2018
THE BEST BOOKS I READ IN 2018
Life's meaning, Yellowstone secrets, Russian love, elephant whispering, paper & more...
​
WATERSHIP DOWN
Richard Adams
​
THE ELEPHANT WHISPERER
Lawrence Anthony
​
PLAYING GOD IN YELLOWSTONE
Alston Chase
​
FRANKENSTEIN
Mary Shelley 
​
TRUST ME, I'M LYING
Ryan Holiday 
AIRFRAME
Michael Crichton 
​
THE 22 IMMUTABLE LAWS OF MARKETING
Al Ries & Jack Trout
​
STORY THIEVES
James Riley
​
BOYD
Robert Coram
​
THE HANDMAID'S TALE
Margaret Atwood
​
PIRATE LATITUDES
Michael Crichton
​
THE ALCHEMIST
Paulo Coelho
​
AWAKING BEAUTY
The Art of Eyvind Earle
Eyvind Earle
​
THE BAD BEGINNING
Lemony Snicket
CONSPIRACY
Ryan Holiday
THE FOX AND THE STAR
Coralie Bickford-Smith
​
ROMANTICS
Edmond Rostand​
THUNDERBALL
Ian Fleming
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY
Ian Fleming
​
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
Ian Fleming
DISCLOSURE
Michael Crichton

THE WRATH & THE DAWN
Renée Ahdieh
ON THE BEACH
Nevil Shute
​
ON GRAND STRATEGY
John Lewis Gaddis
​
V FOR VENDETTA
Alan Moore & David Lloyd
​
A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN
Betty Smith
​
THINK LIKE A FREAK
Steven Levitt & Steven Dubner
​
THE BROWNING VERSION
Terence Rattigan
​
THE NOVEL OF THE CENTURY
David Bellos

THE CUBAN AFFAIR
Nelson DeMille
​​
CAMINO ISLAND
John Grisham​
THE RHINOCEROS
Eugene Ionesco

ALL THE WRONG QUESTIONS
Lemony Snicket
​
TOP SECRET
John Reynolds Gardiner
​
THE OBSTACLE IS THE WAY
Ryan Holiday
​​
TWELVE ANGRY MEN
Reginald Rose
​
​
THE UNPUBLISHED
​DAVID OGILVY
David Ogilvy
​
THE GENIUS OF BIRDS
Jennifer Ackerman

BAREFOOT IN ATHENS
Maxwell Anderson 
​
THE BOOK OF FIVE RINGS
Miyamoto Musashi
​
ARMADA
Ernest Cline
DR. NO
Ian Fleming

PAPER
Mark Kurlansky
​
GROWTH HACKER MARKETING
Ryan Holiday​

2017

The Best Books
​I Read In 2017
Charles Darwin, Idealistic Roosters,
​US Navy SEALS, Salt, and More...
Timeline
Michael Crichton
Perennial Seller
Ryan Holiday
Jurassic Park
Michael Crichton
Diamonds Are Forever
Ian Fleming
Into The Woods
Stephen Sondheim & James Lapine
The Romantic Manifesto
Ayn Rand
The Miracle Worker
William Gibson
Eaters of the Dead
Michael Crichton
Astrophysics For
​People In A Hurry
Neil DeGrasse Tyson
Summer for the Gods
Edward J. Larson
Bug-Jargal
Victor Hugo
Dragon Teeth
Michael Crichton
Inherit the Wind
Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee
The Republic
​of Pirates
Colin Woodard
Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters
Major Dick Winters
A-frame
Chad Randl
Mythology
Edith Hamilton
Confessions of an
​Advertising Man
David Ogilvy
The Man Who Was Cyrano
Sue Lloyd
Monna Vanna
Maurice Maeterlinck
The Eaglet
Edmond Rostand
Annihilation
Jeff VanderMeer
The Hinge of the World
Richard N. Goodwin
Sphere
Michael Crichton
State of Fear
Michael Crichton
The City of Ember
Jeanne DuPrau
Zero Cool
Michael Crichton
On Tyranny
Timothy Snyder
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline
Anne Frank: The Diary
of a Young Girl
Anne Frank
Anthem
Ayn Rand
The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Meditations
Marcus Aurelius
The New Psycho-​Cybernetics
Dr. Maxwell Maltz
The Princess Far Away
Edmond Rostand
The Winslow Boy
Terence Rattigan
Zorro
Isabel Allende
An Illustrated Book
​of Bad Arguments
Ali Almossawi
The Lean Startup
Eric Ries
Extreme Ownership
Jocko Willink & Leif Babin
​Chantecler
Edmond Rostand
Salt: A World History
Mark Kurlansky
Polyeuctus
Pierre Corneille

