books

There’s an argument to be made that the most significant development to come out of the digital age is the democratization of high quality entertainment.

I don’t have a flying car. But I do have the cell phone and internet of a billionaire. And so does just about everyone I know. Bill Gates uses the same apps I do. We have mostly the same television channels. We spend our time on the same internet. Youtube is Free. Netflix is cheap. And Amazon, well, I’m pretty sure I pay something. I’m just not sure what it is.

You get the point. Anyone with anything, in some domains, has everything.

In a world filled with free entertainment options and nearly endless things to do, one thing from the days of old has stayed pretty consistent though. At the margin, there’s not really any better way to spend $20 than on a great book. For the cost of a movie ticket and a soda, one can get days to weeks of entertainment, depending on your pace and keep it for future readings. Audio or digital books bring that price down even further.

Books, in several forms now, still sell.

The hardest choice one usually has is to figure out exactly what’s worth reading. A bad book is a truly bad investment of time. So, I’ve found people sharing read lists to be one of the most valuable types of information sharing out there. A good read list can be a year of entertainment. And like most things, those are free now too. So, in the spirit of holiday season sharing, here’s my gift to you. My 2018 read list.

It’s a mix of history, economics, politics and technology that I’ve separated into three categories:

1-Books started but not finished. I’m learning to not finish books that I don’t like.

2-Books finished. This is some level of endorsement if I hold true to the principles implied in #1.

3-Books that left a mark. These are the books that changed how I saw something or added particularly important context to the things I write about today .

Books I Started and Didn’t Finish: