# Reading

> Books Valentine Watkins has read, listed by year.

Canonical URL: https://valentinewatkins.com/reading/

<p>In the spirit of folks like Susan Rigetti, I keep a record of my yearly reading to motivate me to read more.</p>
<p>Titles that particularly stood out to me are in <strong>bold</strong>.</p>
<h2>2026</h2>
<p>1. <strong>Becoming Steve Jobs, by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli</strong><br />
2. <strong>This is for Everyone, by Sir Tim Berners-Lee</strong><br />
3. Dream Chasing, by Bob Weis<br />
4. Breakneck, by Dan Wang<br />
5. Katabasis, by R. F. Kuang<br />
6. The Colour of Magic, by Terry Pratchett<br />
7. How to be Wrong, by Rowan Simpson<br />
8. The Exploding Detective, by John Swartzwelder</p>
<h2>2025</h2>
<p>1. <strong>The One Device, by Brian Merchant</strong><br />
2. Why Fish Don&#8217;t Exist, by Lulu Miller<br />
3. The Launchpad, by Randall Stross<br />
4. Gambling Man, by Lionel Barber<br />
5. Lords of Strategy, by Walter Kiechel III<br />
6. Writing is Designing, by Michael Metts and Andy Welfe<br />
7. <strong>Careless People, by Sarah Wynn-Williams<br />
</strong>8. It&#8217;s Not TV, by Felix Gillette and John Koblin<br />
9. The Final Hours of Portal 2, by Geoff Keighley<br />
10. Uses for Obsession, by Ben Shewry<br />
11. How the Internet Happened, by Brian McCullough<br />
12. When the Going was Good, by Graydon Carter<br />
13. Empire of AI, by Karen Hao<br />
14. <strong>Apple in China, by Patrick McGee</strong><br />
15. Lessons from Gin, by Matt Jones<br />
16. eBoys, by Randall Stross<br />
17. It Came From Something Awful, by Dale Beran<br />
18. AI Valley, by Gary Rivlin<br />
19. <strong>Northern Lights, by Philip Pullman</strong><br />
20. The Unknown Unknown, by Mark Forsyth<br />
21. The Nvidia Way, by Tae Kim<br />
22. The Existing Market Trap: A Primer, by Category Pirates<br />
23. Because Internet, by Gretchen McCulloch<br />
24. Kraftwerk: Future Music From Germany, by Uwe Schütte<br />
25. <strong>The Subtle Knife, by Philip Pullman</strong><br />
26. The Innovator&#8217;s Dilemma, by Clay Christensen<br />
27. <strong>The Amber Spyglass, by Philip Pullman</strong><br />
28. Lyra&#8217;s Oxford, by Philip Pullman<br />
29. Once Upon a Time in the North, by Philip Pullman<br />
30. Daemon Voices, by Philip Pullman<br />
31. The Collectors, by Philip Pullman<br />
32. Serpentine, by Philip Pullman<br />
33. The Imagination Chamber, by Philip Pullman<br />
34. <strong>The Book of Dust Vol. 1: La Belle Sauvage</strong>, by Philip Pullman<br />
35. <strong>The Book of Dust Vol. 2: The Secret Commonwealth</strong>, by Philip Pullman<br />
36. The Mushroom Tapes; by Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein<br />
37. How They Get You, by Chris Kohler<br />
38. The Book of Dust Vol. 3: The Rose Field, by Philip Pullman</p>
<h2>2024</h2>
<p>1. <strong>Storyworthy</strong><strong>, by Matthew Dicks<br />
</strong>2. Fire in the Valley, by Michael Swaine and Paul Freiberger<br />
3. Insanely Great, by Steven Levy<br />
4. Cable Cowboy, by Mark Robichaux<br />
5. Extremely Hardcore, by Zoë Schiffer<br />
6. Same as Ever, by Morgan Housel<br />
7. Burn Book, by Kara Swisher<br />
8. <strong>Sweating Bullets, by Robert Gaskins<br />
</strong>9. Losing My Virginity, by Richard Branson<br />
10. Finding My Virginity, by Richard Branson<br />
11. Dot Bomb Australia, by Kate Askew<br />
12. My Adventurous Life, by Dick Smith<br />
13. Think Faster, Talk Smarter by Matt Abrahams<br />
14. Disney&#8217;s Land, by Richard Snow<br />
<strong>15. Politics and the English Language, by George Orwell</strong><br />
16. Creative Selection, by Ken Kocienda<br />
17. Barbarians at the Gate, by John Helyar and Bryan Burrough<br />
