My Best Books of 2021
In no particular order, here are the most memorable books I read last year. They all changed me in some way. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did …
Analogia by George Dyson
An extraordinary journey through the differences and connections between analogue and digital – and why that matters – via Apaches, baidarkas [Aleut kayaks], tree houses, and the space race. Simply wonderful.
On Trails by Robert Moor
Ostensibly about how and why trails form, this turns out to be a study of freedom.
Whole Earth Discipline by Stewart Brand
This changed my thinking around cities, nuclear power and genetically engineered crops – and the role each of them has to play in mitigating the climate crisis.
The Value of Everything by Mariana Mazzucato
I didn’t exactly ‘enjoy’ reading it, but this book is a convincing argument for why we need to rethink how we measure ‘value’ in business.
**The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey
**Short, brilliant book on mindset. What game are you currently playing? And what game do you want to play?
**Other Minds by Peter Godfrey-Smith
**Somewhere between poetry, philosophy and science, this is a beautiful exploration of how octopuses might be interacting with their world … and from there, it offers deep questions on what it means to be human.
**Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
**I know I’m late to this one – but it surpassed all my expectations. ‘A brief history of humankind’ in a few hundred pages. Astonishing.
**Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse
**I discovered Daniel Schmactenberger and The Consilience Project this year. This book is on his reading list, which is a far better recommendation than mine. Are you thinking in terms of boundaries or horizons?
**Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell
**The best of the fiction books I read this year, this is Mitchell at his glorious best. Follow a fantastic cast of characters through 1960s London and beyond …
**Buddhism Without Beliefs by Stephen Batchelor
**In one of David Mitchell’s earlier novels, my favourite character says “I’m not much of anything these days … part-time Buddhist, maybe?” I’ve been secretly applying that description to myself for years – but after reading this short book, I’ll be going with Agnostic Buddhist from here on.