10 Great Reads in a Less Than Great Year

I managed to get through a fair few books this year. Some were pretty forgettable but I also landed on some gems too. In a year where highlights were few and far between for most of us, I thought I'd share some of my fav literary highlights and maybe they make it onto your 2021 reading list.

My top 10 from 2020 (in no particular order):

Catch and Kill

Genre: Investigative Journalism

Auth : Ronan Farrow

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51022071-catch-and-kill

Oh boy, this was a ride. Investigative journalist Ronan Farrow wrote this book hot on the heels of the me-too movement. The core of the story revolves around the Harvey Weinstein trial – the Hollywood equivalent of Jabba the Hutt; super powerful slug like dude who also liked trying to keep pretty ladies as chained up slaves.

Most people know the ending, but this book outlines from day one of the investigation, uncovering all the details of who, when, where and how. Kind of a gonzo journalism read, Farrow is part of the story, trying to uncover the full picture in a world where the perpetrator is super powerful and almost everyone is scared to speak out. Both entertaining and awful at the same time.

American Kingpin

Genre : True Crime, Investigative Journalism

Auth: Nick Bilton

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31920777-american-kingpin

The true story about the Dread Pirate Roberts (aka Ross Ulbricht) who founded dark web marketplace The Silk Road. This guy headed up a multi-billion dollar empire by creating a completely anonymous place where you could buy anything – drugs, weapons, hitmen! Interesting study of how power and money combined with ego and legacy can corrupt, and how far you can twist your morals. The story unfolds via two parallel viewpoints – the dread pirate Roberts and the police/investigators trying to unmask him.

This will almost definitely be turned into a dramatised film/tv series, but do yourself a favour and get the book before Hollywood adds unnecessary explosions, car chases and sex scenes to the story.

How Fascism Works – The Politics of Us and Them

Genre: Non Fiction, Politics, Psychology

Auth: Jason Stanley

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38255329-how-fascism-works

I could pick any day from 2020 and pretty much guaranteed there'd be at least one story in the headlines that could’ve elicited the comment “hmm, that seems a little bit fascistic”. In fact, most days for the past few years there was likely a story that could prompt that comment.

Fascism was definitely making a come back and I was keen to get a bit more of detailed understanding about it all beyond just the high level twitter hashtag version. How Fascism Works outlines the key tools and strategies of fascist and wannabe fascist regimes, and how to normalise the intolerable. How to influence a population and the the scene that needs to be set in order for it to work. Unfortunately after reading this book, identifying people in power doing ‘some fascist shit’ became even more frequent. In fact, looking on at whats happening in the US, this book was like a playbook where you could predict the next news cycle based on the chapters of the book about how to execute a fascist agenda. that sounds pretty alarmist, no doubt, but i'd recommend giving it a read and seeing for yourself. There's definitely a formula to fascism, and this book outlines it in a really easy to consume way. Scary stuff. Recommended.

An Astronauts Guide to Life on earth

Genre: Biography

Auth: Chris Hadfield

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18170143-an-astronaut-s-guide-to-life-on-earth

A memoir from Chris Hadfield – the first Canadian astronaut to captain the ISS (and also the guy who played Space Oddity on Guitar in Space)

It outlines his path to achieving his life goal of going to space – which is a goddam intense process. The commitment, and single focus drive to achieve it is… well, actually, I found it half amazing and inspiring, but also something I don’t think I’d ever want to chase to that extent. He achieved amazing success and got to do something only a handful of humans ever will, but you could also tell he missed out on a lot of beautiful stuff in order to achieve it. The story is just peak human determination and really awe inspiring. I read this one a couple of times and I’m not too sure it was intentional or not, but him striving for such a high level of success really highlighted there’s more to life than achieving that level of success. It was inspiring in a couple of ways, and just a really entertaining look under the covers of what it takes to leave the planet.

Inspirational guy.

The Psychopath test

Genre: Non fiction, Investigative Journalism

Auth : Jon Ronson

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12391521-the-psychopath-test?

I went on a bit of a Jon Ronson binge over this Covid lock down (I also read Them and So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed). Such a great writer. Another Gonzo journalist who’s work was described to me as 90% of what he’s writing is true, but you can’t tell what parts are the 10%. The psychopath test follows Ronson uncovering how it is determined who is and isn’t a psychopath. The premise seems relatively straight forward as there are models based on behaviours that determine psychopathic tendencies, but Ronson deep dives into how that test and the criteria came to be, spends time with psychopaths and doctors treating psychopaths and has you questioning the whole way throughout his journey – which is both hilarious and informative. Ronson’s writing is kind of a mix between a literary Louis Theroux and Hunter S Thompson. Any book you find of his will be great, but this one was my favourite.

