50 Books Challenge 2017 – First Half

Year in, year out; the 50 Books Challenge goes on – for the 6th year in a row I read more than 50 books from cover to cover – not counting short books with less than 180 pages or comic books.

In the first quarter, I were already half through the challenge.

My favourite books after half of this years challenge:

Dreams from my Father – Barack Obama

Voll Speed – Moritz Mathies (in general stories by him are diverting and a bit funny, although they are short diversions, nothing with a deeper meaning – just for fun)

Hexe von Hamburg – Antje Windgassen (historic novel, based on real transcriptions on a witch process in Hamburg)

Der gute Psychopath in dir – Kevin Dutton, AndyMacNab (What is a good psychopath? 😉 )

The Martian – Andy Weir
Best fictional book so far this year. Accurate science, witty but believable character, tense story-writing – hard to put away once started. I don’t want to see the movie – it will ruin everything.

28a) Natürlich süßen mit Früchten und Beeren – Sue Quinn (156) – first time ever that I put a cookbook on the list of good reads.

The more I think about it, the more it does not belong to the best books but more likely to the worst.

The focus of this book is clearly on presentation, nice graphics, and colorful pictures of ingredients before you start coooking -> instead of bette explaining how to mix and cook the ingredients appropriately.

It lacks explanations, and there is lots of room for improvement but well, the info graphics are neat. It is shocking that I liked the book initially .. but as I said the more I reflect and the more recipes I try, the more improvement this book needs.

37) Short History of Tractor in Ukrainian – Marina Lewycka (223)

 

50 Books Challenge 2017 – A Legacy …

Another new year – Another 50 Books Challenge

This first books of 2017 that I’ve read were again about kitchen science, an IT text book, and temporary non-fiction. I haven’t started a novel yet.

Nonetheless, I already stumbled upon a good read which has good chances to stay among my favourite books I’ve read in 2017.

When browsing for biographies and literature about Barack Obama, I found one copy of selected speeches from his presidential campaign in 2008 as well as a so-called bestseller by Obama himself: “Dreams from my Father”

For the time being, I prefer reading Obamas own words instead of books about him (books from the earlier years of his presidency lack a lot of events during the last years) – I have the patience to wait for his biography from his own feather.

His bestseller Dreams from my Father has three parts: His childhood, Chicago, and Kenya

The childhood part was interesting to me because I didn’t know so much about his family  background. I couldn’t quite follow the part in Chicago, although, this part might contain the key chapters about black identity, understanding Afro-Americans, and struggle of black people in the US in the eighties. It might also be the start of his political career.

The part when Obama visits his relatives in Kenya caught my attention again.

From my viewpoint, the message about finding own identity, looking for a father he only knew from one visit was clear the big theme of this book.

Digging and searching for his African ancestors history…

Special attention should be given to the Epilogue (a visit to a teacher in Kenya). This last and short part could be interpreted it as an important final appeal and as an attempt to answer a few of the questions of Obamas life journey.

Barack Obama – Dreams from my Father

Some critics in Internet forums complain that the book is not a biography. Well, I was aware of that before and didn’t consider it as biography when I picked it. Some readers complain that the book is boring. Well, there are auto-biographical elements and the book depicts real-life stories from Obamas youth. A reader not interested in Obamas family background and his search/struggle for identity might find it boring.

To me, it was interesting to read because I consider it as a head-start to get to know Obamas heritage, family background, and how early life events/life path lead to him studying and becoming the well-known first black US president.

Legacy of his father – Himself legacy for the USA

50 Books Challenge 2016 – Best Of

Year in, year out; the 50 Books Challenge goes on – for the 5th year in a row I read more than 50 books from cover to cover – not counting short books with less than 180 pages or comic books.

In 2016 I finished roughly 59 books. Most of them were non-fiction textbooks about science, IoT literature, cooking/kitchen chemistry, and lots of medical books about diabetes. But I also picked up a few novels and classics.

