2020 Books

Year 2020 sucked in many ways, but at least it created some time for reading - I had read more books(44!) than any other previous years. Here are 14 of them I’d like to recommend to friends. Ordered by when I read them.

1. Poor Charlie’s Almanack

Charlie Munger’s wisdom compiled in one book. If you are interested in mental models, investing, first principle thinking, no bullshit communication, this is a great book to pick up. It’s much more than a coffee table book.

“I’ve long believed that a certain system - which almost any intelligent person can learn - works way better than the systems that most people use. What you need is a latticework of mental models in your head. And, with that system, things gradually get to fit together in a way that enhances cognition.”

2. Exhalation

A collection of short Sci-fi stories from Ted Chiang. I find his writing special in his interpretation of technology and humanity. My favorite story in the book was “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate”. Fascinating storyline and beautiful prose.

“We don’t normally think of it as such, but writing is a technology, which means that a literate person is someone whose thought processes are technologically mediated. We became cognitive cyborgs as soon as we became fluent readers, and the consequences of that were profound.”

3. Amusing Ourselves to Death

In the age of endless entertainment, the arguments and warnings in this 40+ year old book are becoming even more relevant today. It made me think more deeply about McLuhan’s idea “the medium is the message”.

“…the clearest way to see through a culture is to attend to its tools for conversation.”

4. Alchemy

Being logical isn’t always the best way to make decisions.

“This book is not an attack on the many healthy uses of logic or reason, but it is an attack on a dangerous kind of logical overreach, which demands that every solution should have a convincing rationale before it can even be considered or attempted. If this book provides you with nothing else, I hope it gives you permission to suggest slightly silly things from time to time.”

5. 何为良好生活

「要自我实现，得有个自我，如果我年复一年奋斗，最后把自我丢失了，那不算自我实现。但反过来，成天自我自我，把个自我想象成一只肥皂泡，五彩斑斓，圆润完整，也不是自我实现。一个人所做的事情使他充盈，支持他站立，面包师傅把面包烤得香喷喷的，医生把病人治好，自我由之实现。从前，只有俊杰之士才谈得上自我实现，如今，我们人人都要自我实现。的确，在有些国度，人们似乎不像我们天朝人，但凡有一线机会就把欲穿的望眼投向挣大钱当大官，他当个小学老师或社区医生，也过得蛮充实蛮高兴。」

6. How to Take Smart Notes

I discovered Roam Research in 2020, which eventually led me to this wonderful book. The title suggests note taking, but it’s really more about building a bottom-up writing system. It teaches you why writing can help you think, and provides a practical guide on how to do that. I wrote about my learnings here.

“There is no need to build a complex system and there is no need to reorganise everything you already have. You can start working and developing ideas immediately by taking smart notes.”

7. Hell yea or no

https://sive.rs/n

Derek Sivers has a super good at cutting through all the things that doesn’t matter and preserve what’s essential in life. I added my notes on this book here.

“What would you do then, if you didn’t need the money and didn’t need the attention?”

8. On writing well

This book was recommended to me on my freshmen year by my writing professor. I didn’t pay attention then, but finally read it in 2 020 as I start to learn to write better. The book is highly regarded for a reason. My favorite part is on the principle of simplicity and declutter. So many Internet writing could be half as long. More notes here.

“Most first drafts can be cut by 50 percent without losing any information or losing the author’s voice.”

9. Sum

40 beautiful short stories about the after life, witty and thought provoking. The perspectives it provided about life and death are super fun to think about. I’m grateful for discovering this book through @photomatt on a podcast.

10. Man’s Search for Meaning

This book had helped me through some of the lowest times of 2020. All of us probably suffered to some extent last year, and Frankl tells us suffering can bring meaning too.

“Suffering in and of itself is meaningless; we give our suffering meaning by the way in which we respond to it.”

11. The Psychology of Money

Some of my favorite writing on risks and personal finance of 2020. Some people chase money without knowing what game they are playing. Optimizing for “most money possible” may not even be your game. Don’t blindly copy someone else’s game.

“I mostly just want to wake up every day knowing my family and I can do whatever we want to do on our own terms. Every financial decision we make revolves around that goal.”

12. Vagabonding

This book talks a lot about traveling and adventure, and much more.

“But beyond travel, vagabonding is an outlook on life. Vagabonding is about using the prosperity and possibility of the information age to increase your personal options instead of your personal possessions. Vagabonding is about looking for adventure in normal life, and normal life within adventure. Vagabonding is an attitude—a friendly interest in people, places, and things that makes a person an explorer in the truest, most vivid sense of the word.”

13. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant

This is a nice curation of the wisdom shared by Naval. I loved his perspectives on health, wealth and wisdom. These insights have largely influenced my decision making in 2020, and advice I gave to friends.

“Today, I believe happiness is really a default state. Happiness is there when you remove the sense of something missing in your life.”

14. Digital Minimalism

I’ve been on practicing some form of “digital minimalism” for years now. This book was a nice reminder and put many intuitions into words for me.

“As argued, our current unease with new technologies is not really about whether or not they’re useful. It’s instead about autonomy.”