2020 was a wild year for me as far as reading goes. I had always wanted to read more but never lived up to what I wanted for myself. This last year I found the advice of Scott Adams extremely helpful. Never set goals for yourself (or at least don’t pay too much attention to them) it is more important to set up a system that you can work every day. Eventually the daily system will lead you to a larger goal if you calibrate it correctly. This list is living proof of this method (one of the many for me this year). I decided to read 30 pages as my daily system, which roughly translates into an hour of reading. With this system in place, I read more books this past year than I have in the last decade and I plan to increase my yearly goal for 2021. Here’s to the end of a wild year and to more success in the next!
- The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome
by Susan Weise Bauer (Audible) - The Wheel of Time Book 4: The Shadow Rising
by Robert Jordan - Carnival Row
by Stephanie K. Smith (Audible) - Elizabeth II: Life of a Monarch
by Ruth Cowen (Audible) - Mere Christianity
by C.S. Lewis - Cari Mora
by Thomas Harris (Audible) - The Happines Hypothesis
by Jonathan Heidt (Audible) - The Wheel of Time Book 5: The Fires of Heaven
by Robert Jordan - Magna Carta
by Dan Jones - Congo
by Michael Crichton - The False Promise of Single Payer Healthcare
by Sally C. Pipes - The Last Wish
by Andrej Sapkowski - The Madness of Crowds
by Douglas Murray - Sword of Destiny
By Andrej Sapkowski - The Keys of Prolific Creativity
by David V. Stewart - The Wheel of Time Book 6: Lord of Chaos
by Robert Jordan - Loserthink
By Scott Adams - Blood of Elves
by Andrej Sapkowski - #Blackprivilege
by Charlamagne Tha God - The Wheel of Time Book 7: A Crown of Swords
by Robert Jordan - Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity and Why That Harms Everyone
by Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay - Dune
by Frank Herbert - The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land
by Thomas Asbridge (Audible) - Lose the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America
by John McWhorter - The Wheel of Time Book 8: The Path of Daggers
by Robert Jordan - The Go-Giver
by Bob Burg and John David Mann - The Wheel of Time Book 9: Winter’s Heart
by Robert Jordan - Charter Schools and Their Enemies
by Thomas Sowell - A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, and The Cricket on the Hearth
by Charles Dickens - The Law
by Frederic Bastiat - Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley
Best Non-Fiction book of 2020: This was a difficult decision to make…I read a lot of great books this year, but I think the best of them was Cynical Theories by Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay. The book was packed full of information often citing or quoting original materials from the subject matter they were discussing. This gave me more confidence in the conclusions they were reaching in their overview of the Critical Theories that we see invading our current culture. I definitely recommend picking up this book if you are interested in philosophy or want to understand the craze of calling everything racist, sexist, homophobic, or transphobic.
Best Fiction book of 2020: I have to go with Dune for this pick. I originally listened to Dune on audiobook a couple of years ago and couldn’t enjoy it. The vast universe that Frank Herbert created is almost too obscure in audiobook form because you can’t see how the strange terms the characters use are spelled and you don’t get the appendices at the end of the book that explain so much. This year, inspired by the Denis Villaneuve film that was SUPPOSED to come out last month, I decided to pick up the physical copy and give the story another shot. Upon the second reading, with the appendices for help, this book really stood out to me as a testament to fantasy and sci-fi storytelling.
I’ve been curious about Dune. Thanks for the recommendations.
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No problem! I would recommend making sure the copy you read has the appendices. Going through those before reading the actual book really helped me understand the world I was getting into. Luckily, the three appendices worth reading are interesting and one is even a short story so they aren’t difficult reads at all. If you get around to reading Dune I would be interested to hear what you think!
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I’ll let you know, thanks!
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