2021 reading list

All the books I read in 2021. More than 80% of the books were consumed in audio format. All the books are listed in the order read. My favorite titles are bolded and there are short reviews/impressions/excerpts under some of the titles. My lists for 2018, 2019, and 2020.

Some stats at the end of the post.

1. Дневник Лишнего Человека – Иван Тургенев (2nd read)
2. Constantine the Emperor – David Potter (2nd read)
   This book in the category of biographies that not only cover the subject in detail but can also serve as standalone history of the period. 
3. The Letters of Pliny the Younger – Pliny the Younger
4. The Conquest of Happiness – Bertrand Russell
5. The Consolation of Philosophy – Boethius
6. The Fall of the Roman Empire – Peter Heather (2nd read)
7. King John – Marc Morris
8. The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization – Bryan Ward-Perkins
   A short takedown of the silly continuist thesis. 
9. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams (2nd read)
10. The Annals – Tacitus
11. Restaurant at the End of the Universe – Douglas Adams (2nd read)
12. Life, the Universe and Everything – Douglas Adams (2nd read)
13. I, Claudius – Robert Graves
14. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish – Douglas Adams (2nd read)
15. Mostly Harmless – Douglas Adams (2nd read)
16. Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency – Douglas Adams (2nd read)
17. The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul – Douglas Adams (2nd read)
18. The Demon’s Brood – Desmond Seward
19. Hannibal – Patrick Hunt
20. The Ghosts of Cannae – Robert O’Connell (2nd read)
21. The Razor’s Edge – Somerset Maugham
22. Claudius the God – Robert Graves
23. The Jewish War – Flavius Josephus
24. Cicero – Anthony Everitt
25. How to Read and Why – Harold Bloom
26. The Monkey’s Voyage – Alan de Queiroz
27. Paul – Paula Fredriksen
28. From Jesus to Christ – Paula Fredriksen
29. Pompeii – Steven Tuck (course)
30. Paleofantasy – Marlene Zuk
31. How to Tame a Fox – Lee Alan Dugatkin
32. The Story of the Human Body – Daniel Lieberman
33. The Subjection of Women – John Stuart Mill
34. The Rational Optimist – Matt Ridley
35. The Evolution of Everything – Matt Ridley
36. After Tamerlane – John Darwin
37. The Great Game – Peter Hopkirk
38. The Letters of Abelard and Heloise – Pierre Abelard and Heloise d’Argenteuil (William Levitan tr.)
39. The Thirty Years War – C.V. Wedgwood
40. How the Irish Saved Civilization – Thomas Cahill
41. Emperor – Geoffrey Parker
42. Imprudent King – Geoffrey Parker
43. The Book of the Courtier – Baldassare Castiglione
44. A Distant Mirror – Barbara Tuchman
45. The Scientific Attitude – Lee McIntyre
46. Fatal Discord – Michael Massing
    Pretty detailed double biography of Luther and Erasmus. 
47. Heretics and Believers – Peter Marshall
48. The Mabinogion – Sioned Davies (tr.)
49. How to Read Literature Like a Professor – Thomas Foster
50. The Imitation of Christ – Thomas a Kempis, William Benham (tr.)
51. Empires of the Sea – Roger Crowley
52. The Magician of Lublin – Isaac Bashevis Singer
53. Against Empathy – Paul Bloom
54. Science Fictions – Stuart Ritchie
55. The Parthenon – Mary Beard
56. The Colosseum – Keith Hopkins and Mary Beard
57. The Ancient Roman World – Ronald Mellor, Marni Mcgee
58. The Table Talk of Martin Luther – Martin Luther, Thomas S. Kempis (ed.), William Hazlitt (tr.)
59. The Bondage of the Will – Martin Luther
60. The Praise of Folly – Desiderius Erasmus
61. Innate – Kevin Mitchell
62. The Civilization of Renaissance in Italy – Jacob Burckhardt
63. When Christians Were Jews – Paula Fredriksen
64. Thomas Cromwell – Diarmaid MacCulloch
65. Roman Warfare – Adrian Goldsworthy
66. The Wars of the Roses – Dan Jones
67. The Landscape of History – John Lewis Gaddis
68. Free to Learn – Peter Gray
69. The Road to Serfdom – Friedrich Hayek
70. God’s Philosophers – James Hannam
    
71. The Idea of the Brain – Matthew Cobb
72. Early Greek Philosophy – John Burnet
73. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman – Mary Wollstoncraft
74. The Scout Mindset – Julia Galef
75. Vindolanda – Adrian Goldsworthy (Vindolanda #1) (2nd read)
76. The Encircling Sea – Adrian Goldsworthy (Vindolanda #2) (2nd read)
77. Brigantia – Adrian Goldsworthy (Vindolanda #3) (2nd read)
78. Babylon – Paul Kriwaczek
79. The Last Kingdom – Bernard Cornwell (The Last Kingdom/Saxon Stories #1) (2nd read)
80. The Pale Horseman – Bernard Cornwell (The Last Kingdom/Saxon Stories #2) (2nd read)
81. Lords of the North – Bernard Cornwell (The Last Kingdom/Saxon Stories #3) (2nd read)
82. Sword Song – Bernard Cornwell (The Last Kingdom/Saxon Stories #4) (2nd read)
83. The Burning Land – Bernard Cornwell (The Last Kingdom/Saxon Stories #5) (2nd read)
84. Death of Kings – Bernard Cornwell (The Last Kingdom/Saxon Stories #6) (2nd read)
85. The Pagan Lord – Bernard Cornwell (The Last Kingdom/Saxon Stories #7) (2nd read)
86. The Empty Throne – Bernard Cornwell (The Last Kingdom/Saxon Stories #8) (2nd read)
87. Warriors of the Storm – Bernard Cornwell (The Last Kingdom/Saxon Stories #9) (2nd read)
88. The Flame Bearer – Bernard Cornwell (The Last Kingdom/Saxon Stories #10) (2nd read)
89. War of the Wolf – Bernard Cornwell (The Last Kingdom/Saxon Stories #11) (2nd read)
90. Sword of Kings – Bernard Cornwell (The Last Kingdom/Saxon Stories #12) (2nd read)
91. War Lord – Bernard Cornwell (The Last Kingdom/Saxon Stories #13) (2nd read)
92. The Scythians – Barry Cunliffe
93. The Rise of Athens – Anthony Everitt
94. Thebes – Paul Cartledge
95. Hellenica – Xenophon
96. A World Lit Only by Fire – William Manchester
97. How to Write a Thesis – Umberto Eco
98. The Ancient Celts – Barry Cunliffe
99. The Travels of Marco Polo – Marco Polo
100. The Birth of Classical Europe – Simon Price, Peter Thonemann
101. The Inheritance of Rome – Chris Wickham
102. The Face of Battle – John Keegan
103. The Field of Blood – Nicholas Morton
104. Matilda – Catherine Hanley
105. Augustine – Robin Lane Fox
106. The Great Siege – Ernle Bradford
107. The Fort – Adrian Goldsworthy (Vindolanda #4)
108. The Anglo-Saxons – Marc Morris
109. The Grand Strategy of the Classical Sparta – Paul A. Rahe
110. Genghis Khan – Frank McLynn
111. The Roman Way – Edith Hamilton
112. The Power of Myth – Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers
113. Discourses and Selected Writings – Epictetus (Thomas W. Higginson tr.)
114. The World Before Us – Tom Higham
115. Letters from a Stoic – Seneca (Robin Campbell tr.)
116. The Winter King – Thomas Penn
117. Classical Mythology: A Very Short Introduction – Helen Morales
118. Written in Stone – Christopher Stevens
119. Ancient Warfare: A Very Short Introduction – Harry Sidebottom (2nd read)
120. The Enemy at the Gate – Andrew Wheatcroft
121. Experiencing Medieval Europe – Kenneth Bartlett (course)
122. The Tragedy of Empire – Michael Kulikowski
123. The Apocryphal Gospels: A Very Short Introduction – Paul Foster
124. Rebellion – Peter Ackroyd
125. The Pilgrim’s Progress – John Bunyan
126. In Defense of History – Richard J. Evans
127. Augustine: A Very Short Introduction – Henry Chadwick
128. A Needle in the Right Hand of God – R. Howard Bloch
129. Paul: A Very Short Introduction – E.P. Sanders
130. Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introductions – John Monaghan and Peter Just
131. The Dream of Enlightenment – Anthony Gottlieb
132. The Red Prince – Helen Carr
133. Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel
134. Revolution – Peter Ackroyd
135. On Grand Strategy – John Lewis Gaddis
136. The History of Astronomy: A Very Short Introduction – Michael Hoskin
137. Ancestors – Alice Roberts
138. The History of the Franks – Gregory of Tours
139. In Search of a Kingdom – Laurence Bergreen
140. God’s Jury – Cullen Murphy
141. The Richest Man Who Ever Lived – Greg Steinmetz
142. Galileo’s Middle Finger – Alice Dreger
143. Who We Are and How We Got Here – David Reich
144. The Cheese and the Worms – Carlo Ginzburg
145. The Bible: A Very Short Introduction – John Riches
146. The Waning of the Middle Ages – Johan Huizinga
147. The Astonishing Hypothesis – Francis Crick
148. The Canterbury Tales –  Geoffrey Chaucer
149. Memoirs of My Life – Edward Gibbon
150. Third Thoughts – Steven Weinberg (2nd read)
151. Chaucer’s People – Liza Picard
152. Sexual Selection: A Very Short Introduction – Marlene Zuk
153. Biological Anthropology – Barbara King (course)
154. The Ancient City – Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges (Willard Small tr.)
155. The Black Cloud – Fred Hoyle
156. Guns, Germs, and Steel – Jared Diamond
157. The New World – Winston Churchill (A History of the English-Speaking Peoples vol. 2)
158. Roman Architecture – Diana Kleiner (course YOC)
159. Conquerors – Roger Crowley
160. Orthodox Christianity: A Very Short Introduction – Edward Siecienski
161. A Short History of Humanity – Johannes Krause
162. Over the Edge of the World – Laurence Bergreen
163. Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism – Max Weber (Talcott Parsons tr.)
164. Conquest of the Americas – Marshall C. Eakin (course)
165. Capitalism and Freedom – Milton Friedman
166. The Return of Martin Guerre – Natalie Zemon Davis
167. Early Modern England – Keith Wrightson (course YOC)
168. Marco Polo – Laurence Bergreen
169. On the Ends of Good and Evil – Cicero (H. Harris Rackham tr.)
170. The Borgias – G.J. Meyer
171. The Renaissance: A Very Short Introduction – Jerry Brotton
172. Inventing the Middle Ages – Norman F. Cantor
173. Never Greater Slaughter – Michael Livingston
174. Journeys of the Great Explorers – Glyndwr Williams
175. The Age of Revolution – Winston Churchill (A History of the English-Speaking Peoples vol. 3)
176. The Courage to Be Disliked – Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga
177. The Beginner’s Guide to Stoicism – Matthew Van Natta
178. Sicily – John Julius Norwich
179. Mythology – Edith Hamilton
180. Europe in the High Middle Ages – William Chester Jordan
181. The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England – Ian Mortimer
182. How Innovation Works – Matt Ridley
183. Omnipotent Government – Ludwig von Mises
184. Bosworth 1485 – Michael Jones
185. City of Fortune – Roger Crowley
186. In the Wake of the Plague – Norman Cantor
187. Life in a Medieval City – Joseph Gies and Frances Gies
188. World Without End – Hugh Thomas
189. God’s Shadow – Alan Mikhail
190. The Borgias and Their Enemies – Christopher Hibbert
191. The Secret History of the Mongol Queens – Jack Weatherford
192. The Great Warming – Brian Fagan
193. The Faithful Executioner – Joel F. Harrington
194. Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
195. The Invisible Gorilla – Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons
196. Clausewitz: A Very Short Introduction – Michael Eliot Howard
197. Monasticism: A Very Short Introduction – Stephen Davis
198. The Invaders – Pat Shipman
199. The History of Medicine: A Very Short Introduction – William Bynum
200. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order – Samuel Huntington
201. Genghis Khan and the Quest for God – Jack Weatherford
202. The Anatomy of the State – Murray Rothbard
203. The Bronze Lie – Myke Cole
204. The Winter King – Bernard Cornwell (The Warlord Chronicle #1)
205. Survival of the Friendliest – Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods
206. The Sacred Band – James Romm
207. Enemy of God – Bernard Cornwell (The Warlord Chronicle #2)
208. The Map That Changed the World – Simon Winchester
209. A Story of Us – Lesley Newson and Peter Richerson
210. Your Inner Fish – Neil Shubin
211. 1491 – Charles C. Mann (2nd read)
212. The History of the Vikings – Christopher R. Fee
213. The Travels of Reverend Olafur Egilsson – Olafur Egilsson (trs./eds. Karl Smari Hreinsson and Adam Nichols)
214. Medieval Bodies – Jack Hartnell
215. Exercised – Daniel Lieberman
216. Range – David Epstein
217. Nature Via Nature – Matt Ridley
218. A Hangman’s Diary – Franz Schmidt (ed. Albrecht Keller, trs. Calvert and Gruner)
219. The Hedgehog and the Fox – Isaiah Berlin
220. The Origins of Virtue – Matt Ridley
221. The Horse, the Wheel, and Language – David Anthony
     The detail and scope of this book puts all other historians and history books to shame. Stop dumbing down ffs!
222. Evolution (Oxford Readers) – Mark Ridley (ed.)
223. A Historian Goes to the Movies – Gregory Aldrete (course)
224. The Sultan and the Queen – Jerry Brotton
225. Excalibur – Bernard Cornwell (The Warlord Chronicle #3)
226. The Reluctant Mr. Darwin – David Quammen
227. Some Assembly Required – Neil Shubin
228. The Great Mortality – John Kelly
229. Ancestral Journeys – Jean Manco
230. The Secret of Our Success – Joseph Henrich
231. A Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy – Robert E. Goodin and Philip Pettit (eds.)
232. Caesar’s Legion – Stephen Dando-Collins
233. Voyage of the Beagle – Charles Darwin
234. Rome is Burning – Anthony Barrett
235. Castles – Marc Morris
236. The Blood Meridian – Cormac McCarthy
237. Antiquity – Norman Cantor
238. World War Z – Max Brooks
239. The Denial of Death – Ernest Becker
240. Ubik – Philip K. Dick
241. Tree Story – Valerie Trouet
242. The Wind in the Willow – Kenneth Grahame
243. The Blank Slate – Steven Pinker
244. Reformations – Carlos M.N. Eire
245. Around the World in Eighty Days – Jules Verne
246. Life in a Medieval Village – Frances Gies and Joseph Gies
247. The Jugurthine War and the Cataline Conspiracy – Sallust (tr. Alfred W. Pollard)
248. How We Think – John Dewey
249. Christendom Destroyed – Mark Greengrass
250. Understanding Greek and Roman Technology – Stephen Ressler (course)
251. The Pursuit of Glory – Timothy Blanning
252. The Greek World – Robert Garland (course)
253. Iron Kingdom – Christopher Clark
254. Vanished Kingdoms – Norman Davies
255. The Cathedral – William R. Cook (course)
256. Philosophy of Biology – Alex Rosenberg and Robert Arp (eds.)
257. Francis I – Leonie Frieda
258. The Complete Essays of Michel de Montaigne – Michel de Montaigne (tr. Donald M. Frame)
259. The History of the Byzantine Empire – Charles W.C. Oman
260. The Formation of a Persecuting – R.I. Moore
261. The Classical World – Robin Lane Fox
     

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     # of books read: 261
     # of pages read: 88,305

     • average book length: 338p (though this is affected by the inclusion of courses which have 0 page count)
     • 31 out 261 books are by female authors