Book of the month - brutal but brilliant

The final list:

• Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World by John Vaillant
• Hiking with Nietzsche: Becoming Who You Are by John Kaag
• Subvert! A philosophical guide for the 21st century scientist by Dan Cleather
• How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors Behind Every Successful Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner
• A Brief History of Earth by Andrew H. Knoll
• Make A Zine by Joe Biel with Bill Brent
• Stolen Sharpie Revolution by Alex Wrekk
• Interstellar by Avi Loeb
• Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May
• The Way of the Hermit: My 40 years in the Scottish wilderness by Ken Smith with Will Millard
• The Great Post Office Scandal: The Story of the Fight to Expose a Multimillion Pound IT Disaster Which Put Innocent People in Jail by Nick Wallis

What? You’ve not read Fire Weather yet? It came out in May and I’m annoyed I left it so long - crack on. Hiking with Nietzsche is also excellent and certainly if I was going to dive into Nietzsche then it is, arguably, an essential primer. In fact, it largely persuaded me that there was no need to do that but I can make do with Kaag.

I thought Subvert! by Dan Cleather was tremendous. It wasn’t exactly what I expected and it was broader and more expansive, roaming across the role of science and society. How Big Things Get Done may have the longest subtitle of any book I have seen for a while but also comes highly recommended. Anyone embarking on any large project will benefit. Interstellar should probably come with an asterisk. I got half-way through and skimmed. There is a 2-star review A great story badly told on Amazon that summarises a lot of my views on it. Loeb has been described as an “excellent motivational speaker for the importance of science” but personally I found Dan Cleather far more compelling.

Wintering is a lovely book and although it is short it still felt a little stretched in its later parts. It’s beautifully written and I’m very happy to recommend. The Way of the Hermit is great too though I am some reservations about the underlying message. Finally, I made a big effort to finish The Great Post Office Scandal this year, just the day before the ITV drama aired, and it was entirely worth it. I will post some further notes soon but it could easily be book of the month as well.

That brings me to 103 books for the year.

Monthly Reading List books

Previous post November 2023 reading list Follow the Money: How Much Does Britain Cost? by Paul Johnson Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry Politics on the Edge: A Next post January 2024 reading list Finding Your Comic Genius by Adam Bloom Dead in the Water: Murder and Fraud in the World’s Most Secretive Industry by Matthew Campbell and Kit