Books Recommended 2023

But please share yours

This is my favorite post to write, selfishly, because I get to step back and reflect on both the amazing reading I’ve done this year, and that nearly half of these books were recommended by some of the greatest readers in and around my life. (They are thanked by name at the end).

This year, as every year, I delve into areas of curiosity for me, but also where lessons and reflections can help me understand our times and where we are going. I am especially attracted to “bottom-up” books that take us to understanding the ground of people, countries, and science on their terms; history that contextualizes our worlds; and beautiful writing found in fiction and literature.

What jumped out most is how impossible it is for me to pick a “best” from each category I read. So please feel free to skim the list below for categories that interest you. As I now, finally, stop reading books that don’t resonate with me early, these all are very good. I’ve added editorial comments that may be of help.

Finally, a friend opened a wonderful new bookstore this fall in Middleburg VA, Middleburg Books. They are partnered with bookshop.org where any book we order credits them. The books at the top of my recommendation and any I’ve read since their opening have their links, the rest are Amazon. But please consider ordering from and supporting this special effort for any book you purchase.

My Top by Category:

On Africa, New York Times reporter Helene Cooper’s memoir, The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood brings all her journalistic skill to her own astounding story of her family emigrating from Liberia in war.

On American History and Culture, I loved both magisterial and complementary biographies on Oppenheimer, Kai Bird’s, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer and Ray Monk’s  Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Center.  Ernie Pyle’s  Brave Men is with With the Old Breed and Helmut for My Pillow, among the best World War II memoirs I’ve read. Stacy Schiff’s The Revolutionary: Sam Adams  is perhaps the definitive biography of one of the most important and least known figures from our founding.

On Antiquity and Global Thought, I dug deeply into primary sources including Epictetus’ Discourses and Selected Writings – now become my favorites among the stoics, as relevant today as the first century, and Dio Cassius’ Roman Histories Volume I, through Augustus – a wonderful, readable, primary source from the 3^rd century on the rise of Rome and her emperors. I stop and read everything Mary Beard writes, and her new Emperors of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World is brilliant, serious, for the lay reader, and filled with the latest research. I’ve given many young mentees and friends this crucial book to put today’s terrible conflicts in historic context, Margaret MacMillan’s War: How Conflict Shaped Us.

On Asia, Australia and South Asia, Malcom Turnbull’s  A Bigger Picture is a superb memoir with context of Australia today, great recent political battles, and an amazing life. Michael Vatikiotis’ Blood and Silk is an important, somber and sober overview of Southeast Asia today and historical context by the BBC journalist who covered it for thirty years.

On China, everything I read was wonderful. I will merely call out Andrew Small’s No Limits: The Inside Story of China’s War with the West which is a marvelous tour of tech, business and policy shifts with detailed focus on Europe in the China engagements. Bonnie Glaser’s’ U.S. Taiwan Relations: Will China’s Challenge Lead to Crisis is a superb and balanced analysis of one of the top hot-spots of our times. Jing Tsu’s  Kingdom of Characters is an excellent history of challenges/opportunities in Chinese language and characters in modernizing the country over the last century.

On Europe and North America, if I had to recommend one book this year it would likely be Stefan Zweig’s The World of Yesterday -- a brilliant, beautifully written look at the fall of societies in Europe building to World War I and World War II and a reminder of not taking our current security as a given. I had a wonderful re-reading of Barbara Tuchman, including her beautiful take on the first month of World War I, The Guns of August and The Proud Tower as a perfect precursor to the period before that War, with wonderful texture from America also. Written as Anonymous at the time, A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in a Conquered City is a brutal, breath taking, well-written memoir of occupied Berlin and I warn you nothing is spared. Kati Marton’s The Chancellor: The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel is excellent, bordering on the hagiographic, on one of the remarkable figures of the past 50 years.

On fiction and literature, I delved greatly into old and new friends of the earlier part of the 20^th Century and late 19^th. I especially devoured books with a lens on empire, and how ill prepared most of us are in understanding the ground let alone even being curious about it. All by E.M Forster, Joseph Conrad, V.S. Naipaul, Graham Greene and F. Scott Fitzgerald below were superb, as is the chilling work on moral tradeoffs that is Fyodor Dostoevsky. I add Nevil Shute’s On the Beach, which holds up extraordinarily well as a deeply moving account of the last survivors of nuclear war. Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a  beautifully written novel as letters to his immigrant Mom and a gut punch on coming of age. Finally, a gorgeous short story comes from, of course, Ireland: Claire Keegan’s Foster is a  jewel of an Irish novella of coming of age and family complexity, capturing a moment in time.

