The year 2021 in books

Books read in 2021. Again almost zero commute. I was able to read 31 books.

As in 2020 I’ll rate the books from one to three stars. Three of three (3/3) stars being what I thoroughly have enjoyed and would recommend to others who are into the topic of the book or enjoy a good read in general. Giving a book one star neither states the book is bad or I do not agree with it, rather it is something I personally did not enjoy too much.

Die Nibelungen - Auguste Lechner - 1/3

Common tale in germany.

The New Right: A Journey to the Fringe of American Politics - Michael Malice - 2/3

An intro to the American New Right

Ask Your Developer - Jeff Lawson - 3/3

Written as a handbook for Project Managers or Product Owners. Talk to your developers about problems instead of solutions. Telling them what the goal is instead of telling them what to do.

Der Himmel kennt keine Günstlinge - Erich Maria Remarque 2/3

On racing and cherishing life with a carefree attitude.

Staff Engineer: Leadership Beyond the Management Track - Will Larson 2/3

How to stay an Individual Contributor in a software company instead of moving into management.

How to destroy a tech startup in three easy steps - Lawrence Krubner - 3/3

A funny and gripping read on some, questionably true, experiences of a developer in a tech startup. Went through it in one sitting.

Heat - Bill Buford - 2/3

The authors experiences working as a cook.

White Noise - Don Delillo - 1/3

A critique of modern society.

Jordan B. Peterson - Beyond Order - 2/3

A list of rules to live by.

Vladimir Nabokov - Pnin - 2/3

The first Nabokov book I’ve read. About a russian professor in america during the 1950s.

Franz Kafka - Die Verwandlung - 2/3

Quick read. A classic.

The Anarchist Handbook - Michael Malice - 3/3

A collection of anarchist essays.

Permutation City - Greg Egan - 3/3

What if we live forever? But on Amazon EC2 ;)

Fundamentals of Software Architecture: An Engineering Approach - Mark Richards, Neil Ford - 3/3

How to be an effective Software Architect.

An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management - Will Larson - 2/3

An approach to management in modern software companies.

A Gentle Introduction to Unqualified Reservations - Mencius Moldbug - 2/3

Introduction to the “Political Red Pill”.

Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States - 3/3

Without grain there would not be modern states. Grain is easiest to tax.

Bronze Age Mindset - Bronze Age Pervert - 3/3

Recommended by George Hotz on the Lex Fridman Podcast. Criticisms of Modern Society.

The Pussy - Delicious Taco - 1/3

A bunch of essays, or blog posts, on relationships with women. A book one gets recommended after reading Bronze Age Mindset.

Sun and Steel - Yukio Mishima - 1/3

The wikipedia article of Yukio Mishima can be read afterwards, not before.

Harassment Architecture - Mike Ma - 1/3

Another books revered in right wing circles.

Threat Modeling: Designing for Security - Adam Shostack - 2/3

Techniques to apply to your software and the surrounding infrastructure to find issues.

An Open Letter to Open-Minded Progressives - Mencius Moldbug - 2/3

By separating voters into two competing but cooperating parties, neither of which can destroy the other, the two-party system creates a government which will survive indefinitely, no matter how much happier its citizens might be without it.

Die Kadetten - Ernst von Salomon - 3/3

Experiences of the author in a German Kadettenanstalt during the days of the First World War.

The Outlaws - Ernst von Salomon - 3/3

Experiences of the author in the German Freikorps in the aftermath of the First World War and the Murder of Walther Rathenau.

Bauern, Bonzen und Bomben - Hans Fallada - 2/3

Story about the German Landvolkbewegung.

Faserland - Christian Kracht - 1/3

A quick read on the affluent part of my parents generation while in their late twenties/early thirties in Germany.

Industrial Society and Its Future - Theodore J. Kaczynski - 3/3

A critique of modern society written around 1995.

21 Lessons: What I’ve Learned from Falling Down the Bitcoin Rabbit Hole - Gigi - 3/3

Quick read and a great gift for “future bitcoiners”. People already in the rabbit hole won’t take too much out of it.

The End of All Evil - Jeremy Locke - 3/3

The state is “not just” inefficient. It is evil.

Demian: Die Geschichte von Emil Sinclairs Jugend - Hermann Hesse - 2/3

“Wer nicht in die Welt passt, der ist immer nahe daran, sich selber zu finden.”

Rough translation:

“He who doesn’t fit (into our world), is always close to finding himself”