Books of 2020

Ratings

I’ve divided up all the books I read this year by the rating scale I use for my Book Notes page.

Note: I only included subtitles where necessary for clarification.

5 Stars: Loved It

Non-Fiction

Tribe of Mentors by Timothy Ferriss
Deep Work by Cal Newport
Cribsheet by Emily Oster
The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger
Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson
Grant by Ron Chernow
The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman
Washington by Ron Chernow
Inside the President’s Helicopter by Gene Boyer
Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis
The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates
Stillness Is the Key by Ryan Holiday
Antarctic Tears by Aaron Linsday
Range by David Epstein
The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller
I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

Fiction

Strange Planet by Nathan W. Pyle
Adulthood Is a Myth by Sarah Andersen

4 Stars: Liked It

Non-Fiction

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
Moroni’s Guide to Surviving Turbulent Times by John Bytheway
The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, & Jim Huling
The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
- Note: I’d like to re-read this one
Prepared by Diane Tavenner
Hughes by Richard Hack
The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Educated by Tara Westover
Nine Lies About Work by Marcus Buckingham

Fiction

Servant of the Shard by R.A. Salvatore
Spawn Origins, Volume 1 by Todd McFarlane
Hellboy, Volume 1: Seed of Destruction by Mike Mignola
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

3 Stars: It Was Okay

Non-Fiction

Hit Refresh by Satya Nadella
Pale Horse by Jimmy Blackmon
Kill Chain by Andrew Cockburn
Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson
Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Note: I hated the tone of his voice (i.e. prideful) throughout the book, but I actually, to his creditt, think about the book’s principles all the time
The Like Switch by Jack Schafer
Getting Things Done by David Allen
Good to Great by James Collins

Fiction

Spawn Origins, Volume 6 by Todd McFarlane
Deathstroke, Volume 1: The Professional by Christopher Priest
Sword of God by Chris Kuzneski

2 Stars: Disliked It

Non-Fiction

A History of the United States in Five Crashes by Scott Nations

Fiction

1 Star: Hated It

Non-Fiction

Fiction

Dune by Frank Herbert

Put On Pause or Quit

Non-Fiction

Instructions for British Servicemen in Germany, 1944 by Library Bodleian
The Box by Marc Levinson

Fiction

Analysis

This year, I also paid attention to the types of books I was reading. The first step was data. I created a Google Sheet and plotted the data I felt were relevant, such as the gender of the author and whether or not the author was a minority. I hope to diversify my reading a bit more than the typical successful white male authors in business I gravitate toward. That has been at least one of the blessings of the 2020 chaos—an added attention on the benefits of diversity, inclusion, and equality.

So first, I go some data. Now I can readjust. Please make recommendations for female and people-of-color authors and books you enjoy!

I also realized that my list of authors I’d read anything by is entirely white dudes. I want to fix that.