My annual look back at the best books I’ve read / listened to this year. After a low of 83 books last year, I read about 114 books this year, better though still a way off my peak of 308 in 2020. Most were read or listened to on the iPad while travelling but it was a pleasure to spend some time at home in Wellington and be able to read physical books. These are the books that stayed with me the longest…

Travel

Every Effing Inch by Tim Pankhurst, and North Bound : Four Seasons of Solitude on Te Araroa by Naomi Arnold

There is an ever increasing number of books covering Te Araroa, the 3,000km long trail the length of New Zealand. These are two of the best, though neither make it an appealing prospect, even to a keen hiker like myself. The authors had surprisingly little hiking experience but were attracted to the challenge and escaping the day to day for several months. Every Effing Inch is better on the history of the places on the trail and dynamics of hiking as a group (of three), while North Bound is a brilliantly written account of walking the trail in the opposite way to most people, from south to north during winter.

Hellholes of the World: A Love Story by David Grant Brown

The author died tragically young and this was published posthumously, but he had a full and interesting life on the basis of this book. He shares entertaining and well written travel tales from some of the more fascinating parts of the world.

The Happy Isles of Oceania by Paul Theroux

A second read now that I’ve visited a number of places that Theroux visited back in the 1990s. He is informative, scathing and hilarious about his extensive travels through the Pacific.

See You Again in Pyongyang: A Journey into Kim Jong Un’s North Korea by Travis Jeppesen

I’ve read a lot of books on North Korea and this is one of the best for understanding this strange but intriguing country. The author was one of the first westerners to study in Pyongyang, gaining a different perspective to most visitors.

Travel Your Way: Rediscover the World, on Your Own Terms by Nathan James Thomas

A short but thoughtful and well-written book that goes beyond familiar travel stereotypes. Unlike many well-travelled writers, Thomas uses personal stories with clear purpose, each reinforcing the broader arguments he makes. The book offers practical ideas for creating richer travel experiences, while thoughtfully engaging with issues such as sustainability, overtourism, and authenticity.

Politics

Failed State: Why Nothing Works and How We Fix It by Sam Freedman

A comprehensive and damning indictment of UK governance, and why successive governments have been largely unsuccessful. It is fascinating to understand how governance has changed, and more importantly not changed, over the past fifty years. It makes sensible suggestions throughout as to how the system needs a complete overhaul to be fit for purpose.

Turning Points: Crisis and Change in Modern Britain, from 1945 to Truss by Steve Richards

A series of succinct and insightful essays on some of the greatest British political stories of the past 80 years. Well written and an interesting read.

Chief of Staff: Notes from Downing Street by Gavin Barwell

An inside perspective on Theresa May’s traumatic time as British Prime Minister, which was largely overwhelmed by the challenges unleashed by the Brexit referendum. This memoir is a reminder of those messy times, written by someone in the thick of the action.

History

Hitler’s People: The Faces of the Third Reich by Richard J. Evans

Insightful portraits of the well known and far less well known people behind the Third Reich and its horrific deeds. They were all human, and it helps to some degree with understanding their actions.

Dictators: The Cult of Personality in the Twentieth Century by Frank Dikötter

Excellent series of eight biographical essays on Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedong, Kim Il-sung, Ceausescu, Mengistu of Ethiopia and Duvalier of Haiti. There is a particular focus on how they developed and maintained their cults of personality, and the interactions and learnings between them.

The Wide Wide Sea : The Final, Fatal Adventure of Captain James Cook by Hampton Sides

A gripping account of Captain Cook’s final voyage, searching for the Northwest Passage and ‘discovering’ Hawaii, before meeting his fateful end there.

Other

The Afterlife of Data: What Happens to Your Information When You Die and Why You Should Care by Carl Öhman

The title is self explanatory and provocative, and the book raises important questions that few of us have probably given much thought to. It is a sobering thought that the dead will outnumber the living online in a surprisingly short period of time.

Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams

One of the funniest and scariest books I’ve read in a long time. It’s an inside account of the rise of Facebook and its shallow and dysfunctional leaders. A must read for anyone interested in how and why Facebook is quite so terrifying.

The Authority Gap: Why women are still taken less seriously than men, and what we can do about it by Mary Ann Sieghart

A compelling and eye opening account of the many ways in which women are discriminated against, along with practical suggestions on how things could be improved. Should be compulsory reading for all men.

Material World: The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization by Ed Conway

The six magic materials are sand, salt, iron, copper, oil, and lithium. These are critical for the global economy, but their supply chains are little understood. This is a fascinating and eye opening book.

Somebody to Love: The Life, Death and Legacy of Freddie Mercury by Matt Richards & Mark Langthorne

An insightful and moving account of the incredible life and death of Freddie Mercury. It covers the Queen years well but also provides sobering context on the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s.