Skip navigation

Books

Inspired by many of the bookshelves that I've seen on other sites (Cory Dransfeldt's, Sean Voisen's, Melanie Richards's, Chazz Basuta's, and Dave Rupert's), here are some of the books that I've read over the years. It is nowhere near a complete list, with the data from more recent years being the most accurate.

The bulk of the data came from the Goodreads platform (exported and hacked as I'll describe in this future blog post).

The ratings are my own, and as you can see, I like most of what I've read. And while I know the year when I read some of these books, there's also an Undated section at the end. I'll likely add more to that section as I mine my physical bookshelves for data.

The cover images and the book titles link to their respective Amazon Bookshop.org product pages and I do participate in their affiliate program.

Finally, if you want to know how I built this, there's this future blog post about it.

2025 / 2024 / 2023 / 2022 / 2021 / 2020 / 2018 / 2014 / 2011 / 2010 / undated

Currently Reading

Aflame Aflame

by Pico Iyer

2025

How the Light Gets In How the Light Gets In

by Louise Penny

 Erasing History Erasing History

by Jason Stanley

 Train Dreams Train Dreams

by Denis Johnson

 Running with Sherman Running with Sherman

by Christopher McDougall

 Making Sense of Chaos Making Sense of Chaos

by Doyne Farmer

 The Path to Power The Path to Power

by Robert A. Caro

 Close to the Machine Close to the Machine

by Ellen Ullman

2024

Farewell Amethystine Farewell Amethystine

by Walter Mosley

 Let the Great World Spin Let the Great World Spin

by Colum McCann

 North Woods North Woods

by Daniel Mason

 Empire of the Summer Moon Empire of the Summer Moon

by S.C. Gwynne

 A Gentleman and a Thief A Gentleman and a Thief

by Dean Job

 James James

by Percival Everett

 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

by Mark Twain

 Hellhound on His Trail Hellhound on His Trail

by Hampton Sides

 The Wide Wide Sea The Wide Wide Sea

by Hampton Sides

 The Dog Stars The Dog Stars

by Peter Heller

 Mussolini's Daughter Mussolini's Daughter

by Caroline Moorehead

 The Dreamt Land The Dreamt Land

by Mark Arax

 The Spy Who Came In from the Cold The Spy Who Came In from the Cold

by John Le Carré

2023

Road to Surrender Road to Surrender

by Evan Thomas

 The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

by William L. Shirer

 Trust Trust

by Hernan Diaz

 The Wager The Wager

by David Grann

 Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs

by Kerry Howley

 Small Things Like These Small Things Like These

by Claire Keegan

 Horse Horse

by Geraldine Brooks

 American Midnight American Midnight

by Adam Hochschild

2022

Devil in the Grove Devil in the Grove

by Gilbert King

 A Swim in a Pond in the Rain A Swim in a Pond in the Rain

by George Saunders

 Dreamland Dreamland

by Sam Quinones

 Either/Or Either/Or

by Elif Batuman

 The Berlin Exchange The Berlin Exchange

by Joseph Kanon

 The Gates of Europe The Gates of Europe

by Serhii Plokhy & Ralph Lister

 Pachinko Pachinko

by Min Jin Lee

2021

Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives

by David Eagleman

 The Power Broker The Power Broker

by Robert A. Caro

 Working Working

by Robert A. Caro

 The Fifth Risk The Fifth Risk

by Michael Lewis

 One Minute to Midnight One Minute to Midnight

by Michael Dobbs

 Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton

by Ron Chernow

2020

Good Strategy Bad Strategy Good Strategy Bad Strategy

by Richard P. Rumelt

 Just Mercy Just Mercy

by Bryan Stevenson

 How We Die How We Die

by Sherwin B. Nuland

 Being Mortal Being Mortal

by Atul Gawande

 Ageless Painless Tennis Ageless Painless Tennis

by David Starbuck Smith

2018

A Higher Loyalty A Higher Loyalty

by James Comey

 Leadership: In Turbulent Times Leadership: In Turbulent Times

by Doris Kearns Goodwin

 When Breath Becomes Air When Breath Becomes Air

by Paul Kalanithi

 An Unquiet Mind An Unquiet Mind

by Kay Redfield Jamison

2014

The Hard Thing About Hard Things The Hard Thing About Hard Things

by Ben Horowitz

 Death by Food Pyramid Death by Food Pyramid

by Denise Minger

 Why We Get Fat Why We Get Fat

by Gary Taubes

 The Circle The Circle

by Dave Eggers

2011

Delivering Happiness Delivering Happiness

by Tony Hsieh

 Thirteen Days Thirteen Days

by Robert F. Kennedy

 Execution Execution

by Larry Bossidy, Ram Charan, Charles Burck

2010

Street Fighters Street Fighters

by Kate Kelly

 All the President’s Men All the President’s Men

by Carl Bernstein & Bob Woodward

 The Final Days The Final Days

by Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein

 To End a War To End a War

by Richard Holbrooke

 Obama's Wars Obama's Wars

by Bob Woodward

 On the Brink On the Brink

by Henry M. Paulson Jr.

 The Big Short The Big Short

by Michael Lewis

 The Dynamite Club The Dynamite Club

by John M. Merriman

 Open Open

by Andre Agassi

 The Big Switch The Big Switch

by Nicholas Carr

Undated: don't know when I read these

Bird by Bird Bird by Bird

by Anne Lamott

 Purple Cow Purple Cow

by Seth Godin

 Plan of Attack Plan of Attack

by Bob Woodward

 What the Dormouse Said What the Dormouse Said

by John Markoff

 Fermat's Enigma Fermat's Enigma

by Simon Singh & John Lynch

 This Side Of Peace This Side Of Peace

by Hanan Ashrawi

 A Champion's Mind A Champion's Mind

by Pete Sampras & Peter Bodo

 Winning Ugly Winning Ugly

by Brad Gilbert

 Crossing the Chasm Crossing the Chasm

by Geoffrey A. Moore

 The Education of a Tennis Player The Education of a Tennis Player

by Rod Laver & Bud Collins

 The Soul of a New Machine The Soul of a New Machine

by Tracy Kidder

 The Prophet The Prophet

by Khalil Gibran

 The Inner Game of Tennis The Inner Game of Tennis

by W. Timothy Gallwey

 The World is Flat The World is Flat

by Thomas Friedman

 The Mythical Man-Month The Mythical Man-Month

by Frederick Brooks

 We Were Soldiers Once...and Young We Were Soldiers Once...and Young

by General Hal Moore