A retrospective of the first fifty years of my life, picking fifty items that resonate with me. This one is about books, fiction in this case. Again I have used the 1970 cut off, which does discount a large number of books.
There are quite a few on this list where they are annuals, or even every other year, ones that I got every year – mainly because I was sports and music obsessed and I love stats. The books included range from massive “coffee table” books, edging into thousands of pages, down to A5 thirty two page pamphlets, there are some recurring themes: sports, music, maps, London, Leicester and information. And yes, I’ve included cartoons in here.
The first eleven got five stars on Goodreads, the rest four; well, apart from a couple that aren’t even listed on Goodreads. Let the geek feast begin.
- Scott Adams – A Treasury of Sunday Strips (I have every Dilbert book going, this is the only one included, a best of from the early years.)
- Graham Betts – Motown Encyclopaedia
- Georg Braun – Cities Of The World Complete Edition of Colour Plates 1572-1619
- Peter Eldin – The Whizzkid’s Handbook
- Paolo Hewitt – The Jam: A Beat Concerto
- Christopher Hilton – 1982: The Inside Story of The Sensational Grand Prix Season
- Peter Van Der Krogt – Blaeu: Atlas Major
- David McCandless – Information Is Beautiful
- Kev Roberts – Northern Soul Top 500
- Vern – Seagalogy: A Study Of The Ass-Kicking Films Of Steven Seagal (More on this particular obsession when I get to my films list)
- Michael Diamond – The Beastie Boys Book
- Mark Leigh & Mike Lepine – The Naughty Nineties
- David Pepin – Cathedrals Of Britain
- Michael Baigent – Holy Blood, Holy Grail
- Leonard Cantor – The Historic Parish Churches of Leicestershire and Rutland
- Ben Schott – Schott’s Original Miscellany
- Russell Ash – The Top Ten of Everything (pick any one, including any of the spin offs)
- Mark Ovenden – London Underground By Design
- Various Editors – The Nationwide (formerly The News Of The World) Football Annual
- Various Editors – The Playfair Cricket Annual
- John Ayto & Ian Crofton – Brewer’s Britain And Ireland
- Various Editors – Official NFL Record And Fact Book (after years of buying it, it’s now free as a PDF download on the NFL website)
- Joan Stevenson – Leicester Through The Ages
- Iain Munn – Mr Cool’s Dream
- Various Editors – Guinness Book Of Hit Singles (God I miss these, we are reduced to having to try and trawl through the appalling Official Charts Company website to find the information.)
- Various Editors – Guinness Book Of Hit Albums (See above)
- Paul Gambaccini, Jo Rice, Tim Rice & Mike Read – Guinness Book Of 500 Number 1 Singles (Why isn’t this five stars? Why don’t I have a copy anymore? This kicked off my full on music obsession)
- Terry Wilson – Tamla Motown: The Stories Behind The UK Singles
- Steven D Levitt & Stephen J Dubner – Freakonomics
- David McKee – Mr Benn’s Little Book Of Life
- Michael W Tuckman – The San Francisco 49ers – Team Of The Decade
- Ken Garland – Mr Beck’s Underground Map
- Ed McNab – The Alien Spotter’s Handbook
- Mark Ovenden – Metro Maps Of The World
- Geoff Brandwood – Anglican Churches of Leicester
- Michael Wood – The Story of England
- Andrew Emery – The Book Of Hip Hop Cover Art
- Nige Tassell – Three Weeks, Eight Seconds – The Epic Tour de France of 1989
- Michael Taylor – The Quality of Leicester
- Morgan Llywelyn – Brian Boru: Emperor Of The Irish
- Keith Dunnavant – Montana: The Biography of Football’s Joe Cool
- James Cheshire – London: The Information Capital. 100 Maps and Graphics That Will Change How You View The City
- Thomas Erikson – Surrounded By Idiots
- Sacha Jenkins – Ego Trip’s Book Of Rap Lists
- Elaine Constantine – Northern Soul: An Illustrated History
- David McCandless – Knowledge is Beautiful
- Neil Grant – Kings And Queens
- Peter Whitfield – London: A Life In Maps
- Simon Brew – Movie Geek – The Den of Geek Guide To The Movieverse
- Sophie Therese Ambler – The Song of Simon de Montfort: England’s First Revolutionary and the Death of Chivalry
Another three months’ worth of reading there.