My ten most influential books of 2018
Not everything I read — the books from 2018 that left the deepest mark, counted down from the honorable mentions to number one.
Honorable mentions
Click a cover to turn it over. After the first one, hovering another turns it too.
Was wir sind und was wir sein könnten: Ein neurobiologischer Mutmacher
Gerald Hüther
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
Das Seelenleben der Tiere (The Inner Life of Animals)
Peter Wohlleben
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
Be Excellent at Anything: The Four Keys to Transforming the Way We Work and Live
Tony Schwartz, Jean Gomes & Catherine McCarthy
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
Nos. 15–11
Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness
Richard H. Thaler & Cass R. Sunstein
The Memory Illusion: Remembering, Forgetting, and the Science of False Memory
Julia Shaw
The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High-Tech World
Adam Gazzaley & Larry D. Rosen
The 4-Hour Workweek
Timothy Ferriss
Narziß und Goldmund (Narcissus and Goldmund)
Hermann Hesse
The ten
No.10
Die Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis)
Franz Kafka
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.9
Animal Farm
George Orwell
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.8
Crito
Plato
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.7
Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth & Power
Noam Chomsky
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.6
Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World — and Why Things Are Better Than You Think
Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling & Anna Rosling Rönnlund
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.5
Das Glasperlenspiel (The Glass Bead Game)
Hermann Hesse
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.4
Der Steppenwolf (Steppenwolf)
Hermann Hesse
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.3
The Disordered Mind: What Unusual Brains Tell Us About Ourselves
Eric R. Kandel
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.2
The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control
Walter Mischel
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.1
Debt: The First 5,000 Years
David Graeber
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.