<strong>18. A Cook&#8217;s Tour, by Anthony Bourdain</strong><br />
19. The Burger King, by Jim McLamore<br />
<strong>20. Co-Intelligence, by Ethan Mollick</strong><br />
21. Never Enough, by Andrew Wilkinson<br />
<strong>22. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow; by Gabrielle Zevin</strong></p>
<h2>2023</h2>
<p>1. <strong>Blitzed, by Norman Ohler</strong><br />
2. <strong>Beastie Boys Book, by Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz<br />
</strong>3. Drops of God Vol. 6-44, by Tadashi Agi<br />
4. The Dealmaker, Guy Hands<br />
5. Four Thousand Weeks, by Oliver Burkeman<br />
6. Quit, by Annie Duke<br />
7. Magic Words, by Jonah Berger<br />
8. Attention Factory, by Matthew Brennan<br />
9. The Power Law, by Sebastian Mallaby<br />
10. Drive-Thru Dreams, by Adam Chandler<br />
11. Traffic, by Ben Smith<br />
12. The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin<br />
13. Elixir, by Theresa Levitt<br />
14. Small Fires, Rebecca May Johnson<br />
15. The Fall, by Michael Wolff<br />
16. Behind the Cloud, by Marc Benioff<br />
17. <strong>MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, Gavin Edwards</strong><br />
18. Drops of God: Mariage, by Tadashi Agi</p>
<h2>2022</h2>
<p>1. A History of the World in 6 Glasses, by Tom Standage<br />
2. In the Plex, by Steven Levy<br />
3. The Antisocial Network, by Ben Mezrich<br />
4. Low Rates, High Returns, by Pete Wargent and Steve Moriarty<br />
5. <strong>Drunk in China, by Derek Sandhaus<br />
</strong>6. Free Country, by George Mahood<br />
7. <strong>American Express, by Peter Z. Grossman</strong><br />
8. Almanack of Naval Ravikant, by Eric Jorgensen<br />
9. How to Live, by Derek Sivers<br />
10. Make, by Pieter Levels<br />
11. <strong>Ogilvy on Advertising, by David Ogilvy<br />
</strong>12. He Died With a Felafel In His Hand, by John Birmingham<br />
13. Threadless, by Jake Nickell<br />
14. The Cold Start Problem, by Andrew Chen<br />
15. Exactly What to Say, by Phil Jones<br />
16. <strong>Everything I Know About Life I Learned From PowerPoint, by Russell Davies<br />
</strong>17. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, by Mark Manson<br />
18. <strong>Your Head is a Houseboat, by Campbell Walker<br />
</strong>19. The Founders, by Jimmy Soni<br />
20. Marissa Mayer and the Fight to Save Yahoo!, by Nicholas Carlson<br />
21. <strong>Field Guide to the Haunted Forest, by Jarod K. Anderson<br />
</strong>22. A System Apart, by Simon Cartledge<br />
23. <strong>Atomic Habits, by James Clear<br />
</strong>24. <strong>The Elements of Eloquence, by Mark Forsyth<br />
</strong>25. The Nineties, by Chuck Klosterman<br />
26. On Color, by David Scott Kastan and Stephen Farthing<br />
27. How I Built This, by Guy Raz<br />
28. Tranquillity and Ruin, by Danyl McLauchlin<br />
29. The Maker Movement Manifesto, by Mark Hatch<br />
30. On Disruption, by Katharine Murphy<br />
31. The Etymologicon, by Mark Forsyth<br />
32. Himalaya, by Michael Palin<br />
33. The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster, by Darren Hardy<br />
34. <strong>Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert<br />
</strong>35. <strong>The Hitchhiker&#8217;s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams<br />
</strong>36. Binge Times, by Dade Hayes and Dawn Chmielewski<br />
37. When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi<br />
38. <strong>See What You Made Me Do, by Jess Hill<br />
</strong>39. Free to Make, by Dale Dougherty<strong><br />
</strong>40. Money Men, by Dan McCrum<strong><br />
</strong>41. Axed, by Phil Barker<br />
42. <strong>The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair<br />
</strong>43. <strong>Bob Hawke, by Troy Bramston<br />
</strong>44. Is this love or dopamine?, by Iona David<br />
