Favorite Nonfiction Books of 2019?

Not a recent book, but Ian Horrocks’ “Constructing the User Interface with Statecharts” (1999) is one of those technical books which presents an idea so clearly but also so different from my usual work that I’m just itching to try it.

The essential thesis of the book is that statecharts (a kind of finite state-machine) is not just a valuable tool for specifying user interface interaction, it is excellent for design and implementation.

What intrigues me about this is how solid the argumentation in the book is and how utterly singular this argument is. There is barely anything else written on this subject. Recently it has gotten popular to talk about state machines again; but this book was released 20 years ago!

All in all the book is an easy read and with a laser focus. Definitely recommended just for the sake of expand horizons.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4589003

I'm currently ploughing through "A brief history of the Anglo Saxons". It's quite embarrassing realising just how little I know about the start of the English ... project, for want of a better word. The interplay between the Saxons of England and the "old Saxons" is fascinating. For example: St Boniface who is the patron saint of Germany was from Crediton, near Exeter in Devon (which is just down the road from here.)

I knew a fair amount about the old Britons (Pretanike etc), the Romans and Roman Britain and then a vague 700 odd years (something, something, King Alfred, venerable Bede, Vikings and stuff) and then 1066 and all that to now. That period between the Romans and 1066 is hugely important and yet seems to be glossed over in our education here in the UK or at least it was for me.

I'm really enjoying 'Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed' currently.

I found it really interesting that their stealth aircraft model was so good, they had to redesign the poles it sat on.

Also it talks about a Russian paper they used based on maxwells equations, that allowed them to calculate the reflected RF from 2D surfaces, which I'm curious about finding.

Not from 2019, but "Bad Blood" by John Carreyrou, detailing the Theranos scandal. A truly spellbinding work of investigative journalism.

These are a few of the ones I read this year and that the average HN reader would also probably enjoy (links are to my blog):

* Why We Sleep: https://j11g.com/2019/05/31/why-we-sleep-matthew-walker/

* The Effective Executive: https://j11g.com/2019/03/18/the-effective-executive-peter-dr...

* High Output Management: https://j11g.com/2019/01/29/high-output-management-andrew-s-...

* Bad Blood: https://j11g.com/2019/01/21/bad-blood-john-carreyrou/

* The 7 Habits (I reread this after a long time and it still holds up!) https://j11g.com/2019/09/30/the-7-habits-of-highly-effective...

* A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again – David Foster Wallace (This is just an amazing book and became one of my all time favorites) https://j11g.com/2019/08/08/a-supposedly-fun-thing-ill-never...

• The Revolt of the Public: No book has done a better job of describing the current moment in history

• Masters of Doom: Reminded me what it means to care about work and have fun doing it

• Team of Rivals: A remarkable work of history and portrait of a man

• The Undercover Economist

• Fooled by Randomness

• The Prize

I ploughed through Francis Fukuyama's Political Order series this year. I wouldn't say it's my favourite, but it was in some sense uplifting. He writes as though rule of law is a evolutionary certainty. As much as that's largely BS in my view, it's still nice to read.

After 4 years I also finally finished Capital in the 21st Century. My opinion: worth reading by jumping around, not worth reading in linear fashion.

Bruce Pascoe's Dark Emu is worth a read too. It's well researched, but the author does occasionally blur the line between opinion and facts. I attribute it to writing styles. Similar in nature to another book I quite liked in the past - Wisdom Sits in Places, but less focused.

Narrative Economics by Robert Shiller would be unfocused to people who are in the tech industry. Nonetheless, the book serves to give context to people who are textmining. Hopefully some changes to economics arise from this. His understanding of genetic algorithms and selection could do with some work.

A delightful book I've been savouring over several months: Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts[1].

Let's hear from the abstract:

"[...] The idea for the book, which is entirely new, is to invite the reader into intimate conversations with twelve of the most famous manuscripts in existence and to explore with the author what they tell us about nearly a thousand years of medieval history - and sometimes about the modern world too. Christopher de Hamel introduces us to kings, queens, saints, scribes, artists, librarians, thieves, dealers, collectors and the international community of manuscript scholars, showing us how he and his fellows piece together evidence to reach unexpected conclusions. He traces the elaborate journeys which these exceptionally precious artefacts have made through time and space, shows us how they have been copied, who has owned them or lusted after them (and how we can tell), how they have been embroiled in politics and scholarly disputes, how they have been regarded as objects of supreme beauty and luxury and as symbols of national identity. The book touches on religion, art, literature, music, science and the history of taste.

"Part travel book, part detective story, part conversation with the reader, Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts conveys the fascination and excitement of encountering some of the greatest works of art in our culture which, in the originals, are to most people completely inaccessible. At the end, we have a slightly different perspective on history and how we come by knowledge. It is a most unusual book."

