My 2020 Book list

Jan 1, 2021 21:42 · 1578 words · 8 minute read books

Here is a list of all the books I read in 2020, and a short summary of what I thought. Toward the end of the year, I started writing some longer summaries of the books including what I thought of them.

  • AI Superpowers - Kai-Fu Lee
    • 6 / 10
    • This is a good read. It is obviously biased toward China being the greatest place for businesses, but has interesting things to say.
  • On Intelligence: How a New Understanding of the Brain will Lead to the Creation of Truly Intelligent Machines - Jeff Hawkins
    • 7 / 10
    • I love brains. This is the “brain” equivalent to popular science books about our n-dimensional universe or string theory. I would highly recommend it.
  • Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
    • 10 / 10
    • One of the most epic tales of fortitude and perseverence ever told. Read it.
  • The Armada
    • 4 / 10
    • The prose to this book was a bit difficult to follow, but it was an enjoyable read
  • Plant Science: An introduction to Botany - Dr. Catherine Kleier
    • 9 / 10
    • I loved this series. An approachable and enjoyable overview of plant science by a deeply curious, knowldgeable, passionate, and quirky professor. This lecture series is how I learned of one of the strangest internet communities I have ever found: Seabean.
  • Moral Mazes: The World of Corporate Managers - Robert Jackall
    • 6 / 10
    • I thought this book was good. However, the book feels like it’s designed to make its readers cynical. It describes the playbook on how to get ahead in corporate America. I decided to read it based on a blog post I read on How to Identify an Immoral Maze
  • Inspired - Rachel Held Evans
    • 9 / 10
    • I should have read this book sooner. Much of what is presented in this book will be self-evident to people who have worked in the tech industry for a while. It contains many useful models and checklists.
  • Sprint - How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days - Jake Knapp
    • 8 / 10
    • I knocked this out right after Inspired. I should have read this book sooner as well. Similarly to Inspired, it has lots of useful checklists.
  • What you do is who you are - Ben Horowitz
    • 5 / 10
    • I have a lot of respect for Ben Horowitz, but this book wasn’t that great. It was kind of like a loose amalgamation of interesting historical stories with a loosely threaded theme. The stories are interesting, and I’d recommend reading it, but I walked away unsure about what exactly I was supposed to take away from the book.
  • Ghengis Khan and the Making of the Modern World - Jack Weatherford
    • 8 / 10
    • An excellent complement to The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan. This book gets a lot of negative reactions for downplaying the violence and evil of the Mongols, and I think those comments attack a straw man. The point of this book is to document the breathtaking expansion of the Mongol empire, and it does so very well.
  • Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change - Joseph Grenny
    • 7 / 10
    • This has some really useful mental models, but would probably be better presented as a blog post than a book.
  • Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts
    • 10 / 10
    • I loved this book. It is beautiful, colorful, and philosophical. A wonderful story.
  • Crashes and Crises: Lessons From a History of Financial Disasters - Connel Fullenkamp
    • 8 / 10
    • I would recommend listening to this lecture series. It is a great overview of how economies fail.
  • The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney - Robert Iger
    • 5 / 10
    • It’s the story of the CEO of the greatest story-writing company on the planet. It reads like a hero’s journey, and has some interesting tidbits about how to do business, but is not very compelling or insightful. The lesson seems to be that greatness takes effort, luck, and relentlessness.
  • Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters - Richard Rumelt
    • 10 / 10
    • Are you tired of sitting in “strategy” meetings where everyone claims that they have the best “strategy” for going to market next week? This is the book for you! I loved this book because it provides a great toolset for shepherding meetings away from time-wasting bullshit. Every manager should read this book.
  • The Once and Future King
    • A wonderful series. I had never read this before, and found it to be a nice break from the parade of business books that I read. I feel like I have greater context for some writing and cultural references now.
  • How will you measure your life? - Clayton M. Christensen