My favourites of 2016:

08) Der Gastrosexuelle Mann – Carsten Otte (as eBook)
09) Winners Dream – Bill McDermott
10) Kaffeebuch – Johanna Wechselberger, Tobias Hierl
12) Schauen Sie sich mal diese Sauerei an – Jörg Nießen
20) Die Geschichte der Welt in 100 Objekten – Neil MacGregor
23) Die Entdeckung der Currywurst – Uwe Timm
43a) Cross-Over Comic: Star Trek & Planet of the Apes – David Tipton, Rachel Stott
44) Islands in the Stream – Ernest Hemingway
46) Resonate – Nancy Duarte
48) Life of Pi – Yann Martel

 

50 Books Challenge 2015 – Best Of

Year in, year out; the 50 Books Challenge goes on – for the 4th year in a row I read more than 50 books from cover to cover – not counting short books with less than 180 pages and comics or graphic novels are also not included.

In 2015 I finished at least 53 books; varying from non-fictous topics (for example, every-day-chemistry, cooking/cuisine science, drug reports …) to massively huge novels (Don Winslows novels about drug cartels, Steven Kings “Under the Dome”, Dan Browns “Inferno”) up to sci-fi stories.

I’d like to point out the following books:

Novels

• Inferno – Dan Brown (#7)
• Ein Mann namens Ove – Frederik Backman (#36)
• “Days of the Dead” and “The Cartel” – both by Don Winslow

Classics

• Fiesta: The Sun also Rises – Ernest Hemingway (#31)
• Gulliver’s Travel  – Jonathan Swift (#32)
• Der illustrierte Mann – Ray Bradbury (#42)

Non-fiction

• Anleitung zur Schwerelosigkeit (Astronaut’s Guide to life on Earth) – Chris Hadfield (#24)
• Crystal Meth – Wie eine Droge unser Land überschwemmt – Dr. Roland Härtel-Petri (#19)
• Rätsel der Kochkunst – Hervé This-Benckhard (#44)

 

Bonus/Comics
Asterix und die Trabantenstadt (#12a)

 

50 Books Challenge 2014 – … and the winner is:

This post deals with my favourite books from last year’s 50 Books Challenge.

Notwithstanding that successfully finishing the 50 Books Challenge for the third year in a row makes me a winner per se, this post points to a few good reads that might draw your attention as well.

Category “Fiction”
It’s hard to decide which novel or story was the best since I read a bunch of good stories.

For fun:
“The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared” – Jonas Jonasson

Serious reads (ordered by reading date):
“C” – Tom McCarthy
“Herr aller Dinge” – Andreas Eschbach
(“The Circle” – Dave Eggers)
“Blackout” – Marc Elsberg

Category “Nonfiction”
Two life events are reflected in this years book list: “working in Shanghai” and “getting a flat”
A few of the companions were really good. The German “Stiftung Warentest” published a few companions that helped me a lot.

For Shanghai, mostly guides on culture and especially business culture were valuable reads.

Category “Classics”
“Im Westen nichts Neues” – Erich Maria Remarque
Due to the centenary of WWI, I finally read THE autobiographic (anti-)war novel. Despite the dark subject this piece of fine literature belongs to the must-read classics. Dark, sad, and realistic atmosphere, pictured with marvellous metaphors, a good portion of ironic/black humour, and first of all: underlining the uselessness of war …

50 Books Challenge 2014 – Second Half

Popular science, novels, some bestsellers, and more novels coined the rest of 50BooksChallenge 2014

A Hologram for the King – Dave Eggers
Since “The Circle” by Eggers was still a demanded bestseller in my library, I passed the time waiting for “The Circle” by reading “A Hologram for the King”. The story is simple – as is the key message. Alan Clay, project manager in a US technology company, is sent to the Arabian desert to get a contract with the Saudi King Abdullah; exclusive rights for his company to supply the King’s dream city in the desert with technology.

At first, it seemed kafkaesk because the King never appears. That gives time to reflect on Alan’s past of his life and to get to know how often and thorough Alan failed or was overtaken by the development of the time.

Even in the small private or business situations Alan is pictured as a loser – someone that can’t get a grasp of the situation. Poor guy … somehow funny. A quick read after all.

