2015 Book Summary.

January1

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Since 2010 I’ve taken part in a yearly challenge to read 100 books, and I met my goal for 2015 with 141 books. I almost broke my all time record of 146 books from 2012. So what did I read? 2015 was not as stressful as 2014, but I still had a lot to shake loose in the first half of the year so I read a lot of “fun” books.

I do a big book summary each year too, if you want to take a look at past years for some reading ideas check them out here: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014. So what are my top books of the year?

If you only read 3 books this year I recommend the following:

1. The Infinite Resource: The Power of Ideas on a Finite Planet. This is written by Ramez Naam who is a great scifi author and someone who makes a lot of interesting blog posts. This book gives an overview of where the world is, threats to it, and the progress so far on solving some of those problems (heavily focused on the environment). I highly recommend reading it.

2. The Three-Body Problem – This book is by Chinese science fiction author Cixin Liu. It is EXCELLENT, not only for the change in perspective, but the story is fantastic! Highly recommended!

3. Money Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom by Tony Robbins – My brother gave me this book for Christmas and I was pretty skeptical, but I am a convert :) . The majority of the advice in this book is spot on and helpful for living your life and planning your retirement. He does a great job of explaining the value of money and I highly recommend reading it.

Best Business Books Of The Year:

1. Peter Thiel’s Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future. Great read, especially about the loss of optimism and the USA and our inability to plan or attempt BIG things.

2. Clay Water Break: Finding Inspiration from Entrepreneurs Who Do the Most with the Least – A fantastic book from the co-founder of Kiva.org about her journey.

Top 3 Scifi / Fantasy

1. The Monster Hunter’s International series. Monsters are real and when they get out of control someone has to step in. I also recommend Grimnoir Chronicles by the same author.

2. The Night’s Dawn trilogy by Peter Hamilton. These are massive tomes, super detailed, and weird, but some of the best space opera I’ve ever read. Hamilton is amazing.

3. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. One of the most original science fiction books I’ve read in awhile. It is about a group of people across time who just relive their lives again and again.

Top 3 *Real* Books

1. Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis. An amazing book that illustrates that class difference money now makes and how American is becoming two Americas.

2. The Happiness Project. I LOVED this book! She has a great sense of humor, well written, and good mix of personal narrative and scientific facts.

3. Alif the Unseen. A cool techno thriller with some mysticism thrown in. It takes place in the middle east with hackers, a dictatorship, and Jinn.

Top 2 Travel Books

1. On the Trail of Genghis Khan: An Epic Journey Through the Land of the Nomads. This was an amazing book about a dude traveling on horseback from Mongolia to Hungary just like the mongols. This was the BEST travel book I’ve read in years. Highly recommended, just beautiful, and so well written.

2. The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey. The author and his brother go by covered wagon along the Oregon trail.

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This is bwb’s personal blog, so he can share his thoughts with the world, however scary or silly they might be. Plus family and friends can track what I am up to, and where I am in the world.

I am pretty simple. I love Mangos. I love the ocean (although mostly at sunset, as I’m a ginger). I love to travel, eat exotic food, do long bike rides, read, and use my imagination. At some point, I decided it was better to be a pirate captain than an admiral. I am a globalist and see the entire world as my responsibility and playground. And I am married to an amazing woman who makes life even more fun :)! And we are now the proud parents of Calico Jack :).


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