        - - -

Don't let the page count (~550, modulo references) discourage you. The hardcover edition absolutely enhances the reading experience—it's beautifully bound, has plenty of pictures of medieval manuscripts, calligraphic exemplars and more. (I've mentioned it previously here[2].)

[1] https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/213/213069/meetings-with-rem...

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20332914

Not a new book; I’m reading The Checklist Manifesto [0]

I’m very impressed by how much is has clarified the importance of identifying repeatable steps for my team and ensuring they are accurately and successfully completed!

I’m looking forward to reading The Infinite Game [1]

[0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6667514-the-checklist-ma... [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38390751-the-infinite-ga...

I thought Educated by Tara Westover was a fascinating look at how people grow to have radical views when they're surrounded by people who hold those views (In Westover's family's case, survivalism, extreme Mormonism, and anti-governmentism).

Edward Snowden's "Permanent Record".

Pretty old but I read them for the first time in 2019: Microcosmos by Lynn Margulis and Full House by Stephen Jay Gould. Both of them really blew me away and changed my worldview.

I also started on The Vital Question by Nick Lane but haven't finished it yet. But I would recommend anyways based on what I've read so far.

Bad blood.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Blood:_Secrets_and_Lies_in...

• The Madness of Crowds by Douglas Murray

• Consciousness by Annaka Harris

• More From Less by Andrew McAffee

• The School of Life: An Emotional Education

• Perfect Sound Whatever by James Acaster

• Humble Pi by Matt Parker

• The Last Pirate of New York by Rich Cohen

Corporate Cancer. It's a book all about how to keep a group of malicious individuals from infiltrating and taking over your company.

https://www.amazon.com/Corporate-Cancer-Miracles-Millions-Co...

William Manchester's American Caesar, a biography of Douglas MacArthur. Probably a bit too sympathetic to him, but fantastic writing.

Earnestly and seriously:

Ed Mastery: The Standard Unix Text Editor (IT Mastery) (Volume 13) by Michael W Lucas

https://www.librarything.com/work/book/158901150

The ones I rated highest out of those I read this year (which is what I think the question means).

* Exactly: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World by Simon Winchester

* Atomic Adventures: Secret Islands, Forgotten N-Rays, and Isotopic Murder-A Journey into the Wild World of Nuclear Science by James Magaffey

* Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande

* Vulcan 607 by Rowland White

* Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen

* Best. Movie. Year. Ever: How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen by Brian Raftery

* A Fabulous Creation: How the LP Saved Our Lives by David Hepworth

* 1983: Reagan, Andropov, and a World on the Brink by Taylor Downing

* The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes and Why by Amanda Ripley

* In Your Defence: Stories of Life and Law by Sarah Langford

* Springfield Confidential: Jokes, Secrets, and Outright Lies from a Lifetime Writing for The Simpsons by Mike Reiss

* Working Actor: Breaking in, Making a Living, and Making a Life in the Fabulous Trenches of Show Business by David Dean Bottrell

* Becoming by Michelle Obama

* Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker

* Rush Hour by Iain Gatel

* Tamed: Ten Species that Changed our World by Alice Roberts

* The Next American City: The Big Promise of Our Midsize Metros by Mick Cornett

I've really enjoyed listening to the audio book by David Goggins on Audible.

It goes through his life story and shares some insight along the way. I'd only recommend it to those who've viewed some youtube clips with him (he's been on Joe Rogan twice) and found it intriguing. I normally don't like audio books at all but this one is very well read and there are short discussions at the end of every chapter that I find to be an excellent addition to vary the rhythm so it doesn't feel like a single person reading for hours on end.

All of these are by Bill Bryson but none are about travel:

Shakespeare: the World as Stage

One Summer: America, 1927

The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got that Way

Made in America: an Informal History of the English Language in the US

At Home: A Short History of Private Life

* "the dream machine" is an fascinating, joyful account of jr licklider's work in interactive computing

* "hard landing" makes the airline industry seem tumultuous and exciting

* "a man for all markets" is the autobiography of ed thorpe, father of card counting and quant hedge funds

* "unix: a history and a memoir" is a mischievous first hand account from brian kernighan (of unix / c / awk fame)

Annie Duke's "Thinking in bets" was pretty good as was Rory Sutherland's "Alchemy".

"Thinking in bets" got me thinking about playing more imperfect information games. The obvious choice would be poker, but I've been wondering which modern video games are fun to play and are imperfect information games? Or at least have elements of those. Hearthstone?

"Feynman" [1]. It's a biography, but it's illustrated (like a graphic novel). It was just perfect for my short attention span, I'd never have sat down to read a normal biography.

[1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9844623-feynman

Nonfiction I’ve read this year and enjoyed greatly: - How to change your mind by Michael Pollan - The Lean Startup - Company of One

"Lords of the desert" by James Barr. It's an eye-opening 20th century history of the Middle East.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36592392-lords-of-the-de...

