48 Books I Read in 2020

This is first time I’ve taken time to keep track and write out all the books I’ve read in a year… Looking back, it’s pretty neat to see some patterns as well as how much time I’ve dedicated to particular genres.

Personally, whenever I go through hardships, my default is to go look for a book. There was a quote I read a long time ago that says: “we read to know we’re not alone.” Whatever it is you’re going through, someone in the history of mankind has gone through the exact same thing and chances are, they've probably written about it.

Although I’ve jotted down all the books I’ve read, I think next year, I’ll hone it to a select number of books I would recommend.

So without further ado, and in no particular order, here are the books I’ve read in 2020:

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007 - Ian Fleming (This was literally in January, pre-COVID, where I was all excited about the new Bond movie which has taken FOREVER to release and decided to read the novels) *** I pick these up frequently and they’re really short reads; just an easy way to get lost in the romance of being an international spy.

1. Casino Royale

2. Dr. No

3. Diamonds Are Forever

4. For Your Eyes Only

5. The Man With the Golden Gun

6. The Spy Who Loved Me

7. You Only Live Twice

8. Live and Let Die

9. Moonraker

10. Goldfiner

11. Thunderball

12. From Russia With Love

Jack Reacher - Lee Child. The book club I used to belong to, we were called “The Low Brow Book Club.” Essentially, it was more a book show and tell rather than us all reading one book and talking about it. It was massively entertaining and they had All read Jack Reacher and it was always so comical when they would discuss it so I decided to read one (or two) They literally read like movies in your imagination and after you finish, you won’t remember a thing.

13. Blue Moon

14. Persuader ***

--- (Business)

I’ve been trying to expand the breadth of overall knowledge this year that coincided with the MBA curriculum I was undertaking, below are some essential readings.

15. 4 Disciplines of Execution - Sean Covey *** This was a fantastic recommendation that happened by sheer serendipity. Earlier in the year, I was trying to win the bid for an RFP from a company in Florida and the gentleman who is the VP of IT and I ended up speaking. Although the deal didn’t go through, we remained in touch and later in the year, he recommended a bunch of business resources that I know will pay dividends in the years to come. This book was written by the son of Stephen Covey - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The 4 disciplines of execution (4DX) are 1. Set a Wildly Important Goal. 2. Identify your leading/lagging indicators. 3. Build a compelling scorecard. 4. Develop a system to keep you/your team accountable.

16. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey *** Most if not all of you have already heard about this book. I don’t need to outline any further praise that haven’t already been said. Pick it up, read it.

17. The Ideal Team Player - Patrick Lencioni. Great team players are people who are hungry, humble and smart. Always keep this framework in mind when acting and hiring.

18. Extreme Ownership - Jocko Willink. Funny enough, this book reminds me a little bit of stoicism where one holds themselves fully accountable for everything that goes on in their life. This book just takes it to a different level simply due to the high stakes involved in military operations. It jumps between your Western war movie and business examples. It can be a bit jarring at times, but if you need a reminder about ownership, this one is a pretty quick read.

19. Dare To Lead - Brene Brown. This woman is recognized the world over; she’s done TED talks, written a number of books… But for some reason, I just couldn’t completely connect with the style of writing. There were a few nuggets of wisdom I took away like what behaviours in bad cultures to identify and how to mitigate them. If you’re starting a company or in a position to effect the company culture, this may be a good resource for you.

20. Small Giants - Bo Burlingham. Short book that talks about company that chose to remain great but small. Reinforces the consideration of values and decide what’s most important to you.

21. Subscribed - Tien Tzuo *** This guy holds what has been touted as one of the best pitch decks of all time. Subscribed talks about the movement to the subscription economy. If your company isn’t transitioning, you’re either dying or dead.

22. The Infinite Game - Simon Sinek ** You may know him from his TED talk about starting with Why – this is usually how I start every year’s coaching of our university’s business case teams. The Infinite Game deals with the mindset of today’s organizations and the argument for a different way of thinking. There are many parallels that can be drawn between this and Blue Ocean Strategy.

23. Typography Essentials - Ina Saltz. I sped read this more because I was looking for inspiration for work. We needed to update our brand and build a new design system – this definitely provides some ideas while also explaining the genesis behind fonts and designs.

24. How to (graphic design) - Michael Bierut. The love I have for beauty is what moves me. This is why I’m attracted to vintage cars, the culinary arts, the arts, and just generally great design. If you have a graphic designer friend, this is a wonderful present.

25. Principles - Ray Dalio *** This man runs Bridgewater. If you don’t know them, look it up. His genius was the innovative application of principles to financial modelling and using the symbiosis of computers and humans to do it. What I appreciate about Ray is that he’s a self made billionaire.

