One year, 50 books, innumerable ideas.

Ranked in order of impact on my worldview.

1. The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence has Declined by Steven Pinker

The world has never been more peaceful than it is now thanks to the civilizing force of strong governments, more trade between countries, increased respect for the role of women in society, the communication ability of mass media, and the ever-greater reliance on rational thought and critical thinking.

2. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Harari

Humans distinguished themselves from all other animals on Earth by our communication abilities and our belief in “collective fictions”, constructs such as money, religion, and laws that only exist because many individuals believe in them together.

3. Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Harari

Having conquered war, plague, and famine in the second half of the 20th century, humanity will spend the 21st century in a quest for superhuman abilities through genetic enhancements and human-machine integration.

4. Hands-On Machine Learning with Scikit-Learn and Tensorflow by Aurelion Geron

Machine learning is now accessible to all with open-source, easy-to-use frameworks, and anyone can learn to build practical machine learning implementations with minimal resources.

5. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahnemann

In our daily lives, we often make irrational decisions by employing shortcuts as a result of our automatic, quick system one instead of using our slow, logical system two.

6. Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation by Steven Johnson

Ideas emerge not from deep within a specific field, but at the intersection of different areas of study, which is why the internet and college campuses are such fertile grounds for innovation.

7. The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard

A first-hand account of Robert Scott’s 1912 expedition to be the first person to the South Pole which ended with Scott reaching the pole one month after Roald Amundsen and perishing on the return journey due to a series of mistakes and poor decisions.

8. Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths

We can incorporate computer science solutions to problems such as constraint satisfaction and the explore-exploit into our daily decision-making processes to improve our lives.

9. Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life by Adam Greenfield

A well-thought-out review of the perils and potential benefits of emerging technologies such as 3-D printing and cryptocurrency, and a call for us to think about what we give up — mainly privacy and autonomy — when we uncritically adopt new technologies into our lives.

10. Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande

Medicine, as with any other field of human endeavor, is not perfect, but that should not prevent us striving to improve our methods and surpass our previous achievements.

11. Watership Down by Richard Adams

An inspiring tale of survival and kinship focusing on a group of rabbits (yes really) that manages to encompass the entire range of human emotions in a page-turning narrative.

12. The Culture of Fear by Barry Glasner

Despite unequivocal evidence the world is becoming a healthier, safer, richer, and more equitable place, people continue to believe everything is going downhill due to increased news coverage of negative events and no mention of the improvements made every single day.

13. The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies by Jared Diamond

People in the modern, industrialized world have much to learn about child-rearing, elder care, and wellness from traditional tribes and chiefdoms.

14. Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein

The findings of behavioral science can be used to improve both our personal lives and our societies if we accept and account for the fact that humans do not behave rationally and may need coaxing in order to make the optimal decisions for their well-being.

15. Deep Learning with Python by Francois Chollet

Deep learning — mainly neural networks — is accessible through frameworks such as Keras in Python that abstract away much of the theory and let anyone with basic programming skills build state-of-the-art models.

16. Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom

A shrill warning about the potential catastrophic effects of general artificial intelligence if it is not developed with the proper motivations and safeguards.

17. The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murikami

A collection of short stories in the magical realism genre which describe worlds that are disconcertingly similar to ours but feature unexpected elements just beyond the realm of our physical reality.

18. How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker

A thorough and enjoyable examination of various facets of human psychology such as emotions, vision, feminism, rationality, and consciousness through the lens of evolution.

19. Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy by Cathy O’Neil

Data science is supposed to enable equality through objective decisions, but models are ultimately built by humans with certain views and fed data that reflects the current state of the world, leading to a continuation of inequality because as the saying goes: “bias in, bias out.”

20. How Not to be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking by Jordan Ellenberg

An accessible and entertaining look at how we can overcome many of the fallacies we make in areas such as probability and optimization using mathematical concepts.

21. The Borderlands of Science by Michael Shermer

Science has undoubtedly been the greatest invention of humankind, but it has also been used to justify atrocities and sell worthless “cures” to the unaware public through “scientifical” language.

22. Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande

An honest journey with numerous illustrative stories through the uncertainty and mistakes that are inherent to medicine and which keep doctors constantly working to improve care.

23. Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger

People in stressful situations, such as the bombing of London during WWII, emerge with a strong connection to those around them and a sense of community that is nearly absent from modern life.

24. Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival by Bernd Heinrich

A surprisingly intriguing look at the varied ways animals survive harsh winters, from hibernating bears to the Kinglet bird species which spend the entire day eating food and the entire night shivering to stay alive.

25. Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think by Viktor Mayer-Schonberger and Kenneth Cukier

Massive amounts of data will change our society in three ways: we will expect that all data, no matter how minor, should be collected; we will care less about the quality of individual data points because we can look at the aggregate; and we will place greater emphasis on finding correlations and less importance on establishing causation.

