5 Stars-I would recommend these to anyone. 

Date-onomics: How Dating Became a Lopsided Numbers Game

• Highly educated women have very limited dating options because men are not graduating from college at the same rate. 

The Last Cowboys: A Pioneer Family in the New West

• The Wright family has 13 children, a dying ranch, and the family is known as the best saddle bronc riders in the world. The storylines are interesting (Mormons who live hard and enjoy rodeo life), and intense (the injury list of the family brutal). Highly recommend. 

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City

• A sad and eye-opening journey of individuals at the margins (and their landlords) of society finding housing in Milwaukee. 

The Mastermind: Drugs. Empire. Murder. Betrayal.

• Epic story and chase of Paul LeRoux who founded DrugsRX. He made $250 million a year through a huge network of online pharmacies and began to expand into a much larger and more dangerous criminal enterprise. 

The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon

• The story of the Glen Canyon Dam and a group of wild river raft guides. Awesome history of dams and the water crisis in the West as well as an awesome story of crazy dudes going down the Grand Canyon in wooden boats in record-breaking speeds. 

4 Stars-Good books overall, really good if you find the topic interesting. 

Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice

• Bill Browder’s memoir highlighting his investments in Russia as the country privatized. Stories of the corruption he faced, the murder of one his team, and his huge wealth. 

Cheap Land Colorado: Off Gridders at America’s Edge

• Ted Conover tells the story of people living in a remote, freezing, and desolate area near Alamosa, Colorado. Interesting view into individuals living at the margin of societ. 

Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63

• Enormous book on Martin Luther King’s beginnings. The book is the first of three. Awesome in-depth writing and author fills in the details on the dynamics that made MLK Jr. an ideal leader for civil rights movement. 

The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream

• Sister Ping is the ultimate crime boss and human smuggler of Chinatown. Compelling view into the lengths individuals from China will go through to make it to America. 

Hometown Victory: A Coach’s Story of Football, Fate, and Coming Home

• Story of Keanon Lowe taking a team in an underprivileged area of Portland, Oregon and his journey to turn the team around. Lowe is noteworthy for his coaching as well as stopping an active shooter at the school and giving the shooter a hug to protect him. The book is a little cliche/cheesy, but heartwarming. 

Discipline is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control

• Ryan Holiday’s newest book. Motivational and thought provoking. Solid book for new year’s resolutions. 

The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music

• Dave Grohl’s memoir. Awesome writing about his upbringing and stories from his time with Nirvana and the Foo Fighters. 

The Lost Bank: The Story of Washington Mutual

• The only bank to fail during the 2008 meltdown. Rapid expansion, deterioration of core values, and a focus on profits at the expense of the customer. Well written and an interesting view into the financial system.

The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes

• Burrough tells the story of the four wealthiest oil families from Texas. I thoroughly enjoyed learning how the families made their money, and the stories of how they spent (and in a few cases) and kept it.

Powder Days: Ski Bums, Ski Towns and the Future of Chasing Snow

• Heather Hansen is a professional journalist who returns to the slopes to tell the stories of ski bums. I appreciated seeing the underside and back rooms of mountain towns, and she illustrates the challenges of affordability and labor supply in ski resort towns.

3 Stars-Solid books that I finished but didn’t love 

The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger

• The shipping container is a complete game changer for globalization and the world as we know it. I enjoyed learning the history and the impact shipping containers had on port towns. Backwater shipping docks became primary hubs because they had space to build entirely new infrastructure to accommodate shipping containers (New Jersey over New York, Oakland over San Francisco). The book gets too granular at times and drags on. 

Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall

• Interesting view into the development and architecture of malls and their impact on culture and growth of cities. Mall culture led to abandonment of older (problem-filled) downtowns for a sterile, air conditioned shopping environment. The mall looks like a public space but operates with private security and strict regulation. Lange also provides commentary on the state of malls and their future–malls always have to reinvent themselves and today is no different. The second half of the book was all over the place and hard to follow. 

Burke’s Law: A Life in Hockey

• Brian Burke has served as the general manager of numerous NHL teams and worked for the league. The book is interesting as Burke documents his life and approach to team building. He talks a lot about his commitment to his family..but his actions don’t back it up. I did not care for him personally but learned a fair bit. 

Books I bought and abandoned after a chapter or two…

Bullshit Jobs: A Theory

 A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload

Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34