By Hector's Reading List
The Chancellor: The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel
Kati Marton
£10.99 £10.44The story of Angela Merkel. She’s unique in global politics in the last two decades- a scientist amongst performers. A remarkable story about the remarkable Chancellor.
The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann
Ananyo Bhattacharya
£10.99 £10.44The life of John Von Neumann. Probably the greatest mind of the 20th century. 70 years later his work is still the cornerstone of everything from Computing to Game Theory to Genetics. A remarkable character and a wonderful book
Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy
Henry Kissinger
£25.00 £23.75A wonderful book. Tracing six leaders great Kissinger crossed paths with in the 2nd half of the 20th century. What’s all the more remarkable is he wrote this book aged 99.
A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future
David Attenborough
£9.99 £9.49Amazing. Not sure I’ve read a more inspiring, or alarming, book. I’d urge anyone & everyone to read it.
On War by Carl von Clausewitz illustrated edition
Carl von Clausewitz
£11.98A slog at times, I’ll be honest. Lots of details to wade through. But also brilliant. The quality of insight is top class if you look hard enough.
The Dealmaker: Lessons from a Life in Private Equity
Guy Hands
£10.99 £10.44A remarkably frank autobiography. I can imagine Hands is a controversial character to many. But it’s very enjoyable read. And I learnt a lot about the thrilling world of private equity.
Where the Crawdads Sing
Delia Owens
£9.99 £9.49Such a wonderful book. Gripping to the very end. The last page or so is quite something. Beautifully written.
Bolivar: The Epic Life of the Man Who Liberated South America
Marie Arana
£14.99 £14.24A wonderful book. Bolivar liberated seven countries in South America. Quite the story and brilliantly written. Thrilling.
Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence
Dr Anna Lembke
£20.00 £19.00Lembke is one of the world’s leading expert on addiction. Extremely insightful book. We all have addictions. Awareness is the first step to curing them.
The Happiest Man on Earth: The Beautiful Life of an Auschwitz Survivor
Eddie Jaku
£8.99 £8.54Jaku survived Auschwitz and now, a Centurian, considers himself the happiest man on earth. A harrowing account of the holocaust. Incredibly thought provoking.
Living Untethered: Beyond the Human Predicament
Michael A. Singer
£14.99 £14.24Excellent. Up there with Awareness by Anthony De Mello. I feel a little more enlightened after reading. TLDR: Surrender.
The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Art of Disruption
Sebastian Mallaby
£25.00 £23.75The history of Venture Capital. Much more exciting than it sounds- I promise. Great book. Engaging.
The Art of War
Tzu Sun
£6.99 £6.64An easy-to-read translation. Relevant not just for those waging war but also those doing difficult things. All you need to know: To subdue the enemy without fighting is the supreme excellence.
Good Sugar Bad Sugar: Eat yourself free from sugar and carb addiction
Allen Carr and John Dicey
£8.99 £8.54So good. I’ve ready many books on diet, this one is the best and simplest. Allen Carr was a genius. It’s shame his books are less talked about these days.
Consolations of the Forest: Alone in a Cabin in the Middle Taiga
Sylvain Tesson
£10.99 £10.44A beautiful book. Tesson spent 6 months in a cabin in Siberia, and documented everyday. It’s a unique window into the human experience. A calming read (a side from his vast vodka consumption).
Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business
Gino Wickman
£12.99 £12.34I’ve been recommended this a few times. Very framework-y but good. Gave me lots to ponder on organisational structure etc. Would recommend.
Retreat: The Risks and Rewards of Stepping Back from the World
Nat Segnit
£9.99 £9.49Retreat and retreats have been a growing theme in my life. This really gets into the details of why we seek retreat, and what retreat we seek. Enlightening.
Boomerang: The Meltdown Tour
Michael Lewis
£9.99 £9.49So good. Love everything Michael Lewis writes. No one cuts through the noise quite like him. He wrote the Big Short about banks failing, this one’s about countries failing.
The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't
Julia Galef
£14.99 £14.24I was initially put off by the name but it’s a fantastic book. The scout mindset in question is looking for the truth rather than protecting your beliefs. The Icelandic investment bankers could have benefited.
Silence: The Power of Quiet in a World Full of Noise
Thich Nhat Hanh
£12.99 £12.34A humbling read. We need silence. A moment alone with our thoughts. So hard to find these days but always available.
