What to read in 2020

I made this for one reason: I want you to read with me

I think you would find it very difficult to find any adult human who would say reading doesn’t have an immense value.

and yet you’ll find it even more difficult to find many humans who take the time to actually read.

Obviously I can’t fix this for everyone, but I am going to try my hardest to to do so. That’s why I write so much content about books in the first place, I’m trying to lead by example. On top of that though, I try to ask people to read along with me.

Maybe you’re more likely to read if you have a partner? Usually I just post the books I’m reading when I start them, this year I’m going to post a very loose wish list of books I plan to read through the year in hopes that someone will see one they are interested in and we can read it together.

How do I pick books

First, I get a lot of referrals. Managing referrals is a talent of itself because LOTS OF PEOPLE WILL REFER TERRIBLE BOOKS TO YOU. Many of the books I list below come from Bill Gates, Jordan Peterson, and other people I think are smart.

Lots of these books are just entries from authors I’ve already read books from and know I want to learn more from them. That’s been an interesting progression in my personal reading journey. It’s one thing to read a great book, it’s another to find an author you generally love and then consume their portfolio. I think this helps to give a very broad understanding of an author’s works, although it takes time. This year some of my repeat authors just for the sake of reading more from them include: Jordan Peterson, Friedrich Neitszche, George Orwell, Malcom Gladwell, Jonathan Haidt, Fyodor Dostoyefksy.

I like old books. The problem with new books is most will be out of print in less than 5 years, which makes you wonder how good they are. A book that has stood the test of time is LINDY. A book that is old also has no political ideas to sell you, and they aren’t simply doing it to make money. This is a good way to avoid reading lots of lousy new age self help, something I scorn often, if a were really valuable it would stay in print, instead 99% of them are just charlatanism to get paid. Old books have genuine human knowledge that has stood the test of time

I’m reading more ‘classics’ these days as well. I use that term loosely but basically I feel a deep responsibility to sort of pay my intellectual dues with regards to reading. So much of our culture is based on famous books that I’ve never read and therefore I must be taking for granted. This can be said of not understanding history as well, if you don’t know what’s come before you, how do you know where we are going? Past is prologue.

Long books. In a world full of soundbites and headlines, your fellow man is saying more and learning less, those who understand the nuance and deep context of the world have an increasing advantage, but it takes more work. I intend to do the work, I LOVE nuance.

The list

This is a rough list of what I’m going to tackle for the year. Its about 37 books and last year I cleared off 50, so I left room for additional titles I find along the way which happens often. These are not in any order, and I reserve the right to change any of this, the point here is to get YOU to see something you want to read and then we can plan to read it together.