The Best Books I Read in 2020 (70+ Books): How reading makes me a better leader, spouse, parent, and sibling.

2020 has been an interesting year but on the plus side, a global pandemic has given more time to read and I’ve managed to read 70+ books this year! However, I’m a firm believer that it’s about quality not quantity, but luckily, I managed to read some absolute killer books this year too. 

Most of us want to read more books. And we absolutely can. You are what you eat, and you are what you read. Many of us complain that we don’t have enough time to read books. But the truth is, we do.

Think about how many texts and alerts and notifications and work emails and personal emails and news headlines and fly-by tickers and blog feeds and Twitter spews and Instagram comments you’re reading each day. To read more books, you need to cut some of that out of your life.

This is an interesting Harvard Business Review article if you wish to develop habits to read more-

https://hbr.org/2019/04/8-ways-to-read-the-books-you-wish-you-had-time-for

Below is a list of my top picks for the year, and a little bit about why I loved them!

Outliers: Outliers explains why “the self-made man” is a myth and what truly lies behind the success of the best people in their field, which is often a series of lucky events, rare opportunities and other external factors, which are out of our control.

The Power of Habit: The Power of Habit is by far one of the most recommended books on this topic. I believe everyone should read it if they want to take control over their life. It explains perfectly why habit exists and how they can be changed backed by science, research, and real-life stories. Besides, the book has provided practical strategies and techniques to apply the changes on the individual, organizational and societal level.

Shoe Dog: Incredible book about Phil “Buck” Knight the founder of Nike. The story of shoe giant Nike is one of humble beginnings and “crazy” ideas. The company’s rise to world fame goes to show that if you believe in your ideas, think outside the box and stay true to your values, there’s no limit to what you can accomplish. A little luck can help, but commitment is essential. 

The 5AM Club: This book shows the benefits of early risers. The first hours of the day are where heroes are created. If you want to truly master your life, begin by owning your mornings. Freedom from distraction at 5 a.m. will enable you to increase your creativity, maximize fitness and protect your serenity in this age of complexity. Spend the first one hour of the day following a 20/20/20 formula i.e. you use 20 minutes to move, 20 minutes to reflect and 20 minutes to grow.

The Ride of a Lifetime: The culture and management of Disney have fascinated me for years. The Ride of a Lifetime is an autobiography with an inside look at the highlights of Bob Iger’s tenure as CEO of Disney. Two things he followed in his career is taking responsibility when he screwed up and treating everyone with fairness and empathy. 

The Power of Positive Thinking: The Power of Positive Thinking is a classic that pioneered the idea of positive thinking and the power of the mind. No matter how insurmountable they may seem, there are no problems in your life that cannot be overcome by the power of positive thinking. By staying calm, gaining perspective, nurturing your faith and focusing on positive outcomes, you will have the power to create a happy, healthy life. Many people suffer poor health not because of what they eat but from what is eating them. 

The Snowball: This autobiography of Warren Buffet is one of the longest books to read. For much of Warren Buffett’s life, he had a one-track mind – rolling his snowball. This meant constantly investing and reinvesting the earnings. His relatively simple but thorough method for picking stocks to invest in had nothing to do with business trends or technology. Though he could calculate a company’s monetary value quite quickly, he found success by paying attention to the human element of a business.

The Magic of Thinking Big: This book is all about upgrading your thinking. Think and believe you can succeed, and you will. Positive belief will get you all of the Energy, Power, and Skills needed to succeed. Think and believe you can’t succeed, and you won’t. Negative belief will get you negative power, doubts, excuses, and reasons why you won’t succeed. You will become the combined average of the five people you hang around the most. You will have the combined attitude, health and income of the five people you hang around the most.

Good to Great: Companies can make the leap from mediocrity to greatness by pursuing a simple strategic concept with the right leaders and people working in a culture of rigorous self-discipline. Success comes from many tiny incremental pushes in the right direction. Leaders must create an environment where the brutal facts are aired without hesitation.

How to Lead: This book is about authors conversations with the world’s highest performing leaders about who they are and how they became successful. How to Lead distills these revealing conversations into an indispensable leadership guidebook.

Winning: Fortune called Jack Welch "manager of the century." Businessweek called him "an icon of American business." This guy loves to win and shows the rest of us how he and a multitude of others have won.  

The Algebra of Happiness: This book lays out some of the most important variables involved in living a life full of meaning, love and success. It then provides a wide range of practical tips and principles on how to navigate the tensions and trade-offs involved in balancing these variables against one another. Ultimately, it is our connections to other human beings that matter most and define our long-term happiness and health.

The Inevitable:  Author forecasts the twelve technological forces that will shape the next thirty years. These are becoming, cognifying, flowing, screening, accessing, sharing, filtering, remixing, interacting, tracking, questioning and beginning. While these forces are mostly technological in nature, they will touch every aspect of our lives. Despite potential problems, for the most part, we’re facing a future of great opportunity.

Alibaba: This is autobiography of Jack Ma. Despite a lack of experience and little start-up funding, Jack Ma built an e-commerce empire from the ground up, at a time when few people in China even had an e-mail account. But Jack had something far more important: he was filled with entrepreneurial spirit and the desire to put in the hard work necessary to make his vision a reality.

Peak Performance: Peak Performance is a life-changing book in which readers will learn how to enhance their performance via myriad ways. Improving your performance isn’t a simple matter of working as hard as you can. In fact, to truly be as productive as possible, and avoid burning out in the process, you’ve got to take care of yourself, focus on one task at a time, identify your purpose and know what truly compels you. Assisting other people activates the reward and pleasure centers of your brain.

A Promise Land: A Memoir of the Presidency of Barack Obama. Books offers a genuine insight into his life – not just a historical record of key events.

I would love to know your thoughts on this.