Currently Reading January 2022…

• Living in a Real Time world, Jim Selman. non-fiction. Loving this book that shares context and 6 tools for living and leading in times of rapid change… and how we will always now be in times of rapid change.
• Flowers For Algernon: A Modern Literary Classic (S.F. MASTERWORKS); By: Daniel Keyes – fiction. Brilliant writing, a sci-fi classic that explores the role of intelligence in living a meaningful life – a man with low IQ has an operation that transforms him into genius… but his emotional development takes some time to catch up
• The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Groundbreaking Scientists and Their Conflicting Visions of the Future of Our Planet; By: Charles C. Mann – there are two ways that scientists approach humanity’s use of the earth’s resources – one: we must limit our use; two: technology can allow us to increase the available resources… which is right, and what does it mean for taking care of our planet?

The books I have read during 2021

This is basically an extract of my amazon kindle content, with a few notes.  List in reverse order of date read (the first on the liist is the last book I read in 2021…)

Favourite reads of 2021: The Magus, Four Thousand Weeks, A Gentleman in Moscow, Dark Matter, Falling Upward…

• Understanding 6-7-Year-Olds (The Tavistock Clinic – Understanding Your Child); By: Corinne Aves and Jonathan Bradley – any guess how old my youngest daughter is… I’ve read all the books in this series and found them short and really helpful on understanding how to relate to what’s going on in each age.
• The Royal Game; By: Stefan Zweig and B W Huebsch – fiction; fun story about the game of chess and a group of passengers on a cruise ship
• HYPNOTHERAPY: Methods, Techniques & Philosophies; By: FREDDY JACQUIN – non-fiction; my thesis at university was on hypnosis…
• The Dark Side of The Human Needs: Help Clients Answer the Question ‘Why Do I Do That?’ and Stop Self Sabotage (Uncommon Practitioner Series); By: Mark Tyrrell – non-fiction; why we sabotage ourselves
• Disrupted: Ludicrous Misadventures in the Tech Start-up Bubble; By: Dan Lyons – non-fiction; the author took a job at hubspot and writes about his experiences. The book really annoyed me with the author’s cynicism and negativity… it is not easy to build an entrepreneurial business.

