ABC RN's The Bookshelf has published the books that came in at 101-200 on their Favourite Books of the 21st Century poll. I'm not going to repeat a full-blown analysis, but few things:
* I've only read ~30 of these, compared with 57 of the top 100.
* Two more more of the books I voted for made it: #157. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss and #171. The Good People by Hannah Kent. (I had 3 in the top 100.)
* There are quite a few more fantasy & scifi books: The Name of The Wind, a couple by Margaret Atwood, and Sarah J Maas, and by RF Kuang, a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, Cloud Cuckoo Land, The House in the Cerulean Sea, The Three-Body Problem, plus a couple of YA: Percy Jackson, and Nevermoor. Not a terrible selection.
#ABCRN
I couldn't resist doing some analysis of ABC Radio National's Top 100 Books of the 21st Century.
How much more likely were people to vote for books because they had read them in recent memory (recency bias)? You would expect that good books are spread out evenly across the years, but it's hard to remember books that you read many years ago! Turns out there was an even spread of books across 2000-2019. But there were 40% more books than expected from 2020-2024. (See first graph.)
Were newer books more likely to be lower down the list? I thought this might be lkely because votes for recently read books might spread out more. But that wasn't completely true. The bottom 40 of the list did lean new, but so did the top 20. (See second graph.)
How diverse were the authors on the list? Not very! Only 22 of the books were by authors with diverse backgrounds, by which I mean non-white or not hetero-normative. The top 20 were the least diverse, but it was pretty even across the range. Probably not surprising - people might connect most strongly with books that speak to their own experience. Would be fascinating to see more demographic info on the voters.
Most books were by authors from Australia (35), the USA (31), the UK (17) and Ireland (7). Ireland seemed to punch above its weight. New Zealand only had one author! (Heather Morris, The Tattooist of Auschwitz).
There were very few non-fiction books, especially if you exclude memoirs and true crime. I count 4: Dark Emu, Stasiland, Sapiens and A Short History of Nearly Everything. And yet non-fiction accounts for something like 40% of book sales. I wonder if that is because a non-fiction book tends to focus on a particular subject, which would have less widespread appeal. It could also be that the type of people who vote in this sort of poll are book nerds, and book nerds mostly read fiction.
As a keen #fantasy & #scifi reader, I was disappointed. Project Hail Mary is the only full-blown scifi, but I wouldn't say it is a good representation of the genre. There is Hunger Games and Harry Potter, but both are young adult. The others (Cloud Atlas, Station Eleven, Piranesi, Never Let Me Go) feel borderline (I've not read the last two).
How did the list compare with my own ratings? I've read 57 of the 100 books, and I did rate higher books better, but the relationship was very weak. (See third graph.)
Highest ranked book that I didn't really like: #12. Where The Crawdads Sing. (Runner up The Dry.)
Lowest ranked book that I really liked: #86. Cloud Atlas
Highest ranked book I'd never heard of: #9. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
I've got 43 books to catch up on in the next few years, plus the favourites as voted by my friends. Never short a good book!
I'm looking forward to the final 40 of Radio National's Top 100 Books of the 21st Century this afternoon.
I reckon these with rank highly:
Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton, and maybe also Lola In The Mirror
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Something by Margaret Atwood, maybe Oryx & Crake
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan (could be #1)
Less sure of:
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
A Song of Ice & Fire by George RR Martin (surely a proper fantasy book has to make an appearance?)
The Martian by Andy Weir (I'd prefer a better sci fi, maybe Seveneves by Neal Stephenson?)
Stasiland by Anna Funder
What have I missed? Will be fascinating to see!
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https://www.abc.net.au/listen/radionational/countdown/top100books
The first of my favourite books has made it into Radio National's Top 100 Books of the 21st Century: #68. Educated by Tara Westover.
Only expecting a couple more of mine to make it ...
