20 Must-Read Books for 2020

Three years ago I started publicly sharing updates about my New Year's Resolution to read a non-fiction book a week for one reason: to pressure myself to actually do it.

It was a pretty lofty goal to go from 5 books to 52, but the peer pressure worked as I read 75 books in 2017. Since it was more rewarding than surfing the internet or binge watching Netflix, I continued my commitment and finished with 66 books read in 2018.

An unintended consequence of sharing my progress was how often my reading became a welcomed conversation starter. Instead of small talk about the weather, friends would jump right in and ask me to recommend books as they also wanted to start reading more.

My 2019 reading was influenced by a tweet from someone I respect who wrote: "Why do people brag about how many books they read? They should focus on how much they learn from the reading."

Since I resembled that remark, I posted less about my reading progress last year, focused more on retaining knowledge and finished with 60 books read. I also found the perfect excuse for delaying this now annual post recapping my favorite books when I read that February is when most people actually start their New Year's Resolutions.

Thus, hopefully this post is timely for people who have pledged to read more books in 2020 and need a nudge. To me the better the book, the easier it is to read the next one so here are my favorite reads over the last year listed in reverse order of when I completed them.

• The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger (4.4)
• Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow (4.5)
• Me by Elton John (4.4)
• Trailblazer by Marc Benioff (4.0)
• Know My Name by Chanel Miller (4.7)
• No Excuses by Bob Stoops (4.5)
• The Wright Brothers by David McCullough (4.1)
• Super Pumped by Mike Isaac (4.2)
• Talking To Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell (4.0)
• State by Melissa Isaacson
• What Set Me Free by Brian Banks (4.5)
• The Club by Joshua Robinson (4.3)
• Give and Take by Adam Grant
• The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates (4.3)
• Heavy by Kiese Laymon (4.5)
• Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann (4.1)
• Toughness by Jay Bilas (4.0)
• Who Is Michael Ovitz by Michael Ovitz (4.2)
• Rising Out of Hatred by Eli Saslow (4.4)
• Thirst by Scott Harrison (4.5)

I linked each book to their Goodreads' review and noted their Goodreads ranking. I know a lot of people are skeptical about online rankings but if you organize the above books from highest to lowest rated it's pretty spot on to how I would rank them.

While my book total was down last year, their quality increased as did the number of conversations I had with friends and family about the books we enjoyed most.

Hopefully your city has an amazing collection of books and an efficient app to reserve the books you most want like the San Antonio Public Library. While I'm both gifting and receiving more books, I still need the deadline of checked out book to keep me focused.

Of course, the best motivator to read more is to find the books that captivate you from the first chapter. Thus please comment your must read nonfiction book below.

Thank you and happy reading!