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Books Updated 7 September 2024

Around podcasts, I try to listen to or read as many books as possible across a mix of fiction and non-fiction. Some are significant or meaningful, and others are simply guilty pleasures. Thoughts on b...

'Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories' and 'There is No Antimemetics Division' by qntm 2 July 2024

It’s not too often that a book really makes you think – whether this is about yourself and your own position in the universe, or just about bizarre or interesting concepts. I’ve rece... (2 minute read)

Thoughts on book logging 24 March 2023

I’ve been a member of Goodreads since 2013. I follow a few of my friends and family on there, and whilst it was nice to see the types of things people are reading, I only really ever used the se... (2 minute read)

The Idiot Brain by Dean Burnett 8 December 2021

Dean Burnett’s The Idiot Brain is an interesting insight into why people think the way they do, personality, emotion, and the biology of the brain. The author (who happens to live in the same ci... (1 minute read)

Rebel Ideas by Matthew Syed 17 November 2021

I feel that this book really resonated with my own thoughts around the importance of diversity in groups and teams. Matthew Syed’s Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking is a book that exami... (2 minute read)

Extraterrestrial by Avi Loeb 23 October 2021

I often enjoy books that try to take a different view on known events. I don’t mean consipiracy theory - more around thinking laterally or “out of the box”. Such ways of thinking oft... (2 minute read)

This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay 6 October 2021

Having recently read The Secret Barrister, which I loved, I was recommended to also check out This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay. The book is similar to the Secret Barrister in that it’s a collec... (2 minute read)

The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's Broken 30 September 2021

The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken is an oustanding book. In my opinion it is easily the best book I have read in the past year - certainly the most interesting. The bo... (2 minute read)

Columbus Day by Craig Alanson 12 September 2021

Having recently read Project Hail Mary - and rated it highly - Goodreads suggested I try Columbus Day by Craig Alanson. This is the first book in the Expeditionary Force series - one that I hadn&rsquo... (2 minute read)

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern 14 July 2021

Every now and again it’s nice to dive back into a young adult book. I recently read The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. The book is a sort of dark romantic/fantasy mashup. It’s about a t... (2 minute read)

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir 5 July 2021

Andy Weir has become renowned over the past decade for his science fiction novels. The Martian (and its movie) was hugely enjoyable and successful. I wasn’t so keen on Artemis, but still did enj... (2 minute read)

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman 19 June 2021

Anxious People is a book about an attempted bank robbery in a Swedish town (not Stockholm!). It is written by Fredrik Backman. The story involves a would-be bank robber arriving unexpectedly at an ope... (2 minute read)

The H.G. Wells Classic Collection 26 May 2021

The Classic Collection of H.G. Wells novels contains five well-known stories: The War of the Worlds, The First Men in the Moon, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The Island of Doctor Moreau. De... (3 minute read)

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson 25 April 2021

I was recently asked whether Steve Jobs was someone that inspired me. It’s a difficult question, I find; he’s definitely an inspiring person in the sense of his work ethic, the products he... (2 minute read)

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes 18 April 2021

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes tells the story of a young English woman - Alice - who marries an American man and moves to a small town in Kentucky in the late 1930s. Not long after arriving in Kent... (2 minute read)

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah 23 March 2021

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah is a book set out in the Alaskan wild. It tells the story of a young family that move in order to live off-the-grid after the father returns from being a prisoner of ... (2 minute read)

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels by Jason Schreier 17 March 2021

This post contains some of my thoughts on the book Blood, Sweat, and Pixels by Jason Schreier. This book contains a number of stories about how some of the most well-known (and other less well-known) ... (2 minute read)

The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy 10 March 2021

I recently finished reading The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy. This genre of novel (sort of military thriller fiction) is not usual for me and this is the first Clancy book I have read. That bein... (2 minute read)

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig 13 February 2021

Last week I read The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. The book won the 2020 Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction. “Set” in Bedford, England, the story starts by introducing the main character ... (3 minute read)

Dirty Little Secrets by Jo Spain 31 January 2021

Recently I finished reading Dirty Little Secrets. This is the first book I have read by Jo Spain and the first time I have known of the author. The book first appears as though it’s a typical mu... (2 minute read)