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/radionational/countdown/top100books
Re-elected #Teal #independent #MoniqueRyan speaking on #ABCRN said she won because of her on-the-ground approach in her electorate:
“Over the last three years, since I was elected to represent Kooyong I’ve worked very hard to fulfil the contract that I made with my community, which is that I will listen to them & try to represent them as effectively as I can on the things that matter to them.” #auspol
My maternal grandmother said a bird shitting on you is #GoodLuck
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-03/bird-poos-on-independent-mp-monique-ryan/105247338
One consequence of #Hyperindividualism is not knowing how much we need other people.
I'm seeing this writ large in the US of A currently. That the people of a nation founded in genocide and dehumanisation have apparently lost the struggle to progress towards recognising and prioritising the humanity of all their fellow residents is saddening.
Also hearing on #ABCRN that 1 in 40 Australians are using #AIChatBots for companionship.
Just who will be there for these folk when they need IRL help?
#Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection
Charles #Duhigg (2024)
Duhigg was on #ABCRN some weeks back. I think this is helpful when people converse in good faith. Hard sometimes to discern bad faith. Have you read it?
Just finished reading and borrowed from #LibrariesACT.
Big oops on #ABCRN this morning. In trying to explain #AustraliaDay, renowned historian Michelle Arrow erroneously said Arthur Phillip claimed the eastern half of Australia on 26 January 1788. No, that was James Cook in 1770.
An unhelpful slip in the context. #historyAU #InvasionDay
Hear 1 minute into this 11 minute listen:
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/saturdayextra/australia-day-history/104857568
Did Michelle Arrow just say Arthur Phillip claimed the eastern half of Australia on 26 January 1788 or did I mishear that? #ABCRN
[EDIT: my partner heard same.]
If you’re listening to #ABCRN #SundayExtra you may be shouting back.
Wanted: Australian social media that connects to the world.
Not wanted: tracking, ads, corporate ownership.
No mention: Mastodon and Fediverse.
We need to get the message out better, especially to Australian journalists. Can we work together on improving this? #ausSocial @PostersUnionAU
#WesternAustralia's new knife laws are already being optimised to allow unmonitored #RacialProfiling
#PoliceMinister #PaulPapalia reported on ##ABCRN as saying that ethnicity of those stopped and searched will not be recorded.
"Ethnicity is subjective" or somethibg similar.
Do you trust the WA Police not to be doing racist stuff when there are no records being kept?
Remembering when #BushCheneyRegime didn't count the number of innocent Iraqis killed when George W. ransacked Iraq
@fixatedpersonsunit
And while that killing is going on, post-Buttrose Aunty has group discussion on #ABCRN with "Dutton has built credibility", "Albo is too slow to react to antisemitism,", "no Jew in Australia has anything to do with the deaths in Gaza", and "Albo is hindered by due process ( in addressing antisemitism) in the after 12 pm slot.
Gets me through the day till I sieve the weevils out of the #SkyAfterDark and then snort some or inject FoxNews directly behind my eyeballs.
4/?
Attention
Got yours?
YT/tiktok #Influencer (doing a #PhD on topic too) said on #ABCRN that some research shows that attention can wander after six seconds.
So, ... commercial pressures to keep an audience attending have SOMETHING happening at least once every 6 seconds.
Feel familar?
#SesameStreet?
So very many public presenters?
And #Audiobook performers.
Are there different types of attention?
"My face is up here", said the woman to her date.
This is how we roll in Australia.
On #ABCRN breakfast this morning we are hearing a serious discussion about whether we grant #BollardMan #citizenship for his brave actions in the face of danger during the recent Bondi multiple stabbing.
During the same programme we heard another serious discussion on the need to increase defence force personnel numbers. The serious idea that we will try to get people from NZ and the pacific to sign up for the Australian defence force, and presumably show an equal if not greater degree of bravery, in order to make up the numbers. No mention of citizenship.
Meanwhile former prime minister John Howard’s words are still reverberating in the background “we will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come”.
The current discussion makes a nonsense of Howard’s election pitch and it pervasive insidious currency. That you can decide who you want to allow into the country, and decide to change your mind if they show bravery once they were already here. At the same time you ignore others who would need to show bravery to serve in the defence forces.
We need to wake up and realise that politicians deliberately invoke fear in respect of people from “other countries” to further their own small political ambitions. Yes we are very lucky here. We should not be afraid to share it.
#auspol
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