In this Twitter/Instagram/short-readings-over-more-substantial-content world we live in, who has time for reading books – big books, substantive books?

One person who does is Mark Zuckerberg. We are now well into the 8^th month of his “A Year of Books.” And when someone as influential as Mark Zuckerberg has a book club, it is worth noting.

He’s up to book #16 for the year. Call this a slightly past mid-year report.

No, I have not kept up. Near the beginning of the year, I presented his first selection at the First Friday Book Synopsis: The End of Power. It was definitely a book worth reading!

And, I have also presented Creativity, Inc. for a private client (great book), and The New Jim Crow for the Urban Engagement Book Club, sponsored by CitySquare. (important book – especially in light of ongoing racial tensions).

And, though it came out long before we began the First Friday Book Synopsis, I have certainly read The Structure of Scientific Revolutions – one of the most important books I have ever read. (You’ve heard of the importance of “paradigms,” haven’t you? This is the book that thrust that concept upon us all).

And, of course, I’ve read William James’ classic years ago.

But, that’s it… I’ve read five of the sixteen. Not enough; it looks like I’ve got some catch-up reading to do.

Here’s his list through book #16 for the year. How many have you read?

#	Date	Author	Title
1	January	Moisés Naím	The End of Power: From Boardrooms to Battlefields and Churches to States, Why Being In Charge Isn’t What It Used to Be
2	January	Steven Pinker	The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined
3	February	Sudhir Venkatesh	Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets
4	February	Eula Biss	On Immunity: An Inoculation
5	March	Ed Catmull	Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
6	March	Thomas Kuhn	The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
7	March	Michael Chwe	Rational Ritual: Culture, Coordination, and Common Knowledge
8	April	Hank Paulson	Dealing With China: An Insider Unmasks the New Economic Superpower
9	April	Peter W. Huber	Orwell’s Revenge: The 1984 Palimpsest
10	May	Michelle Alexander	The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
11	June	Ibn Khaldun	Muqaddimah
12	June	Yuval Harari	Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
13	June	Iain Banks	The Player of Games
14	June	Vaclav Smil	Energy: A Beginners Guide
15	June	Matt Ridley	Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters
16	August	William James	The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature

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You can purchase my synopsis of The End of Power, with the audio recording of my presentation plus my comprehensive, multi-page handout, at our companion web site, 15minutebusinessbooks.com.  One of these days, I may add my synopsis of Creativity, Inc. to the site…