What Got You Here Won't Get You There

Genre : Business

Auth: Marshall Goldsmith

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/84525.What_Got_You_Here_Won_t_Get_You_There

I’m a bit of a sucker for a business leadership/improvement book, but as I read more of them they start to feel like the premise could’ve been conveyed in a handful or tweets or a blog post rather than 300 pages and a $35 investment. This one however didn’t fit into that category. Every chapter had actionable gold within it. I actually read this one twice and took notes the second time. The first time I read it I really dug it so went online to read other people’s thoughts and this one in particular stood out:

“If you made it to the executive suite and you're a gigantic asshole, congratulations!! This book is just for you.”

I most definitely am not in the exec suite and my level of assholeness is not quite quantified as gigantic just yet (I hope), but I completely get what the reviewer meant. It’s definitely aimed at people who need to wrangle big corporate, and the examples and strategies are positioned as such, BUT there is still gold in there even if you don't fit into that cohort. If you’re looking to figure out growth strategies in that type of environment then it’s a worthwhile read. . . and maybe if you’re just a gigantic asshole too.

Childhoods End

Genre: Sci-Fi

Auth: Arthur C Clarke

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/414999.Childhood_s_End

I went on a bit of a sci-fi binge this year and read a stack of Phillip K Dick (UBIK almost made the top 10 list), but also a few Arthur C Clarke titles.

Now, I’m obviously a bit late to the game here, as Clarke is probably THE most respected and highly rated sci-fi authors ever, but better late than never.

I couldn’t put this book down and wanted to see what would happen on the next page after every single page. Such great story telling and character development and just a really big, entertaining ride.

First published in 1952, I picked up a yellowing, dog eared copy for $8 in a second hand book store. Best $8 spent this year.

It’s all about aliens who come to earth and just float in the atmosphere for 100 or so years. Bring peace on earth and ensure humankind want for nothing. There’s an ever present question hanging over the story of ‘why?’ and ‘what do they REALLY want?’, but also an exploration of what happens to humankind when we do want for nothing. When there is no need to work, or invent or imagine. When life is just luxury. It’s the type of story that you can insert all the tropes and concepts about why an alien race would do this, but where the story goes is just totally original and unpredictable.

The Song of Achilles

Genre: Mythology

Auth : Madeline Miller

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11250317-the-song-of-achilles

Favourite book of the year. Loved this one.

A retelling of the story of Achilles, but where most stories focus heavily about his sacking of Troy, this is the full story of his life through the eyes of his lover, Patroclus.

Awesome mythology storytelling and has all the ingredients you want – gods, battles, epic tales, legendary heroes - but where this one differs from others is the emphasise Miller puts on the relationship between Patroclus and Achilles. You love these characters by half way into the book and hope for the best for them even though you know their fate.

Now that I've read this, all other telling’s of Troy and Achilles are just sub-par.

This is a beautiful book.

A Promised Land

Genre: Autobiography, Politics

Auth: Barack Obama

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55361205-a-promised-land

So me and 20 million other people read this book in its first month. It's as big as a phone book and weighs about 2kg. I sat down to get ready for the long haul and on the second page he mentions ‘this is volume one’! Erghhh...

Fascinating read. I find with someone in a position like president of the US, the people and challenges you hear about and see on screens are almost un-real, or at least un-relatable. They're bigger than life and so far detached an everyday persons world. They feel like characters more than actual people. What this book did really well was put the humans at the centre of the big stories and issues during his tenure as president. Obama touches on the impact such a role has on family and relationships - especially on the back of the vitriol pointed his way as a black man in the white house. I also found it really revealing that even though he has arguably the most powerful position on the planet, he felt like so many things were out of his control and that at times he felt like he had more ability to implement change before he was president than when he was and decisions were bogged down in political consequences. No doubt the stories are a bit sugar coated, but it's a really human telling of a story that only 44 other people have been able to experience, and none with the circumstances that Obama faced. The book ends on the day they got Bin Laden, and it definitely ensured that i'll be getting volume 2 as soon as it goes on sale - even if its also 750+ pages. In fact, i'm hoping it is, as this was engaging on pretty much every page.

It’s not for everyone – after all it is a 750+ page book about a politician – but it's full of great story telling from one of the best orators of our time.

Endurance

Genre : History

Author: Alfred Lansing

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/139069.Endurance

Oh man, this book was intense.

All about Shackleton’s doomed voyage to reach the south pole in 1917.

The title of the book is actually the namesake of one of the turn of the century ice-breaking ships used in the voyage, but there’s also no better word to describe what Shackleton and his crew went through.

I read this just after watching the show The Terror and you could tell the show took a lot from this story. One of the best adventure stories i've ever read and that it all occurred just 100 years ago just helps to make the story even more remarkable.

Get this book.

Some others that I also thought were pretty good, but didn’t quite make the top 10:

• UBIK - Phillip K Dick
• Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World - Jack Weatherford
• Educated – Tara Westover
• The Resilience Project - Hugh Van Cuylenburg
• The Long Earth - Terry Pratchet, Stephen Baxter
• Recursion - Blake Crouch

And if you're interested, here's my list from 2019:

How about you? Any books you can recommend?

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