Since the internet is already awash with unread reviews, I'll add some more noise to the mix. I wanted to get my own thoughts to paper and will probably be used for my own reference more than anything. These are books that I've read in 2011, or books that I'm currently reading. They are not books that are necessarily written in 2011. I intend to update the list as I read more until year's end. I'll also add that I read most of these on Kindle which I tout a great medium for reading. It has helped my reading productivity enormously and I like being able to carry around several books at once and without fear of damaging them. I don't tend to read just one book at any one time, so Kindle is perfect for that.

[Updated 27/11/2011]

 

Finished

Fantasy

 

A Game of Thrones (book 1 of a song of fire and ice) - George RR Martin

I very much enjoyed this book. It came recommended to me by a good friend after I mentioned that I had started to read Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. Firstly, I never finished the first book of the Wheel of Time, I'm about 60% of way through. It started off well enough but quickly became frustrating and boring. A game of thrones on the other hand is a well crafted story with an interesting plot. Since finishing this book in March I've gone on to read all the others in the series and started book 5 when it came out in July this year.

Not a series that is heavy on philosophy but rather focusses upon character development and interaction, sometimes to the detriment of plot. While Tolkien focussed more on good and evil as a theme in LOTR, Martin throws good and evil out the window and has created a world of chaos where everyone fights everyone else. Thumbs up for chucking out the old and tired dichotomy.

 

A Clash of Kings (book 2 of a song of fire and ice) - George RR Martin

Not as good as the first. I found the plot twists and turns to be frustrating. The twists worked well in the first book but in this book I feel they are overdone. The words are well crafted but the plot isn't as interesting for me.

 

A Storm of Swords (book 3 of a song of fire and ice) - George RR Martin

Better than the second and deserving of the award it didn't receive (see Martin's comments on wiki).

 

A Feast for Crows (book 4 of a song of fire and ice) - George RR Martin

On par with the second book, although not as good as the 3rd. Unfortunately this book puts more emphasis on the characters that I don't find as interesting.

 

A Dance with Dragons (book 5 of a song of fire and ice) - George RR Martin

Better than book 4 but not as good as the first or third. This book has more focus on the characters I enjoy reading about: Jon, Daenerys, Tyrion. Although I thought the parts on Daeny could have been better, that is to say more action packed. Martin is a great writer of characters. The characters feel alive and his descriptions are great but I felt like he dwells on their thoughts and feelings too much, I'd like enough to understand the characters but would prefer if the plot moved a bit quicker.

 

Finance / Economics

 

The Shadow Market - Eric Weiner

Forget investment banks, forget hedge funds. The biggest players in the financial markets are the sovereign wealth funds (SWFs). The Norwegian SWF (or oil fund) is quoted as being 1%, by value, of all financial markets in the world which makes it the biggest fund. This book is a fascinating read and one that I'd highly recommend for anyone interested in economics and finance, and definitely for anyone that is vaguely interested in global politics.

 

Trading Forex for dummies - Galant and Dolan

An simple enough book, the first half is quite insightful but the second half seemed repetitive and covered stuff that I mostly already knew. It has some useful things about trading forex and also some basic stuff about technical analysis / trading patterns. Not a bad place to start I guess.

 

The Naked Trader's guide to spread betting - Robbie Burns

I read his first book and found it an easy introduction to trading/ investing shares. This book is an easy introduction to spread betting.

 

 

On space and time - editor: Majid

This book is a collection of 6 'essays' by well known professors in physics / maths where the nature of their words is on the idea of what space and time is. It has many interesting ideas although not all of them are new to me. Some parts are a bit slow but I hope to finish it soon (although probably not). I intend to expand upon some of the ideas in this book in a future essay on this site, or perhaps a simpler explanation of some of the ideas being proposed. I recommend this for an advanced audience, it isn't maths light.

 

 

 

How I became a quant - Lindsey & Schachter

This book follows the story of mathematicians and physicists and entered finance by landing jobs at Goldman Sachs etc. I find that most of the stories to be repetitive. Interesting but not the most interesting book I've ever read, I don't find it to be essential reading.

 

 

Unfinished / still reading

 

The complete idiot's guide to publishing Science Fiction - Doctorow and Schroeder

Only started to read this book today, roughly 10% of the way through it at the time of typing. I'm reading it because the notion interests me. I should try to publish, at least one story, in my lifetime.

 

To the Blight: The eye of the world - Robert Jordan

65% complete and I'm struggling to finish it. I'm bored. Incredibly bored. The first 10 - 20% was interesting but the characters became dull and repetitive. I'll try to finish this one day.

 

Wealth of Nation - Adam Smith

A fascinating book that has some obtuse language. A classic none-the-less and puts a lot of things in perspective. Currently 65% done.