Since this year is coming to an end, I decided to put together a list of books I read or listened to in the last 12 months (given my 45 min work commute, audiobooks are a fabulous way to get a lot of “reading” done). In what follows, I briefly describe each book and assigned it one of the following five scores: [1] please don’t read it, [2] I do not recommended it, [3] it was OK, [4] a very good book, [5] a must read. This certainly is one of the most meaningless book rankings of all time, but if you resolution is to read more next year, my goal is to save you from reading bad books and offer more rewarding alternatives. Enjoy!
Politics and History
- Anderson, Benedict – Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism; Anderson underscores three key points. Marxism undervalued the power of nationalism, nationalism is a recent invention, the spread of nationalism has been aided by the development of print capitalism [4].
- Bueno de Mesquita, Bruce & Alastair, Smith – The Dictator’s Handbook: Why Bad Behavior Is Almost Always Good Politics; If you are still surprised “by the prevalence of drought-induced food shortages in Africa, 3,500 years after the pharaohs worked out how to store grain” (p. xi), then you should read this book [4].
- Colley, Rupert – Hitler: History in an Hour; Everything you need to know about Hitler in 85 pages [5]!
- Evans, Richard – The Coming of the Third Reich; Evans helps us understand how the Third Reich came into being. It is striking to learn how modern the Nazi party was, using all kinds of innovations to win democratic elections [4].
- Ivereigh, Austen – The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope; If you want to understand Pope Francis, who is he, where he comes from, and why his papacy matters, this book is for you [5].
- Judt, Tony – Ill Fares the Land; A wonderful book about the importance of the state [5].
- Judt, Tony – Postwar: A history of Europe since 1945; Perhaps the best book on postwar Europe ever written. Simply genius [5].
- Kershaw, Ian – To Hell and Back: Europe 1914-1949; Kershaw shows how disastrous WWI and WWI had been. His comparative discussion of Germany under Hitler, Soviet Union under Stalin, and Italy under Mussolini is the best I have ever read [4].
- Kertzer, David – The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe; Two authoritarian leaders engage in epic power struggle. Full of fascinating details, but on numerous occasions Kertzer overplays the drama [4].
- Lewis, Michael – The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds; When two giants collaborate, extraordinary things happen. Kahneman and Tversky changed how we think about decisions, judgments, uncertainty, and much more. Rational Choice Theory would never be the same [5].
- Lowndes, Vivien & Roberts Mark – Why Institutions Matter: The New Institutionalism in Political Science; Essentially a literature review about why institutions matter. Good if you are about to take your comprehensive exams or need references for a research paper [3].
- McMaster, H.R. – Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam; When you tell your boss only what he likes to hear, and when your boss is really good at making you say only the things he wants to hear, then you get the Vietnam War [4].
- Murray, Douglas – The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam; A compelling account of challenges that contemporary Europe has to contend with [4].
- Orwell, George – Animal Farm; If you do not pay attention, your friends can become dictators too [5]!
- Rice, Condoleezza – Democracy: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom; In this book, Rice offers a unique blend of theory and practice. An honest account of why democratization is difficult and what can be done about it [4].
- Riebling, Mark – Church of Spies: The Pope’s Secret War Against Hitler; A mandatory book for anyone who thinks Pope Pius XII did not do enough against Hitler [5].
- Shepsle, Kenneth – Rule Breaking and Political Imagination; A short book about rules and leaders who break them. Especially recommended for graduate students before their comprehensive exams [4].
- Snyder, Timothy – On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century; A succinct manifesto about the things you can do to save democracy [4].
- Snyder, Timothy – The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America; An idiosyncratic account of everything that is wrong with the world today, but I am not convinced by the narrative [1].
- Taleb, Nassim – The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable; A life-changing book about uncertainty, risk and much more. If you are going to read just one book next year, read this one [5]!
- Vance, J.D. – Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis; Against all odds, Vance graduated from Yale Law School. But this book is fundamentally about culture, and why government is neither the problem nor the solution [5].
- Weigel, George – Evangelical Catholicism: Deep Reform in the 21st-Century Church; Written by a well-known Catholic author, this book appears to be more timely than ever before [3].
- Weigel, George – Lessons in Hope: My Unexpected Life with St. John Paul II; Political scientists will no doubt appreciate how difficult it can be to carry out qualitative research, especially when you study the Catholic Church [4].
- Weigel, George – The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul II; In this book, Weigel provides more details about St. Pope John Paul’s II pontificate based on de-classified archives in Poland and Russia [4].
- Weigel, George – Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II; The best biography of St. John Paul II [5].
Religion and Spirituality
- Barron, Robert & Allen John – To Light a Fire on the Earth; Few intellectuals have the ability to explain complicated concepts as clearly as Bishop Barron [5].
- Chesterton, G.K. – Orthodoxy; Chesterton is not easy to read, but most certainly he was a genius [5].
