town (The Wayward Pines Trilogy) (fiction): and a third, but then it was really over :(
Scaling Up: if you’re looking to bring some structure to your company that’s easy to implement and doesn’t turn your organization into a bureaucracy, this is the book for you. (full review)
Zero to One: very useful if you’re somehow involved in a (tech) startup, not so much for anyone else. (full review)
Hamlet’s Blackberry (second time): if you’ve ever felt technology (especially the internet) is getting the better of you or those around you, this book provides a unique view on the problem and how we might get ourselves out of it. (full review)
Brave New World (fiction): a classic among classics and for a reason; amazing look at a potential future that doesn’t seem all that distant anymore; it blows my mind Aldous Huxley wrote this in 1932.
Essentialism: second time I read this. Really relevant and important message on how to live modern life, but was less impressed with the structure and writing this second time.
The Disenchanted (fiction): if Life In The Fast Lane was a book instead of a song, this would be it.
Ego Is the Enemy: this book is a follow-up to The Obstacle is the Way, one of my favorite books ever; while good, I like this one less.
A Hologram for the King (fiction): if you think it’s not possible to write a funny and engaging book about a middle-aged consultant, read this book.
Competing on Internet Time: interesting analysis and overview of the original “Browser Wars” between Microsoft and Netscape.
Big Data: I thought I had some understanding of the concept of Big Data, until I read this book.
BrainChains: world-class collection of research on what technology is doing to our brains, degraded to amateur level by author’s writing style. (full review)
The Industries of the Future: this book gives you a front-row seat peeking into the future of a wide range of fascinating industries and other upcoming innovations. (full review)
When the Nines Roll Over (fiction): series of short stories from the same author as City of Thieves and The 25th Hour; also highly engaging.
Conscious Business: great book on how to mix conscious with doing business; unfortunately I lost my Kindle notes, so will have to reread this in the future.
Crossing the Chasm: great when you’re doing b2b business development for a tech company, less so for an early-stage and/or b2c startup. (full review)
Uncommon Service: learn why the customer is not king plus many other surprising insights and strategies to achieve service excellence. (full review)
Good Work: intriguing review of what makes work “good” (ethical and rewarding) by studying the careers of prominent bioengineers and journalists.
Epic Content Marketing: it’s hard to make any comparisons as I have not read any other books about content marketing, but I found this quite valuable and applicable.
Into the Woods: story creation dissected into clear and usable building blocks; why and how does it work. (full review).
Scientific Advertising: short and “ancient” but still amazingly relevant book on the principles of (data-driven) advertising.
The Weekly Coaching Conversation: author Brian Souza turned all the research he and his team did on coaching into a simple story that reflects the key points of their findings. (full review)
This is Water: nice short read on what matters in life, what it’s all about (and what not).
The 25th Hour (fiction): another epic and entertaining read from the same author as City of Thieves and When the Nines Roll Over.
Dreaming in Chinese: fun and interesting read if you’re studying Chinese and are living in China.
Island (fiction): picked this up after finishing Brave New World last month. This book goes much deeper and is really a book on philosophy, religion, and society masquerading as a fiction title.
The Enchiridion: when it comes to the ancient philosophy of Stoicism, I much preferred other titles, such as The Obstacle is The Way, Meditations, and Letters from a Stoic.
The Elements of User Onboarding: great eBook on (software) product on boarding.
Emergence: “The movement from low-level rules to higher-level sophistication is what we call emergence.” There you go, this book explained. (full review)
Mr. Eternity (fiction): this is not for everyone; the narrative and structure is quite strange, but if you’re looking for something out of the ordinary that is part history, part sci-fi, this book is a nice one.
The Virtual Manager Compilation (HBR): practical overview of tips for managers managing remote teams; nothing revolutionary in here, but it’s worth a read if you’re involved with distributed teams.
Abandon (fiction): very corny story about people who get stranded on a deserted island and fall love; somehow finished it though.
Smarter Faster Better: does not do as advertised; more about management and team collaboration than about (personal) productivity. (full review)
Thrive: unless you’re a fan of quotes or Arianna Huffington, I would leave this one alone. (full review)
The E-Myth Revisited (unfinished): several people recommend me this book about entrepreneurship, but I wasn’t grabbed by it; will give it another go in the future.
Capital in the Twenty-First Century (unfinished): started on this, but when I was at about a third I realized I was fooling myself: I probably understood half of what I was reading and gave up.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (unfinished): this is the second time I tried to get through this book, and again I failed. I’m going to give it another try in 2017.
Originals (unfinished): ironically I found this book not very original, with lots of ideas and concepts that have been covered much better in other books.

And… that’s a wrap for 2016! Let me say on parting that, while this list might suggest differently, quality is what really matters in my opinion, not quantity. It’s better to read one book and fully comprehend and apply it, than to read ten and not do anything with the wisdom in them.

In that regard I can still do better myself. I take lots of notes using the highlighting function on my Kindle and then process those in Evernote. But I haven’t been able to process all of them for 2o16 and am quite far behind in writing reviews. My own learning and reading pledge for 2017 therefore is:

Spend more time studying and processing, less time reading (if need be).

Have a wonderful 2017!

Tim

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