• The Family Crucible; By: Augustus Y. Napier and Carl Whitaker – non-fiction; a classic book on the field of family therapy, definitely worth a read.
• Positive Intelligence; By: Shirzad Chamine – non-fiction; great insights on the different styles of intelligence and the ways we can work better as a team; and not sabotage ourselves in the process.
• The Once and Future King; By: T. H. White – fiction; reading this with my 5 year old… was one of my favourite books as a child.
• The Devil’s Footprints; By: John Burnside – fiction; creepy but insightful book about the arrival of a family into a close-knit scottish village.
• The Magus (Vintage Classics); By: John Fowles – fiction; loved this book. Set in 1920s about a naive englishman taking a job as a teacher in a school on a greek island… and discovering the house of the magus… who leads him through a series of interesting adventures that leave him questioning who he is and what he stands for.
• The Midnight Library; By: Matt Haig – fiction; loved this book. A lady decides that her life is not worth living, and then has a chance to see all the stories that come from her past and her potential futures… leading her to discover that she is necessary and her life is worth living.
• Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity; By: Carlo Rovelli – non-fiction; love the writing of Carlo Rovelli – I can’t claim I understand quantum physics, but he writes like a poet.
• Strong Motion; By: Jonathan Franzen – fiction; I’ve read everything else by Franzen… but this was not one of the best.
• Rafa: My Story; By: Rafael Nadal and John Carlin – non-fiction; well written biography of the famous spanish tennis player.
• Four Thousand Weeks: Embrace your limits. Change your life.; By: Oliver Burkeman – non-fiction; one of the best books I’ve read in 2021… a radical new perspective on time management, purpose and how to live a meaningful, fulfilling life.
• The Dark Night of the Soul: A Psychiatrist Explores the Connection Between Darkness and Spiritual Growth; By: Gerald G. May MD – non-fiction; on the role of crisis and difficult times and uncertainty in developing our spiritual sense.
• Kitchen Confidential; By: Anthony Bourdain – non-fiction; biographical book by the celebrity chef Bourdain… really had me laughing and paying a new level of attention to restaurants and their menus.
• Jonathan Livingston Seagull: A story; By: Richard Bach and Russell Munson – fiction; reading this with my 5 year old… a story about conforming with what is expected of you and not risking standing out… or seeking mastery in what deeply matters to you.
• Bear Head: from the winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award; By: Adrian Tchaikovsky – fiction; I’ve read most of Tchaikovsky’s books.
• Western Han Dynasty: A History from Beginning to End (History of China); By: Hourly History – non-fiction; decided to update my knowledge about the origins and development of China.
• Foundation and Empire (The Foundation Trilogy, Book 2); By: Isaac Asimov – fiction; watching the series with my daughter and decided to re-read. One of my favourite book series as a child.
• Foundation: (The Foundation Trilogy, Book 1); By: Isaac Asimov – fiction; watching the series with my daughter and decided to re-read. One of my favourite book series as a child.
• Napoleon: A Concise Biography; By: David A. Bell – non-fiction; biography of Napolean – was he lucky or was he smart? he certainly managed to come out of left field and really understand how to ride the currents of power in his time… until he over reached.
• The Caucasus: An Introduction; By: Thomas de Waal – non-fiction; My wife is from Georgia… looking to get a better understanding of the history and geography of the region.
• Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors; By: Matt Parker – non-fiction; wonderful book sharing many short stories about poor or brilliant mathematics.
• Recursion: From the Bestselling Author of Dark Matter Comes an Exciting, Twisty Thriller; By: Blake Crouch – fiction; sci fi – I went on a Blake Crouch run over a few weeks.
• A Gentleman in Moscow: The worldwide bestseller; By: Amor Towles – fiction; brilliantly written account of a gentleman who is imprisoned in a luxury hotel in Moscow for many years… and manages to make a fulfilling life in the difficult situation. Loved this reflection on how to respond to confinement!
• The Fifty-Minute Hour; By: Robert Lindner and Jonathan Lear – non-fiction; reflections on psychotherapy.
• My Voice Will Go with You: The Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erickson; By: Sidney Rosen – non-fiction; reflections on psychotherapy.
• Ark (Forward collection); By: Veronica Roth – fiction; Amazon Unlimited series that has short stories from several new (for me) authors.
• The Cicero Trilogy; By: Robert Harris – fiction; finished off the 3rd book this year… it’s been a couple of years since I read books 1 and 2.
• How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need; By: Bill Gates – non-fiction; a review of the literature and some good perspectives on one of the biggest challenges of our time.
• Letters to Camondo; By: Edmund de Waal –
• The Last Town (The Wayward Pines Trilogy, Book 3); By: Blake Crouch – fiction
• Wayward (The Wayward Pines Trilogy, Book 2); By: Blake Crouch – fiction
• Pines (The Wayward Pines Trilogy, Book 1); By: Blake Crouch – fiction
• Dark Matter: A Mind-Blowing Twisted Thriller; By: Blake Crouch – fiction
• Summer Frost (Forward collection); By: Blake Crouch – fiction; Amazon Unlimited has a series called “The Forward Collection” where several authors write a story on similar context… loved this one from Blake Crouch… which then triggered a read of everything else I could find by Blake… Dark matter and Recursion were the two that most captured my imagination.
• Inner Work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth; By: Robert A. Johnson – non-fiction; on how to improve imagination and clarify what you want.
• The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever; By: Michael Bungay Stanier – non-fiction; simple but highly practical book on making coaching a habit.
• Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress; By: Steven Pinker – non-fiction; helpful book to allow me to see that we are living at the best of times.
• Falling Upward: A Spirituality For The Two Halves Of Life; By: Richard Rohr – non-fiction; how to live the second half of life…
• How to Talk so Kids Will Listen and Listen so Kids Will Talk; By: Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish – non-fiction; I want to be a better dad…
• The Leader Within Us: Mindset, Principles, and Tools for a Life By Design; By: Warren Rustand – non-fiction; I love Warren, he is an important mentor in my life. This book is full of examples of how people have put the principles that Warren teaching into their lives.
• The Optimistic Child: A Revolutionary Approach to Raising Resilient Children; By: Martin Seligman – non-fiction; I want to be a better dad.
• Post Corona: From Crisis to Opportunity; By: Scott Galloway – non-fiction; Galloway has strong opinions and argues them forcibly… I like this… even if I don’t agree with him it helps me develop my own thinking about what will come over the next few decades.
• Conscious Leadership: Elevating Humanity Through Business; By: John Mackey, Steve Mcintosh, and Carter Phipps – non-fiction; on leadership.
• Fossil Men: The Quest for the Oldest Skeleton and the Origins of Humankind; By: Kermit Pattison – non-fiction; wonderfully told stories about the scientists who dig up fossils and seek to tell the story of the origins of homo sapiens. Really interesting read.

Previous Year Reading lists

• Books read in 2020