2011 proved to be a challenging year for many throughout the world, but on the book front it was a runaway bull market. Given all the great books I had the pleasure to read it was actually pretty hard to settle on just five. This year’s selections are all non-fiction works and heavily skewed towards history and biography – my normal staples. And for those concerned about a world without physical books, I’m happy to report that four of the five listed below were read in their original hardback form.
Without further ado, here’s the list of my five favorite books of 2011:
#1 Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
Audiobook played on Apple iPhone
I think when I finished this book I must have mouthed the words “Wow, wow, wow” over and over. Listening to the book through my iPhone playing audio through my car speakers, I just couldn’t believe all of the painful and emotional twists and turns that this book presents. Knowing that this book was a non-fiction account (just goes to show again that reality is always better than fiction) made the saga all the more powerful.
I’m not sure I was really looking to “read” this book. My initial reactions to the topic and book were clearly shortsighted. What is this Seabiscuit author doing messing around in the World War 2 realm? I’m sure she could turn a pretty phrase, but would her scholarship be worthy? Well, desperate for a new audiobook to fill my excruciating commutes in and out of Washington DC, I decided to download the audiobook onto my iPhone and give it a shot. Unlike many other audiobooks where my mind would oftentimes wander from the disembodied voice, I was quickly sucked into this story.
Louis Zamperini was someone that I had never heard of, but his life quickly became a modern Odyssey to me. For those who have read this book you know what I am talking about. How could one man, a man who had once been an Olympic runner, survive an ordeal that includes a crash in a B-24 Liberator, 43 shark-filled days floating on the Pacific, followed by captivity within some of the most brutal Japanese POW camps? This survival epic is a true testament to the resiliency of man. But its the final chapter, with Zamperini back in post-war Southern California, which really produces the true shock and power of this story. In what first appears as a maudlin, unfortunate descent into alcoholism and self-destruction leads to a surprising personal rebirth. Zamperini, who everyone hopes gains total revenge against his sadistic captors, takes a diametrically opposed course of forgiveness. Forgiveness? With the legendary Reverend Billy Graham as his minister, Zamperini discovers his Christian self and becomes a powerful agent of of the New Testament command, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” Completely unexpected….and an ending that vaults this book into a truly exalted plane.
#2 1861: A Civil War Awakening by Adam Goodheart
Hardback Book
Did I really want to read this book? I wasn’t so sure. Yes, this book, 1861: A Civil War Awakening, was focused on the first year of the American Civil War – a key topic for me at the Civil War Trust in 2011. But in perusing this book in the bookstore it seemed that this book went out of its way to avoid traditional military topics like First Manassas, Ball’s Bluff, or Wilson’s Creek. Where were the maps of the Union and Confederate soldiers as they met in combat at Henry Hill or Bloody Ridge? Hmmm. Maybe some other book would be better for me.
After reading an excerpt of the book in a Sunday New York Times Magazine article, I decided to give 1861 a shot. In that article one could clearly see that Goodheart was an excellent writer. Let me just say that I am so glad that I did read this insightful and well-crafted book. Adam Goodheart’s book filled in some huge gaps in my understanding of the first days of the Civil War. And while focusing more on Northern topics and subjects, the book helps to bring to life the powerful emotions and undercurrents which motivated the North as it confronted the specter of civil war. Before reading this book, I, like lots of others I surmise, always assumed that it was the Confederacy alone that was filled with an almost revolutionary zeal and that the Northern forces, reluctantly and quietly, simply went south to do their duty, nothing more. 1861 smashes this conventional notion. Here you find a wide range of characters and subjects ranging from mysterious Wide Awakes to the acrobatic Elmer Ellsworth to Jessie Benton Fremont to a young James Garfield. With each Goodheart connects you to their strong emotional desires for a renewed and improved union. Reading 1861 fills you with an improved understanding of why men from Northern farms and cities rushed out after Fort Sumter to join regiments that would be sent south to fight for something called the United States. This book is truly Pulitzer-prize worthy in my estimation.
