©  Honeybee Capital 2014

DECEMBER 2014

YEAR-END BOOK ISSUE

We are delighted to present the Honeybee book list for 2014!

Most year-end book lists only focus on books published in the prior twelve months, a woeful limitation. Here is our year-end list of favorite books, some old, and some new.

A very extroverted friend once said to me, “I think when you find a new book, you must feel like I do when I meet a new person.” Yes, that is it exactly! I do deeply cherish my human-shaped friends, of course, but in this issue I’d like to introduce you to my rectangular-shaped companions.

Happy reading!

“Beware of the person of one book.” - Thomas Aquinas

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.” - Cicero

BUSINESS & INVESTING:

RISK, UNCERTAINTY, AND PROFIT, by Frank Kn ight Knight ’ s book can be hard to f ind, but his i s some of the bes t or ig inal work d is t inguish ing r i sk f rom uncer ta in ty – the “known unknowns” versus the “unknown unknowns.” I f you are interes ted in res i l ience, sys tems th inking, or some of the fa ta l f laws in many approaches to f inance, this i s important s tuf f , wel l worth seeking out .

THE SUCCESS EQUATION, by Michael Maubouss in Are you convinced your k ids are smar ter than thei r SAT scores indicate? Are you f rus t ra ted tha t your obvious genius a t work seems underapprecia ted? Do you have great 3 -year inves tment re turns but s t i l l wonder i f you’ve “got i t ” ? Then you must , mus t read th i s book. I f I were s t i l l managing a big inves tment team, I would hand out a copy of th is book with each and every bonus rev iew. For some folks , I ’d read passages aloud.

©  Honeybee Capital 2014

SELF -MANAGEMENT TRIO:

MANAGING ONESELF, by Peter Drucker Somet imes the most power ful messages come in smal l packages . This pamphlet i s more of an ar t ic le than a book, fu l l o f Class ic Common Sense, which, as we a l l know, i s h ighly under -ra ted. I re -read this book every year – i t ’ s never surpr i s ing, and that i s precisely why i t i s always helpful .

TRUE NORTH, by Bi l l George In this book, Bi l l George provides a roadmap for personal leadership that i s worth more than al l o f the checkl is ts and four -quadrant char t s you’ve ever seen. He s ta r t s wi th a decept ive ly s imple ques t ion, “What i s your own t rue nor th?” When that i s wel l -def ined, lo ts o f o ther so -cal led problems turn out to not be problems a t a l l . This work, a long wi th Manag ing Onese l f ( see above) and Servant Leadersh ip ( see below), i s among the bes t personal management books of a l l t ime.

SERVANT LEADERSHIP, by Robert Greenleaf Row upon row of a i rpor t -books tore management books cannot hold a candle to th is , in my opinion. Greenleaf ’ s book i s now about 30 years o ld, but in i t you see a depth and rootedness that most wr i t ing in th is genre lacks. I t i s not “10 Easy Steps to Being Awesome” but ra ther a thought ful re f lect ion on the very essence of leadership. Are you a leader or are you a boss? This decept ively s imple ques t ion i s a v i ta l d is t inct ion that i s o f ten skipped over in our search for e f f ic iency and “profess ional management” .

NONFICTION:

ALL IN THE DAY’S WORK, by Ida Tarbell

THE BULLY PULPIT, by Doris Kearns Goodwin As noted in our las t research issue, I cannot bel ieve that a l l I knew about Taf t i s what I learned in e lementary school his tory : “Wil l iam Howard Taf t was America’s fa t tes t president .” Wrong in so many ways. As I read The Bul ly Pulpi t , I could not wai t to learn more about Ida Tarbel l , whose autobiography is out o f pr in t but s t i l l easy to f ind. Tarbel l , l ike Taf t , i s too eas i ly reduced to his tory -quiz labels : “ famous woman muckraker” . Sheesh. Hers was a l i fe o f endless cur ios i ty , though she admits to los ing th is cur iousi ty in the 1920’s and 30’s , only to recover i t la te in l i fe , in par t through the work of her autobiography . She re turned to her own essence to wri te th is book, cur ious about the arc her own l i fe . Oh, yes , Roosevel t i s in these too. Teddy, not Frankl in .

THE ART OF STILLNESS, by Pico Iyer This t iny l i t t le book is a real t reat . No, there is no “how to” sect ion. No, there is not a grand narra t ive arc . That i s the point . I t i s so hard for many of us to s i t s t i l l , but reading th is book, you come to the end and real ize that for a couple o f hours you have been…. s t i l l . I f end -of -year nut t iness i s ge t t ing to you, make a b i t o f t ime for th is book. And i f you’re not nut ty yet , read i t anyway, as prevent ive medicine.

