2020 Reading List
My 20 favorite books read in 2020
Loosely categorized, and listed in no particular order, plus my one sentence recollection of the book
Fiction
The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri
A story that I think any first- or second-generation American can identify with
Reminiscence of a Stock Operator, by Edwin Lefèvre
Trading seems so easy
The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett
Well, that must have been hard
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
A hilarious, and somehow super timely, sci-fi story
Exhalation: Stories, by Ted Chiang
From the author of the short story that turned into the movie Arrival, a collection of other short stories that I find bizarre, sometimes hilarious, and thought provoking at the same time
Learning
Good habits, bad habits: the science of making positive habits stick, by Wendy Wood
Understanding my tendencies, and how to make them work for me
How innovation works: and why it flourishes in freedom, Matt Ridley
Progress is gradual; disruption is overused
Draft no. 4: on the writing process, by John McPhee
Writing is an art worth learning
The inner game of tennis: the ultimate guide to the mental side of peak performance, by Timothy Gallwey
Do better by not thinking
Talking with strangers: what we should know about the people we don't know, Malcolm Gladwell
Probably as (or more) controversial than his other books, a look into why bad things happen between strangers
Mistakes were made (but not by me): why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions and hurtful acts, by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson
By understanding my own biases, perhaps I’ll make better decisions
The half life of facts: why everything we know has an expiration date, Samuel Arbesman
It’s pretty hilarious to me to think that facts have a half-life
Becoming brilliant: what science tells us about raising successful children, by Roberta Michnick Golinkoff and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek
Just trying to be a better dad by understanding my kids
Mental health
Maybe you should talk to someone: a therapist, her therapist, and our lives revealed, by Lori Gottlieb
An accessible view into the life of a therapist, which primed me for seeking therapy again
I don’t want to talk about it: overcoming the secret legacy of male depression, by Terry Real
A rather eye-opening book forcing me to confront my history
Running on empty: overcome your childhood emotional neglect, by Jonnice Web
Hits too close to home
Biographical
The meaning of it all: thoughts of a citizen scientist, by Richard Feynman
The funniest theoretical physicist I know, dropping everyday knowledge
Genghis Khan and the making of the modern world, by Jack Weatherford
This guy was cray
The biggest bluff: how I learned to pay attention, master myself, and win, by Maria Konnikova
I love poker
Greenlights, by Matthew McConaughey
Alright, alright, alright: it reads exactly how I imagined, but I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would
Honorable mentions
On having no head: zen and rediscovery of the obvious, Douglas Harding
Then where are my thoughts coming from
The book of why: the new science of cause and effect, by Dana Mackenzie and Judea Pearl
Helped me think harder about causality
The order of time, Carlo Rovelli
A less-than-easy book to read about time, and basically made me think time is nonsense
Seven brief lessons in physics, Carlo Rovelli
A much easier book than the one above
Ship of fools: how a selfish ruling class is bringing America to the brink of a revolution, by Tucker Carlson
Sometimes, I try to read books that I would never want to actually read; this is one of those books
Homo deus: a brief history of tomorrow, by Yuval Noah Harari
Historian who should probably write sci-fi novels
Up next
How toddlers thrive, by Tovah Klein
Think on these things, by J. Krishnamurti
The unschooled mind, by Howard Gardner
Navalmanack, by Eric Jorgenson
American Psychosis, by E. Fuller Torrey
Deep fakes and the infocalypse, by Nina Schick
How to think like Sherlock Holmes, by Maria Konnikova
What were we thinking, by Carlos Lozada
Stories of your life and others, by Ted Chiang
The paper menagerie and other stories, by Ken Liu
This list is heavy on the non-fiction; please share with me any fiction recommendations you might have! Non-fiction recommendations are okay, too!