45. Audience-ology, by Kevin Goetz<br />
46. The Late Shift, by Bill Carter<br />
47. Money, by Jacob Goldstein<br />
48. Smart Brevity, by Jim VandeHei<br />
49. GPT-3, by Sandra Kublik and Shubham Saboo<br />
50. The Office: The Untold Story, by Andy Greene<br />
51. Drops of God Vol. 1-5, by Tadashi Agi<br />
52. Like, Comment, Subscribe, by Mark Bergen<br />
53. <strong>I&#8217;m Glad My Mom Died, by Jennette McCurdy<br />
</strong>54. Obviously Awesome, by April Dunford<br />
55. I&#8217;d like to play alone, please, by Tom Segura</p>
<h2>2021</h2>
<p>1. The Innovation Stack, by Jim McKelvey<br />
2. The Psychology of Money, by Morgan Housel<br />
3. The Catch of the Decade, by Gabby and Hezi Leibovich<br />
4. Angel, by Jason Calacanis<br />
5. <strong>Whistleblower, by Susan Rigetti<br />
</strong>6. Get Together, by Bailey Richardson, Kevin Huynh, Kai Elmer Sotto<br />
7. Turning the Flywheel, by Jim Collins<br />
8. The Money Hackers, by Dan Simon<br />
9. <strong>Stalin&#8217;s Wine Cellar, by John Baker and Nick Place<br />
</strong>10. <strong>Strategic Writing for UX, by Torrey Podmajersky<br />
</strong>11. <strong>Entangled Life, by Merlin Sheldrake<br />
</strong>12. The Big Short, by Michael Lewis<br />
13. This is Not Propaganda, by Peter Pomerantsev<br />
14. MBS, by Ben Hubbard<br />
15. <strong>Sum</strong><strong>, by David Eagleman</strong><br />
16. The Currency Cold War, by David Birch<br />
17. The Madness of Crowds, by Douglas Murray<br />
18. Hitch 22, by Christopher Hitchens<br />
19. How to Get Rich, by Felix Dennis<br />
20. Identity is the New Money, by David Birch<br />
21. <strong>The Design of Everyday Things, by Don Norman</strong><br />
22. Minecraft, by Linus Larsson and Daniel Goldberg<br />
23. Amazon Unbound, by Brad Stone<br />
24. The Infinite Machine, by Camila Russo<br />
25. Baijiu: The Essential Guide to Chinese Spirits, by Derek Sandhaus<br />
26. Generation Friends, by Saul Austerlitz<br />
27. My Seinfeld Year, by Fred Stoller<br />
28. World Travel, by Anthony Bourdain and Laurie Woolever<br />
29. The 99% Invisible City, by Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt<br />
30. Freedom, by Sebastian Junger<br />
31. Anything you want, by Derek Sivers<br />
32. Ritz and Escoffier, by Luke Barr<br />
33. Cosmos, by Carl Sagan<br />
34. The Art of Travel, by Alain de Botton<br />
35. <strong>Wanting, by Luke Burgis<br />
</strong>36. The Adweek Copywriting Handbook, by Joseph Sugarman<br />
37. Leonardo Da Vinci, by Walter Isaacson<br />
38. <strong>On Writing, by Stephen King<br />
</strong>39. How to be Black, by Baratunde Thurston<br />
40. Buy now, Pay later, by James Eyers and Jonathan Shapiro<br />
41. Invention: A life, by James Dyson<br />
42. Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, by Edwin Lefèvre<br />
43. <strong>The Victorian Internet, by Tom Standage<br />
</strong>44. <strong>Taste, by Stanley Tucci<br />
</strong>45. Hackers and Painters, by Paul Graham<br />
46. Red Roulette, by Desmond Shum<br />
47. The Contrarian, by Max Chafkin<br />
48. Top Blokes, by Lech Blaine<br />
49. <strong>The Socrates Express, by Eric Weiner<br />
</strong>50. The Making of a Manager, by Julie Zhuo<br />
51. Trillions, by Robin Wigglesworth<br />
52. Bourdain in Stories, by Laurie Woolever<br />
53. The Rape of Nanking, by Iris Chang</p>
<h2>2020</h2>
<p>1. The End is Always Near, by Dan Carlin<br />
2. A Week at the Airport, by Alain de Botton<br />
3. The Ride of a Lifetime, by Bob Iger<br />
4. Perennial Seller, by Ryan Holiday<br />
5. <strong>The Passion Economy, by Adam Davidson</strong><br />
6. <strong>Uncanny Valley, by Anna Wiener<br />
</strong>7. Masters of Doom, by David Kushner<br />
8. <strong>Nothing is True and Everything is Possible, by Peter Pomerantsev<br />