See an interview that we did with Adam Goodheart earlier this year: Read the Interview
#3 Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
Hardback Book
What an ass! What a genius. I can’t imagine working for a man like Steve Jobs, but I also can’t imagine a world apart from his great gifts and products. Walter Isaacson in Steve Jobs does a brilliant job of shining a bright, penetrating light upon this central figure of the computer and digital age. This biography, brought to market shortly after Job’s death, highlights the many emotional peculiarities and deep character flaws found in the man. The book also does a great job in de-mythologizing Jobs. In chapter after chapter we learn of Job’s important role in the development of great products like the Apple II, Macintosh, iOS, iPod, iTunes, iPhone, and iPad, but we also get to see the other great contributors whose roles were rarely celebrated publicly by Jobs.
After reading this book did I find myself admiring Steve Jobs less? On a personal level my answer is unequivocally yes. But on a business and product front I must say that my impression of the man was bolstered, if not extended in some interesting ways. Despite running one of the largest and richest companies in the world, Jobs’ ironclad focus on just a few key products is truly remarkable. This laser-like focus is so very hard to achieve, but its also so terribly important so as to achieve greatness in any category of note. Jobs’ attention on all aspects of product greatness (product, software, the buying experience, and even the boxes that contained its magical products) is another powerfully reinforced strength.
Isaacson’s biography reads quickly and his account seems entirely fair and free of the “reality distortion field” that was so present around Steve Jobs and his company.
#4 Neptune’s Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal by James Hornfischer
Hardback Book
In World War 2, major naval powers quickly learned that the aircraft carrier was the dominant naval weapons system and all of those expensive and slow battleships and cruisers were of limited value in this new modern age. Right? Well yes, but as Neptune’s Inferno by James Hornfischer shows, there were key points in the Pacific War where surface combatants reigned supreme. Neptune’s Inferno focuses in on the surface naval combat in the Solomon Island chain near the strategic island of Guadalcanal. With the U.S. Marines holding a tenuous position on the island, the U.S. Navy’s remaining aircraft carriers were, one by one, being sunk, damaged, and driven off by strong Japanese forces. Seeking to regain control of Guadalcanal, the Japanese navy sought to use big-gunned battleships and cruisers to obliterate the American positions on the island. To counter this terrifying threat the US Navy had to rely upon its own large surface combatants.
Hornfisher, who also wrote the excellent Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, does a great job in describing the various surface actions off of Guadalcanal. The pages are filled with Long Lance torpedoes, the screech of armor piercing shells, and mangled ships making their way through the night waters. We also get to see how the US and Allied Navies managed to learn from their early mistakes (Savo Island) and respond with new and more aggressive tactics. And we learn that while the Marines would get most of the public acclaim back in the States, it was the Navy that actually took more casualties during the fight for this strategic toehold. Neptune’s Inferno is really one of the best World War 2 naval warfare accounts to come out in a long time.
#5 1493: Uncovering The New World Columbus Created by Charles Mann
Hardback Book
My number 5 book of 2011 is actually two books – 1491 and its sequel 1493. I have always been fascinated by the classical age of European exploration and was naturally interested in these critically acclaimed accounts of pre-Columbian America and the true, far-reaching impact of the European discovery of the “New World.” What I really liked about these two books is that the author, Charles Mann, focuses in on the real battlegrounds where the new and old worlds collided. While its easy to point at explorers like Columbus and conquistadors like Pizarro and Cortes, Mann shows us that the true conflict was being waged on the microbial and biological level. The great destroyer of the New World empires were diseases, not horse-mounted Spanish soldiers wielding new-fangled firearms.
In 1491 we learn a great deal about the remarkable extent and numbers of the pre-Columbian populations. The notion that the Americas were a sparsely populated terra nova awaiting European settlement are just plain wrong. And in 1493 we learn about how the biological-microbial landscape helped to shape not only the development of the New World (encouraging African slavery because West Africans were more resistant to the terrible sources of malaria in the Americas), but also how it shaped the rest of the world (ex. the globalization of rubber). Endlessly interesting, these books should help educate many who are looking for a fresh and insightful look at the world-changing impact of Columbus’ voyages at the end of the 15th century.
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Other 2011 Books of Note:
Perilous Fight: America’s Intrepid War with Great Britain on the High Seas, 1812-1815 by Stephen Budiansky
The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough
The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood by James Gleick
