The 101 books I read last year

Nobody would disagree 2020 was an unusual year. I was supposed to fly to Palestine on a Thursday to learn about negotiation and human rights among other things, but on that Tuesday, my school announced the rest of the semester would be online and travel restrictions propped up in a flurry. I went to Western NC to meet with family instead, something I thought would last a week but instead lasted months. Eventually, after my family spread out and a number of heavy storms hit, I found myself living alone in the woods with no power quite a bit more often than I expected for my 20s. Although there's a lot I was not able to do because of the pandemic, there was one thing I got to do more: read.

In the interests of transparency, bonding over shared interests, and making/receiving recommendations, I am listing every book I read last year and when I read them. Last year, I made a top 5. I think I read too many good books this year to rank them, so I will instead list my favorites along with a brief description of what they were about and what I liked about them. Feel free to ask me about any of them or chat if you've read one too!

As for how I read more: the main innovation for me this year was the Libby app, which helped me get free audiobooks to listen to while driving and running. Besides this, the commitment that comes with actually buying a physical book was helpful. Above all, the most helpful advice I have for reading more is just choosing more interesting books.

 

Favorite books:

--------------------------------------------------

If you read any of these (or want to), we have to talk about them!! I highly recommend all of them to everyone. They are in just the order I read them.

Dark Money - Jane Mayer
    An exceptional piece of investigative journalism on the Koch network and how it has influenced politics over the last few decades. I knew political corruption was a problem in the United States, but this book taught me a lot about the "how" and "why."

Invisible Women - Caroline Criado-Perez
    Cold hard numbers and data are not sexist, right? In a sexist society, they probably are. This book is all about how, through researchers' biases or through the structure of society itself, data is often used to perpetuate gender bias. Further, a shocking amount of data used to inform important decisions is not even disaggregated by gender. Read this to find what to look for.

Human Acts - Han Kang
    This is an account of how people reacted to the democratization uprising that occurred on May 18, 1980 in Gwangju, Korea. Though fiction, the novel deals with deep themes in a way that feels more human and real than nonfiction. Thanks for the recommendation, Jess!

The Dictator’s Handbook - Alastair Smith and Bruce Bueno de Mesquita
    This was the most clear and accessible book on political power I have read so far. It explains how rulers come into power and how they stay there. Though there are a couple bad takes, it is generally a great book for understanding power. There is a YouTube series by user CGPGrey called "Rules for Rulers" that uses this research as well.

Life 3.0 - Max Tegmark
    Ever wonder what's realistic and what's out of proportion in Artificial Intelligence doomsday scenarios? This book is for you. Written by a leader in the field, it covers pretty much anything you might have ever wondered about AI and advanced machine learning technology.

The Three-Body Problem - Cixin Liu [whole series!]
    It is hard to describe this series in any depth without spoiling some very satisfying plot developments. What I will say is that this series dives into science, space, technology, and society in very unique way. A great fiction series for anyone who likes science.

An Epidemic of Absence - Moises Velasquez-Manoff
    Easily the most mind-blowing book I read this year. This book rewrote everything I thought I knew about allergies and immunology. The main thesis is that the hyper-sanitation of modern life is causing the increases we see in allergies and other conditions. The field is very young, though, so it will probably leave you with many more questions than answers.

American Prison - Shane Bauer 

    An incredibly dark and challenging read, but incredibly educational. In this book, a journalist intersperses his personal account of working undercover as a prison guard with damning facts about the history of the American prison system. This book will make you want to tear down the prison industrial complex more than you already did. 

How to Be Less Stupid About Race - Crystal Marie Fleming
    Out of all the books I read on race and racism this year, this one was the best. Beyond just covering the most pervasive topics, this book actually historicizes contemporary issues without pulling any punches or trying to save anyone's feelings. Highly recommend for anyone who feels like they want to better understand race in America.