©  Honeybee Capital 2014

SMALL VICTORIES, by Anne Lamott You know how somet imes you meet the exact r ight person a t the exact r ight t ime, and they put words to a l l o f the overwhelming wordless s tu f f o f l i fe? Acknowledging the enormity o f gr ie f and fear , whi le a lso seeing through i t , even i f the breakthrough is a t iny l i t t le sunbeam on the darkes t and cloudies t o f days . This i s Anne Lamott , f inding grace in everyday l i fe . The book i t se l f i s a lso graceful , a smal l b lue jewel wi th lovely b lue -and -gold type… and i t ’ s here jus t in t ime for the hol idays , which, i t turns out , are not the most wonder fu l t ime of the year for everyone.

THIS IS WATER, by David Foster Wal lace Wallace i s a b i t S te inbeck -ian in his conclusion, that the capaci ty for independent thought i s a t the hear t of a l l worthwh i le human endeavor . This t iny t reasure of a book i s a t ranscr ip t o f the Commencement address Wal lace gave a t Kenyon Col lege before h is unt imely death. (The fu l l tex t i s a l so widely avai lable on the in ternet ) .

QUIET, by Susan Cain Cain’s work conta ins v i ta l ins ights , such as the d is t inc t ion between shyness (when social in teract ion can be painful ) and int rovers ion (when a person thr ives wi th less socia l s t imulat ion versus more) . I love that she makes the case for contr ibut ion and leadership that i s not so centered on being loud and gregar ious . Moreover , her nuanced discuss ion makes c lear that “ int rover t” i s not an somehow a lesser or misanthropic way to be. I f you not an in t rover t yourse l f , I be t you love one. E i ther way, this book is required reading.

LETTERS OF NOTE, edi ted by Shaun Usher The mesmeriz ing blog has f inal ly publ ished the US vers ion of i t s wel l -curated archives . I love that you can see the or ig inal images o f these le t ters a long with the t ranscr ip t ions and context notes – poor handwri t ing, quirky i l lus t ra t ions, te legram typefaces and a l l . Did you know that apparent ly the Queen of England is not required to have excel lent penmanship? In addi t ion to the fasc inat ing content , th is compila t ion can’ t help but make you conscious of the layers o f nuance and meaning that are los t in our e -forms of communicat ion (which l inks in several ways to the s tory in the movie Her , but that ’s for another t ime…).

UNBROKEN, by Laura Hi l lenbrand When I f i r s t read th is book, I sped through i t : to say the s tory is r ive t ing i s an unders ta tement . What I apprecia te even more now is the way that i t i l lus t ra tes both endurance and res i l ience – concepts that are somet imes re la ted, but not a t a l l synonyms. I t i s hard to say much about th is book without veer ing in to pla t i tudes – jus t read i t , and hurry up, before the movie comes out . (With thanks to Honeybee Kel ly C. for the long -ago recommendat ion! ) .

©  Honeybee Capital 2014

SCIENCE & NATURE:

THE BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE AND NATURE WRITING, ed. Deborah Blum I ’m a sucker for an anthology, par t ly because of a lurk ing general ized FOMO (Fear o f Miss ing Out) . Yes , the Economis ts and New Yorkers keep coming, far fas ter than I can keep up with them. Yes , the new books beckon, even as great heaps of c lass ics awai t . So I ’m glad that th is “bes t of” ser ies now includes a volume for sc ience and nature wri t ing – you can s top a t the shor t p ieces , or use them as launching points to deeper explora t ions. E i ther way, i t ca lms the FOMO Monster .

NATURAL HISTORIES: OPULENT OCEANS, by Melanie St iassny I was del ighted to discover this boxed publ icat ion at my local booksel ler , where I could appreciate i t s real -l i fe beauty in a decidedly non -vi r tual way. As you might expect , coming f rom the American Museum of Natural His tory, the book is a ter r i f ic mix of science and his tory. Did you know, for example, that a huge swath of Je l ly f i sh research was conducted in the ear ly 1800’s , a f ter French naval vessels were f reed up f rom the pesky business o f war and turned thei r at tent ion to sc ient i f ic explora t ion? Accompanying the text i s a fantas t ic ser ies of i l lus t ra t ion pla tes – old -school and awesome. Turns out th is i s par t o f a wonder fu l ser ies f rom the American Museum of Natura l His tory , wh ich also includes publ icat ions on birds …. and natura l h is tor ies here and here . Seek out the hardcover /boxed vers ions i f you can, s ince the separate i l lus t ra t ion plates are real ly great .

