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Despite spending too much time browsing the web, I read 25 books in 2014, not including study materials for my pilot’s license. Compared to most years I read more fiction and more bestsellers, fewer classics. My best source of recommendations came from blogs that I follow. Keep in mind that my recommendations are strongly influenced by my state of mind when I encountered a book and how diligently I read it. Here are my choices.
Book of the Year – The Martian by Andy Weir
This hard science fiction novel tells the story of a castaway accidentally left for dead on a Mars mission. The protagonist’s creativity, perseverance, and intelligence engage the reader in his fight for survival. The author self-published this book after being rejected by countless publishers, and it finally found the audience it deserved.
Highly Recommended
 To Conquer the Air by James Tobin – the story of the Wright Brothers and the early days of flight. It’s enlightening to have a familiar myth retold rigorously. The Wright brothers were both clever and lucky in focusing on stability and control in designing their plane.
 City of Thieves by David Benioff – I loved this page-turner set in Russia during the Second World War.
 No Place to Hide by Glenn Greenwald – Unbelievable story of Edward Snowdon and our devolution into an unaccountable police state. What happened to our democracy?
 World War Z by Max Brooks – I finally got around to reading this. The way the story unfolds as a series of interviews is very effective, allowing the reader to fill in the blanks.
 The Book of Strange New Things – More science fiction, about a christian missionary to another planet. Deft and human, and kept me guessing about which direction it would ultimately go.
Other books I liked
The Golem and the Jinni
All the Light We Cannot See
Flight of Passage
What If?
The Magician and the Card Sharp
Station Eleven
Books that were OK but I wouldn’t seek out
Gone Girl
Under the Tuscan Sun
The Humans
The Quick
The Art Forger
The Magicians (everyone loved it but me)
Farthing
My Real Children
Whiskey Rebels
Pro Cycling on $10 a day (dispiriting look at the life of a domestic pro)
The Boys in the Boat – (the usual sports book that tells a good story but recycles all the usual sports myths)
The Doubt Factory – my least favorite Bacigalupi book so far
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot – I don’t get why this was so highly recommended, compared to City of Thieves for example
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