</strong>9. <strong>Underland, by Robert Mcfarlane<br />
</strong>10. Conscious, by Annaka Harris<br />
11. That Will Never Work, by Marc Randolph<br />
12. Facebook: The Inside Story, by Steven Levy<br />
13. We were Yahoo! by Jeremy Ring<br />
14. Reboot, by Jodie Fox<br />
15. Tiny Moons, by Nina Mingya-Powles<br />
16. No Filter, by Sarah Frier<br />
17. The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield<br />
18. Grinding it Out, by Ray Kroc<br />
19. The Road to Wigan Pier, by George Orwell<br />
20. 7 Powers, by Hamilton Helmer<br />
21. <strong>New Money, by Lana Swarz<br />
</strong>22. How Innovation Works, by Matt Ridley<br />
23. Ego is the Enemy, by Ryan Holiday<br />
24. <strong>Mating in Captivity, by Esther Perel</strong></p>
<h2>2019</h2>
<p>1. I Am Dynamite!: A Life of Nietzsche, by Sue Prideaux<br />
2. Women &amp; Power: A Manifesto, by Mary Beard<br />
3. <strong>Dark Emu, by Bruce Pascoe</strong><br />
4. Lost and Founder, by Rand Fishkin<br />
5. The Courage to Be Disliked, by Ichiro Kishimi<br />
6. <strong>The Black Swan, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb</strong><br />
7. Net Loss, by Sebastian Smee<br />
8. Working, by Robert A. Caro<br />
9. The Chapo Guide to Revolution, by Chapo Trap House<br />
10. You Can Do Anything, by George Anders<br />
11. The Book of Longing, by Leonard Cohen<br />
12. <strong>Talking to My Daughter About the Economy, by Yanis Varoufakis</strong><br />
13. Liar&#8217;s Poker, by Michael Lewis<br />
14. Future Histories, by Lizzie O&#8217;Shea<br />
15. Can You Ever Forgive Me?, by Lee Israel<br />
16. The Prosperity Gospel, by Erik Jensen<br />
17. Bitcoin Billionaires, by Ben Mezrich<br />
18. The Internet of Garbage, by Sarah Jeong<br />
19. <strong>Range, by David Epstein</strong><br />
20. Propaganda, by Edward Bernays<br />
21. The Man Who Lied to His Laptop, by Clifford Nass and Corina Yen<br />
22. The Writers Map, edited by Huw Lewis-Jones<br />
23. The Shanghai Free Taxi, by Frank Langfitt<br />
24. The Billionaire&#8217;s Vinegar, by Benjamin Wallace<br />
25. Microcopy, by Kinneret Yifrah<br />
26. The Algebra of Happiness, by Scott Galloway<br />
27. Educated, by Tara Westover<strong><br />
</strong>28. Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber, by Mike Isaac<br />
29. <strong>Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion, by Jia Tolentino</strong><br />
30. <strong>The Long Tail, by Chris Anderson</strong><br />
31. <strong>The Book of Dust Vol. 2, by Philip Pullman<br />
</strong>32. Trust Me I&#8217;m Lying, by Ryan Holiday<br />
33. <strong>Conspiracy, by Ryan Holiday</strong><br />
34. The House that Jack Ma Built, by Duncan Clark<br />
35. The Greatest Minds and Ideas of All Time, by Will Durant<br />
36. <strong>Dr Space Junk Vs. The Universe, by Dr Alice Gorman<br />
</strong>37. The Man Who Solved the Market, by Gregory Zuckerman<br />
38. <strong>Catch and kill, by Ronan Farrow<br />
</strong>39. The Power of Moments, by Dan Heath and Chip Heath<br />
40. The Accidental Billionaires, by Ben Mezrich</p>
<h2>2018</h2>
<p>1. The New Education, by Cathy Davidson<br />
2. Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, by Michael Wolff<br />
3. Hunger, by Roxane Gay<br />
4. Radical Self-Acceptance, by Tara Brach<br />
5. What She Ate, by Laura Shapiro<br />
6. Hatching Twitter, by Nick Bilton<br />
7. Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys’ Club of Silicon Valley, by Emily Chang<br />
8. Recovery: Freedom from Our Addictions, by Russell Brand<br />
9. <strong>The Power, by Naomi Alderman</strong><br />
10. Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World, by Michael Lewis<br />
11. No is Not Enough, by Naomi Klein<br />
12. <strong>The Arsonist, by Chloe Hooper</strong><br />