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
Greg McKeown
£10.99 £10.44Reread this. It does what it says on the tin but so on the money. Highly recommended. It’s always a useful reminder. Chapter 3 is called: The unimportance of nearly everything. That’s it. Internalise that and you’re sorted.
Awareness
Anthony DeMello
£10.99 £10.44I’ve probably read this book more times than any other. Such a joy. I feel a little more enlightened with every read.
Napoleon: A Life in Gardens and Shadows
Ruth Scurr
£10.99 £10.44A Napoleon biography through the lens of the many gardens throughout his life. Wonderful and revealing. A very different angle to the Andrew Roberts biography.
Reclaim Your Time Off: The 3-step Solution to Overworking
Fab Giovanetti
£10.99 £10.44Very good. I’m usually not a fan of framework-y books but took a lot of value from this. TLDR- do less better.
A Little Life
Hanya Yanagihara
£10.99 £10.44Jesus. Unbelievable bleak. But an incredible book. It follows the life of four friends in New York over 30 years. Not for the faint hearted.
Why We Read
£8.99 £8.54
70 authors on why they read. I find reading about reading incredibly soothing. Interesting to see so many different perspectives.
The Buddha of Suburbia
Hanif Kureishi
£9.99 £9.49Hilarious. About a boy coming of age in South London in the 70s with an Indian father and English mother. Eccentric but very amusing.
The Lonely Century: A Call to Reconnect
Noreena Hertz
£9.99 £9.49Wonderful. We’re more connected but lonelier than ever. It’s little talked about but an important topic. Is this just the next step for humanity? I hope not.
Only The Paranoid Survive
Andrew Grove
£9.99 £9.49A classic. Silicon Valley’s finest shares what it takes to endure. I used to see paranoia as a negative but now I see it as simply good business. Highly recommended to anyone running a company.
Down and Out in Paris and London
George Orwell
£6.99 £6.64Such a wonderful read. It’s a memoir of Orwell living in poverty in Paris and London. Incredibly humbling and illuminating.
We Need to Talk About Putin: How the West gets him wrong
Mark Galeotti
£9.99 £9.49Excellent. A different perspective on Putin. The West see him as an all powerful villain- a master strategist. That’s not it at all. Putin play judo not chess. Judo is about seizing opportunities rather than grand strategy. It’s a wonderful book.
Young Stalin
Simon Sebag Montefiore
£12.99 £12.08A wonderful book. How Stalin became Stalin. The shadowy leader of the Soviet Union in WWII. His reign was bloody and terrible. A true villain of the 20th century. But he was a product of his upbringing. Abused by an alcoholic father. Embroiled in daily warfare on the streets of his hometown. It’s hardly a surprise he developed such disdain for human life. It doesn’t make his actions any less terrible. But who am I to judge him from my sheltered upbringing?
The Road Less Travelled
M. Scott Peck
£9.99 £9.49On psychology, spirituality, and how they related. A unique perspective and profound in places. Excellent food for thought.
Montaigne
Stefan Zweig
£10.00 £9.50A biography of a 16th century French essayist. Yes, I’m aware how pretentious that sounds. Please accept my sincerest apologies. It is, however, a great book & just what I needed to read. Montaigne locked himself in a tower, aged 38, to read and ponder. He stayed there for 10 years! He eventually concluded that everything is relative and one can’t just retreat from the world. Perhaps I’ll stick around a little longer.
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
Walter Isaacson
£14.99 £14.24My second time reading this. SUCH a wonderful book. Franklin sounds like a great guy. One who didn’t take life too seriously. A rare thing. This won’t be my last time reading it.
Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need To Know About Global Politics
Tim Marshall
£9.99 £9.49So good. Can’t believe I didn’t read this earlier. All you need to know about how countries interact.
No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram - Winner of the FT Business Book of the Year Award
Sarah Frier
£9.99 £9.49The instagram story. Crazy. Such a great look into where society is going. A hilarious look at the real Mark Zuckerberg.
Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship and Betrayal
Nick Bilton
£12.99 £12.34The twitter story. Thrillinggg. Reads like fiction. It’s basically just about the warring founders. Spoiler: Jack Dorsey wins. Machiavellian to a tee. Another literary appearance for Zuck.
