Books To Read – February 2011

The Rational Optimist By Matt Ridley

I am not much of an optimist, or at least I should say I haven’t been in the past.  As I have gotten older, I have realized that much of my pessimism was due to the fact that I paid too much attention to what other people were saying.  Matt Ridley does a fantastic job in this book of laying out the steady march of progress by the human species.  The themes of this book are two-fold.  First, we as humans are getting more and more specialized as we evolve.  This specialization of labor has created generation after generation of people that are ( in most cases ) far better off than those that have gone before us by almost any objective measure.  Second, the doomsayers have been with us in every generation and have been historically wrong.  The predictions of food shortages, the end of fossil fuels, and general human calamity have all been met with human ingenuity at every turn.  This is a fantastic book, and is my #1 recommendation for February.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series by Stieg Larsson

I have had an affinity for all things Swedish since I dated a Swede in high school.  I spent a summer there and really enjoyed everything about it.  Stieg Larsson’s books are wildly popular for good reason.  The characters are unique, the story lines at times completely demented, and the backdrop of Scandinavian culture really interesting.  Of the three, I found the last one, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest, to be my favorite.  I had a hard time setting it down.  These are great books for when you need to live in someone else’s world for a while and forget your own.

Ignore Everybody by Hugh MacLeod

I first read about Hugh MacLeod while reading a Seth Godin book.  Since then, I have become a huge fan.  Hugh has a great way of communicating, and his own personal story of how he got started drawing his now famous cartoons is motivating.  I go back and read this again whenever I need a kick in the butt.  Follow Hugh on Twitter at @gapingvoid, and read this book.  It’s an easy read, but well worth it.

Let Me Tell You A Story:A Lifetime in the Game by John Feinstein

I hated the Boston Celtics growing up.  Like any decent human being, I was a huge LA Lakers fan.   A good bit of my hatred was due to Red Auerbach.  I could not stand the guy.  A few years ago, John Feinstein wrote this book and I picked it up in spite of my better judgement.  Feinstein is, for my money, the best sports writer out there today.  This book is another great one.  If you want to read about a guy who never settled for anything less than the best, who understood the value of friends and family, and who got the most out of life, then this is a good one to put in the queue.

I got a lot of great responses from last month’s reading list, and I hope this list has a little something for everyone.

Happy reading!