Library

Physical books I own & have read. See about for more on how I got here. The rating scale is 1 through 5 stars.

21 books · tap a row to expand

Title Author Year Rating
The Penguin Book of Pirates
True Stories of the Most Notorious Pirates
Katherine Howe (Editor) 2024 ★★★☆☆

A Penguin Classics anthology of real-life pirate accounts spanning three centuries and eight thousand nautical miles, compiled by Katherine Howe, a direct descendant of a sailor who fought pirates in the early nineteenth century. Drawn from trial transcripts, journalism, and ship logs, it covers figures like Blackbeard and the real pirates behind Jack Sparrow, Stede Bonnet, and the Dread Pirate Roberts, alongside lesser-known women pirates who disguised themselves as men.

Publisher
Penguin Classics
Format
Paperback
Rating
★★★☆☆ (3/5)
Pages
400
ISBN
978-0-14-313751-1
nonfiction history anthology
The Tale of Despereaux
Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread
Kate DiCamillo 2015; originally published 2003 ★★★★☆

A Newbery Medal-winning children's fantasy novel following Despereaux Tilling, an undersized mouse with oversized ears who falls in love with music, stories, and a human princess named Pea. His fate intertwines with Roscuro, a rat drawn to the light he isn't allowed to have, and Miggery Sow, a servant girl chasing an impossible wish — three threads that lead down into a dungeon, up into a castle, and into each other's lives. Illustrated in black and white by Timothy Basil Ering.

Publisher
Candlewick Press
Format
Paperback
Rating
★★★★☆ (4/5)
Pages
272
ISBN
978-0-7636-8089-3
Illustrator
Timothy Basil Ering
fiction children fantasy
The Club
How the Premier League Became the Richest, Most Disruptive Business in Sports
Joshua Robinson, Jonathan Clegg 2019 ★★★½☆

An inside look at the rise of England's Premier League from a struggling domestic competition into the world's most valuable sports league. Drawing on interviews with club owners, executives, managers, and players, Robinson and Clegg explore the billion-dollar television deals, global marketing, fierce rivalries, and business decisions that reshaped modern football and transformed clubs into international brands.

Publisher
Mariner Books
Format
Paperback
Rating
★★★½☆ (3.5/5)
Pages
464
ISBN
978-0-358-21305-5
nonfiction sports business history
Europe's Promise
Why the European Way Is the Best Hope in an Insecure Age
Steven Hill 2010 ★★★☆☆

Political analyst Steven Hill argues that Europe's social market model offers a compelling alternative to both unfettered free-market capitalism and state-controlled economies. Examining healthcare, labor protections, environmental policy, education, and democratic institutions across the European Union, he contends that Europe's approach provides greater economic resilience and quality of life while remaining globally competitive.

Publisher
University of California Press
Format
Paperback
Rating
★★★☆☆ (3/5)
Pages
488
ISBN
978-0-520-26137-2
nonfiction politics economics
Ghost Rider Epic Collection: Hell on Wheels
Collects Ghost Rider stories, mainly from the 1970s
Gary Friedrich, Tony Isabella 2022 ★★★★★

Collects the origin of Ghost Rider: Marvel Spotlight (1971) #5-12, Ghost Rider (1973) #1-11, and Marvel Team-Up (1972) #15. Johnny Blaze strikes a deal with the devil to save a friend's life and is transformed into the flame-skulled Ghost Rider, battling Satan, the Witch-Woman, and teaming with Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan, in the stories that launched decades of hell-on-wheels action.

Publisher
Marvel
Format
Paperback
Rating
★★★★★ (5/5)
Pages
424
ISBN
978-1-302-94611-1
Illustrator
Mike Ploog, Tom Sutton, Jim Mooney
fiction comics action
The Grand Canyon and the Southwest
A Photographic Journey of the US Southwest
Ansel Adams 2019 ★★★★½

Published to honor the Grand Canyon National Park centennial, this collection of Ansel Adams' black-and-white photographs captures the drama and beauty of the Canyon and the American Southwest — landscapes Adams considered second only to Yosemite and the High Sierra in his affections.