On film and arts, I spent a great deal of time watching and studying David Lean films. Kevin Brownlow’s David Lean: A Biography is a good picture by picture detailed extensive biography of one of the greatest film makers to have lived.

On the Middle East, I have chosen three deep writings of personal experience and reflection. This beautiful debut by Katherine Saad Feghali, Glass Cedars is a gripping novel, but also memoir, of the Lebanese Civil War and cross-cultural experience in the US. Utterly powerful, with astounding and sometimes heart breaking context for our times right now is Amal Ghandour’s This Arab Life: A Generation’s Journey into Silence. Michael Vatikiotis’ Lives Between the Lines is a  poignant family history from Egypt to Lebanon in the early 20^th century and influences today.

On spirituality, faith and unleashing our potential, for the first time since college I re-read the entire Bible. But this time with a version edited by Becky Tarabassi, Change Your Life Bible with substantial, provocative and poignant annotations and reflections. Gina Bianchini’s Purpose: Design a Community & Change Your Life is an excellent path of maximizing our best by being a part of others. I also reviewed it here. By my bedside remains Dag Hammarskjold’s Markings, with wonderful reflections of purpose, leadership and courage, some of my favorite quotes aggregated here.  Finally, in all his craziness and brilliance I could listen to Rick Rubin on creativity for hours at a time – fortunately distilled in his  The Creative ACT: A Way of Being.

On Science and Technology and Business, I rely much more on blogs and videos in these rapidly changing worlds, but on AI very good groundings include Reid Hoffman’s and (GPT4’s) , Impromptu: Amplifying Our Humanity Through AI which is a wonderful, right-setting tour of the central issues and opportunities we now face with AI. Kai-Fu Lee and Chen Qiufan’s, AI 2041: Ten Vision for the Future is a collection of short stories on the world in 20 years, with superb analysis on where tech may lead us. Mustapha Suleyman’s wrote a controversial push on both the strengths and concerns from a man who helped build it all, Coming Wave. One of the great business memoirs is Steven Myers’, Cross Winds: Adventure and Entrepreneurship in the Russian Far East which is one part adventure writing of Patrick Leigh Fermor, one part superb tale of impossible entrepreneurship. Internationally minded person that I am, Shannon K. O’Neil reminded me in her The Globalization Myth: Why Regions Matter that a global world is, in fact, more about regions – more so now than ever.

The rest really are superb also, to your interests:

AFRICA

Robert Gaudi, African Kaiser: General Paul Von Lettow-Vorbeck and the Great War in Africa

Superb one volume on Africa during World War I. Remarkable figures and context.

AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE

Scott Anderson, The Quiet Americans: Four CIA Spies at the Dawn of the Cold War

A thorough, researched lens on the cold war through the rise of spy-craft and four men at its center.

Timothy Egan, A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan and the Woman Who Stopped Them

Spellbinder, near fiction account of the rise and fall of the Klan – except it is all true.

John Lewis Gaddis, The Cold War: A New History

Accessible one-volume by a legendary historian, though the world has changed dramatically since.

Adam Hochschild, American Midnight – Great War, Violent Peace Democracy’s Crisis

An eye-opening look at America post World War I – rise of unions, nativism and new economic order.

William Inboden, The Peace Maker: Ronald Reagan, the Cold War and the World on the Brink

Excellent, detailed and thorough overview of President Reagan and his foreign policy.

Steve Kemper, Our Man in Tokyo: An American Ambassador and the Countdown to Pearl Harbor

Superb. I’ve read on World War II for years and I didn’t know half of this.

Melvyn Leffler, Confronting Saddam Hussein: George W. Bush and the Invasion of Iraq

A historians look at the build up to War after September 11. Meticulously researched, and well written.

Neil King, American Ramble: A Walk of Memory and Renewal

Joining a 250 mile walk from DC to NYC, exploring life/people along the way with views on our times.

John McPhee, Bill Bradley at Princeton: A Sense of Where You Are.

Beautiful 1964 look at one of the greatest players, but also human beings of discipline and impact.

Tom Mueller, How to Make a Killing: Blood, Death and Dollars in American Medicine

The whistle blowers whistle blower’s new book brutally unpacking incentives and fraud in health care.

Eric L. Motley, Madison Park: A Place of Hope

Beautiful, personal coming of age growing up in the rural south with deep influence of people and place.

Nathaniel  Moir, Number One Realist: Bernard Fall and Vietnamese Revolutionary Warfare

Fall understood the ground and told power in DC what they didn’t want to hear. Never more needed.

