Here are nonfiction books I enjoyed reading in 2018 (more precisely, these are books I read during the second part of 2017 through 2018). Not all of these books were released this year, although most them are 2018 releases. I read many of these using Apple Books on my iPad but I’ve also gotten back to scouring thrift stores and used bookstores (where I’ve gotten some amazing bargains this year).
China
My wife and I have taken several trips to China over the last few years, and along the way I’ve enjoyed several books that I list below:
- Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built
- China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know
- China’s Great Wall of Debt
- Young China – How the Restless Generation Will Change Their Country and the World. A great tour through the challenges faced by China’s millennials. (Another good book on this topic is Wish Lanterns: Young Lives in New China)
- China’s Future
Security
- The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage, and Fear in the Cyber Age
- Industry of Anonymity: Inside the Business of Cybercrime
- Messing with the Enemy: Surviving in a Social Media World of Hackers, Terrorists, Russians, and Fake News
Business, Economics, Data
- Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions – A great book that I feel is somewhat underappreciated.
- Frenemies: The Epic Disruption of the Ad Business (and Everything Else) – Given the importance of Google, Facebook and advertising-based business models, this is a must-read inside look into the (online) advertising industry
- Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup – a page-turner that I devoured on a long flight.
- The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect
- The Undoing Project: a book on Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky
- Keynes Hayek: The Clash that Defined Modern Economics
- Steve Jobs
Other
- Absolutely on Music: Conversations
- Haruki Murakami Goes to Meet Hayao Kawai
- Men Without Women: seven short stories from Haruki Murakami
- Basketball: A Love Story
- City of Gold: Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism (Jim Krane’s 2010 book is still the best and most accessible historical primer on Dubai. I can’t wait to read his new book when it comes out in April/2019)