39) Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit If you are not familiar with Rebecca Solnit's work, then I heartily recommend starting to do so - I've read Men Explain Things To Me (the essay/book that gave rise to 'mansplaining') and A Field Guide to Getting Lost is waiting on the bookshelf. This collection of… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 39: Hope in the Dark
Category: non-fiction
Year 3 / Book 38: The People vs Tech
38) The People vs Tech by Jamie Bartlett This book was recommended to me by Amir, and to be honest at the end of it I don't know entirely whether to thank him or throw the book at him (in the literal sense). Not because it's not good and fascinating, but because it is, at… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 38: The People vs Tech
Year 3 / Book 29: The Adversary
29) The Adversary by Emmanuel Carrere This is a curious and affecting short book, which opens with a powerful hook and never really lets go. It's about a man, Jean-Claude Romand, who has lived his life (as the subtitle has it) as a 'monstrous deception'. A deception that unravels as this book opens - his… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 29: The Adversary
Year 3 / Book 28: Evicted
28) Evicted by Matthew Desmond Bit of a backlog on updating the reviews, but thought I would get this one in first. It's a painstaking and detailed book about America's housing crisis and its role in he widening inequality in that country. It is, by turns, enlightening and insightful but also bleak, unremitting and depressing.… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 28: Evicted
Year 3 / Book 27: Work Rules!
27) Work Rules! by Laszlo Bock I got given this book when starting my new job (hat tip Jeremy R), and I've been gradually going through it in my first few months, folding down corners of pages and taking notes when coming across a little nugget or two. It's written by Google's Head of HR… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 27: Work Rules!
Year 3 / Book 26: Be More Pirate
26) Be More Pirate by Sam Conniff Allende It's rare for me to be reading a book by someone I know - I've known Sam from working in social enterprise for many years, first getting to know him well as one of a selected number of 'ambassadors' for the social enterprise movement a good few… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 26: Be More Pirate
Year 3 / Book 25: The Silo Effect
25) The Silo Effect by Gillian Tett The premise of this book is really fascinating. Gillian Tett is a financial journalist, but also a trained anthropologist, and in her writings about the financial crash from 2008 onwards (notably Fool's Gold), she became interested in how internal organisational cultures (and people's behaviours) had led to some… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 25: The Silo Effect
Year 3 / Book 23: Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race
23) Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge This book originated with a polemical blog post of the same title, which was so widely shared that it got extended and transformed into this book. And the book has gone on to be a best-seller, giving rise to the irony,… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 23: Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race
Year 3 / Book 18: I’ll Be Gone In the Dark
18) I'll Be Gone In the Dark by Michelle McNamara This book comes loaded with authorial endorsements (the foreword is by Gillian Flynn of Gone Girl fame) but also with the tragic knowledge that Michelle McNamara died before finishing her book. This is inescapable throughout the book as her colleagues and peers have completed it… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 18: I’ll Be Gone In the Dark
Year 3 / Book 17: Superforecasting
17) Superforecasting by Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner One of the best ways to read outside your echo chamber and comfort zone, apart from publicly challenging yourself to read different things, is to be part of a book group. I've found myself part of a work-related book group that is meeting quarterly, and this was… Continue reading Year 3 / Book 17: Superforecasting
Dog-eared Man: a book a week 