    • 3 / 10
    • Meh. Life isn’t all about money, power, and fame. Nobel laureates, billionares, and celbrities are humans too.
  • The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It
    • 8 / 10
    • Gets a bit painful to read sometimes due to the stereotypical self-helpishness of the prose, but provides an extremely useful - and, in my opinion, correct - mental model for business.
  • The Innovators Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail - Clayton Christensen
    • 8 / 10
    • If you have been in business for more than a few years, you likely know much of what this book has to offer. But for that reason, it is also pretty foundational. Highly recommended for people new to business and moderately recommended for people who have been in business for a while; there are still good insights.
  • Practicing Mindfulness
    • 9 / 10
    • Well taught, a good recommendation for anyone interested in mindfulness. The style is very balanced and open to skepticism. It’s the kind of thing you could give to your conservative family members who might be allergic to things they view as new age nonsense.
  • Nutrition Made Clear - Roberta H. Anding
    • 1 / 10
    • This series was painful. Not recommended. The speaker had lots of verbal ticks: “Keep in mind”, “lo and behold”, “the challenge here is”. The information was extremely hedged - as it turns out, the human body/nutrition is complicated and we don’t understand it very well. There was also a lot of stereotyping without commentary about possible conflating factors. There is some useful information in the series, but it is so painful to find.
  • Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder - Nicholas Taleb
    • 3 / 10
    • There are compelling ideas in this book, but they are presented by a nearly insufferable, self-important banker. Not recommended
  • Debt: The First 5000 Years - David Graeber
    • 10 / 10
    • Profoundly insightful. I may have to reread this once per year. This book has taught me how to be a better person and how to make friends.
  • The Art of Intelligence: Lessons from a Life in the CIA’s Clandestine Service - Henry A. Crumpton
    • 6 / 10
    • It was fine. Entertaining. Useful for remembering that there is great utility in well-used hard power.
  • Mahabharata: Retold by Krishna Dharma
    • 8 / 10
    • The original Dragonball story, except rather than powering up by yelling, they power up with piety - lots of “and now you see my true power”. I found myself often trying to peer through what appears to be a stitched together bards retelling of propaganda to identify clear glimpses of what life must have been like for humans who lived during the time of the story. I listened to it as an audiobook, and found it to be very engaging when considered in historical context.
  • What Doesn’t Kill Us: How Freezing Water, Extreme Altitude, and Enviornmental Conditioning Will Renew Our Lost Evolutionary Strngth - Scott Carney
    • 8 / 10
    • Breath control and cold discomfort make our bodies healthier. This book feels like it’s about mindfulness through the lens of being a badass, but contains other interesting information about hardening ourselves to the elements. It has reinvigorated my interest in pushing myself physically.
  • Is this anything? - Jerry Seinfeld
    • 9 / 10
    • I greatly respect Jerry Seinfeld, but am not a huge fan of his comedy. This was a relaxing, light listen. I’d recommend it for your commute.
  • Breath: The New Science of A Lost Art - James Nestor
    • 8 / 10
    • There was a lot of interesting information in this book, and it provides a good overview of many techniques for breathing. I wrote a review for this book.
  • Hell Yeah or No - Derek Sivers
  • Your Music and People
    • 10 / 10
    • Short and punchy; a must read for anyone in the music industry and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to build a brand. [Read my full review]({{ ref “/blog/book_review_your_music_and_people.md” >}})
  • Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life - Bill Bunett & Dave Evans
    • 7 / 10
    • I like the techniques proposed in this book, but it feels like the authors are trying to sell me on something throughout the book, which was a bit off-putting.[ Read my full review]({{ ref “/blog/book_review_designing_your_life” >}})
  • The Time Paradox - The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life
    • 8 / 10
    • This book has a very useful mental model, and it has helped me identify and artculate things that I like and dislike about myself and other people. [Read my full review]({{ ref “/blog/book_review_the_time_paradox” >}})