(technically published in 2018, but I only read it this year)

The Loudest Voice in the room. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Loudest_Voice_in_the_Room

Not to agree or disagree with a political approach ... but to understand how and why Fox News works.

American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century by Maureen Callahan

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43231095-american-predat...

Non-fiction I read this year:

Michael Benson - Space Odyssey - The detailed story of the making of 2001: A Space Odyssey. If you're a fan of the movie, or of Stanley Kubrick and/or Arthur C. Clarke in general, you should read this.

Atul Gawande - Complications - Fascinating look at life in the medical profession.

Christina Thompson - Sea People - Detailed, well-researched history of Polynesian-Western contact and relations. As a New Zealander I was interested in this, although American or European readers with no personal connection may be less so.

Peter Singer - Marx: A Very Short Introduction - What it says on the tin.

Robert C Allen - Global Economic History: A Very Short Introduction - Also good, but inaccurately titled; it should have said "Global Economic History Since the Industrial Revolution".

Fraser A Sherman - Now and Then We Time Travel - A thorough if somewhat superficial survey of time travel in the movies.

Alec Nevala-Lee - Astounding - A history of the magazine Astounding Stories, and the four men most closely associated with it: John Campbell, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and Ron Hubbard. Very thoroughly researched and annotated; it reveals a lot of new information and debunks a lot of old myths. (Whichever version of the "FBI visits Campbell to complain about A-bomb stories" you've heard, I can pretty much guarantee it wasn't the real one.)

Elizabeth Sandifer - Tardis Eruditorum 1: William Hartnell - The first volume of a thorough study of Doctor Who, with a combined fannish and scholarly point of view that I enjoyed.

Randall Munroe - How To - It's by Randall Munroe, what else do you need to know?

Growth, by Vaclav Smil. It's not easy reading but it is rewarding.

IBM: The Fall and Reinvention of a Global Icon by James W. Cortada

I read a bunch of nonfiction in 2019, but the only nonfiction book I read that was published in 2019 and that I really liked was Rakim's _Sweat The Technique_.

Rationality: From AI to Zombies

Sapiens

Catch and kill and She said were compelling reads on the scourge of sexual harassment in Hollywood and industry in general.

Why we sleep - Deep-dive in why we sleep and what to do to sleep better

Born a crime - Follow Trevor Noah in his early life in South Africa.

Mutual Causality in Buddhism and General Systems Theory by Joanna Macy

Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha by Daniel Ingram.

Lenin by Victor Sebestyen.

Why We Sleep

"Fighting the Plague in Seventeenth Century Italy" by Carlo Cipolla

Here is my list (from https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/912138-alex-givant?rea...):

Memoirs:

- Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Bourdain, Anthony, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33313.Kitchen_Confidenti....

- Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive by Land, Stephanie, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39218350-maid

- Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook by Bourdain, Anthony, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40409969-medium-raw

- Confessions of a Tax Collector: One Man's Tour of Duty Inside the IRS by Yancey, Rick, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/196519.Confessions_of_a_....

- The Perfect Predator: A Scientist's Race to Save Her Husband from a Deadly Superbug: A Memoir by Steffanie Strathdee, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36589701-the-perfect-pre...

Politics:

- Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Desmond, Matthew, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25852784-evicted

- Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America by Leovy, Jill, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13153693-ghettoside

- American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment by Bauer, Shane, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38561954-american-prison

- Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom by Eban, Katherine, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42448266-bottle-of-lies

- A False Report: A True Story of Rape in America by Miller, T. Christian, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35805861-a-false-report

- The New Silk Roads by Frankopan, Peter, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40921633-the-new-silk-ro....

History:

- Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956 by Applebaum, Anne, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13531848-iron-curtain

- The Romanovs: 1613-1918 by Montefiore, Simon Sebag, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26109020-the-romanovs

- The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Johnson, Steven, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36086.The_Ghost_Map

- Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations by Bergman, Ronen, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33598223-rise-and-kill-f....

- Madame Fourcade's Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France's Largest Spy Network Against Hitler by Olson, Lynne, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41739312-madame-fourcade....

- Argo: How the CIA & Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History by Méndez, Antonio J., https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13588425-argo

Crime:

- Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History by Selby, Scott Andrew, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7071759-flawless

- American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road by Bilton, Nick, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31920777-american-kingpi....

- Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by Carreyrou, John, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37976541-bad-blood

- Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World by Wright, Tom, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38743564-billion-dollar-....

- The Mastermind: Drugs. Empire. Murder. Betrayal. by Ratliff, Evan, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41181600-the-mastermind

Technology:

- Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon by Zetter, Kim, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18465875-countdown-to-ze....

- Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World by Thompson, Clive, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40406806-coders