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http://mimiandeunice.com/2011/07/13/book-burning/

I like to read books, particularly good fast-paced crime fiction. And this year I found plenty of great new thrillers and got the top-up to a few long-running series. And yet when I survey the books I read there is more non-fiction that I’d predicted. Hooray for subliminal learning from easy-read non-fiction.

I don’t want to give you a list. Nor do you care what order I read them in. What you really really want to know is, “is the book worth reading?”

Incidentally I rarely persist with boring or difficult to read books. Not since I left school have I been forced to read books end-to-end that I’ve no interest in. So you can take it that all the books here I considered interesting and a good read except for the unfinished ones.

Books I Learned Something From

Lean Enterprise by Humble, Molesky and O’Reilly taught me about innovation in a simple writing style.
Future *is* Predictable by @swardley taught me about Wardley maps and value-chain mapping. Content is also on his excellent blog.
Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance introduced me to pure-play electric cars being the future (now a believer), space exploration and incredible entrepreneurial attitude. Perhaps a partisan biography but inspirational nonetheless.
Becoming Steve Jobs by Schlender and Tetzeli is an easier to read and more analytical biography of Steve Jobs than the official one.
Nazi Hunters by Damien Lewis, true story about continuation of the SAS in and after WWII against apparently insurmountable obstacles.
Bitcoin the Future of Money? by Dominic Frisby helped me understand why Satoshi Yakamoto created the first cryptocurrency, where it has gone since and introduced blockchain (blockchain is a paradigm shift invention for software). Now I want to know more.

New Books that were Unputdownable

Pause your current book and go read these. They are that good.

Spree 5 book series by Michael Morley.
The Dog-Faced Gods Trilogy by Sarah Pinborough is a dark alternative history and future. I loved it.
Second Activation series 1–2 by Darren and Marcus Wearmouth for a post-apocolytpic future.
Jefferson Winter series 1–3 by James Carol.
The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson has so many twists.
The Martian by Andy Weir if you haven’t seen the film (I haven’t since I’ve got the book) is great if you can handle the early science. Thanks to @djmcglade for the early recommendation.
And on that Bombshell by Richard Porter made me laugh lots and is essential for all Top Gear fans.
The Shardlake series by CJ Samson is a lovely historical crime drama. I read 1–4 this year, all were filled with intrigue and great historical detail about Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII.

Latest-in-the-Series Books that I Cannot Miss

The latest Reacher novel from Lee Child is the 20th. The stories have largely run out of steam but still remains a fast-paced but formulaic ripping yarn.
My favourite crime series (Charlie Parter by John Connolly) didn’t disappoint in A Song of Shadows with semi-supernatural semi-religious undertones that darken the story to go with the suspense.
Two more Ben Hope thrillers 10th and 11th from Scott Mariani is a easy-to-read light thriller.

Toilet Reading

These were all super easy-to-read crime thrillers,

Dan Shepherd continues in another easy-to-read thriller from Stephen Leather.
Sean Dillon 1 and 2.
Sadly these must have made only a light impression on me a few years ago given it took nearly half of the books to remember I had already read the Victor the Assassin series 1 and 2 from Tom Hunt.

Books I Started But Didn’t Finish (because I got distracted by something shinier)

Reinventing Organisations, Frederic Laloux. Plan to go back to this.
As the Crow Flies by Damien Boyd. Bored with this.
The Lie by C L Taylor. Bored with this.
The Good Girl. Bored with this.
The Bloomsday Dead. Might go back to this since I have the other 2 books waiting.
Bye Bye Banks. Don’t buy this, it’s just a list of fintech startups.

Given that I don’t make lists this retrospective saunter through my book reading from 2015 would not have been possible without kindle so thanks Amazon.

Books I Will be Reading Next

I’m starting 2016 with four non-fiction books. This cannot last.