Publisher
Little, Brown and Company
Format
Paperback
Rating
★★★★½ (4.5/5)
Pages
112
ISBN
978-0-316-53487-1
Illustrator
Edited by Andrea G. Stillman
nonfiction photography nature art
Meditations
Thoughts of the Roman Emperor on Life, Death, and the Pursuit of Virtue
Marcus Aurelius (trans. Gregory Hays) 2003 ★★★★☆

The personal journal of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, never intended for publication yet destined to become one of history's most enduring philosophical works. Gregory Hays' modern translation presents Aurelius' reflections on discipline, mortality, virtue, and the pursuit of a meaningful life in clear, contemporary English, making Stoic philosophy accessible without sacrificing its depth.

Publisher
St. Martin's Griffin
Format
Paperback
Rating
★★★★☆ (4/5)
Pages
256
ISBN
978-1-250-85254-0
nonfiction philosophy classics
Apple
The First 50 Years of Apple, from the Garage to the World's Most Influential Company
David Pogue 2026 ★★★★★

Technology journalist David Pogue chronicles Apple's first half-century, from the company's founding in a California garage through its transformation into one of the world's most influential technology companies. Drawing on more than 150 interviews and extensive archival research, the book explores Apple's landmark products, corporate culture, triumphs, failures, and the people who shaped its history.

Publisher
Simon & Schuster
Format
Hardcover
Rating
★★★★★ (5/5)
Pages
608
ISBN
978-1-9821-3459-4
nonfiction technology business history apple
The Portable Nietzsche
A Comprehensive Collection of Friedrich Nietzsche's Writings
Friedrich Nietzsche 1977 ★★★½☆

Walter Kaufmann's landmark collection of Friedrich Nietzsche's major writings, including Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Twilight of the Idols, The Antichrist, and Nietzsche Contra Wagner, alongside selections from his notebooks and letters. Widely regarded as one of the best English introductions to Nietzsche's philosophy, it presents his ideas on morality, individuality, religion, and the creation of meaning in a single authoritative volume.

Publisher
Penguin Classics
Format
Paperback
Rating
★★★½☆ (3.5/5)
Pages
704
ISBN
978-0-14-015062-9
nonfiction philosophy classics
The Rust Programming Language
An Official Guide to Rust, the Systems Programming Language
Steve Klabnik, Carol Nichols 2023 ★★★★½

The official guide to Rust, written by two members of the Rust Core Team. Starting with the language's fundamentals before progressing through ownership, borrowing, lifetimes, traits, concurrency, and asynchronous programming, it serves as both an introduction for newcomers and a comprehensive reference for experienced developers building fast, memory-safe software.

Publisher
No Starch Press
Format
Paperback
Rating
★★★★½ (4.5/5)
Pages
560
ISBN
978-1-7185-0310-6
nonfiction technology programming
Classic American Autobiographies
A Collection of Foundational American Autobiographical Writing
Edited by William L. Andrews 2014 ★★★½☆

A collection of foundational American autobiographical writing spanning more than two centuries. Featuring works by Benjamin Franklin, Frederick Douglass, Mark Twain, Zitkala-Ša, and others, the anthology traces the evolution of the American experience through firsthand accounts of exploration, slavery, innovation, and identity.

Publisher
Signet Classics
Format
Paperback
Rating
★★★½☆ (3.5/5)
Pages
496
ISBN
978-0-451-47144-4
nonfiction history classics biography anthology
The Nicomachean Ethics
A Foundational Text of Western Moral Philosophy
Aristotle (trans. David Ross, rev. Lesley Brown) 2009 ★★★★☆

Aristotle's foundational work of moral philosophy, asking what the best thing for a human being is and answering: happiness — not a feeling, but a kind of flourishing life built from our best capacities. This Oxford World's Classics edition pairs David Ross's classic translation, revised by Lesley Brown, with a new introduction, notes, glossary, and bibliography.

Publisher
Oxford University Press (Oxford World's Classics)
Format
Paperback
Rating
★★★★☆ (4/5)
Pages
336
ISBN
978-0-19-921361-0
nonfiction philosophy classics
Together Is Better
A Little Book of Inspiration
Simon Sinek 2016 ★★★★★

A short, illustrated parable from the author of Start With Why and Leaders Eat Last, about the courage to ask for help, the willingness to help others, and how the choice to go together — rather than alone — shapes how we feel about our journey. Looks like a children's book; written for adults.

Publisher
Portfolio (Penguin)
Format
Hardcover
Rating
★★★★★ (5/5)
Pages
160
ISBN
978-1-59184-785-4
Illustrator
Ethan M. Aldridge
nonfiction business self-help
Who Moved My Cheese?
An A-Mazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life
Spencer Johnson 1998 ★★☆☆☆

A #1 international bestseller told as a simple parable about two mice and two "littlepeople" navigating a maze in search of cheese — a metaphor for anticipating, acknowledging, and adapting to change at work and in life.

Publisher
G. P. Putnam's Sons
Format
Hardcover
Rating
★★☆☆☆ (2/5)
Pages
96
ISBN
978-0-399-14446-2
nonfiction business self-help
Trump: The Art of the Deal
An Insider's Account of the Real Estate Deal-Making Process
Donald J. Trump, Tony Schwartz 2015; originally published 1987 ★★★½☆

A firsthand account of Donald Trump's rise as a real estate developer, laying out his professional and personal worldview through stories from some of his biggest deals in 1980s New York City real estate.

Publisher
Ballantine Books (Random House)
Format
Paperback
Rating
★★★½☆ (3.5/5)
Pages
384
ISBN
978-0-399-59449-6
nonfiction business biography
Source Code
Part 1 of 3, the story of Bill Gates' early life and the founding of Microsoft
Bill Gates 2026 ★★★½☆

Bill Gates' memoir of his childhood, early passions, and the path that led a twenty-year-old Harvard dropout to co-found Microsoft — focused not on the company or the Gates Foundation, but on the personal story of how he became who he is.

Publisher
Vintage
Format
Paperback
Rating
★★★½☆ (3.5/5)
Pages
336
ISBN
978-0-593-68746-8
nonfiction technology biography
Ender's Game
The revolutionary science fiction novel that launched the Ender Saga
Orson Scott Card 2021; originally published 1985 ★★★★★

The Hugo and Nebula award-winning science fiction novel following Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, a child genius bred and trained by military agencies to command Earth's defenses against a hostile alien race — believing he's playing one more simulated war game.

Publisher
Tor Books
Format
Paperback
Rating
★★★★★ (5/5)
Pages
256
ISBN
978-1-250-77302-9
fiction sci-fi
The ONE Thing
The Surprisingly Simple Truth About Extraordinary Results
Gary Keller, Jay Papasan 2013 ★★½☆☆

A #1 Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and USA Today bestseller arguing that extraordinary results come from focusing on the single most important thing in any area of life — work, personal, family, and spiritual — rather than spreading effort thin.

Publisher
Bard Press
Format
Hardcover
Rating
★★½☆☆ (2.5/5)
Pages
240
ISBN
978-1-885167-77-4
nonfiction business self-help
The Old Man and the Sea
The classic Hemingway novel about struggle, resilience, and the human spirit
Ernest Hemingway 2022; originally published 1952 ★★★★★

The Pulitzer Prize-winning story of an aging Cuban fisherman's relentless battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. This Hemingway Library Edition adds a previously unpublished short story, a foreword by Patrick Hemingway, and an introduction by Seán Hemingway.

Publisher
Scribner
Format
Paperback
Rating
★★★★★ (5/5)
Pages
160
ISBN
978-1-4767-8785-5
fiction classics
Steve Jobs
The authorized biography of the Apple cofounder and technology visionary
Walter Isaacson 2021 originally published 2011 ★★★★★

Based on more than forty interviews with Steve Jobs over two years, plus interviews with over 100 family members, friends, and colleagues, this biography traces the roller-coaster life of Apple's cofounder, whose drive for perfection reshaped personal computers, animation, music, phones, and publishing.

Publisher
Simon & Schuster
Format
Paperback
Rating
★★★★★ (5/5)
Pages
672
ISBN
978-1-9821-7686-0
nonfiction technology business biography apple
Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets
5 Questions to Help You Determine Your Next Move
Andy Stanley 2020 ★★★☆☆

Pastor and author Andy Stanley lays out five questions to run every major decision through — around finances, relationships, and career — aimed at helping readers make better decisions and avoid the regret of decisions made carelessly or in a hurry.

Publisher
Zondervan
Format
Hardcover
Rating
★★★☆☆ (3/5)
Pages
192
ISBN
978-0-310-53708-3
nonfiction self-help