Since I did this sort of thing last year, I figured I might as well make this a tradition of sorts.

Favourites of the year

Picking out favourites turned out to be a bit difficult this year (it seems that I read a bunch of good books in 2014), but here’s a few that stuck out.

Going Clear

Going clear cover

I haven’t quite finished this book yet but having read a bit more than half of it I can already tell that this is going to be one of my favourites for the year.

Written by Lawrence Wright, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, the book details the history of the Scientology movement and the life of it’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard.

HBO is currently adapting the book into a documentary (slated to air in 2015).

What If?

What If cover

As a long time time fan of xkcd and occasional reader of [What If?] (the online version), this book was most welcome…

The book is both hilarious and informative. I’m pertty sure there wasn’t a single chapter where I didn’t giggle at least a little bit…

Command and Control

Command and Control cover

Warning: this book is extremely scary and will make you wonder who we (we being humanity) have managed to avoid accidentally blowing ourselves up with nukes.

Surface Detail

Surface Detail cover

Since all my other picks where non-fiction, I thought I should include at least one book that isn’t depressing and based on true facts…

Surface Details turned out to be one of my favourite books from the Culture series by Iain M. Banks. In fact, I ended up reading it twice.

The full(ish) list

The (almost) full list of books I read this year. Some books that I had previously read don’t show up on my Goodreads list. Plus there might be a few others missing because of my sloppy Goodreads habits…


Full disclosure: All book links in this article lead to Piranhas, my book price comparison service.