Last year was a year of reading for me. Specifically non fiction, to learn more about any and all things. Terentius, African slave and later Roman playwright claimed that “Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto“, or “I am human, and I think nothing human is alien to me.” I’m not quite there, yet, but what better way to ensure that changes than to read? So, without further ado, here are some mini reviews of the (rest of the) books I read last year:

Monuments Men (Edsel) – the story of the men who saved untold treasures from the Nazi looting effort towards the end of World War II. A little fragmented but interesting. (3/5)

Nonviolent Communication (Rosenberg) – took a while to get into (very Merkin) but it’s a classic on the topic for obvious reasons. (5/5)

A Life on our Planet (Attenborough) – harrowing and profound, inimitable and joyful. As autobiographies go, they don’t get better. (5/5)

Remarkable trees (Harrison) – a run-through of exotic and astonishing trees with lovely illustrations. (4/5)

The Golden Atlas (Brooke-Hitching) – various stories about maps, map makers and the explorers that filled in the blanks. Very interesting. (4/5)

Human Compatible (Russell) – Artificial intelligence and how to ensure it doesn’t go Skynet on us. (4/5)

Pixar storytelling (Movshovitz) – a schematic of what makes Pixar movies great. (3/5)

Undaunted Courage (Ambrose) – Lewis and Clark’s expedition across the American continent retraced. (3/5)

All of the Marvels (Wolk) – The entire Marvel universe analyzed – all 200 gazillion pages. 2/5 unless you are a super fan, then 4/5.

Citizen Soldiers (Ambrose) – Band of Brothers but covering many more people – and a little less interesting for it. (4/5)

Life 3.0 (Tegmark) A.I. and humanity and how to make them compatible, take 2. (4/5)

How the world really works (Smil) – a cold, hard look at the world. A good companion piece to Attenborough. (5/5)

Map stories (Matteoli) – similar to the Golden Atlas, but suffers from poor translation. (3/5)

T Pratchett: a life with footnotes (Wilkins) – the P.A. of Pratchett tells of the latter’s sad demise. 4/5 if you’re a fan – and otherwise, what’s the point?

Quid Pro Quo (Jones) – erudite run-through of how much Latin still influences modern languages. (5/5)

Eureka! (Jones) – ditto for Greek (4.5/5)

Learn like a pro (Oakley/Schewe) – tips and trick to get better at studying. (4/5)

The secret lives of garden bees (Vernon) – cute book about all those other bees that also need protecting. (3/5)

Discipline is destiny (Holiday) – very good book on how to structure your life in order to achieve more. (5/5)

Playing with FIRE (Rieckens) – one couple’s quest to get financially independent and retire early. (3/5)

Veni Vidi Vici (Jones) – how the Roman world still influences us. (4/5)

The world of ice and fire (Martin) – not strictly non fiction, but written like a history of Westeros. Monumental. 4/5 if you’re a big fan, otherwise maybe don’t.

Fabric (Finlay) – the cultural history of various kinds of cloth. More interesting than it sounds. (4/5)

And there you have it. I hope there’s something of interest there, and if not, feel free to point me in the direction of books you think I should read. I have every intention of keeping up this habit, so tips are always welcome!