As a sort of super-readings, I’m presenting you all with a complete list of books that I read in 2009. I’ve been working on this for a couple weeks, it’s taken me longer to get together my comments and whatnot than I thought it would, so I apologize for that. Enjoy.

Crowdsourcing by Jeff Howe

* * * *  4/5

I read this book at the beginning of the year when I was considering doing a project with crowdsourcing. It was an interesting read, a good, solid look into different crowdsourcing efforts.

Tribes by Seth Godin

* * * *  4/5

Tribes is a light, easy read. It’s not scientific, but Seth Godin writes in an inspiring manner.

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

* * * * *  5/5

A classic book that has interesting points about social networks. It was interesting to read this paired with all the other social-focused books I read this year.

Made to Stick by Chip Heath & Dan Heath

* * * * *  5/5

This was assigned readings for one of our classes. It suggested a framework for creating “sticky” messages, which I don’t think is too off base. They also told some really interesting stories.

Thinking in Systems by Donella H. Meadows

* * * *  4/5

A dense read. You gain about as much from reading the first half as you do the second, but still a different way of thinking. Systems thinking, for the uninitiated, is all about thinking about the ways in which different elements interact. You can also definitely see the green bent in this book, so if you’re an armchair environmentalist, this would be a good pick for you.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

* * * *  4/5

The book wasn’t bad. It was just, not all what I thought it was cracked up to be, based on the hype I’d heard about it.

Innovation Nation by John Kao

* * * *  4/5

This book focuses on innovation, though it doesn’t seem to be aimed at your every day reader. It rather seems to be outlining what Kao views as a multi-pronged approach to a national innovation policy. It gives some good information about innovation happening around the world.

Iconoclast by Gregory Berns

* * * * *  5/5

I really enjoyed this book. It was an easy read, but it also went into different ways in which people learn to think differently about situations. What I also enjoyed, however, was the fact that the book didn’t dilute its point with ‘random facts,’ and instead built up to a complete, cohesive argument that allowed you to walk away feeling like you had a handle on its contents.

Conceptual Blockbusting by James L. Adams

* * * *  4/5

This book was recommended to me by my father, as something he’d read back in college. It’s a good book to learning to think creatively, and focuses a lot on breaking through your own ‘conceptual blocks.’

The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman

* * * *  4/5

I finally read this classic of design thinking, and it was good. There were parts of it that were a bit dry and dense, and in this day and age, a little “duh,” but you have to respect it for what it was, and it would be a good introduction if you hadn’t been exposed before. I found the end quite interesting.

Super Crunchers by Ian Ayres

* *  2/5

One of my least favorite books of the year, unfortunately. I expected an interesting look into the world of ‘super crunchers,’ discussion on the theory and limits of immense number crunching and machine learning, but instead it appears this book is cursory, without deep thought about the ideas presented.

In Pursuit of Elegance by Matthew E. May

* * * *  4/5

Ah, this book was reading a poem disguised as a business book. I don’t think the point it was trying to make was made clearly and concisely, but more in a wandering, exploratory way. It felt different.

Problem Solving 101: A Simple Book for Smart People by Ken Watanabe

5/5

This book was written by an ex-McKinsey consultant as a book for kids on how to problem solve. I’m interested in stuff like this, and I found the plain-talk approach interesting and fun, and a good way to introduce basic critical thinking and problem solving to kids.

How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer

* * * * *  5/5

This book was by far and away the best book I read this year. It’s one that’s actually had an impact on me in terms of the way I think, and what I understand about how I think. Lehrer covers a lot of studies that have been covered in other books, but he ties it all together in a way that feels usable. Lehrer is a great writer in general.

Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers by Robert Sapolsky

* * * * *  5/5

I’m not going to lie, this book was thick, and dense. There was a lot of information in it, but it was communicated in a way that someone without any biology or anatomy background could understand (for example, me). That aside, I thought Sapolsky’s viewpoint was really interesting, and argued both with examples and working information about the human biology.

Rock, Paper, Scissors: Game Theory in Everyday Life by Len Fisher

* * *  3/5

I was excited to read this, but I was pretty disappointed because it seemed not to go to much depth on anything.

Change by Design by Tim Brown

* * * * *  5/5

I wasn’t sure I’d get much out of this, because I thought it was more of an introduction to design thinking for the masses. However, I was surprised. Tim wrote in a way that explained design thinking to someone who’d never heard of it before, but then also went about discussing the implications of the process in interesting ways.

Subject to Change: Creating Great Products and Services for an Uncertain World from Adaptive Path

* * *  3/5

I was pretty disappointed by this book: I walked away not completely convinced that the authors were really talking about the same design process as I do, and I felt like they hadn’t really come up with many interesting insights.

Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky

* * * * *  5/5

This was one of my favorite books of the year, I felt it really appealed to my particular tastes in a lot of different ways. It included the right balance of story-telling and evidence, managing the flip-flop from different viewpoints well.

The Dip by Seth Godin

* * *  3/5

Seth Godin is interesting, but this book didn’t do a whole ton for me. Maybe it was a bit cliche, maybe I just don’t remember it now.

Linked by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi

* * * *  4/5

Linked is a really interesting book on some of the math behind networks. It can be a bit wordy at times, but it goes into a depth surrounding networks most books don’t get into.

Wired to Care by Dev Patnaik

* * *  3/5

Dev taught a class I took in the Winter on need finding. He’s a very smart guy, and it’s unfortunate that he didn’t explain more about his thinking process in this book. This book seems a bit cursory, not really biting into anything particularly meaty.

The Opposable Mind by Roger Martin

* * * *  4/5

This was a good book that I would recommend you read. Roger Martin makes a good attempt to think about how successful people think. The only real thing wrong with this book is it feels as if it were missing the a-ha! explanation or thought that could pull the entire book together.

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond

* * *  3/5

I’ll admit, I didn’t actually make it through this book. It’s long, and wordy, and at times a little arcane, digging into various things like how rat poop petrifies over thousands of years. Still, it’s very fascinating and I felt like it stretched my mind.

Shaping Things by Bruce Sterling

* * *  3/5

This book has some really interesting ideas about what the next generation of ‘gadgets’ may look like, but I wasn’t exactly enamored by it’s prose.

Convergence Culture by Henry Jenkins

* * * *   4/5

Convergence Culture is a great book that looks into what ‘new media’ is going to look like. He talks a lot about what new media will look like and how it engages fans across multiple platforms (fandoms). I wish it had gone a little bit more into the mindset of the people involved in these fandoms. The book seems to be written more for media professionals.

Snoop by Sam Gosling, Ph.D.

* * * *  4/5

This book reminds me of the ethnography that we often have to do for design. He’s got some interesting points, it’s just too bad the book is written from such a psychology perspective: pretty much everything is centered around psychology’s personality traits.

Play by Stuart brown

* * * * *  5/5

Stuart Brown was involved in the class I took at the d.school in the spring (also called Play), and I was fascinated by his viewpoints. I’d never really thought about play before, but this book convinced me that it should be a part of my thinking.

Everything is Miscellaneous by David Weinberger

* * *  4/5

A really interesting look at how information is categorized and stored in a new digital age, and how many of our knowledge systems may have evolved to deal with being categorized and stored in a physical way.

Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert

* * * *  4/5

Gilbert’s main hypothesis is one of those very psychology-minded things that seems a little self-evident or mundane to everyone else but utterly fascinating to psychologists: the only way to predict whether you will be happy is to find someone else who is currently experiencing what you are considering.