Here are my ten favorite books that I read for the first time in 2015, regardless of date of publica
Here are my ten favorite books that I read for the first time in 2015, regardless of date of publication (I’m always hopelessly behind).1. Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China by Evan Osnos. The remarkable decline in extreme poverty across the globe is the most important phenomenon in recent history. China is a big, complicated part of that story, which Osnos tells with wit and insight.2. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt Ridley. Shows its age, given that it came out just as the Human Genome Project was reaching completion, but remains compulsively readable. Maybe too glib for those with deep genetics/molecular bio knowledge, but great as pop science.3. The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson. Best novel I read this year. Guess what, guys? North Korea is really, really terrible.4. Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning by Timothy Snyder. Central argument is that destruction of state institutions in nations invaded by Nazi Germany and the USSR was the key prelude to the slaughter of Jews:Jews who were citizens of Germany’s allies lived or died according to certain general rules. Jews who maintained their prewar citizenship usually lived, and those who did not usually died…Jews from territories that changed hands were usually murdered. Jews almost never survived if they remained on territories where the Soviet Union had been exercising power when German or Romanian forces arrived…In all, about seven hundred thousand Jews who were citizens of Germany’s allies were killed. Yet a higher number survived. This is a dramatic contrast to the lands where the state was destroyed, where almost all Jews were killed. 5. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson - There’s a genre of science fiction writing that’s derided as “competence porn,” a type of story whose chief narrative consists of the protagonist(s) solving practical problems, usually of an engineering nature, with precision and verve. The first two sections of Seveneves are pure competence porn. It turns out I like competence porn.6. Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCulloch. My atheism seems to compel me to read exceptionally long books about religion. This was a good one.7. Expert C Programming: Deep C Secrets by Peter van der Linden. I got weirdly into learning about comp sci this year. 90% of what I learned about pointers, I learned from this book. If you don’t know what pointers are, you don’t need this book yet. (But you should know that learning to program for your personal edification and pleasure is a lot of fun and you should message me if you’re someone interested in programming, but are hesitant about exploring a new field. Can’t offer career/professional advice though, as it’s definitely not my field).8. How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World by Steven Johnson. Some interesting insights, such as how the invention of glass mirrors changed thinking about “the self.”9. My Real Children by Jo Walton. Second favorite bit of sci-fi I read this year.10. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman. Just in case anyone had any doubts about how behind I am, this was first published in 1978. -- source link