LIFE EVERLASTING : The Animal Way of Death, by Bernd Heinr ich This pas t year , I ’ve been working my way through the fu l l se t o f Heinr ich’s wri t ings , which combine meta -level quest ions and micro -level observat ions in a wonder fu l way. For example, the explora t ions in th is book were prompted by a f r iend who reques ted a “green bur ia l” on Heinr ich’s proper ty , insp i r ing impor tant ques t ions about why and how humans handle death so di f fe rent ly f rom the res t o f nature . This quickly led Heinr ich to days and days of observat ion of scavenger beet les , ravens, and other under takers o f the natura l wor ld. Heinr ich’s creatures have some useful ins ights regarding the inves tment ques t ion of how to cons ider graceful , e f fec t ive decl ine ins tead of endless , don’ t -ask -why growth.

©  Honeybee Capital 2014

FICTION & POETRY:

THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS, by El izabeth Gi lbert

EUPHORIA, by L i ly King I f there is an explorer in your l i fe , these two novels wi l l be of in teres t . The S ignature of Al l Things spans a great a rc f rom Capta in Cook to Char les Darwin, and shows how i t can be the s lower, care ful pathways that ul t imately lead to the most dramat ic breakthroughs – in sc ience and in l i fe . Euphoria i s imagined f rom the l i fe o f Margare t Mead, which might make i t sound a lo t less exci t ing than i t i s . I devoured th is book with in a smal l segment o f a long t ranspaci f ic f l ight , jus t a few hours . These books are both fasc inat ing reads, especia l ly i f you’ve ever dreamt of being an adventurous academic (not an oxymoron, I prom i se ) .

GLITTER & GLUE, by Kel ly Corr igan I heard Kel ly Corr igan speak at The Nantucket Project th is fa l l ; the ta lk was so compel l ing that before night fe l l was al ready knee -deep in he r book. The t i t le i s taken f rom a f requent quote of Corr igan’s mother : “your fa ther ’s the g l i t te r , but I ’m the g lue.” I f you are f inding more and more apprecia t ion for the g lue in your own l i fe as t ime goes by, you wil l love th is book. (A memoir , but I put i t in our f ic t ion sect ion, as i t reads l ike a s tory and not a b iography. )

RILKE’S BOOK OF HOURS, t rans lated by Joanna Macy Ri lke, snooze! Oh ye of many wedding ceremonies . Been there , done that . Not t rue! This par t icular t ransla t ion by Joanna Macy is worth seeking out – phrases that are impress ive in o ther t rans la t ions become compel l ing; images that are in teres t ing become luminous. A wonder ful book for wai t ing -out -the -bl izzard reading.

BLUE HORSES, by Mary Ol iver Yes i t ’ s t rue, I love Mary Oliver , and th is la tes t volume is no except ion. In these poems you’ l l f ind s l ight ly fewer dogs and birds and s l ight ly more over t emotion… beaut i fu l composi t ions. Trus t me, you wil l not miss the dog, unless you are a real ly pass ionate dog person. Okay, even as I type tha t I can hear you shout ing , so never fear . I f you are a zealous dog person, she has a whole book jus t for you: DOG SONGS

MORE PICTURES THAN WORDS:

THE RIVER , by Alessandro Sanna I was f i r s t a ler ted to th is book v ia the ter r i f ic Brainpickings s i te , and i t i s a gorgeous publ icat ion, a lmost 100% watercolor i l lus t ra t ions. There is a s tory here , and beauty – best o f a l l , you can make up great chunks of your own nar ra t ive , wi th as much nuance and depth as you l ike… which maybe means i t should be in the f ic t ion sect ion. Great to read with a smal l chi ld (or a large one) , whi le you make up s tor ies together .

©  Honeybee Capital 2014

BEFORE & AFTER, by Matthais Aregui This looks l ike a chi ldren’s book a t f i r s t g lance, but look a l i t t le c loser and you f ind that i t ’ s funny, and touching. Acorn, t ree. Bees , honey. Chicken, Egg. Egg, chicken. Hmm. Lovely i l lus t ra t ions, and surpr is ingly thought -provoking.

INFORMATION IS BEAUTIFUL, by David McCandless McCandless has a sor t o f Tuf te -esque v iew of data and i t s presenta t ion, which i s about the grea tes t compl iment I could g ive . There have been a lo t of in fo -graphic books in recent years , and th is remains one of my favor i tes .

AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS, by Maira Kalman Maira Ka lman b lends i l lus t ra t ion and s tory te l l ing in an especial ly poignant and ef fect ive way. Though the l i s t o f her publ icat ions i s long, th is book f rom a few years ago remains my favor i te . I t ’ s the col lect ion of her ser ies for the NY Times, where she wrote each month about something American - the Supreme Court , Mont icel lo, Abraham Lincoln… her repor ts are interes t ing, educat ional , and surpr is ingly touching. Patr iot ic wi thout being patronizing – and a ter r i f ic g i f t book too.

PERIODICALS:

Don’t like books? Even the shortest, most entertaining ones? Never fear, here are some short-form publications that are just as list-worthy. All have tremendous intellectual and aesthetic appeal, and all are terrific multi-disciplinary endeavors. Nautilus is science-centric, Orion is morality-centirc, and Lapham’s is history-centric, but there are many wonderful cris-crossings in between.

NAUTILUS The tagl ine for Naut i lus i s , “sc ience connected”. Each issue delved in to a big topic f rom mul t ip le d isc ip l ines and perspect ives . Obvious ly , I love i t . This smal l excerpt f rom the Nothingness i ssue gives you a great sense of what to expect : Ar is to t le f i l led the void with an invis ib le ether , Torr ice l l i k i l led i t , and Higgs has gone some way to br ing ing i t back. The wi l l to noth ingness i s the path away f rom meaning for Nietzsche, but the path toward meaning for the Buddhis t . Some formal is t approaches to mathemat ics def ine zero as a foundat ional symbol , whi le Gödel used zero to undermine formal i sm i t se l f . I f these sentences make you say “ooh!” out loud – even i f i t ’ s ‘cause you’re not qui te sure who Torr icel l i i s – then this i s the publ icat ion for you.

©  Honeybee Capital 2014

ORION This publ icat ion has evolved qui te a b i t over i t s th i r ty -plus years , but the founding s ta tement o f Orion’s values s t i l l s tands: I t i s Or ion’s fundamenta l convic t ion that humans are mora l ly respons ib le for the wor ld in which we l ive , and that the indiv idual comes to sense th is respons ib i l i ty as he or she develops a personal bond with nature . So, yeah, I love th is one too. I t ’ s a l i t t le more moral ly asser t ive than some publ icat ions, but I ’m coming to apprecia te bold asser t ions more than wimpy equivocat ions, even i f – especia l ly i f - I occas ional ly d isagree.

LAPHAM’S QUARTERLY I f you pop onto Lapham’s websi te you are greeted with th is quote f rom Cicero: Not to know what happened before one was born i s a lways to be a ch i ld . There is something t remendously re f reshing when the l i s t o f contr ibutors reads l ike th is : Alber t E ins te in , Chr is topher Marlowe, Emily Dickinson, S t . August ine, H.G. Wells , Marcel Proust . Talk about an in teres t ing dinner par ty! I ment ioned to my dad that I was researching t ime and cycles and he handed me the Fal l 2014 issue – one more reason that I ’m forever in his debt .

OTHERS’ LISTS

Isn’t it tremendous that the geeky readers’ club seems to keep growing and growing?

Here are a few other resources for terrific book commentary and recommendations:

BRAINPICKINGS: We’ve of ten re ferenced the content o f Bra inpickings (and thanks to Honeybee S tephanie S . for the in i t ia l in t roduct ion to th is s i te! ) . There are lo ts o f books included throughout the s i te , including many that are not f rom th is century , or even the las t century . This a lone makes Brainpickings a wor thwhi le p lace to spend some t ime. You can peruse the v i r tual bookshel f…

…or search Mar ia ’ s mul t ip le “bes t o f” l i s t s , which include helpfulcommentary wi th l inks to wonder ful re la ted content .

FARNAM STREET: I l ike that Farnam Street fea tures d i rect recommendat ions as wel l as suggest ions f rom other readers , such as Char l ie Munger , B i l l Gates , Peter Thiel , and Bi l l Cl in ton. L ike Brainpickings , there is tons o f book -y content on th is s i te , so you might want to use the search bar to narrow th ings down a bi t . Parr ish wants to be a good reader , l ive a meaningful l i fe , and f in ish each day smarter than he s tar ted i t… the c lar i ty o f these in tent ions shines through.

LIST OF LISTS: I f you’re real ly eager for ideas , here i s a n icely curated l i s t o f l i s t s f rom BookRiot .

