The Penguin History of New Zealand by Michael King
The definitive single volume NZ History book. Publish in 2003 it is still relatively up-to-date. Designed for the general reader, easy to follow and fairly comprehensive. 4/5
Seeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed by James C. Scott
A study of ways governments has forced change on their population for the convenience of the state rather than the people. eg forced resettlement. 3/5
Driven: The Race to Create the Autonomous Car by Alex Davies
The story of the Autonomous car industry. Mainly framed around the DARPA Grand Challenge races and disgraced engineer Anthony Levandowski. Pretty good. 3/5
Transatlantic Television Drama: Industries, Programs, and Fans Edited by Hills, Hilmes, & Pearson
A series of semi-academic articles on the exchanges of Television programmes between the US and UK. Felt like 30% introductions but some good bits. 3/5
The Hero Code: Lessons Learned From Lives Well Lived by William H. McRaven
10 short chapters each on a specific virtue & a story to illustrate it. Courage, Humility, Sacrifice, Integrity, Compassion, Perseverance, Duty, Hope, Humor, and Forgiveness. 3/5
You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming
After falling into a funk Bond is sent to Japan on a difficult mission. I felt this didn’t age very well and was below average for the Bond books. 3/5
My Audiobook 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