The Uninhabitable Earth - David Wallace-Wells
    This book bucks the tradition in climate change writing of only sticking to the most conservative estimates. Instead, we learn about all the catastrophic possibilities of our current anti-environmental societal trajectory. I think this is much more useful, especially since a lot of climate change writing today is "current reality exceeds previous predictions" anyway.

The Color of Law - Richard Rothstein
    America's laws are not, nor have they ever been race-neutral. If you have even a hint of doubt in your mind about that statement, read this book! Racist laws did not start or end in Jim Crowe and this book does a great job of explaining the lasting impact of racist legislation on today's America (though this is definitely a useful principle for other countries).

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism - Shoshana Zuboff
    Ever see an ad that is way too targeted and wonder if your phone is listening to you? It probably is. This book is all about how tech companies have commodified ever more invasive aspects of our lives and sold them to the detriment of us all. If you want to enter the newest industrial revolution on the right footing, read this!

Less is More - Jason Hickel
    Ever wonder why our society seems ready and willing to let the world burn for profits? Want to know how to fix this? This is the book for you! An explanation of the Degrowth movement: reorganizing economics to serve the people instead of profits.

Women, Race, and Class - Angela Y. Davis
    A classic for understanding intersectionality and the evolution of racism and sexism in American society and abroad. A bit old, but all of the information is still just as relevant today.

Pedagogy of the Oppressed - Paulo Freire
    This book is all about revolution. How does it start? According to Paulo, in the minds of the people. Instead of bringing overeducated outsiders into oppressed communities to explain things, one should realize oppressed people already understand these systems by virtue of their experience. The key to mobilizations is asking the right questions and creating spaces to talk about key issues that affect communities. I think. Very dense, so that's the best I can do to explain!

Notes of a Crocodile - Qiu Miaojin
    A chaotic book about being a lesbian in Taiwan in the 1990s. That sounds overly specific, but I can assure you there is a lot to relate to if you've ever thought about love and society.

The Age of McCarthyism - Ellen Shrecker
    A very concise history of how anti-communism started and the harmful affects it had on public discourse, social justice, and other aspects of civil society in America. Even though the red scare sounds like ancient history, and this book is over a decade old, I can assure you a lot of the same stuff is happening today, especially state surveillance.

Interesting reads:

--------------------------------------------------

Though I can't say these were my favorite books, each of these was very interesting if you're looking to read something a bit out there.

The Dao of Pooh - Benjamin Hoff

    An explanation of Taoism explained through Winnie the Pooh. Really!

You Look Like a Thing and I Love You - Jenelle Shane

    A book about AI. The title is the first 'successful' pickup line created by the author's AI!

A Burglar’s Guide to the City - Geoff Manaugh

    If you like heists and/or city planning, check this out. Its all about great crimes and how expert criminals see cities differently.

Smallest Lights in the Universe - Sara Seager

    Half memoir about raising a family in the wake of her husband's early death, half astrophysics. 

Aesthetics, Necropolitics, and the Environmental Struggle - Critical Art Ensemble

    The authors make the case that no one talks about who should die, and that we need to in order to fix the environment. I definitely disagree with a lot of this, but I have to admit it was unique.

All books:

—January—

Food Politics - Robert Paarlberg

Without Apology - Jenny Brown

International Relations, a VSI - Paul Wilkinson

Shock Therapy - Naomi Klein

The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Very Short Introduction - Martin Bunton

The Hell of Good Intentions - Stephen Walt

—February—

Modern Palestine - Ilan Pappe

Invisible Women - Caroline Criado-Perez

—March—

Dark Money - Jane Mayer

Weapons of Math Destruction - Cathy O-Neil

Hillbilly Elegy - J.D. Vance

The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell

How Democracies Die - Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt

The Road to Unfreedom - Timothy Snyder

Under Red Skies - Karoline Kan

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics - Carlo Rovelli

Flat Broke with Two Goats - Jennifer McGaha

—April—

Make Your Bed - Admiral William H. McRaven

Freakonomics - Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Ship of Fools - Tucker Carlson

