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My year-end book list

(MoneyWatch) Each year I publish for my friends the list of books I read over the past year, along with my personal ratings. There are a few books I'd like to highlight:

  • My favorite book from this year's list, and now one of my all-time favorites is Gregory David Roberts' "Shantaram," a powerful story of human redemption
  • For those interested in human behavior, a must-read is Daniel Kahneman's "Thinking, Fast and Slow"
  • For those interested in economic history, Liaquat Ahamed's "The Lords of Finance" is a must read
  • For history fans, three great reads are Candice Millard's "The River of Doubt," Erik Larson's "In the Garden of Beasts" and S.C. Gwynne's "Empire of the Summer Moon"
  • For sports fans, especially those with ties to New York, Harvey Araton's "When the Garden Was Eden" is a great read. Also, "Scorecasting" by Tobias Moskowitz and L. Jon Wertheim is excellent for those interested in sabermetrics.
Distinguished

- Lords of Finance, by Liaquat Ahamed
- In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson
- The River of Doubt, by Candace Millard
- Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman
- Stone's Fall, by Iain Pears
- Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts
- Joker One, by Donovan Campbell
- Serpent on the Rock, by Kurt Eichenwald
- The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg
- Empire of the Summer Moon, by S.C. Gwynne
- When the Garden was Eden, by Harvey Araton
- When They Come for Us, We'll Be Gone, by Gal Beckerman
- The Power of the Dog, by Don Winslow
- Taken, by Robert Crais
- The Hellhound of Wall Street, by Michael Perino
- The Signal and the Noise, by Nate Silver

Excellent

- The Sentry, by Robert Crais
- The Worst Hard Time, by Timothy Egan
- The Reversal, by Michael Connelly
- The Hedge Fund Mirage, by Simon Lack
- The Lost Wife, by Alyson Richman
- The Last Boy, by Jane Leavy
- A Conflict of Interest, by Adam Mitzner
- Rich Boy by Sharon Pomerantz
- Blue Blood and Mutiny, by Patricia Beard
- The Drop, by Michael Connelly
- Scorecasting by Tobias Moskowitz and L. Jon Wertheim
- The Dawn Patrol, by Don Winslow
- My Losing Season, by Pat Conroy
- The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach

Very Good

- Forever, by Pete Hamill
- The Lost City of Z, by David Grann
- Carte Blanche, by Jeffery Deaver
- The Devil's Company, by David Liss

Good

- Mr. Ruehle, You Are a Free Man, by William Ruehle
- The Story of Beautiful Girl, by Rachel Simon
- Napoleon's Pyramids, by William Dietrich
- Moonlight Mile, by Dennis Lehane
- Last Call, by Daniel Okrent
- The Gendarme, by Mark Mustian
- Someday Rich, by Timothy Noonan and Matt Smith
- Hit and Run, by Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters
- Strategic Financial Planning Over the Lifecycle, by Narat Charupat, Huaxiong Huang and Moshe Milevsky
- Jerusalem, by Simon Sebag Montefiore

Fair

- Keynes Hayek, by Nicholas Wapshott
- The Missing Risk Premium, by Eric Falkenstein
- The Outfit, by Richard Stark
- Summers in the Bronx, by Ira Berkow
- Payable on Death, by Donald Korn
- Lush Life, by Richard Price
- Sacred Hoops, by Phil Jackson
- A Reliable Wife, by Robert Goolrick

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