The Perils of Perception: Why We’re Wrong About Nearly Everything by Bobby Duffy
Lots of examples of how people are wrong about usually crime rates or levels of immigration. Divided into topics with some comments on why and how to fix. 3/5
The Knowledge: How to Rebuild our World from Scratch
by Lewis Dartnell
A how-to on rebooting civilization following a worldwide disaster. The tone is addressed to a present-day person rather than someone from the future which makes it more readable. 4/5
The Story of Silver: How the White Metal Shaped America and the Modern World by William L. Silber
Almost solely devoted to America it devotes sections to major events around the metal including it’s demonetization, government and private price manipulation and speculation including the Hunt Brothers. 3/5
The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
About half the length of the other books in the series and published posthumously. Laura and Almanzo try to make a success farming for 4 years. Things don’t go well. The book is a bit more adult than some of the others 3/5
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
Interesting how close it is to the 2006 Movie. Also since it is set in ~1951, World War 2 looms large in many places & most characters are veterans. Very good and fairly quick read. 4/5
A Bridge too far: The Classic History of the Greatest Battle of World War II by Cornelius Ryan
An account of the failed airborne operation. Mostly a day-by-day & sources including interviews with participants. A little confusing without maps. 4/5
The Bomb: Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War by Fred Kaplan
“The definitive history of American policy on nuclear war”. Lots of “War Plans” and “Targeting Policy” with back and forth between service factions. 3/5
The Sirens of Mars: Searching for Life on Another World
by Sarah Stewart Johnson
“Combines elements of memoir from Johnson with the history and science of attempts to discover life on Mars”. I liked this book a lot, very nicely written and inspiring. 4/5
My Scoring System
- 5/5 = Brilliant, top 5 book of the year
- 4/5 = Above average, strongly recommend
- 3/5 = Average. in the middle 70% of books I read
- 2/5 = Disappointing
- 1/5 = Did not like at all
