My Favourite Books of 2020
I don’t honestly read a lot. I have friends that read thirty books per year and I have friends that don’t read any. I’m dead-center average at twelve to fifteen books per year. When I choose to read or listen to a book, I try to pick one that is very high quality (preferably recommended by a trusted curator) and one that is timely for what’s going on in my life. 2020 was a year of personal growth, introspection and change for me. It won’t take you long to see that reflected in this list. There’s an Amazon referral link in each title for quickly picking up the book. Enjoy!
Born to Run — Christopher McDougall
I read this book while I spent the beginning of winter in Los Angeles for some medical appointments. Taking advantage of the good weather, I ran two half marathons while there, listening to this book as I ran. This book follows an unusual style. It alternates between a story of encounters with traditional running tribes and something verging on scientific literature review for endurance runners. Somehow it works, and hangs together well as an audiobook. I recommend this book for anyone who is already a runner and looking to dig deeper into their endurance. I found it very motivating and helped me develop a slightly more efficient running style.
A Guide to the Good Life — William B. Irvine
Don’t let the presumptuous title put you off. This is the best crystallization of stoic philosophy that I’ve read, by far. As I read this book, I found myself taking notes and highlighting pieces on every page. While I don’t believe that adopting a stoic ideology is enough for my own life, I believe it is an excellent foundation in which to start building your own principles from. I highly recommend this book and have a stash of three copies in my office at all times to give to friends. In 2021, I plan to dig into The Four Agreements to supplement this.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team — Patrick Lencioni
Shout out to Michael Thorpe for recommending this book. It’s a “leadership fable” that tells the story of a dysfunctional leadership team at a declining company. The story follows the newly board-elected CEO as she tries to right the ship. It’s a beautiful story that helped me understand the nuances between good and bad conflict, high trust versus low trust environments and some of the common pitfalls the beset leaders at software companies. If you’re thinking about becoming a manager, leader or find yourself in that position right now, It’s an easy read that every leader stands to see themselves in. Patrick Lencioni has other books that form a series on company building. I have heard good things about them and plan to read the others eventually.
Awareness — Anthony De Mello
I guess 2020 was a sort of existential year for me. I found myself energized by exploring my mind from many perspectives. If you are on that sort of journey too, Anthony De Mello will fan those flames. I listened to the audiobook, which as it turns out, the book is based on, I think? Anthony De Mello travels around the world lecturing about how to see the world and oneself through clearer eyes. I have both the paperback and audiobook and it seems like they’re not exactly the same, but that the talks are upheld as the source of truth for his ideas. I recommend listening to the audiobook so you can hear his thoughts through his own voice. I can’t say that I agreed with everything he said, but I got enough out of his perspective to include it on this list.
The Intelligent Investor — Benjamin Graham
This is the book about value investing that the likes of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger uphold as necessary reading. I’ve been interested in passive investing in ETFs since 2015, but never really went deep on how one could choose to make their own portfolio from a handful of single securities. This book opened my eyes up to a whole new way of thinking about what stocks are and the difference between trading and investing. It’s very old so the charts and data are dated, but the principles still hold true. I went so far as to make a portfolio in early 2020 based on my interpretations of the book that, if I had actually put capital into, would have more than doubled in value. D’oh! I think I need to read a book next on overcoming the mental hurdle of committing to single stock investments!
The Clean Coder — Robert C. Martin
Something about me loves rules and this book is full of them. This book is a guide to becoming a professional programmer. It’s similar to its predecessor ‘Clean Code’ (also a great read), but only talks about how one can be a good programmer, not how one writes good programs. The book assumes the reader has some professional development experience and is looking to understand how to level up. It’s written as a code of conduct of sorts, peppered with stories from the authors multi-decade career as a programmer. I got a lot of out of it as I made the transition back to spending most of my time writing code.
Can’t Hurt Me — David Goggins
Goggins’ story is a legend. This book, like other books about athletic performance, fires you up! I think that’s sort of the job of books like this. Whenever I’m in a rut with my running, a book like this has a profound way of steering me out of it. David Goggins’ book provides! If you’re looking to be deeply inspired and motivated to push harder for your goals I strongly recommend giving this book a listen. The audiobook is narrated by the ghost writer, but in between chapters David Goggins’ shares humorous details about what was just read. It’s a great format that combines podcast interviewing with audiobook narrated reading. Take it on your next long run and I guarantee you’ll run 10% longer and 10% faster.
