The Best Books I Read In 2020
A reminder of how these lists work:
I share books that I read during the year; not ones that were published that year. These books aren’t the “best” in some literary sense; they’re the ones I enjoyed reading the most, or whose ideas I’ve kept thinking about since reading them.
2020 was a chaotic year, and so was my reading.
Usually I get interested in a theme, read a bunch of books on the topic, and then move on to the next theme. This year, though, I spent a lot of time thinking about COVID. So, I didn’t do a lot of thematic reading. My picks are sort of all over the place.
That said, I read a few fantastic books in 2020, presented below.
You can find the full list of books I’ve read on Goodreads, as well as lists from past years:
How to Build a Car: The Autobiography of the World’s Greatest Formula 1 Designer
Formula 1 is the top racing series in the world. Every year, teams spend billions of dollars designing and racing the best car they can build. And Adrian Newey is the best car designer.
He’s a hacker in the best sense of the word. Given a set of rules, he bends or works around them to design faster cars than anyone else.
In How to Build a Car, Adrian walks us through every challenge and solution.
The Outlaw Ocean
The. Oceans. Are. Nuts.
Basically, they’re too big to police, and there’s no one in charge. So, oceans are full of “traffickers and smugglers, pirates and mercenaries, wreck thieves and repo men, vigilante conservationists and elusive poachers, seabound abortion providers, clandestine oil-dumpers, shackled slaves and cast-adrift stowaways.”
“Urbina introduces us to a globe-spanning network of crime and exploitation that emanates from the fishing, oil and shipping industries, and on which the world’s economies rely.”
This book completely changed the way I look at many things I take for granted: food, travel, politics, commerce, and more.
The Psychology of Money
Morgan Housel is the best writer about money, period.
In The Psychology of Money, he shares 19 timeless lessons about money that everyone should know. That probably sounds dry, but it’s not. The genius of Housel is that his stories are easy to read and even fun.
If I were to die tomorrow, I’d leave my son three books, and The Psychology of Money would be one of them. As far as I’m concerned, this should be required reading in high schools everywhere.
7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy
If you’ve ever heard the words “moat” or “sustainable competitive advantage”, this is the only book you need to read on the subject.
Helmer presents his framework for understanding Powers: the seven sustainable competitive advantages a business can develop.
The best part: this isn’t some academic theory that doesn’t work. Helmer runs a $700m investment fund that uses his framework to pick investments and they’re killing it.
Refactoring UI
“Learn how to design awesome UIs by yourself using specific tactics explained from a developer’s point-of-view.”
As an engineer, this is the book I’ve always wanted to read about design.
It collects all of the important design concepts you need to design apps — like hierarchy, layout, spacing, text, and color — and gives an 80/20 summary of each. Most importantly, they use real examples to explain right and wrong.
Rewiring America
Saul Griffith is one of the best voices in the climate movement. If you haven’t watched one of his talks yet, do it now. They’re hilarious, and you’ll learn something.
His new book, Rewiring America, handbook for policymakers and activists, but also for anyone curious what the future might look like.
In Rewiring America, Griffith shows that, with a massive war-time mobilization to electrify everything, we can stop climate change, live healthier, and create millions of high-paying jobs across the entire country.
Honourable mentions to go:
- Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
- Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries
- Lifespan: Why We Age — and Why We Don’t Have To
- Rethinking the Economics of Land and Housing
Each of these books have profoundly changed the way I see the world, but suffer from “Genius Wrapped In 500 Page Business Book” syndrome. Instead, Listen to the authors on podcasts.