The Power of Geography: Ten Maps That Reveal the Future of Our World
Tim Marshall
£9.99 £9.49A cracker. Right up my street, as was his first book. Spain, Ethiopia, and the UK are among the featured. I feel I know the world a little better.
The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human, and How to Tell Them Better
Will Storr
£9.99 £9.49A wonderful book. I’m not a great storyteller. But I’d love to get better. This book is a good start.
Shape: The Hidden Geometry of Absolutely Everything
Jordan Ellenberg
£20.00 £19.00A great read. It may be a book on Geometry but he still had me laughing out load. He’s a great writer. This covers everything from AI to elections. I’d also highly recommend his book How not to be Wrong- a book on statistic.
This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality
Peter Pomerantsev
£9.99 £9.49Fake news and propaganda. From Trump, to Putin, to the Philippines. Is anything truly objective these days? I’m not so sure.
The Founders: Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and the Company that Made the Modern Internet
Jimmy Soni
£18.98 £18.03So good. This is the story of Paypal. There hasn’t been anything quite like them since. Remarkable characters who have gone onto shape the world of today. Highly recommended.
Fall: Winner of the Costa Biography Award 2021
John Preston
£9.99 £9.49Reads like fiction. An unbelievable story about the newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell. The book starts with him floating, dead, next to his super yacht, and does not slow down there after. An incredibly talent and flawed in equal measures.
Entangled Life: The phenomenal Sunday Times bestseller exploring how fungi make our worlds, change our minds and shape our futur
Merlin Sheldrake
£10.99 £10.44Crazy. We understand so little about how the world works. This book an example. All about fungus. It plays a far bigger part in this world than one might think.
To Pixar and Beyond: My Unlikely Journey with Steve Jobs to Make Entertainment History
Lawrence Levy
£9.99 £9.49A memoir from “Steve Jobs’ man” at Pixar in their lead up to the IPO. Jobs is famous for the iPhone but less known is his part in bringing Woody and Buzz lightyear to the world. A wonderful story.
Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold
Stephen Fry
£9.99 £9.49A whistle stop tour of Greek myths. Someone told he writes like he talks. He really does. A pleasure to read.
Unbroken
Laura Hillenbrand
£9.99 £9.49An amazing book. It tells the true story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympian who spent two years as a POW in Japan during the second world war. A humbling read.
Flash Boys
Michael Lewis
£10.99 £10.44Such a cracker. I love anything by Michael Lewis, this one did not disappoint. We’re living in a complex world. All is not as it seems.
The Five People You Meet In Heaven
Mitch Albom
£8.99 £8.54A wonderful book. A fable about how connected we all are. Beautiful written and an enlightening read.
The Gift: 12 Lessons to Save Your Life
Edith Eger
£14.99 £14.24Eger survived Auschwitz. This is everything she’s learnt about the human condition from that and a life as a psychologist since. A wonderful book. The message is very much that all our problems are are caused by our own mind. She makes a compelling case. I’m sold.
Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors
Matt Parker
£9.99 £9.49A comedy of maths errors. Hilarious. Parker is remarkably wry and witty which makes for a wonderful read. Enlightening too.
Churchill: Walking with Destiny
Andrew Roberts
£18.98 £18.03So good. It’s a slog but well worth. What stood out is just how flawed Churchill was (aren’t we all). He got many many things wrong but got a big one right and it save Great Britain. A remarkable character.
The Hype Handbook: 12 Indispensable Success Secrets From the World's Greatest Propagandists, Self-Promoters, Cult Leaders, Misch
Michael Schein
£20.99 £19.94A fun read. Hype plays a big part in the world around us. Well worth understanding.
First Steps: How Walking Upright Made Us Human
Jeremy DeSilva
£20.00 £19.00The book I’ve been waiting for. DeSilva is a paleoanthropologist so much of the book is about bones. Fascinating and an enjoyable read.
The Voltage Effect
John A List
£16.98 £16.13How ideas and companies scale, and why some don’t. Really good. List was formally Chief Economist at Uber so he’s had more exposure to this than most.
Animal Farm
£6.99 £6.64
So good. First time reading it. To publish it when he did (1945) was prescient to say the least. Bravo.
Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain
Maryanne Wolf
£9.99 £9.49The science of reading. It’s such an underrated activity. A wonderful book. It talks in depth about dyslexia. Super interesting. I’m a recovering dyslexic so this was comforting.