John Nixon, Debriefing the President: Interrogating Saddam Hussein

Riveting overview of the interviews with and what we learned from Saddam and our War.

George Packer, Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century

Intimate, well-written bio of an extraordinary and flawed figure at the heart of US Policy for fifty years.

Jim Popkin, Code Name Blue Wren

Page-turner story of one of the worst spies working for Cuba, forgotten in September 11.

Nicholas Reynolds, Need to Know

A comprehensive history of the rise of American Intelligence in World War II.

Richard Sander/Stuart Taylor: Mismatch: How Affirmative Action Hurts Students It’s Intended to Help

Provocative, data filled study that makes one understand our goals, outcomes and better plans.

Michael Shellenberger, San Fran-Sicko

Provocative author but must-read with data and analysis about the sad shifts in SF and other US cities.

Cliff Sloan, The Court at War

Definitive on the Court during WW II; wonderful surprises and how democracy functions even in crisis.

Kwame Ture and Charles Hamilton, Black Power: Politics of Liberation in America

It reads as if it was written today – here at home and abroad – as provocative and maddening as ever.

ANTIQUITY AND GLOBAL THOUGHT

Anothy Birley, Hadrian: The Restless Emperor

Good, one volume on one of the most important emperors most of us know little about.

Harry Eyres, Horace and Me: Life Lessons From and Ancient Poet

Lovely part personal memoir, part history of his history, biography, affection for the great poet.

John Lewis Gaddis, On Grand Strategy

Must read one-volume on the history of strategy from antiquity to the last century, and core lessons.

Adrian Goldsworthy, Rome and Persia: The Seven Hundred Year Rivalry

Excellent, accessible overview of the centuries tension, occasional war, navigation of two great powers.

Robert Kaplan, A Tragic Mind: Fear, Fate and the Burden of Power

Powerful, intimate look at how understanding tragedy is essential to life and leadership.

Irene Vallejo, Papyrus – The Invention of Books in the Ancient World

Marvelous historical look at the rise of reading and book from a lover of books.

ASIA, AUSTRALIA AND SOUTH ASIA

Herbert Bix, Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan

A comprehensive, meticulously researched bio on a figure wrongly forgotten for better and worse.

Bill Bryson, In a Sunburned Country

Marvelous, holds up well, often very funny overview of history and travel in Australia.

John Hersey, Hiroshima

I’ve not read since college, stunningly written reporting of the aftermath of the bomb.

Roy Moxham, The Great Hedge of India: The Search for the Living Barrier That Divided a People

One part history, one part travelogue in search of a 1,000 mile hedge built across India for the salt tax.

Mark Peel and Christina Twomey, A History of Australia

Short, concise and excellent overview of this extraordinary and impossible history.

CHINA

James Bradley, The China Mirage: The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia

Paints with too broad and perhaps biased brushes, but also fascinating look at our ignorance on China.

Jung Chang: Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister: Three Women at the Heart of 20^th Century China

Superb and wonderfully written book on these extraordinary women, and the leaders they shaped.

Zhao Changtian, An Irishman in China: Robert Hart, IG of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs

Wonderful historical novel about perhaps the most powerful foreigner in 19^th Century China.

Martin Chorzempa, Cashless Revolution: China’s Reinvention of Money/End of American Dominance

Very powerful history of rise of Alipay and WeChat Pay and the future of money moving now.

John Delury, Agents of Subversion – The Fate of the CIA’s Covert War in China

Superb, near spy thriller of two captured CIA agents as a lens to our China activity post War.

Julian Gewirz, Never Turn Back: China and the Forbidden History of the 1980s

Definitive history on the rise of China through Tiananmen, and the forgotten Zhao Ziyang.

Keyu Jin, The New China Playbook; Beyond Socialism and Capitalism

Provocative look at China’s rise from the Chinese perspective from the economy to culture to tech.

Yang Jisheng, The World Turned Upside Down: History of the Cultural Revolution

Magisterial read by a great Chinese historian who pulls no punches, definitive read.

Ian Johnson, Sparks: China's Underground Historians and their Battle for the Future

Marvelous look at the brave historians/documentarians on China’s recent history.

Jonathan Pelson, Wireless Wars: China’s Dangerous Domination of 5G

A very good bookend to the superb Chip Wars, with a comprehensive tour of the history of 5G.

Susan Shirk, Overreach: How China Derailed its Peaceful Rise

Superb, must-read deep dive into the history and context of Xi up through the present.

