12 Favourite Books That I Read In 2009

Posted on January 13 · Comments

This might be a bit of a who cares post, but then again, you may be interested in what this blogger reads when not blogging. Although these aren’t ‘frugal’ or personal finance books, some of these are a pretty darn good read, so if you’re looking for a book, then here are a few suggestions.

My selection is limited to what is held in our public library, so not exactly the latest and greatest NY Times best sellers, but the library has a pretty good collection and these are some of the best read this year in no particular order:

1. The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science by Norman Doige

I don’t know what to say except that this is an awesome book. It’s about neuroplasticity and the latest in cutting edge neuroscience. It debunks for the most part, the old theory of unchangeable brain maps, and shows people recovering from strokes, overcoming intellectual disabilities and mental illnesses just through thinking exercises – no scalpel involved. The book even shows how a woman who was born with only one brain hemisphere, not only survives but compensates for the missing hemisphere.

How do we learn? How does a child’s brain develop? Do we really have to lose our memory in old age? Can we prevent Alzheimer’s disease just through mental and physical exercise? This is a truly fascinating insight into the wonders of the human brain, a topic that will never fail to be interesting.

2. Breaking Out of the Box. The Biography of Edward De Bono by Piers Dudgeon

If you’ve heard the term ‘lateral thinking’ then you know the work of Edward De Bono, the father of creative ‘out of the box’ thinking. I’ve been a fan of Edward De Bono’s work for a long time.

The book reveals the man behind the concepts and an obsession with questioning established thinking patterns, conventions, technologies and behaviours, even ones that are working just fine. I can understand why he isn’t a social man: try challenging established or normative patterns of thinking at your next social function and get shot down for your efforts, trust me I know.

Still progress and change relies on people who naturally use the techniques that De Bono teaches. These creative techniques are now available to all of us through his books and programmes.

3. Baby Signs: How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk by Linda Acredolo, Susan Goodwyn and Doug Abrams

You may be sceptical about the title, but the idea behind this book is that a lot of the tantrums of young toddlers stem from the desire to communicate but as yet the inability to do so.

If you taught your baby to wave ‘bye bye’, then you taught them baby signs. This book is an extension of that. Giving babies a means of communication before speech kicks in. I read this just after reading The Brain that Changes Itself, and I have no doubt that a baby’s mind is not only quite capable of this, but that it’s actually beneficial.

4. Free Lunch: Easily Digestible Economics by David Smith

This book explains economics in a way that I can understand and uses real life examples (food related) to draw parallels to economic concepts. Economics is actually quite interesting and very, very relevant so if you want an easy intro like I did, this book is a good place to start.

5. Green Made Easy: The Everyday Guide to Transitioning to a Green Lifestyle by Chris Prelitz

I wrote a book review on this book. You can see it here. When people are bantering about the term “green fatigue” I like how this book lives up to it’s name and actually makes the transition to a more ‘green’ lifestyle easy by giving plenty of tips on making small changes in all aspects of every day living.

6. In Defence of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan

I’m a big fan of the wholefood philosophy, so the author was preaching to the choir when I read this book. His philosophy is simple: eat food, not food like substances. Most of what we buy and eat these days isn’t ‘food’ in the real sense of the word, it’s adulterated and supposedly “improved”. The book reveals the history of the Western diet and talks about the fallacy behind our obsession with nutrionalism.

7. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

I never saw the movie, but my impression is that the book is quite different to the movie. There is no-one binging on Maccas anyhow. This book is a real eye opener when it comes to the US food industry. I was completely floored by the information that Eric presents in this book. No wonder we’ve got health problems.

The book covers everything from food production, to food consumption and the rights and working conditions of those in the industry all along the line. Of course, it makes me wonder what the Australian food industry is like.

8. Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneurs Odyssey to Educate the World’s Children by John Wood

This book is the autobiography of John Wood, founder of the Room to Read charity organisation. After having an epiphany hiking in Nepal, John created a charity with the goal of providing books and schooling resources to the worlds poorest children, improving their future opportunities and thus lifting communities out of poverty. This charity is very much independence focused though, with locals running and often taking over the program in each country.

The interesting thing is that John Wood has taken what he learnt working in the upper echelons of Microsoft and applied it to running his charity. If you’re interested check out the room to read programme here.

9. The Power of Serving Others: You Can Start Where You Are by Gary Morsch and Dean Nelson

Gary is the founder of the international disaster relief organisation Heart to Heart International.

In a world where we hear so much negativity, this book focuses on the positive. It tells the story of people who are willing to give a hand in times of need – the story of Hurricane Katrina is very, very moving.

The idea behind this book is that everyone has something to give and anyone can give anytime. Your gift doesn’t need to be great, just needed. The book quotes Mother Theresa’s “you can do small things with great love,” which I think is a lovely philosophy.

One of the most memorable stories is of a hospital ward in India full of dying men. One man started choking and another gave him a slice of orange to sooth his throat. It was a small gift, but the giver had exactly what was needed at the time (it was all he had), and he gave it. A thousand dollars of humanitarian aid couldn’t have helped at that moment like that one piece of orange could.

This short book is one of the most inspiring books I read this year.

10. On Writing by Stephen King

This has been on my reading wish list for well over 10 years. This prodigious writer started out by writing his first best seller in the laundry of their tiny house kids and all, while working ‘real’ jobs. There’s no excuses then for any aspiring writer. Stephen King can write and write well, and his autobiography is no exception. The account of his childhood is fascinating. The poverty of early adulthood, the fame and fortune, the spiralling alcohol and drug problem and his fight back, and his near death experience, all make for a great read, even if you never want to write a novel in your life.

11. Stylin’ with CSS: A Designer’s Guide by Charles Wyke-Smith

DH, if you’re reading this, this book is on my Amazon wish list.

I think I’ve done a fairly good job of teaching myself web programming off the net, but this book explains CSS so that it makes sense. I’ve kept my eye on it, and it’s come down in price by about 50% so another couple of months and it should be within my budget!

12. The Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer

So, not everything I read is high-brow non-fiction. Of all the fiction I read this year, this series was the best. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about and I wasn’t disappointed.

I have humongous expectations when it comes to fiction, stylistic blunders really annoy me. And Stephanie Meyers isn’t a bad writer actually. Book 4 could probably be skipped altogether, and the character of Edward (and I use the word character loosely) doesn’t get me in like pre-teens, and it’s probably not going to be a bloke’s favourite read, but these were actually “I can’t put the book down” reads that I quite enjoyed.

What were your favourite books for 2009? Feel free to share your favourite reads, they may become mine or other readers’ favourite reads of 2010.

Have you read these posts?

Category: miscellaneous · Tags: book review