Of the twenty-three books I read in 2010, these seven really stand out: - Predictably Irrational. Everyone here knows this book, right? It had been on my readi

Of the twenty-three books I read in 2010, these seven really stand out: - Predictably Irrational. Everyone here knows this book, right? It had been on my reading list for too long, and I'm glad I eventually managed to read it. Much more enjoyable that I expected it to be, even given the fact that much of the material is well-known already. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictably_Irrational http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictably_Irrational - Longitude follows John Harrison's fascinating, painful and lengthy quest to win the Longitude Prize by creating a clock that was accurate enough to determine longitude at sea. Dava Sobel is a great writer and makes this topic totally engaging (aside: Sobel started her writing career as a technical writer at IBM). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_(book) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_(book) - Bad Science is Ben Goldacre's essential and extensive criticism of the media's health care reportage and of various health-related issues (vaccinations, placebos, etc.). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Science_(book) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Science_(book) - Sum has had a fair bit of press over the last few months. It's a collection of forty stories on the afterlife, by David Eagleman. It's a novel exercise in philosophy, and I thoroughly enjoyed five or six of the stories. It's a very creative and original book (and short, too) and is a good lesson in constrained thinking. - The PayPal Wars is the story of PayPal's early years from the viewpoint of former PayPal marketing executive, Eric Jackson. I found it a riveting read on the trials and tribulations of a startup in a difficult market. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_PayPal_Wars http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_PayPal_Wars - Made to Stick is interesting in many ways (such as marketing, psychology and rhetoric, to name a few) and is extremely well-written. Chip and Dan Heath really know their subject and explain how to make ideas or concepts memorable in this captivating book. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_to_Stick http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_to_Stick Tip: Read the extensive excerpts on the official website — http://www.madetostick.com/excerpts/ http://www.madetostick.com/excerpts/ — and, if you enjoy them, read the full book. - Lolita is one of those books everyone knows about, even if they haven't read it. I decided to sit down with this beast of a book and am glad I did. It's a great story and will really get your moral cogs ticking over. As well as that, Nabokov has an amazing way with the English language, and from very near the beginning I become a lifelong fan of his style. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolita http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolita