My Favorite Books of 2011

Not all of these were released this year but they were my favorites.

REAMDE - Neal Stephenson
A fun and utterly enthralling SF thriller about video games, terrorism, and virtual economies. I’m hoping for a sequel.

The Diamond Age – Neal Stephenson
One of my all time favorites. I read it again in anticipation of the release of REAMDE and was so glad I did. This book, about a nanotechnological future set in China, has many great ideas including cultural enclaves replacing nation states (which I’m obsessed with), and a computational book much like the tablets we use now. Amazon liked the idea so much they code named the Kindle “Fiona” while it was in development, after one of the central protagonists in the book.

The Windup Girl – Paolo Bacigalupi
A peek into a dystopian post-oil, post-biotech future. Bacigalupi has created a new kind of SF. This is the freshest thing I’ve read in a number of years.

How To Be A Man – Glenn O’Brien
What could have been another routine book on dressing, etiquette, and behavior for the modern male is rendered into a political manifesto by Esquire writer and avant garde legend Glenn O’Brien. For instance:

“Gentlemanly behavior is the secret key to utopian society. Statelessness will be achieved not through armed struggle but through culturally enforced codes of  manners. The true anarchist, the exponent of freedom and enemy of intrusive government (the state), must see good manners are the inevitable substitute for laws. A healthy society doesn’t need any laws because offensive behavior ‘just isn’t done’.”

I didn’t expect to read something like that in a book like this and it’s chocked full of similarly excellent quotes.

The New Capitalist Manifesto – Umair Haque
Economist Umair Haque lays out a vision of capitalism unencumbered by Smithian, Fordist, and Keynesian notions of value - what he terms “thin value” and instead focuses on creating “thick value” which takes into consideration environmental and human factors. His current writing on the pursuit of eudaimonia - a higher state of well-being or “human flourishing” - as the key mode of value creation in the 21st century is also worth seeking out.