The Circle – Dave Eggers

In a near dystopian future: The female protagonist starts working for an uprising and growing technology company. However, the products and services of that company erase more and more privacy, bring people to put private matters public, any piece of information gets connected with other pieces, personal information is commercialized, personal data is used to help the police solving or even preventing crimes, surveillance is spread, and so on.
The similarities with actual internet/tech companies are not coincidental but intended. An obvious word play is the title itself – since the social network of one of the biggest tech companies is organised in “circles” 😉
As in a hologram for the King”, the message is clear. While reading, the appeal jumps into one’s face. This novel is not about a near dystopian future, it is closer to reality than good for us …

Blackout – Marc Elsberg

A very well researched novel about what might happen during an electricity takedown in Europe. A terrorist induced blackout continues for several days. The reader travels with the major and minor protagonists through the possible horror scenarios in European cities w/o electricity. The start of the book was great, somehow it loses its speed and tension half-way through the book, however, the “end-on-an-ending” brought me back again into the tension. Surely a good read, very realistic, educating, and awakening awareness of how dependent we all are on electricity – what we consider as standard could be gone tomorrow … are we prepared for a major power outtake?

Darm mit Charme – Guilia Enders

This book was hyped to a bestseller. Maybe because it breaks with a taboo by talking about the intestines that you usually not talk about. It’s not only about the stomach, but the complete way from eating to … you know … going to the toilet. The book taps a bit into popular science, but also uses lots of medical terms that go beyond school biology. On other parts, it gets down to a low level that even kindergarten kids would grasp it – and giggle. the witty and funny metaphors as well as joking sentences in the book brought also me to giggles and clapping in appreciation. A nice read! Unfortunately, not much that sticks in my memory because of medical terms that are hard to grasp. However, worth waiting for. After all, you will be educated with a smile on your face. Unless you are an endocrinologist – in that case, you will only smile 😉

Herr aller Dinge – Andreas Eschbach

Bit slow in the beginning, however, getting more tense and interesting after a third/half the book. I enjoyed reading my favourite German Sci-Fi author again – how long has it been since I touched a book of his? Well researched, some turnovers and surprises … it also brought inspiration for my book queue of 2015

50 Book Challenge 2014 – The First Half

Once again in 2014 – as in the years before – a journey through 50+ books is scheduled.

Up to the time of writing this post, I read mostly non-fictional books. It had to do with my private projects which were challenge of their own: Work in Shanghai for a month, looking for a new flat etc. . Since I like to be prepared, I read guide books on Chinese culture, Chinese  language, travel guides about Shanghai … you name it.

One of the first – and immediately among the best books – of 2014 was The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. To describe it in few words: Ridiculously creative, witty, hilariously funny and surprising twists. Some parts a bit too ridiculous – but a good read on the whole. Once started, I read every time I had the chance to read. Big recommendation to anyone that likes funny novels.

Another novel that I finished this year was “The Ciderhouse Rules”. It was a recommendation by the same person that lend me “The Hundred-Year-Old ….”.  Worth reading as well.

The German book “Die Abenteuer meines ehemaligen Bankberaters” was so far the biggest disappointment of this year. The idea is simple: A German author writes E-Mails to Bruce Willis to convince the Hollywood start to take over the role of the banking consultant in the latest book by the author. But since Willis never writes back, forcing the author to repeat his requests to Willis over and over … it gets pretty boring – even unnerving. Die Zeit nailed it: Not deep enough, next time the author has to really work. It has some funny moments, but on the whole no real plot nor interesting ideas

Non-fictional text books:

Mostly cultural background for business travel to Shanghai, books for my “flat project”, some science comics …

 

… and the queue is full for the rest of the year.

So far for today, stay tuned for the rest and stay tuned for updates to this post 🙂

50 Books Challenge: The Best of 2013

Once again I did it. I completed the 50th Books Challenge in 2013 with over 50 that I read cover to cover – plus a bunch of books that I started or read partly.

Quite a number of books on my list are nonfictional or text-books. This year, I read an enormous amount of fitness related guides, especially for running. One of my favorites this year deals with the topic of  natural running, ultra-running, paleo background on running, etc. etc. – in short, the definite story about a truly human feature:

Born to Run – Christopher McDougall

 

Every year, I read at least  one book with a large volume of pages. this year it was the fictional lifetime story of  The Aztec – Gary Jennings

It tells the life of an aztec from his birth, through his life as child, warrior, writer, merchant, chronist of the aztec empire’s fall etc. etc.  It’s worth a read for all that want to learn about the aztec culture or those that like historic tales – this time, from a non-european perspective. I was occupied with this book from March until the end of the year. On one hand because I read several other books in parallel and due to the sheer volume of the book (the lines are crammed and the font is small).

