In the midst of this tumultuous year, and in large part due to the quarantine and work from home measures in effect since March, I found that I was able to read (skim and listen on audio) a lot more content in 2020. 

These are all the books I “read” (in roughly chronological order) with the ones I would recommend in bold and starred: 

1. The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
2. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
3. Range by David Epstein*
4. So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport
5. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (audiobook)*
6. Navigating Debt Crises by Ray Dalio
7. Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin*
8. How Will You Measure Your Life by Clayton Christensen*
9. Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton (audiobook)*
10. The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch***
11. Show Your Work by Austin Kleon
12. Make Time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky
13. The Brain Fog Fix by Dr. Mike Dow (audiobook) 
14. The Bhagavad Gita
15. How to Take Smart Notes by Sonke Ahrens
16. The Overstory by Richard Powers
17. Sources of Power by Gary Klein  
18. Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzalez 
19. Ride of a Lifetime by Bob Iger***
20. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink
21. The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss 
22. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates***
23. Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard P. Feynman (audiobook)***
24. Good Strategy Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt
25. Bean-to-bar Chocolate: America’s Craft Chocolate Revolution: The Origins, the Markers, the Mind-Blowing Flavors by Megan Giller
26. Making Chocolate: From Bean to Bar to S’More by Todd Masonis, Greg D’Alesandre, Lisa Vega & Molly Gore
27. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
28. Do the Work by Steven Pressfield
29. The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
30. The Foundation by Iaac Asimov
31. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki
32. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
33. Quiet by Susan Cain

My reading this year leaned heavily on the side of nonfiction (as usual) and can be further broken down into the following categories: 

• Self-Help Books. Yes, I was definitely a sucker for these books this year. A lot of them were recommended as “life-changing” reads through numerous YouTube channels (another pastime I picked up while in quarantine). Some of them even seem to fall into a new “classics for productivity / self-starter gurus” kind of category. These would include Think and Grow Rich, The Four Hour Work Week, The War of Art, Do the Work, Rich Dad Poor Dad and How to Win Friends and Influence People. Show Your Work by Austin Kleon (and recommended by Ali Abdaal) is probably lesser known but has inspired me to bring new life to this blog. Overall, I’d say sure, these are good books to read  skim once if you feel inspired to do so, but, if you don’t, you’re probably not missing much. 
• Finance and Business Books. Navigating Debt Crises and Too Big To Fail were reads inspired by the shutdown of the economy and my desire to review the potential effects of large scale monetary and fiscal stimulus. (What happens to inflation, the dollar, productivity, future tax rates, etc. when the government issues trillions of dollars of debt?) Too Big To Fail really read like a drama and would still be entertaining for those who aren’t interested in finance. Psychology of Money was gifted to me by a colleague and seems to have been a big hit this year, but I didn’t find it particularly informative. I do want to especially highlight The 80/20 Principle. I learned of this book by listening to The Tim Ferriss Show podcast episode featuring Richard Koch as the guest. The 80/20 Principle is a common business term, but in this book Koch uses it as a lense to examine your personal life. (In fact, I debated grouping this book in the Self-Help group category too.) I liked his ideas of Happiness and Unhappiness Islands, Achievement and Achievement Desert Islands and his call to become self-employed as soon as possible (so you can reap the full rewards and benefits). Unfortunately, I still have not figured out a path to sustainable self-employment yet … Sorry Richard.
• Spiritual / Life Value Books. I wasn’t entirely sure how to label these books as they were kind of a new realm for me this year. The Four Agreements is a recommendation from Karlie Kloss, The Bhagavad Gita came from a podcast, and How Will You Measure Your Life was recommended by a high school classmate of mine. Each gives loose guidelines on how to live your life. Of these, I’d say How Will You Measure Your Life was the most impactful in terms of getting me to reflect more regularly to see if my daily actions are truly aligned with what I value. 
• Biography and Memoirs. I’m not surprised that each of these are on my Top Books of 2020 list. I would highly recommend each of these to anyone as they are truly captivating and eye-opening stories. 

The only two fiction books I read were The Overstory and The Foundation. The Overstory was recommended by Hugh Jackman on The Tim Ferriss Podcast and actually won The Pulitzer Prize this year. I enjoyed most of The Overstory, but the ending was a bit sad. The Foundation was inspired by Elon Musk, and I believe Chamath Palihapitiya mentioned it as a guest on The Knowledge Project Podcast. It was entertaining, but I’m not jumping to read the next book in the series. I am curious about other sci-fi books and want to read Dune before the movie version comes out. 

What did you read / listen to / watch this year that inspired you? Any recommendations for me for 2021?