Read books per year
Here I go again, another year filled with good (and not so good) books.
I’m personally happy since I managed to bring my reading habit to previous years, when I was bordering 30 books per annum - I’m happy I managed to get the discipline to ditch the tv and pick up my Kindle most of the evenings when I had free time. Anyhow, enough of me, let’s go with my top 5
This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: by far, my favorite reading of the year. I only knew the book was a Mckinsey business book winner, but that was it.
The premise of the story is simple: since all of our lives and physical objects are connected to the internet, the possibility for online attacks is overwhelming. And no one is safe.
Nicole Perlroth’s book is both fascinating and alarming, the way she builds the case for a new Manhattan Project is unbelievable; her research skills are outstanding and she managed to dig deep on the dark web secrets, which is truly unbelievable.Banking on it (How I disrupted an industry): a fantastic and somehow sad story on how Sterling Bank was founded by Anne Boeden. Her vision, determination and good sense of humor is tremendously well narrated on this page turner. The financial services in the UK was not on the verge of disruption until regulations opened the door to challengers such as Sterling. No comments on Tom Blomfield and his lack of morals and decency.
Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery: a book I had on my ‘to read’ shelf for years. The story of Scott Kelly is tremendously inspiring. Kelly describes his challenging upbringing being a below average student to spending 1 year on space leading critical NASA missions. I really enjoyed the human aspect he uses to describe his amazing life, he is down to earth, straightforward and as a reader, you can really relate to his adventures ‘up there’
A stunning memoir from the astronaut who spent a record-breaking year aboard the International Space Station – a candid account of his remarkable voyage, the journeys that preceded it, and his colorful formative yearsChip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology : part of my goal for book read this year I decided to start tackling McKinsey book of the year winners. 2022’s winner was Chip War, an eye-opening business thriller about the role of chips in our global economy and how a handful of countries and companies dominate an industry that people don’t seem to care much about but is essential to run all of our electrical appliances.
Invisible Women: exposing data bias in a world design for men: I think by now this book is an all time classic. Winner of the McKinsey book of the year in 2019, Criado Perez uses so much evidence to illustrate the fact the world has been designed for and by men that the message at the end is undeniable and powerful.
Data determine how resources are allocated. Bad data lead to bad resource allocation. Criado Perez hammers home this message with example after example, and… comprehensively makes the case that seemingly objective data can actually be highly male-biased, and that public spending, health, education, the workplace and society in general are worse off as a result. Policymakers everywhere should take heed
There you go, my top 5.
For the rest, here is my list with all the books I read this 2023.