2016

The Best Books
​I Read In 2016
The Amazing Adventures
​of Kavalier & Clay 
Michael Chabon
Eye of the Beholder
Laura J. Snyder
The Books of Huckberry
Summer 2016
The Republic
​of Imagination
Azar Nafisi
The Indispensable
Calvin & Hobbes
Bill Watterson
Books of Huckberry
Spring 2016
Poetics 
Aristotle
The Right Way
To Do Wrong​
Harry Houdini
Pirate Hunters
​& Shadow Divers
Robert Kurson
Cyrano de Bergerac
​& 7 Other Great Plays
Influence:
​The Psychology of Persuasion
Dr. Robert Cialdini
A War Like No Other
Victor Davis Hanson
The Ghost
​of Devil's Slide
The 33 Strategies
​of War
Robert Greene
Zorro: The Complete
​Pulp Adventures
Johnston McCulley
Adventures of
​Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain
Why We Buy:
​The Science of Shopping
Paco Underhill
Made To Stick​
Chip Heath & Dan Heath
The Obstacle
​Is The Way
Ryan Holiday

2015

The Best Books
I Read in 2015
The Explorers Guild:
An Interview With Kevin Costner
26 Rules I Wish More
​People Would Follow
All In
​
The Tyranny of Silence: 
An Interview with Flemming Rose
Ninety-Three
​
The 48 Laws of Power
​
Wishing vs. Winning
​
Harry Houdini's
​Magical Secret
The Man Who Laughs
​
The Night of the Hunter
​
My Favorite Articles Lately
​
Bolivar:
​American Liberator
Why I Bike
​
Save Our Souls:
An Interview with Cyril Rolando
Liar
​
Mastery
​
4 Fantasy Novels
That I Love
James Bond 
& His Maker
5 Success Tactics
From Thomas Jefferson

2014

WHY YOU SHOULD READ 50 BOOKS EACH YEAR & HOW TO DO IT

CONFESSIONS OF THE ORIGINAL MAD MAN

GAME OF LIES

THE OBSTACLES REALLY ARE THE WAY

WHY YOU SHOULD TRACE YOUR CREATIVE LINEAGE & HOW TO DO IT (PART II)

WHY YOU SHOULD TRACE YOUR CREATIVE LINEAGE & HOW TO DO IT (PART I)

MEDITATIONS ON SUCCESS, STRATEGY, AND SETTLERS OF CATAN (PART II)

MEDITATIONS ON SUCCESS, STRATEGY, AND SETTLERS OF CATAN (PART I)

'HOWARD ROARK LAUGHED'

14 RULES FOR DISCUSSING THAT-WHICH-MUST-NOT-BE-DICUSSED

YOU CAN NEVER GET BACK YESTERDAY

2013

THE TEN MOST IMPORTANT BOOKS I (RE)READ IN 2013

YOU PROBABLY DO WORK TOO MUCH

STOIC SENTIMENTS TRUMP SOCIAL MEDIA

DIGITAL WITCH TRIALS & THEIR SNARK JURIES

A MAN TOO GREAT FOR FAME

BE A MAN - BE LIKE FIRE

A VICTORY DRINK

RICHER THAN MIDAS

CONFESSIONS OF A GENTLEMAN

MEETING THE FEAR WAVE
SAVE OUR SOULS
An Interview with Cyril Rolando
​
AN ILLUSTRATED BOOK
OF BAD ARGUMENTS
Ali Almossawi

THE OBSTACLE IS THE WAY
Ryan Holiday

ZERO COOL
Michael Crichton
​
PIRATE HUNTERS
Robert Kurson
​
BUG-JARGAL
Victor Hugo
​
EXTREME OWNERSHIP
Jocko Willink & Leif Babin
​
STATE OF FEAR
Michael Crichton
​
THE BEST BOOKS
I READ IN 2016