Books I enjoyed in 2018

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).

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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:

The China Questions: Critical Insights into a Rising Power – This highly readable collection of essays is truly an essential resource.

• 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)