©  Honeybee Capital 2014

A NOTE ON BOOKSELLERS:

Aler t readers may have not iced that many of our l inks connect you with a Very Large Onl ine Reta i le r , and indeed, we apprec ia te that th is re ta i le r prov ides ter r i f ic customer serv ice and helpfu l product deta i l . We are a lso loya l patrons of loca l bookse l lers , o f course (most especia l ly Brookl ine Booksmith)! In fact , one of my favor i te ways to get to know a new area i s to seek out i t s bookstore and i t s cof feeshop (somet imes one and the same). The IndieBound organizat ion can help you seek out these loca l bookse l lers wherever you may be – and i f you are an e - lov ing person, they have handy onl ine funct ions too.

http://Brooklinebooksmith.com http://www.indiebound.org

FINAL WORD:

Lest you think we are a little too crazy about books and book lists…

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”

- Haruki Marukami

“Keep reading books, but remember that a book is only a book, and you should learn to think for yourself.”

- Maxim Gorky

©  Honeybee Capital 2014

LIST OF LINKS:

For quick and easy reference…

BUSINESS & INVESTING:

RISK, UNCERTAINTY, AND PROFIT, by Frank Knight ht tp : / /amzn. to /1yBD4ZB

THE SUCCESS EQUATION, by Michael Maubouss in ht tp : / /amzn. to /1yBDsY4

MANAGING ONESELF, by Peter Drucker ht tp : / /amzn. to /1zac9Cy

TRUE NORTH, by Bi l l George ht tp : / /amzn. to /1wcd5Zb

SERVANT LEADERSHIP, by Rober t Greenleaf ht tp : / /amzn. to /1wcdieZ

NONFICTION:

ALL IN THE DAY’S WORK, by Ida Tarbell ht tp : / /amzn. to /11J4GPC

THE BULLY PULPIT, by Doris Kearns Goodwin ht tp : / /amzn. to /1FHAHVo

THE ART OF STILLNESS, by Pico Iyer ht tp : / /amzn. to /11KBYhk

SMALL VICTORIES, by Anne Lamott ht tp : / /amzn. to /1rNHw1n

THIS IS WATER, by David Foster Wallace ht tp : / /amzn. to /1y48Cna

QUIET, by Susan Cain ht tp : / /amzn. to /1FJ2Pcx

LETTERS OF NOTE, ed i ted by Shaun Usher ht tp : / /amzn. to /1rNa7J I

UNBROKEN, by Laura Hi l lenbrand ht tp : / /amzn. to /1vbNPB9

SCIENCE & NATURE:

THE BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE AND NATURE WRITING, ed. Deborah Blum ht tp : / /amzn. to /1yBD4ZB

NATURAL HISTORIES: OPULENT OCEANS, by Melanie S t iassny ht tp : / /amzn. to /1B5zLMP

L IFE EVERLASTING : The Animal Way of Death, by Bernd Heinr ich ht tp : / /amzn. to /1A7zmWK

    ©  Honeybee Capital 2014

FICTION & POETRY:

THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS , by E l izabeth Gi lber t ht tp : / /amzn. to /1y47LTu EUPHORIA, by L i ly King ht tp : / /amzn. to /1zI jF7u GLITTER & GLUE, by Kel ly Corr igan ht tp : / /amzn. to /1vJymqH RILKE’S BOOK OF HOURS, t rans la ted by Joanna Macy ht tp : / /amzn. to /1yBGbRg BLUE HORSES, by Mary Oliver ht tp : / /amzn. to /1HRKMmA

MORE PICTURES THAN WORDS:

THE RIVER , by Alessandro Sanna ht tp : / /amzn. to /1A7ACsT BEFORE & AFTER, by Mat thais Aregui ht tp : / /amzn. to /1yuPnWq INFORMATION IS BEAUTIFUL, by David McCandless ht tp : / /amzn. to /1v4kHq8 AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS, by Maira Kalman ht tp : / /amzn. to /11J6mc2

PERIODICALS:

NAUTILUS ht tp : / /naut i l .us ORION ht tp : / /www.or ionmagazine.org LAPHAM’S QUARTERLY ht tp : / /www.laphamsquar ter ly .org

OTHERS’ LISTS

BRAINPICKINGS ht tp : / /bra inpickings .org FARNAM STREET ht tp : / /www.farnamstreetblog.com BOOK RIOT ht tp : / /bookr io t .com/2013/07/10/ the -10 -best - top -100 -book -l i s t s /