This episode is also on Bilibili too.
Book of the Year: Project Hail Mary — Andy Weir
This book is the most beautiful, most moving hymn to science and knowledge. The engineering details and scientific imagination have the beauty of ancient Greek sculpture. It’s a great science-fiction novel, and a great work of art! Actually, when I read Weir’s short story The Egg back then, I had already decided that Andy Weir was the greatest science-fiction writer of our time. But The Egg has an extremely high barrier to appreciation: only after you’ve seriously thought about consciousness, that ultimate philosophical question, and wrestled with some of its key problems can you feel the value of The Egg blowing your mind. Otherwise, it’s hard to appreciate just how good it is. So I didn’t exactly go around recommending it to people.
Now we have Project Hail Mary, a full-length novel with a much lower barrier to appreciation that is nevertheless every bit a masterpiece. So I feel I can finally bang the drums and announce to my friends that Andy Weir is now, in my mind, the greatest science-fiction writer in history (yes, great enough to surpass Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke).
Science-Fiction Novel of the Year: Inherit the Stars — James P. Hogan
After I finished the last page of Inherit the Stars and closed the book, I muttered “F***” to myself for half an hour. I never imagined a book could stand at the summit of both hard science fiction and classic detective fiction at the same time. It’s a top-tier work of hard SF—and somehow also a top-tier locked-room-style mystery. It’s like an athlete winning Olympic gold in weightlifting and the 100-meter dash at the same time: so strong it makes your jaw drop.
Detective Novel of the Year: Chopsticks: A Competition of Strange Tales (Kuai: Guaitan Jingyan Qi Wuyu) — Shinzo Mitsuda, Chan Ho-Kei, Xiaoxiang Shen, et al.
I introduced it in my article recommending good books from the first half of 2021, so I won’t repeat myself here. See: https://www.douban.com/note/811849279/?_i=1093523PoDjch4
Thriller of the Year: Guts — Chuck Palahniuk
Precise, dark, insane—a very strange book. It’s actually hard to pin Palahniuk’s work to a genre. You could call it horror fiction: after all, quite a few people have literally fainted from fright while listening to Palahniuk read passages from Guts. But its verbal impact and the eerie beauty of its prose are strong enough to elevate it into the realm of literary fiction. I call it a thriller, but Guts is also my best work of literary fiction this year.
Satirical Novel of the Year: The Legend of Ha Pang 3: Ha Pang Is Missing — Giddens Ko
This is probably Giddens Ko’s true representative work. His most twisted, most delightfully disgusting side and his most genius side are both displayed here to spectacular effect. It’s simultaneously the lowest, grossest toilet-humor novel and the sharpest satire. Either give it one star or give it five. I gave it five.
Children’s Book of the Year: The Graveyard Book — Neil Gaiman
It’s clearly written for children, but it’s so gentle. It left this forty-year-old man sobbing uncontrollably in the middle of the night after finishing it.
Nonfiction Book of the Year: Country Driving — Peter Hessler
A monument of narrative nonfiction, capturing the hardship and resilience of the Chinese people. This book is hugely famous and had been on my reading list for years; now I only regret not meeting it sooner. Then again, I read it at exactly the right time. You know why.
History Book of the Year: Empires of the Sea — Roger Crowley
In that episode recommending good books from the first half of the year, I said I was going to finish the Mediterranean trilogy. Empires of the Sea, the one I finished in the second half, is the best—and the most adrenaline-pumping—of the three. The Battle of Malta had me practically gasping for air. Crowley’s prose is fantastic; many passages have the rhythm of music.
Psychology Book of the Year: The Secret of Our Success — Joseph Henrich
This book reveals how culture drives human evolution. The angle is wonderfully fresh and eye-opening. Few other books on human evolution have explained the role of culture so comprehensively.
Popular Science Book of the Year: Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst — Robert Sapolsky
If you plan to read only one book on neuroscience, psychology, or human behavior in the next five years, read this one. I think psychology students could even use it as a textbook and learn every psychology course through it. In a sense, this book is the grand synthesis of scientists’ current understanding of human behavior.
And, my own book
At the beginning of 2021, I also finished writing my third book, the one I’m most satisfied with so far. It’s a love letter from me—a self-taught film critic who has been writing reviews for twenty years—to movie fans and filmmakers. Sadly, because the publishing industry is going through a harsh winter, the book is currently in line and probably won’t be published until sometime in 2022. Once it comes out, I’ll share it with everyone.
I hope you and I can both read more good books in 2022.
Words by: Zhichao Wei
The book mentioned at the end has now been published: The 24-Frame Psychology Code: Psychology in Film.
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