Books in 2015

Here's what I read in 2015. The initial spike was provided by a 6 week trip to the US. Books no 18, 19, 20, 22 and 23 below were read thanks to Scribd's awesome free plan*

1. Marathon Man by Bill Rodgers (& Mathew Shepatin)
2. Packing for Mars by Mary Roach
3. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
4. The Way of the Runner by Adharanand Finn
5. Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose by Sandy Balfour
6. The Last Pick by David McGillivray
7. Natural Born Heroes by Christopher McDougall
8. The Runner's Guide to the meaning of life by Amby Burfoot
9. The Great Arc by John Keay
10. My life on the run by Bart Yasso
11. The Emperor by Ryszard Kapuscinski
12. The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets by Simon Singh
13. The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
14. The Hard Thing about Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
15. Still Fooling 'em by Billy Crystal
16. Two Hours by Ed Caesar
17. Marathon Woman by Kathrine Switzer
18. The Amateurs by David Halberstam
19. Assault on Lake Casitas by Brad Alan Lewis
20. Running and Being by George Sheehan
21. Two Girls, One on each knee by Alan Connor
22. How bad do you want it by Matt Fitzgerald
23. Blood over Water by David and James Livingston
24. Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
25. Runner by Lizzy Hawker

Predictably enough running related books featured on my list. But the surprise interest was rowing which had me in a frenzy for a few weeks while I learnt about the US rowing teams in 1936 and 1984 and one famous Oxbridge conflict, all of which made splendid reading.

Unlike in previous years, I didn't have a clear favourite for my read of the year. Kahneman's book is so mind blowing that there's no way to describe it adequately. Switzer's book was so enjoyable that I was embarrassed about not having read it till I did. Keay's book is an ode to a bygone era of incredible simplicity and workaholism. Sheehan's book was so much fun reading as I am sure it will be for any runner. And of course, Ben Horowitz's book being the only business book I read this year, was fantastic as well and I was able to relate to it to a lot more having started my own firm. The Rosie Project came about as a result of Bill Gates' reco and I loved it. As you would have realized by now, I enjoyed almost every book I read this year and tried very hard to minimize reader's remorse. However I still wish I had read at least 5-6 more which have been unread/partially read for a long time. Am hoping 2016 will be a better year. It is sobering to see that Pollan, Bryson, Grant listed last year as partially read are all still unfinished :(

How was yours?

As always, wish you a wonderful new year.

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