Another year, plenty of books. The list is even shorter than last year. However, this is probably due to the children’s books I read with my family, which has become a little tradition. Therefore, I put an unrated list of children books at the end.

5 Stars

• Thinking fast and slow (Science) Not an easy read, but pretty amazing insights
• Great at Work (Business) This is like “The 7 habits”, but purely for the work environment. Empirically proven habits for being better at work!
• The Prefect (SciFi) Another Revelation Space story by Alastair Reynolds. This one really stands out, great action, fast story, surprising ending. Kudos!

4 Stars

• Driving Digital (Business) While “Digital Transformation” is one of those buzzwords, Isaac Sacolick makes it tangible and actionable. Kudos!
• Demonstrating to Win (Business) Showcasing products should not be an afterthought, and this books explains on how to do it right, with a focus on value.
• The Peace War (SciFi) The first Vernor Vinge book that follows the hard SciFi concept of stasis fields that freeze spheres for long period of time.

3 Stars

• Finity’s End (SciFi) My first C. J. Cherryh, which is a touching story that focuses on societies and family.

2 Stars

• Altered Carbon (SciFi) I tried it on Netflix, but abandoned it. I read the book, which is decent, but nothing special.

1 Star

• Cloud Atlas (SciFi) I liked the movie, but it’s next to impossible to understand the story. The book makes the story understandable, but is hard to read, and, frankly, boring.
• Hyperion (SciFi) This book consists of a number of people telling stories. The idea is to use storytelling to describe a world. Sorry, but I much prefer Tolkiens approach for describing a world. The concept just did not work for me.

Children’s Books

• Harry Potter – this year, we finally finished the last Harry Potter book! Yay!
• Teslas unvorstellbar geniales und verblüffend katastrophales Vermächtnis – very cool book, where Tesla’s hidden inventions are collected by a group of children, who have to fight the evil secret society founded by Eddision.
• Teslas irrsinnig böse und atemberaubend revolutionäre Verschwörung – this is part 2. Part 3 is planned for 2019.
• Space Kids – this is a simple series of kids working on the rescuing of earth. Rather soft SciFi, but simple and fun reading.
• Princess Insomnia – After having read the really well-written “Die 13 1/2 Leben des Käpt’n Blaubär” and “Die Stadt der träumenden Bücher”, this was very disappointing.