Lesbian Ethics: Radical Healing - Volume 5 No. 3

Underground - Haruki Murakami

The View from Flyover Country - Sarah Kendzior

Evicted - Matthew Desmond

Living and Dying in Brick City - Sampson Davis

Transgender Explained - Joanne Herman

Human Acts - Han Kang

Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions - Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche

Street Smart - Samuel I. Schwartz 

Eichmann in Jerusalem - Hannah Arendt

The Dictator’s Handbook - Alastair Smith and Bruce Bueno de Mesquita

Makers - Chris Anderson

Animal Farm - George Orwell

Man’s Search for Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl

The Improbability Principle - David J. Hand

—May—

The Immortalists - Chloe Benjamin

Life 3.0 - Max Tegmark

Dealing With China - Henry M. Paulson, Jr.

China Road - Rob Gifford

The Three-Body Problem - Cixin Liu

Prisoner of the State (Zhao Ziyang) - Renee Chiang

Hegemony or Survival - Noam Chomsky

The Dao of Pooh - Benjamin Hoff

White Trash - Nancy Isenberg

Everybody Lies - Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

An Epidemic of Absence - Moises Velasquez-Manoff

The Underground Railroad - Coleson Whitehead

—June—

The Dark Forest - Cixin Liu

You Look Like a Thing and I Love You - Jenelle Shane

Presuasion - Robert Cialdini

A Canticle for Liebowitz - Walter M Miller Jr

Uncle Tom’s Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe

The Signal and the Noise - Nate Silver

Supercrunchers - Ian Ayres

Revolution for Dummies - Bassem Yousef 

CIVIL RESISTANCE: What Everyone Needs to Know - Erica Chenoweth

—July—

Captive Genders - Stanley, Smith

—August—

Death’s End - Cixin Liu

Cat’s Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut

So You Want to Talk About Race - Ijeouma Oluo

Brown Girl Dreaming - Jaqueline Woodson

The 4% Universe - Richard Panek

American Prison - Shane Bauer 

A Burglar’s Guide to the City - Geoff Manaugh

—September—

A Black Hole is Not a Hole - Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano

Keep the Aspidistra Flying - George Orwell

Death by Black Hole - Niel DeGrasse Tyson

How We’ll Live on Mars - Stephen L. Petranek

Dear Girls - Ali Wong

The Universe Within - Neil Shubin

Palaces for the People - Eric Klinenberg

How to Be Less Stupid About Race - Crystal Marie Fleming

How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming - Mike Brown

—October—

On Fire - Naomi Klein

The Uninhabitable Earth - David Wallace-Wells

Our House Is On Fire - Greta Thunberg

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon

Less is More - Jason Hickel

Our Revolution - Bernie Sanders

The Girl Who Never Read Noam Chomsky - Jana Casale

Smallest Lights in the Universe - Sara Seager

The A-Z of Green Capitalism - Corporate Watch

The Color of Law - Richard Rothstein

The Shadow King - Maaza Mengiste

—November—

Guide to Political Revolution - Bernie Sanders

Exploring Degrowth - Vincent Liegey and Anitra Nelson

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism - Shoshana Zuboff

The Undocumented Americans - Karla Cornejo Villavicncio

Women, Race, and Class - Angela Y. Davis

—December—

The Gender Accelerationist Manifesto - Eme Flores and Vikky Storm

The Vegetarian - Han Kang

Pedagogy of the Oppressed - Paulo Freire

Defending Degrowth - Giorgos Kallis

Aesthetics, Necropolitics, and the Environmental Struggle - Critical Art Ensemble

The Space Between Us - Courtney Peppernell and Zack Grey

The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State - Friedrich Engels

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou

Notes of a Crocodile - Qiu Miaojin

Civil Disobedience and Other Essays - Henry David Thoreau

The Age of McCarthyism - Ellen Shrecker

Freedom is a Constant Struggle - Angela Y. Davis