26. Once a Runner by John L. Parker Jr.

A story about a collegiate cross country team that inspired me to start running seriously and complete several ultramarathons.

27. Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach

Humans are definitely not meant to live in space at all, and the efforts to put astronauts into space and keep them alive are equal parts incredible and hilarious in their ingenuity.

28. The Second Machine Age: Work Progress and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies by Wrik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee

In the first machine age (the Industrial Revolution) machines were a complement to humans, but in the second, computer-driven machine age, humans cognitive abilities will be surpassed and we need to prepare for an economy in which people have no role.

29. Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis

A detailed accounting of the rise of algorithmic trading, in which machines execute billions of trades a second, focused on the major players, both those who make millions, and those trying to reform the industry.

30. How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer

Even though we know what choices we should make, we often choose the incorrect option because of cognitive shortcomings and unconscious decision-making, but we can take steps to make smarter choices.

31. Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer

Stories of the paranormal, faith healing, or extrasensory perception are seductive even to highly-educated people because they want to think there is more to reality than we can perceive, and these false beliefs should be patiently addressed before they can affect public policy.

32. Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris

Religion, in particular Christianity, is a negative force in America and its influence in all aspects of society puts our country at a severe disadvantage compared to more secular countries where decisions are based on reason.

33. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

An entertaining trip through Bourdain’s experiences as a chef, from his first jobs, to his role as a “celebrity” chef and what everyone should really know about the people who prepare their food.

34. Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner by Dean Karnazes

An auto-biography of a normal guy who discovered he had an incredible talent for running extreme distances and has since completed some of the most grueling running competitions in the ultrarunning world.

35. Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why by Laurence Gonzales

The people who survive in extreme conditions and crises often do not seem to be the most physically capable, but rather are able to maintain control over their emotions, keep a positive attitude with regards to their situation, and make rapid decisions.

36. Mountains of the Mind: A History of a Fascination by Robert MacFarlane

During the 19th century, mountains went from foreboding places inaccessible to humans to targets for full expeditions and casual hikers alike looking to conquer the heights and experience a sense of the sublime beyond ordinary daily toils.

37. Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War by Mary Roach

In their insatiable quest to produce better weapons and soldiers, countries will go to extreme lengths and conduct ridiculous experiments to gain even a minor advantage.

38. Sherlock Holmes: The Published Apocrypha by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Jack Tracy

Several stories by Conan Doyle and others about the famous detective, including several parodies, that do not appear in the standard complete collections of mysteries.

39. Why We Run: A Natural History by Bernd Heinrich

A blend of a personal account of the author’s (a naturalist by trade) experience training for and winning the 1981 100-km ultramarathon in Chicago with an examination of other animals that run and/or complete astonishing journeys of their own.

40. High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed by Michael Kodas

An expose of the culture of corrupt guides and unsafe practices that are a product of an influx of rich climbers willing to pay whatever price to get to the top of the world’s tallest mountain.

41. One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson

In his typical entertaining and informative style, Bryson examines a time in America when many monumental events were colliding including Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic, the seeds of the Great Depression taking root, Prohibition was in full effect but openly flaunted, and mass culture was first starting to capture the nation’s attention.

42. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

A classic science fiction tail of a time-travelor who visits the far future to find a strange society in which humans have evolved into two classes with disconcerting consequences.

43. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

A collection of science fiction tales about the red planet and human attempts to colonize it despite encountering issues with the native inhabitants.

44. Bad Science by Ben Goldacre

Science is often high-jacked by companies with products to sell who want to lend a veneer of credibility to their claims, and we need to be vigilant in identifying and correcting improper uses of science, as well as encouraging the proper application of the scientific method through practices such as randomized controlled studies and peer review.

45. The Art of Invisibility by Kevin Mitnick

The former hacker turned security consultant Mitnick provides practical advice for maintaining anonymity and security both in-person and emphasizes that privacy is still possible but only for those willing to give up convenience and become extremely vigilant.

46. The Lost City of Z by David Grann

In 1925, Percy Fawcett set off into the Amazon jungle to find the rich paradise of Z and was never seen again, prompting a series of searches throughout the decades including one conducted by the author in which he finds no additional information about the mystery.

47. The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

Part three in the Mistborn stereotypical fantasy series in which the heroine must save the world from a dark force using special powers bestowed only a select few members of the population.

48. The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory by Brian Greene

An overview of the issues currently at the forefront of theoretical physics that touches on everything from higher dimensions to subatomic particles in a fairly accessible manner.

49. The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton

A science fiction narrative in which a classified military satellite brings a space-virus to Earth that causes havoc and threatens to spread unless a select group of scientists can find a cure.

50. The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells

The shipwrecked protagonist finds himself stuck on an island with a crazy scientist whose specialty is creating animal-human hybrids that he can barely control.