Skip navigation Bob Monsour

Books

Inspired by many of the bookshelves that I've seen on other sites (Cory Dransfeldt's, Sean Voisen's, Melanie Richards', 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).

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 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.

2026 / 2025 / 2024 / 2023 / 2022 / 2021 / 2020 / 2018 / 2014 / 2011 / 2010 / undated

Currently Reading

The Great Math WarThe Great Math War

by Json Socrates Bardi

2026

AflameAflame

by Pico Iyer

2025

How the Light Gets InHow the Light Gets In

by Louise Penny

 Erasing HistoryErasing History

by Jason Stanley

 Train DreamsTrain Dreams

by Denis Johnson

 Running with ShermanRunning with Sherman

by Christopher McDougall

 Making Sense of ChaosMaking Sense of Chaos

by Doyne Farmer

 The Path to PowerThe Path to Power

by Robert A. Caro

 Close to the MachineClose to the Machine

by Ellen Ullman

2024

Farewell AmethystineFarewell Amethystine

by Walter Mosley

 Let the Great World SpinLet the Great World Spin

by Colum McCann

 North WoodsNorth Woods

by Daniel Mason

 Empire of the Summer MoonEmpire of the Summer Moon

by S.C. Gwynne

 A Gentleman and a ThiefA Gentleman and a Thief

by Dean Job

 JamesJames

by Percival Everett

 The Adventures of Huckleberry FinnThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

by Mark Twain

 Hellhound on His TrailHellhound on His Trail

by Hampton Sides

 The Wide Wide SeaThe Wide Wide Sea

by Hampton Sides

 The Dog StarsThe Dog Stars

by Peter Heller

 Mussolini's DaughterMussolini's Daughter

by Caroline Moorehead

 The Dreamt LandThe Dreamt Land

by Mark Arax

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

by John Le Carré

2023

Road to SurrenderRoad to Surrender

by Evan Thomas

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

by William L. Shirer

 TrustTrust

by Hernan Diaz

 The WagerThe Wager

by David Grann

 Bottoms Up and the Devil LaughsBottoms Up and the Devil Laughs

by Kerry Howley

 Small Things Like TheseSmall Things Like These

by Claire Keegan

 HorseHorse

by Geraldine Brooks

 American MidnightAmerican Midnight

by Adam Hochschild

2022

Devil in the GroveDevil in the Grove

by Gilbert King

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

by George Saunders

 DreamlandDreamland

by Sam Quinones

 Either/OrEither/Or

by Elif Batuman

 The Berlin ExchangeThe Berlin Exchange

by Joseph Kanon

 The Gates of EuropeThe Gates of Europe

by Serhii Plokhy & Ralph Lister

 PachinkoPachinko

by Min Jin Lee

2021

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

by David Eagleman

 The Power BrokerThe Power Broker

by Robert A. Caro

 WorkingWorking

by Robert A. Caro

 The Fifth RiskThe Fifth Risk

by Michael Lewis

 One Minute to MidnightOne Minute to Midnight

by Michael Dobbs

 Alexander HamiltonAlexander Hamilton

by Ron Chernow

2020

Good Strategy Bad StrategyGood Strategy Bad Strategy

by Richard P. Rumelt

 Just MercyJust Mercy

by Bryan Stevenson

 How We DieHow We Die

by Sherwin B. Nuland

 Being MortalBeing Mortal

by Atul Gawande

 Ageless Painless TennisAgeless Painless Tennis

by David Starbuck Smith

2018

A Higher LoyaltyA Higher Loyalty

by James Comey

 Leadership: In Turbulent TimesLeadership: In Turbulent Times

by Doris Kearns Goodwin

 When Breath Becomes AirWhen Breath Becomes Air

by Paul Kalanithi

 An Unquiet MindAn Unquiet Mind

by Kay Redfield Jamison

2014

The Hard Thing About Hard ThingsThe Hard Thing About Hard Things

by Ben Horowitz

 Death by Food PyramidDeath by Food Pyramid

by Denise Minger

 Why We Get FatWhy We Get Fat

by Gary Taubes

 The CircleThe Circle

by Dave Eggers

2011

Delivering HappinessDelivering Happiness

by Tony Hsieh

 Thirteen DaysThirteen Days

by Robert F. Kennedy

 ExecutionExecution

by Larry Bossidy, Ram Charan, Charles Burck

2010

Street FightersStreet Fighters

by Kate Kelly

 All the President’s MenAll the President’s Men

by Carl Bernstein & Bob Woodward

 The Final DaysThe Final Days

by Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein

 To End a WarTo End a War

by Richard Holbrooke

 Obama's WarsObama's Wars

by Bob Woodward

 On the BrinkOn the Brink

by Henry M. Paulson Jr.

 The Big ShortThe Big Short

by Michael Lewis

 The Dynamite ClubThe Dynamite Club

by John M. Merriman

 OpenOpen

by Andre Agassi

 The Big SwitchThe Big Switch

by Nicholas Carr

Undated: don't know when I read these

Bird by BirdBird by Bird

by Anne Lamott

 Purple CowPurple Cow

by Seth Godin

 Plan of AttackPlan of Attack

by Bob Woodward

 What the Dormouse SaidWhat the Dormouse Said

by John Markoff

 Fermat's EnigmaFermat's Enigma

by Simon Singh & John Lynch

 This Side Of PeaceThis Side Of Peace

by Hanan Ashrawi

 A Champion's MindA Champion's Mind

by Pete Sampras & Peter Bodo

 Winning UglyWinning Ugly

by Brad Gilbert

 Crossing the ChasmCrossing the Chasm

by Geoffrey A. Moore

 The Education of a Tennis PlayerThe Education of a Tennis Player

by Rod Laver & Bud Collins

 The Soul of a New MachineThe Soul of a New Machine

by Tracy Kidder

 The ProphetThe Prophet

by Khalil Gibran

 The Inner Game of TennisThe Inner Game of Tennis

by W. Timothy Gallwey

 The World is FlatThe World is Flat

by Thomas Friedman

 The Mythical Man-MonthThe Mythical Man-Month

by Frederick Brooks

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

by General Hal Moore