- Colonna, Marcantonio – The Dictator Pope: The Inside Story of the Francis Papacy; Written by a Catholic (I think), this book is about horrible Pope Francis. Boring and unconvincing to say the least [1].
- Douthat, Ross – Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics; The author argues that Americans are not becoming atheists, instead they form their own versions of spirituality [4].
- Dreher, Rod – The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation; A fresh look at what is wrong with American politics from the point of view of religious groups. Dreher argues that Christians in America are becoming marginalized and offers a new approach to politics, one that focuses on organic development and localism [4].
- Eldredge, John – Fathered By God: Discover What Your Dad Could Never Teach You; A follow-up to Wild at Heart. Again, a must read, especially if you are a young father [5].
- Eldredge, John – Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul; Eldrege’s first book is a must read if you are a Christian and even if you are not [5].
- Kafka, Franz – The Metamorphosis; One of my favorite books, yet impossible to summarize [5].
- Kafka, Franz – The Trial; Political scientists write about authoritarian institutions, Kafka makes you live within them [5].
- Lamott, Anne – Grace (eventually): Thoughts on Faith; I almost did not finish this book, which rarely happens. Lamott became a Christian as an adult but her life, as she describes it, is a series of self-inflicted wounds which she then writes about (too) openly (?). Amazingly, as she is putting down one fire after another, she finds a way to blame most everything on George W. Bush… If you want to see how Douthat’s Bad Religion looks like in practice, I think this is it [1].
- Lewis, C.S. – A Grief Observed; Lewis, a life long Christian, writes about grief and doubt after his wife passes away [4].
- Lewis, C.S. – The Abolition of Man; In this short book, Lewis makes a case for universal values [4].
- Lewis, C.S. – The Great Divorce; Lewis was a genius and this book shows why [5].
- Lewis, C.S. – The Screwtape Letters; This classic book is a must read [5].
- MacDonald, George – Getting to Know Jesus; MacDonald greatly influenced C.S. Lewis, but I found this book tobe very difficult [2].
- Nouwen, Henri – The Way of the Heart: Desert Spirituality and Contemporary Ministry; Nouwen was a well-known Catholic priest. In this short book he outlines a Catholic version of spirituality [4].
- Pearce, Josheph – C.S. Lewis and the Catholic Church; Pearce interprets Lewis’s work in the context of Catholic doctrine. Although Lewis was not a Catholic, the convergence between his work and what the Church teaches is substantial [4].
- Pope Benedict – Jesus of Nazareth; This book helped me understand why Pope Benedict is one of the most influential Catholic theologians of the last century [5].
- Pope Francis – Conversations with Jorge Bergoglio: His Life in His Own Words; It is much better to read Pope Francis than to read about him [4].
- Pope Francis – On Heaven and Earth: Pope Francis on Faith, Family, and the Church in the Twenty-First Century; Another piece of evidence that Pope is in fact a Catholic [4].
- Pope Francis – The Name of God Is Mercy; Pope Francis is a world-class practitioner of Catholicism [5].
- Shelley, Bruce – Church History in Plain Language; A comprehensive history of Church history, especially useful for students interested in religion [4].
- Stark, Rodney – The Triumph of Faith: Why the World Is More Religious than Ever; Few scholars can write like Stark does. If you believe that secularization is progressing, then you should read this book [5].
- Young, William – The Shack; A heart breaking story that turned out to be an international bestseller [5].
Self-development
- Heath, Chip & Heath, Dan – Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die; A useful book for both academics and professionals alike [4].
- Heath, Chip & Heath, Dan – Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard; This book is about change and how to make it long-lasting [4].
- Graff, Gerald & Birkenstein Cathy – They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing; This book should be read by every graduate student, and especially by non-native speakers of English [5].
- Lamott, Anne – Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life; I found this book too long. If you want to make your writing better, there are more practical choices [3].
- Levitt, David & Dubner Stephen – Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything; Without a unifying theme this book is all over the place. Many useful anecdotes, but I am not as convinced as Levitt is that life is always about incentives [3].
- Peterson, Jordan – 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos; Practically overnight Peterson became an international superstar, and there is a good reason why [5].
- Powers, Ron – No One Cares About Crazy People: The Chaos and Heartbreak of Mental Health in America; A heartbreaking story of mental illness [5].
- Ramsey, David – The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness; A must read to get your finances in order [5].
- Siegel, Daniel & Bryson Tina – The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind, Survive Everyday Parenting Struggles, and Help Your Family Thrive; As a young parent, I benefited greatly from reading this book [5].
- Voss, Chris – Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It; Negotiate like a pro [5]!
- Zinsser, William – On Writing Well; A classic book about the art of writing [5].
The Great Courses Audiobooks
- The Development of European Civilization – Indispensable lectures about Europe [5].
- The History of the United States (2nd edition) – Over 40 hours of lectures, but it is worth it [5]!
- Vatican II – Even though I study the Church, I found this course too long and dry [3].
