The Years of Lyndon Johnson. Book Four: The Passage of Power by Robert Caro
Covers 1958-1964. Especially the 1960 Democratic primary and election, Johnson’s unhappy Vice Presidency and the first months of his Presidency. As good as the others in the series. 4/5
England’s Villages: An Extraordinary Journey Through Time by Dr Ben Robinson
An archaeologist writes about the evolution of English Villages, their people, buildings, names and forms. Okay but not exceptional. 3/5
Jefferson: Architect of American Liberty by John B. Boles
A good single volume biography. Works hard to explain Jefferson’s attitudes especially on slavery. Good coverage and easy to follow. 4/5
Shutdown: How Covid Shook the World’s Economy by Adam Tooze
Covering roughly 2020 plus a few months on each side it mostly concentrates on the government and central bank measures to stabilise economies. 3/5
Doing Good Better: Effective Altruism and How You Can Make a Difference by William MacAskill
A Introduction to Effective Ultruism and how you can do the most good in the world via carefully picking charities to give to and other alternatives. 4/5
Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli: The Epic Story of the Making of The Godfather by Mark Seal
Covers the writing of the book by Puzo, adapting and then filming it. Lots of Behind the scenes stories. A fun read 4/5
The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States by Jeffrey Lewis
A future/alternative history where Trump’s America fights North Korea. Well done and relatively plausible. 4/5
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
