The Esperanza Fire: Arson, Murder and the Agony of Engine 57 by John N. Maclean
An account of the fire that killed a five-person firefighter crew. Minute by minute of the fire itself, plus the investigation and the trial of the arsonist. 4/5
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein
An argument against early-specialisation and over-specialisation. How it fails against open non-predictable problems and environments. 4/5
The Vikings: A New History by Neil Oliver
A vaguely chronological introduction to the Vikings. Lots of first person descriptions of artifacts by the author. 3/5
Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career by Scott Young
Examples and advice on how to learn a skill very quickly, usually via an intense method. Good practical advice mixed with some stories 3/5
81 Days Below Zero: The Incredible Survival Story of a World War II Pilot in Alaska’s Frozen Wilderness by Brian Murphy
An interesting survival story. The pilot survives a crash in a remote area & manages to walk out with minimal gear during winter. 3/5
Messy: How to Be Creative and Resilient in a Tidy-Minded World by Tim Harford
The unexpected connections between creativity and mess. Lots of examples although as one commentator noticed most of them were from people already masters not beginners. 3/5
Outliers: The Story of Success by Martin Gladwell
A book on how the most famous and successful are often there because of their upbringing, practice or chance events pushed them to the top rather than just raw talent. 4/5
The Book of Humans: The Story of How We Became Us by Adam Rutherford
How the latest research that reveals the extent to which behaviors once thought exclusively human are also found in other species. Spoiler: except Culture. 3/5
Tank Action: An Armoured Troop Commander’s War 1944-45 by David Render and Stuart Tootal
The author is thrown into the war as a 19 year old officer in command of 4 tanks 5 days after D-Day. Very well written and lots of detail of the good and the bad. 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