26. Good to Great - Jim Collins *** All his books are awesome but if you’re new to him, start with this one. It analyzes companies who’s returns over the past 15-20 years have smashed the S&P500 and why they’ve performed the way they have.

--- (Self Development)

If this wasn’t the year for self development, I don’t know when it would be.

27. Insecure in Love - Leslie Phelps ** I’m going to admit it, I often get insecure and sometimes that means I’m not great in relationships. This book helped outline attachment styles, why you are that way, ways you can try to overcome them and other tools to help identify and diagnose what you’re feeling which for me is a huge help. The first step in fixing a problem is identifying that there is one.

28. Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents - Lindsay Gibson. My parents aren’t perfect, no one’s is. But reading this helped me understand mine better and learn how to set boundaries – all that healthy stuff.

29. Mating in Captivity - Ester Perel. Modernist view on what romantic relationships are like in the 20th century.

30. The Obstacle is the Way - Ryan Holiday. The basic punchline is don’t be afraid of challenges. The old adage, “nothing worth having comes easy,” rushes to mind.

31. Ego is the Enemy - Ryan Holiday. Remember to check your ego.

32. Atomic Habits - James Clear *** If you’re looking for a resource on how to build better habits, this book will outline that out for you clearly. Things like habit stacking, building in rewards, etc… Atomic Habits in my opinion is a better resource than it’s kin below.

33. The Power of Habit - Charles Duhigg. Focused more on the psychology behind habits than the laying out of practical principles and frameworks one could follow.

34. Smarter Faster Better - Charles Duhigg. Motivate. Set Goals. Focus. Make Decisions. There, that’s the whole book.

35. Essentialism - Greg McKeown ** This was a fun read for me. I practice a lot of minimalism in my life and as such, there’s little to no superfluous materialism. However, I can practice more minimalism or “essentialism” in my relationships and that’s what this book encouraged me to do. (The story about the father and daughter is incredibly touching)

36. The Happiness Trap - Russ Harris. As you would’ve read above, I get insecure – often. Russ explains why you feel this way, what myths are attached to happiness and what exercises to do to try to condition oneself to be more connected.

37. The Big Leap - Gay Hendricks. ** With no expectations this book was actually a really nice surprise. It outlines the 4 zones that everyone in the world operates in – zone of incompetence, competence, excellence, and genius – and what one can do to rise to consistently operate in that zone of genius.

38. Tribe - Sebastian Junger. Argues for the importance of brotherhood and community - in one part he writes that the facade of civility falls in the face of calamity. However true this is, it’s sad that it takes war and absolute catastrophe to bring us together.

39. Stealing Fire - Steven Kotler. Gah! This book sucked! If I could cuss to describe this book, I would. I’ve been interested in flow states and how to get into them faster and I thought this book would help… Needless to say it did not. (If anyone has resources or recommendations on getting into flow states, please let me know)

40. I Will Teach You to be Rich - Ramit Sethi. I picked this one up after listening to him on Tim Ferris. There isn’t a ton of things in this book that wasn’t covered in the podcast. You can save some time and just listen to that if you’re curious about personal finance.

41. The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho. I pick this one up from time to time, it’s always been a lovely read.

42. Meditations – Marcus Aurelius. *** I gift this book A lot. Book 1 is so highly quotable for me and I believe there’s bound to be at least one passage of wisdom for just about everyone.

--- (Fun Reads)

43. Factfulness - Hans Rosling. With all the horrible news that bombards us every day, Hans provides evidence to contradict; painting a picture of a world that’s actually the best time in history.

44. The Biggest Bluff - Maria Konnikova. Mismatch of action and feedback due to external noise. How to refocus, and the importance of practice.

45. Stephen King - The Stand. Holy moly this is a long read. The first third to the first half is a great read. Then the rest kind of gets dragged out a bit and it becomes in my opinion a little religious-y? Nonetheless, still a stellar novel by King.

46. Billion Dollar Whale - Tom Wright *** I read this book in a day. I couldn’t put it down! While the accounts are true, all the events that made this a total and utter clusterfuck seem like it has to be straight out of Hollywood.

47. A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles *** This book is so endeared to my heart. A Count who’s placed under house arrest in a posh hotel in Russia watches the world pass him by.

48. A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara *** I can’t remember the last time I cried while reading a book. I bawled my eyes out while reading this one. There were so many times where I literally had to put the book down because my heart couldn’t be broken anymore. If you need a gentle reminder of the fragility of life, the persistence of the human spirit, the wonders of resilience, the beauty of friendship and love… This book has it all.