This year I read 18 books, more than last year. Here they are:

5 Stars

• A Deepness in the Sky (Hard SciFi) – Absolutely amazing story where a planet is invaded by aliens – but the invading aliens are humans.
• The 48 Laws of Power (Politics, Leadership) – Great book to understand power people, and how to deal with them. Chock-full of fun anecdotes and historical facts.

4 Stars

• Flowers for Algernon (Classic, SciFi) – This book is read in schools – no idea why I didn’t come across it before. Provides a beautiful, empathetic look at mentally disabled people.
• The Martian (Hard SciFi) – What a fun read! And I was surprised how well the movie was done as well.
• What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions – I really enjoy the web comic xkcd, and this is a fun book by the same author.
• Transport (Hard SciFi) – A quick read that is fun and scientifically sound about an alien transporter network that spans our galaxy.
• Der satanarchäolügenialkohöllische Wunschpunsch (Novel) – Fun holiday story about good and bad people.
• Die Medici-Chroniken #1: Hüter der Macht (Historic Novel) – This historical novel provides an entertaining look at the Medici, an influential family clan from Florence. Incidentally, the 48 Laws of Power contain a few stories about the Medici.
• Systems Engineering with SysML/UML (Technology) – Excellent primer on how to actually use modeling languages.

3 Stars

•  Encounter with Tiber (Hard SciFi) – Decent SciFi of aliens unsuccessfully trying to invade earth.
• Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (Novel) – This was a strange book, about monsters and children with special powers living in a time bubble.
• Think like a freak (Business) – This "Sequel" to Freakonomics was a little disappointing, as it was essentially just a collection of anecdotes, with little analysis.
• Incose Systems Engineering Handbook 4.0 – Finally a professionally edited version of this standard book. While a must-read for systems engineers, it’s not the greatest technical book I ever encountered.

2 Stars

• Santiago (SciFi, Western) – Essentially a Western set in space about a bounty hunter’s chase. Full of plot holes, and, well, just stupid. I almost abandoned it.
• And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead (Cyberpunk, Short Story) – Quick read of a synthetic girl saving her partner, who was stuck in a computer. Not memorable.
• Bright Messengers (SciFi) – This book is set in the Rama Universe, and as I enjoyed the Rama books, I picked this up. The story starts promising, but becomes stranger, and at the same time feels like a rehash of the Rama story. The book ended halfway through, so I picked up the sequel, which I abandoned (see below).
• Organisation für Komplexität (Business) – I got this book at a conference where the author held a keynote. The book is little more than a collection of platitudes, sorry.

1 Star

• F (Novel) – A book full of miserable, two-dimensional characters. Really not worth it.

Abandoned

• Double Full Moon Night (SciFi) – This is the sequel to Bright Messengers, which I abandoned halfway through. It just got too stupid. When I read the synopsis online, I got confirmed in my assessment that this is an utterly unoriginal story that just recycles bits and pieces from the Rama series.