Personal Website of Kevin Mears

Read in 2024

There were a few fairly chunky books this year.

You can see what I thought under each one, but looking back I'd forgotten how many good ones there were. Plenty of good fiction got consumed too.

  1. What Money Can’t Buy Michael J Sandel
    Succinctly written and thought provoking on how the application of markets, changes the nature of the thing being allocated via that mechanism. Especially like the way he puncturing the idea that altruism is some kind of limited resource and so should be preserved - a handy excuse to be selfish. Examples - stadium naming rights, life insurance, blood donations. Also how fines can become fees and how that ends up distorting behavior. Useful thing to remember the reason people often feel queasy was referring to either fairness or corruption (of norms) in the mechanism and how that panned out.
  2. A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole
    Great. Bonkers characters all brought together expertly and satisfyingly.
  3. Thank You for the Days Mark Radcliffe
    Likeable and light collection of anecdotes crafted into a book.
  4. I Am the Law Michael Molcher
    Very thorough breakdown on Dredd in relation to Law and Order policies, and at times a very dense political book. Just about pulls it back to be more accessible and stays the right side of the academic versus readable line. I particularly liked the early chapters that covered the context that 2000ad was born into - more history than politics.
  5. The Creative Act Rick Rubin
    More influential than i expected, maybe coming at the right time for me - the universe delivering.
  6. Where Did I Go Right Geoff Northcott
    Enjoyable easy read. Liked his thoughtful and funny approach, and he seems better at being serious with a bit of humour - liked the bit about how Labour aren’t thinking that working class people want to aspire.
  7. Scoop Evelyn Waugh
    Took a little while to get going, but funny and enjoyable. More farce than satire, but came satisfyingly together.
  8. Private Eye the first 50 Years Adam McQueen
    Fun roundup and educational on where it came from.
  9. The Silence of Animals John Gray
    Struggled to grasp things, but there was enough there to keep me trying
  10. What the Dog Saw Malcolm Gladwell
    Entertaining nuggets of counterintuitive ideas and noticing. His wheelhouse.
  11. Empire of the Sun J G Ballard
    Nice writing throughout, and evokes a sort of heat haze sort of feel to the story. Reminds me of the bit at the start of Fargo that say this is a true story - meaning true not accurate.
  12. A Brief History of Motion Tom Standage
    Enjoyable. Breezy coverage of a big topic, but enough depth to be interesting.
  13. Exactly Simon Winchester
    Enjoyable - interesting cast of characters and nice range of topics.
  14. The City and the City China Mieville
    Police procedural with very odd twist of two distinct countries existing alongside and on top of each other. Made for interesting angles to the mystery, and resolved decently enough. As is important for these things you grow to like the main protagonist, so get invested.
  15. Jeremy Hutchinson's Case Histories Thomas Grant
    Interesting cases for a variety of reasons and good on the workings of the law, but veering close to hagiography at times.
  16. Shuggie Bain Douglas Stuart
    Bleak at times, but nicely written. Had me rooting for the protagonists’ Enjoyed the descriptiveness of the writing that didn't get in the way and propelled things along as well as invoking an atmosphere.
  17. Ten thousand light-years from home James Tiptree Jr.
    Pulpy feel of a selection of stories, but nice variety of trippy, tricky and downright weird. Notable that James Tiptree Jr. was a pseudonym for that rare thing in SciFi - a woman writer.
  18. The Satsuma Complex Bob Mortimer
    Straightforward and enjoyable with Mortimer touches
  19. Cartographies of Time Daniel Rosenberg
    Felt it took a while to get going into the interesting challenges of representing events in an accessible and visually arresting way. Once it did show those successful examples it was good. Would have liked more info on the crossover with data visualisation which the time line is very much a subset of these days.
  20. Diary of a Nobody George Grossmith, Weedon Grossmith
    Odd little book that gently sends up Mr Pooter, but also has you wishing him well - despite his silliness
  21. Our Lives in Their Portfolios Brett Christophers
    Not unexpectedly pretty technical so sometimes hard to follow, but the general point that the asset funds have captured large swathes of stuff to extract money is clear, and as I suspected a bit depressing. At least I know a bit more about the how, and how outrageous it all is.
  22. Wish I Was Here M. John Harrison
    Frustrating, enjoyable, baffling, inspiring, dense, deft. - Some of the words conjured up by this. Glad I read it, but couldn’t do it again. Sort of like ‘difficult’ music.
  23. The Great Gatsby F Scott Fitzgerald
  24. Our Mathematical Universe Max Tegmark
    Mostly baffling, but he is enjoyable to read. I ran out of steam by the end as I think I was putting in more than I was getting out.
  25. Managing Records Elizabeth Shepherd, Geoffrey Yeo
  26. Charlie’s Good Tonight Paul Sexton
    Charlie comes across as a lovely man, with an almost workmanlike attitude to his job. Was a bit of a hagiography, and the endless talk about houses here there and everywhere was dull. One for the uber fans.
  27. This Sporting Life Robert Colis
    Felt a bit academic at times, as any book with a 100 page bibliography is going to. Was interesting on the transition of customs and events into play and games. Overall felt very thorough, but too dry and exhaustive to enjoy as a dip in. One for the professional historians.
  28. Haywire Craig Brown

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