Joseph Torigian, Prestige, Manipulation and Coercion: Elite Power Struggles in the USSR and China

Fascinating, academic, deeply researched look at how power shifted in these leadership vacuums.

EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA

Giorgio Agamben, Where are We Now?

A provocative take of this great philosopher questioning the liberties we sacrifice in the midst of crisis.

Neal Bascomb, The Escape Artists: Daredevil Pilots and the Greatest Prison Escape of the Great War

I read in one sitting – The Great Escape of World War I, all but impossible, told like a thriller.

Burkhard Bilger, Fatherland: A Memoir of War, Conscience and Family Secret

Very personal, moving exploration of the rise of Nazism from a grandson who unpacked his family.

Elizabeth Bowen, A Time in Rome

A reflection of time in the great city from 1959 – lyrical with wonderful history and context.

Anthony Doerr, Four Seasons in Rome

A marvelous, beautifully written tour of a year of writing and young family in the great city.

Modris Eksteins, Rites of Spring

A superb overview of culture and art as an expression of the period up to and after World War I.

David Grant, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

Riveting, novel-like history of an extraordinary mutiny and survival and government in the 19^th century.

Winston Groom: A Storm in Flanders: The Ypres Salient 1914-1918

Excellent one volume account of the battles of Ypres including Passchendaele.

Ian Krastev, After Europe

Superb step by step and provocative view of how Europe sees itself in rising political uncertainties.

Ian Krastev, The Light That Failed: Why the West Is Losing the Fight for Democracy

Extraordinarily important look at falling liberalism and rise of authoritarianism and why.

Bill Morneau, Where to From Here: A Path to Canadian Prosperity

Wonderful, sober, balanced view on the triumph of politics over substance, for any democracy.

Raoul Servais, Memories of War

Moving memoir of the great Belgium artists, and his childhood dramatically affected by World War II.

Rory Stewart, The Marches: A Borderland Journey between England and Scotland

Superb memoir in search of identities, history and connection to his father.

Callum Williams, The Classical School: Turbulent Birth of Economics in Twenty Extraordinary Lives

Comprehensive and fun overview of the most influential economists of the 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

FICTION AND LITERATURE

Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis, 2034 – A Novel of the Next World War

Action-packed, breath-taking read that so resonates with the world/trends today. A must-read warning.

Albert Camus, The First Man

A moving fictionalized and posthumous account of growing up in Algiers to the rise of rebellion.

Anthony Doerr, Cloud Cuckoo Land

A well written spin from 15th century Turkey to the present, connected by unpacking a mystery.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment

Can a “good” person do anything to a “bad” person? Who decides? Epic read.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tender is the Night

My favorite Fitzgerald novel by a mile – beautiful writing; deep and compelling character.

E.M. Forster, A Passage to India

I adored it, and much resonated with my own global travel. Also watched the beautiful Lean film with it.

E.M. Forster, A Room With a View

Lovely tale of appearances and what matters in Victorian England and a stunning visit to Florence.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust Parts I and II

Who among us is not tempted in some form each day? First read in college, more resonate now.

Graham Greene, The Confidential Agent

Gripping spy story, probably based in and around the Spanish Civil War.

Graham Greene, The End of the Affair

Poignant wrestling of forbidden lover, loss and all it touches.

Graham Greene, The Heart of the Matter

My favorite after Quite American – beautiful/gripping look at politics, love and corruption in East Africa.

Graham Greene, The Orient Express

The stories and surprising connection and drama of a collection of travelers across Europe to Istanbul.

Graham Greene, A Sort of Life

His first volume of his memoir, elegantly and amusingly written as ever; fascinating rise of the author.

V.S. Naipaul, A Bend in the River

Beautiful, provocative, disturbing look at the mindset of identity in an unnamed African country.

Maggie O’Farrell, Hamnet

A provocative fictional account of the influences that made Shakespeare and specifically Hamlet.

Olga Tokarczuk, The Books of Jacob

Nobel winner, complex/beautiful delving into family, culture, life in 1700’s eastern Europe to the War.

Voltaire, Candide        

Had not read since college, and it was magnificent. The famous last line particularly resonates now.

FILM AND THE ARTS

Louise Brooks, Lulu in Hollywood

Riveting, blunt memoir of one the greatest silent stars who lived by her own rules.

Kevin Brownlow, Napoleon: Abel Gance’s Classic Film

Superb history of one of the greatest, most influential and near forgotten movies in film history.

THE MIDDLE EAST

Roger Hardy, The Poisoned Well

A brief but comprehensive overview of European empire building from World War 1 thru 1967.

