Welcome to my annual reading review. Each December, I share the ten best books I read and listened to over the past twelve months.
I read 42 books in 2020 (27 physical and 15 on Audible). And while I read fewer books than I did in 2019, those I read were all worthwhile.
Here are my top pics from 2020.
Best Books 2020
- A Night to Remember by Walter Lord
- Getting High by Paolo Hewitt
- Superthinking by Gabriel Weinberg and Lauren McCann
- The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson
- The Little Book of Yes by Noah Goldstein
- Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg
- Unnatural Causes by Richard Shepherd
- The Great Mental Models Vol. 1 by Shane Parrish
- Gotta Get Theroux by Louis Theroux
- Never Surrender by Hiroo Onoda
1. A Night to Remember by Walter Lord
Key takeaway:
“The temperature of the water was twenty-eight degrees – well below freezing. To Second Officer Lightoller it felt like ‘a thousand knives’ driven into his body. In water like this, lifebelts did no good.”
First published in 1955, A Night to Remember is a riveting, minute-by-minute account of the final hours of the Titanic. Lord tells the story in a novelistic way, depicting events through multiple individuals’ eyes to present an overlapping, real-time narrative. This is the most definitive resource about the Titanic and compliments James Cameron’s movie (which, incidentally, Lord also served as a consultant). One of the most exciting books I read this year.
2. Getting High by Paolo Hewitt
Key takeaway:
“Their father’s obvious preference for Liam hurt Noel, and is a major reason as to why their relationship is one of the most complex ever to have been placed under the white heat of public scrutiny.”
I’m a big Oasis fan, so I was excited to read what many consider the best, most definite book on the band. Getting High recounts music writer Paolo Hewitt’s life on the road with Oasis between 1994 and 1996. Hewitt’s unrestricted access to chief songwriter Noel Gallagher and his brother Liam offers a rare and intimate fly-on-the-wall account of the antics of Britain’s biggest band since the Beatles. A forgotten gem in the music biography genre.
3. Superthinking by Gabriel Weinberg and Lauren McCann
Print | Audiobook | Book Summary
Key takeaway:
“When you don’t use mental models, strategic thinking is like using addition when multiplication is available to you.”
I read two books on the topic of mental models in 2020. Superthinking was the first. Born out of the popularity of an article penned by Weinstein, Superthinking is a big book of mental models with a narrative interwoven throughout, holding each theme together. There are a few boring chapters, but the chapters that held my interest taught me how to make better decisions. (I loved the idea of being less wrong such that I wrote a newsletter on the topic.)
4. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson
Print | Hardcover | Book Summary
Key takeaway:
“Getting rich is about knowing what to do, who to do it with, and when to do it.”
My favorite read of 2020, I found this book by chance. After listening to Ravikant on Farnam Street, I sought out his writings, if any, on Amazon and found Jorgenson’s book. The Almanack is a curation of Ravikant’s most insightful interviews and poignant reflections on health, wealth, and happiness. I struggled to summarize Jorgenson’s book because there were countless takeaways. One I plan to return to again and again in 2021 and beyond.
5. The Little Book of Yes by Noah Goldstein
Key takeaway:
“Emotion affects all our interactions so take a moment to check in with yourself before attempting to influence others.”
In 2019, I read a great little book called, Yes! (I actually listened to it first, then read the book; I enjoyed it that much.) One of the authors, Noah Goldstein, wrote a follow-up called The Little Book of Yes, a semi-abridged version of Yes! Given its length, there are fewer takeaways as there are in Yes! However, if you’re new to “persuasive engineering,” it’s a nice gateway into that sub-genre of popular psychology. The chapter on negative social proof was particularly interesting.
6. Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg
Print | Audiobook | Book Summary
Key takeaway:
“You can disrupt a behavior you don’t want by removing the prompt. This isn’t always easy, but removing the prompt is your best first move to stop a behavior from happening.”
A lot of people praise James Clear’s Atomic Habits, which I agree, is rightly deserved. But much of Clear’s work is influenced by Tiny Habit’s author BJ Fogg (which, to Clear’s credit, he gives to Fogg.). If you’re unfamiliar, Fogg is the founding father of habit research, and in Tiny Habits, he reveals what he’s learned from twenty years’ research and used by over 60,000 people, his Tiny Habits method. If you’ve read Atomic Habits, add Tiny Habits to your reading list. You won’t regret the decision.
7. Unnatural Causes by Richard Shepherd
Key takeaway:
“One of the greatest skills I have learned is not to feel a moral repulsion which others might think is not only justified but required.”
One of the best memoirs I’ve read in a long, long time. Unnatural Causes tells the story of one of the UK’s top forensic pathologists and his involvement in several high-profile cases ranging from the Princess Diana inquiry to 9/11. I listened to the book on Audible, and one particular highlight was the Shepherd’s narration. The doctor handles the sometimes grisly subject matter with care, and it reflects in his narration. A word to the warning: it’s not for the faint at heart. Unnatural Causes caught me off guard, to say the least, and unsurprisingly, given the ending, stayed with me for weeks after.
8. The Great Mental Models Vol. 1 by Shane Parrish
Key takeaway:
“You can’t improve if you don’t know what you’re doing wrong.”
The Great Mental Models is the second of two books I read on mental models in 2020 (and incidentally, the first in two volumes Parrish has published on the subject). While Superthinking is broad, The Great Mental Models goes deep, featuring twelve mental models in total. This gives Parrish ample room to tackle each model in more detail, pulling from historical anecdotes to drive home its utility. I’m a big fan of Parrish, and his blog, Farnam Street, is a great resource for learning how to think better.
9. Gotta Get Theroux by Louis Theroux
Key takeaway:
“I felt more comfortable among the supposedly weird people I documented that I did in the BBC, and I was only half-joking.”
If you’re a British reader, you’ve likely heard of Louis Theroux. For the unfamiliar, Theroux is a British journalist and filmmaker who’s famous for immersing himself in weird, often delinquent subcultures. Like Unnatural Causes, Theroux narrates his memoir himself with wry wit and self-deprecation to make for a fun, often hilarious listen. That’s not to say Theroux makes light of more sensitive topics, though: Theroux’s reflections on Jimmy Saville, in particular, are handled with caution and pose the question, “How is evil so commonplace?”
10. Never Surrender by Hiroo Onoda
Key takeaway:
“As I remained pure inside, whatever measures I saw fit to take would eventually redound to the good of my country and my countrymen.”
I sought out Onoda’s memoir after learning about him in Mark Manson’s The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, and, boy, I was not disappointed. Never Surrender recounts Onoda’s thirty-year ordeal as a Japanese holdout who continued fighting after Japan’s surrender in August 1945. Onoda’s memoir is oddly inspiring at times, offering a rare glimpse into the mind of a man who refused to give up. But his first-person account also serves as a cautionary tale on the perils of self-belief and confirmation bias.
Conclusion
2020 was a fantastic year for reading, and I’m already looking forward to reading more, better books in 2021.
If you enjoyed this article, you might like previous years’ entries:
Otherwise, if you’re looking for more book recommendations, check out my book summaries page.