13. Any Ordinary Day, by Leigh Sales<br />
14. <strong>Bad Blood, by John Carreyrou</strong><br />
15. Medium Raw, by Anthony Bourdain<br />
16. Thinking in Bets, by Annie Duke<br />
17. Broad Band, by Claire Evans<br />
18. A Life Less Throwaway, by Tara Button<br />
19. Everything Happens for a Reason, by Kate Bowler<br />
20. <strong>The Beach, by Alex Garland</strong><br />
21. <strong>Capitalism Without Capital, by Jonathan Haskel</strong><br />
22. The Million-Dollar, One-person Business, by Elaine Pofeldt<br />
23. Help, by Simon Amstell<br />
24. Bad Feminist, by Roxane Gay<br />
25. <strong>Down and Out in Paris and London, by George Orwell</strong><br />
26. Zero to One, by Peter Thiel<br />
27. <strong>The Fuzzy and the Techie, by Scott Hartley</strong><br />
28. <strong>Tribe, by Sebastian Junger</strong><br />
29. Gut, by Giulia Enders<br />
30. Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell<br />
31. <strong>The Trauma Cleaner, by Sarah Krasnostein</strong><br />
32. American Kingpin, by Nick Bilton<br />
33. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, by Caitlin Doughty<br />
34. <strong>Content Design, by Sarah Richards</strong><br />
35. Shoe Dog, by Phil Knight<br />
36. <strong>Thinking in Systems, by Donella Meadows</strong></p>
<h2>2017</h2>
<p>1. The Everything Store, by Brad Stone<br />
2. Playing to the Gallery, by Grayson Perry<br />
3. The Undoing Project, by Michael Lewis<br />
4. Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman<br />
5. <strong>Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harari</strong><br />
6. Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, by Douglas Adams<br />
7. <strong>The Geography of Genius, by Eric Weiner</strong><br />
8. Modern Romance, by Aziz Ansari<br />
9. Elon Musk, by Ashlee Vance<br />
10. <strong>We Learn Nothing, by Tim Kreider</strong><br />
11. The Good Father, by Noah Hawley<br />
12. Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman, by Richard Feynman<br />
13. Becoming Facebook, by Mike Hoefflinger<br />
14. Networks of New York, by Ingrid Burrington<br />
15. The Innovators, by Walter Isaacson<br />
16. The Idealist, by Justin Peters<br />
17. Time Travel, by James Gleick<br />
18. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, by Neil Degrasse Tyson<br />
19. Will Save the Galaxy for Food, by Yahtzee Croshaw<br />
20. <strong>Chaos Monkeys, by Antonio Garcia Martinez</strong><br />
21. The Hard Thing About Hard Things, by Ben Horowitz<br />
22. <strong>Homage to Catalonia, by George Orwell</strong><br />
23. Egghead, by Bo Burnham<br />
24. Yes Please, by Amy Poehler<br />
25. Quiet, by Susan Cain<br />
26. Platform Revolution, by Sangeet Paul Choudary, Geoffrey Parker and Marshall Van Alstyne<br />
27. Flash Boys, by Michael Lewis<br />
28. The Art of War, by Sun Tzu<br />
29. Men Explain Things to Me, by Rebecca Solnit<br />
30. Art and Fear, by David Bayles and Ted Orland<br />
31. Farenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury<br />
32. Fight Like a Girl, by Clementine Ford<br />
33. The Princess Diarist, by Carrie Fisher<br />
34. Asshole Survival Guide, by Robert I. Sutton<br />
35. <strong>Life On Air, by David Attenborough</strong><br />
36. Side Hustle, by Chris Guillebeau<br />
37. Hit Refresh, by Satya Nadella<br />
38. Difficult Women, by Roxane Gay<br />
39. The Four, by Scott Galloway<br />
40. <strong>The Book of Dust Vol. 1, by Philip Pullman</strong><br />
41. <strong>How Not to be a Boy, by Robert Webb</strong><br />
42. How to be a Woman, by Caitlin Moran<br />
43. <strong>Soul Without Shame, by Byron Brown</strong><br />
44. Happy Money, by Elizabeth Cullen Dunn and Michael Norton<br />
45. The Great Fragmentation, by Steve Sammartino</p>