John Mack, A Prince of Our Disorder – The Life of T.E. Lawrence

Pulitzer winning biography that holds up very well over the years, deep in psychology as well as history.

David Runell, Vision or Mirage: Saudi Arabia at a Crossroads

Very good, brief history and context of Saudi Arabia today, from a 30-year veteran analyst.

SPIRTUALITY, FAITH AND UNLEASHING OUR TALENTS AND CREATIVITY

Karen Armstrong, Buddha

Good, brief one volume overview of his life and principles by a great scholar of religion.

Ajahn Brahm, Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung? Inspiring Stories for Welcoming Life’s Difficulties

A funny, story-filled overview of Buddhist perspective on daily encounters with ego, pain and others.

Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

Re-read this epic experience in concentration camps and finding meaning in whatever life throws.

Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics/Religion

Superb, uncomfortable, data-filled look at our inherent biases and how to engage responsibly.

Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching

A good, accessible tour of the great man and his teachings.

Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle is the Way

An overview for working through challenges in life through the lens of the stoics.

Byron Katie, Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life

Readable, anecdotal tour of re-framing voices in one’s head, and the stories we tell ourselves.

Kevin Kelly, Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I wish I’d known Earlier

Wonderful, wise almost proverbs of counsel I, too, wish I had earlier from a great thinker and writer.

Karen Kingston, Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui

Superb book that has inspired me to clear out so much junk, hence clearing out my thinking/spirituality.

Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind

Written in 2005 that the right-brain will rule the future. Good guide on why, now with a new world of AI.

Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book on Living and Dying

Very moving reflections on Buddhist principles in terms of processing death and its lessons for life.

Martin Schreiber, My Two Elaines

Deeply personal journey as a caregiver for a spouse with Alzheimer’s. Jarring and constructive.

David Von Drehle, The Book of Charlie: The Remarkable American Life of a 109 year old man

Part bio of a stoic time in the mid-west of America, part wisdom of a special life and friendship.

TECHNOLOGY, SCIENCE AND BUSINESS

Derek Cheung/Eric Brach, Conquering the Electron – Geniuses, Visionaries, Egomaniacs, Scoundrels

Wonderful overview through the rise of Silicon Valley; amazing salute to innovation/business.

Richard P. Feynman, Surely, You’re Joking Mr. Feynman! Adventures of a Curious Character

Marvelous, readable memoir of one of the great physicists, observers of people and BS.

Freeman Dyson, Disturbing the Universe          

One part memoir, one part reflection on science, poetry and the world – brilliant read.

James Gleick, Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman

Gleick’s The Information is one of my favorites, and he does it again in this excellent biography.

Will Guidara, Unreasonable Hospitality

One of the best books I’ve read on brand building and culture in any organization.

Azra Raza, The First Cell: And the Human Costs of Pursuing Cancer to the Last

Accessible, crucial, disturbing look at how we think about, pursue, accept cancer and how to discuss it.

William Thorndike, The Outsiders: Eight CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success

Now a bit dated, but wonderful overview of the best CEOs of the end of the last century.

Vinod Thomas, Risk and Resilience in the Era of Climate Change

Concise, data filled argument for calling major weather events as climate, and building plans now.

Timothy C. Winegard, The Mosquito: A Human History of our Deadliest Predator

Nothing has killed close to this carrier of malaria and more, a tour of its defining effects across history.

Special thanks for the recommendations and shared learning from: Herb Allen; Marc Andreesen; Lucas Bagno; Jen Balderama; Adi Berlia; Melissa Bethell; Shelby Bonnie; Marcus Brauchli; Randy Castleman; Bryan Chan; Connie Chan; Priyanka Chaurasia; Martin Chorzempa; Matt Clifford; Sandy Coburn; Heather Conley; Helene Cooper; Agnes Crawford; Hank Crumpton; Katherine Feghali; Nate Fick; Suzy Fry; Marc Grossman; Jorge Guajardo; Robert Hayes; David Hoffman; Reid Hoffman; Ben Horowitz; Vinod Khosla; Vina Lervisit; Dar Manaavi; Maricris; Bill Morneau; Mary Beth Morrell; Michael Morrell; Craig Mullaney; Steven Myers; Shannon O’Neil; Mina al Oraibi; Evan Osnos; Sarah Pasetto; Jim Pinkerton; Shane Sagor; Elaine Schroeder; Julia Schroeder; Catherine Scoville; Tom Smith; Andrew Stevens; Van Taylor; Vinod Thomas; Dan Twining; Will Wechsler; Bob Zoellick