 

What Einstein Told his Cook- Robert L. Wolke

I read a bunch of books about chemical background on cooking and food. This one was one of the best because it is as entertaining as detailed and accurate, although not too technical to still understand it without deep knowledge of “hard-core chemistry”.

 

 

I am looking forward into a new 50 book challenge in 2014! Are you in for the challenge?

50 Books Challenge: The Best of 2012

Steve Jobs Biography

As much as I hate Steve Jobs, as interesting was is to read his official biography.

Guy Kawasaki – The Apple Way

Motivational, inspiring, historically interesting!

Superfreakonomics – Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

This is the second part of the every-day economic lessons. The authors give simple and comprehensible explanations of economic terms/effects derived from funny facts found in statistics and research. I should start an own blog entry just about this book …

When I realised that I was half-way through with Superfreakonomics, I thought that I have to “save up” the remaining chapters instead of inhaling them like summer-morning-air. To conclude, I enjoyed the book very much! 🙂

The Agony and the Ecstasy – Irving Stone, already in my personal category for medium to heavy books (more than 600 pages). However, I was able to read it in a comparably short period of time because it is enchanting, although, the genius of Michelangelo can be called “grumpy”. My favorite part is Michelangelo facing pope Sixtus II in fierce. I am not sure how much is true or fiction. Of course Michelangelo met Leonardo and Rafael. But what about the stories from his youth? Or the surgery/ anatomical investigations that he did in a morgue or the confrontations with the pope?

Nonetheless, the book tied me reading for hours on my sofa – a biographical novel worth reading.

Die Vermessung der Welt – Daniel Kehlmann

Also a biographical novel. The lives of the mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss and the scientist Alexander von Humboldt. Intriguing, some myths, but same as Michelangelo: There is always a potion of historic facts inside it. A quick read, but nonetheless entertaining and partly educational about a few historic facts – and historic pitfalls like Neptunism (obsolete theory that earths geology was formed by ancient oceans). For my taste the book is a bit too short and too flimsy about the science/math behind what is going on with the main characters. The Gauss distribution is mentioned but never explained. Anyway, it is a good read after all and I can recommend it.

Some more books from this years reading list that I can recommend:

#08 11 Geheimnisse des IKEA-Erfolgs – Rüdiger Jungbluth
#09 Die PUMA Story – Rolf-Herbert Peters
#32 Pizza Globale – Paul Trummer
#44 Die letzte Generation – Arthur C. Clark

I am looking forward into a new 50 book challenge in 2013! Are you in for the challenge?

50 Books Challenge 2012 – The Biographies

My “50 books challenge” of this year included already a couple of biographies. The autobiography of Richard Branson (#23), collected stories from the CEOs of Puma (#09), a book on IKEA that can be considered as biography of Ingvar Kamprad (#08), and the authorized biography of Steve Jobs (#07).

Biography of Steve Jobs

Although I am not fond of Steve Jobs, I read his biography. It is impressive how many terms and paraphrases were used by the author Steven Isaacson to avoid saying that Steve Jobs was an asshole. How many ways are there to say that a person lacks social skills? Maybe Isaacson did it to prepare the stage for one of my favourite quotes from the book. In one of the last chapters, Steve Jobs says directly that he is an asshole! According to him it is no secret. Well, how true!But talking about the book itself, you recognise by the enthusiastic tone which chapters were written under the influence of interviews with Jobs himself. The sections based on interviews clearly show effects of the “Reality Distortion Field”.

On the other hand, the “Reality Distortion Field” is a good example for Jobs social skills. He used it as a propeller for innovation and as a motivator for tremendous breakthroughs in technology. His passion for perfection and his intrigue product presentations are factors for the success of Apple.

Jobs was an ambigious person. There are attempts for critical thoughts in his biography.

It was a good read after all.

Stay hungry! Stay foolish!

A little sidemark for readers of the German version. The second edition still contains translation errors …

#07 – Authorisierte Biographie von Steve Jobs – Steven Isaacson, Bertelsmann
#08 – Die 11 Geheimnisse des IKEA-Erfolgs – Rüdiger Jungbluth , Campus Verlag
#09 – Die PUMA Story – Rolf-Herbert Peters, Carl Hanser Verlag
#23 – Business ist wie Rock’n’Roll – Richard Branson, Campus Verlag