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1st June 2023
A guest post from Kath Maguire. Kath is the parent of one of our club’s gymnasts. She asked about doing some volunteering a couple of months ago and whether there was a course she could do. Here are her reflections from the day. “I’ve been thinking about volunteering for a while now but as it’s […]
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Books of 2013
One of my goals in 2013 was to read 40 books this year.
Whilst this may seem modest to some, it is in conjunction with working, looking after my family, trying to stay fit and also doing 6 MOOCs.
I have managed so far to read 43. Some of them have been very weighty tomes: Cureton’s encyclopedia of physical education, fitness and sports and Doherty’s track and field omnibook for example.
Others have been really thought provoking: Taleb’s Antifragile, Lederman’s thinking fast and slow, Plato’s The Republic.
Then some is just for fun: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Ace of Skulls, plus Total Recall were all page turners.
Here is the full list:
- Muck City : Bryan Mealer. High school football in Florida.
The back of the napkin: Dan Roam. Portraying ideas visually and simply.- The White Lioness: Henning Mankell. Swedish crime thriller.
- Courage and Other broadcasts: Field Marshal Sir William Slim. Leadership, courage and other virtues.
- It’s not about the coffee: Lessons on putting people first at Starbucks. Howard Behar. Leadership from Starbucks.
- Brave New World: Aldous Huxley. Classic sf novel.
- Brave New World Revisited: Aldous Huxley. Look at social events and future of society.
- Daemon: Daniel Suarez. SF techno thriller.
- Excel 2010 Simplified: Paul McFedries. Useful graphic book.
- What the plus: google+ for the rest of us. Guy Kawasaki. Tips on using google+.
- Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell: Susanna Clarke. Alternate reality of 19th century magical England novel.
- Freedom: Daniel Suarez. Poor sequel to excellent Daemon.
- Developing Children: Their changing movement. Mary Ann Roberton, Lolas E Halverson.
Kim: Rudyard Kipling. Classic adventure novel.- D:Day: The Battle for Normandy. Antony Beevor. Historic account of the battle.
- Dodger: Terry Pratchett. Historical fantasy set in Dickensian London.
- The Dark Judges: Alan Grant & John Wagner. Graphic Novel as part of World Book Night.
- Cosmopolis: Don Delillo. Fictional treatise on modern day New York capitalism.
- Full Disclosure: Andrew Neil. Autobiographical account of his tenure at the Sunday Times and relationship with Rupert Murdoch.
- Let the right one in: John Ajvide Lindqvist. Swedish horror story.
- The Art of Thinking Clearly: Rolf Dobelli.
The World Until Yesterday: Jared Diamond. Look at primitive societies and what we can learn.- Bruce Lee: Words from a Master. Ed. John Little. Interviews and reflections with Bruce Lee.
- The Twilight Watch: Sergei Lukyanenko:.Russian crime/ horror novel.
- The Last Watch: Sergei Lukyanenko:. Final part of quadrology.
- Thinking Fast and slow: Daniel Lederman. Terrific analysis of how we think (or don’t). Must read.
- Teaching Gymnastics:Mauldon, E. Layson, J.Excellent older text on creative movement lessons and plans for school children.
- The Way Home: George Pelcanos. Crime/ drama novel set in Washington DC.
- Solar: Ian McKewan. Satire about flawed scientist.
- The Checklist Manifesto: Atul Gawande. Thoughtful look at getting simple things done well consistently based on flight checks.
- Republic: Plato. Classic treatise on morality and creating a perfect society.
- A Quiet Belief in Angels: R.J. Ellory. Crime coming of age novel set in Georgia, USA. Emminently readable; read it in a day.
- Encylopedia of physical education, fitness and sports. Cureton, t. Stull,G. Eds. 1980 compilation of reports, papers. Especially good on youth fitness.
- From here to infinity: Martin Rees. Based on his 4 reith lectures, an overview of science in the future and how it affects humanity.
Total Recall: Arnold Schwarzenegger. Autobiography from youth to present day. Real page turner.- Comic books 101; The History, Methods and Madness: Chris Ryall & Scott Tipton. Nice overview of modern day American comics.
- Just six numbers: Martin Rees. How our universe is shaped by 6 different numbers.
The Art of War for Executives: Donald Krause. A reshaping of Sun Tzu’s text for business.- The Ace of Skulls: Chris Wooding. Sci fi novel about the Ketty Jay.
- Practice Perfect: Doug Lemov. Great book about teaching/ coaching practice. Uses 42 lessons.
- Track and field omnibook: Ken Doherty. Classic coaching textbook.
- Carter beats the devil: Glen David Gold. Historical novel about US magician Charles Carter and President Harding’s death.
Antifragile: Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Outstanding thought leader’s book about how to get stronger in life. Myth busting about the wealth / education relationship of nations. Really attacks academia and the banking system and how innovation and originality occur through other means.
I think I might try the same next year. I liked the process of recording what I actually read.
I need to make more use of the library for the general books. Unfortunately the text books are usually unavailable, so I tend to buy from Abe books.
You might like to check out my author page on Amazon
What were your favourite books of 2013?
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[…] to add to my wish list, please leave in the comments box. Look here for more ideas: Reading list 2013 Thanks, as always, to The Hayridge, World Book Night, Rob Frost, Patrick Phelvin […]