The best books I read in 2020

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At the start of 2020, I made a goal to read 30 books. For some people modest, but for me, a very ambitious goal. I tend to keep in balance fiction, and nonfiction works. A lot of those were great, and a few terrible. I won’t write about each and every one of them. However, I will give you a recommendation for the four best ones. Here is a complete list of books I read in the previous year.

Fictional books

Serbian Authors

1. Amarcord — Zoran Živković
2. Impossible encounters — Zoran Živković
3. The Library — Zoran Živković
4. The Bridge — Zoran Živković
5. The Encyclopedia of the Dead — Danilo Kiš
6. Đubre — Marko Vidojković
7. Ljubav u vreme besmrtnika — Pavle Pešić

International authors

1. Memoirs of Hadrian — Marguerite Yourcenar
2. Cherringham — Matthew J. Costello and Neil Richards
3. Foucault’s Pendulum — Umberto Eco
4. A Man Called Ove — Frederik Backman
5. The Man in the High Castle — Philip K. Dick
6. The Hound of the Baskervilles — Arthur Conan Doyle
7. One Hundred Years of Solitude — Gabriel García Márquez
8. Tales of the Bizarre — Olga Tokarczuk
9. The Big Sleep — Raymond Chandler
10. The Maltese Falcon — Dashiell Hammett
11. Stories of Your Life and Others — Ted Chiang
12. The Double — Fyodor Dostoevsky

Stories of Your Life and Others — Ted Chiang

This novel was a birthday gift from a good friend. I think that the fact I didn’t have the slightest idea of what to expect from it contributed very much to the reading experience. So here is a bonus tip for you. If you have a friend with quality book taste, just ask for a recommendation, don’t go into the details.

The novel ‘Stories of your life and others’ is a collection of eight short fantasy stories by American author Ted Chiang. All stories are genuine. For most of them, the main motive is some moral dilemma, and the fact we are in the fantasy world means we can look at those from a different perspective. You can relate to the characters and understand them. Moreover, for each tale, you have the writer’s notes about how and why he wrote it.

However, the biggest impression on me was the tale ‘Understand.’ It was so extraordinary and yet easy to follow. Maybe I didn’t read enough, but I can’t compare it to anything I have ever read or watched before. This one is pure gold.

Foucault’s Pendulum — Umberto Eco

Unlike the previous book, I did have some idea about the novel. This is a story about secret societies, conspiracy theories, and a group of people who become submerged in occult manuscripts that draw flimsy connections between historical events. Just for fun, they decide to create their own and call it “The Plan.” Soon they become obsessed with it, and what started as a harmless game soon becomes a perilous adventure when other parties take The Plan seriously.

Umberto Eco published this book in 1988. Maybe Templars and secret societies aren’t in focus anymore, but conspiracy theories are very much present in everyday life. This book will help you understand the phenomenon better and why even ‘normal’ and educated people become enchanted by conspiracies.

Nonfictional books

1. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
2. Creativity — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
3. Lifespan: Why We Age―and Why We Don’t Have To — David A. Sinclair
4. Atomic habits — James Clear
5. Creative Confidence — David M. Kelley and Tom Kelley
6. Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup — John Carreyrou
7. The Art of war — Sun Tzu
8. Why We Sleep — Matthew Walker
9. What Do You Care What Other People Think? — Richard Feynman
10. Refactoring — Kent Beck and Martin Fowler
11. Working Effectively with Legacy Code — Michael C. Feathers

Why we sleep — Matthew Walker

Matthew Walker is an English scientist and professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is one of the most high-profile public intellectuals focused on the subject of sleep. His book Why we sleep was an eye-opener.

I was surprised by how much I didn’t know about sleep. Moreover, I believed in some myths, like that six hours of sleep is enough. With this book, you will learn what good sleep is and why sleeping eight hours is essential. Since I started practicing suggested routines, I got healthier, more productive, and more focused.

Of all the books I read this year, this one influenced me the most. And if I would have to choose only one to recommend to you, Why we sleep would be the one.

Creativity — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is a Hungarian-American psychologist. He recognized and named the psychological concept of flow, a highly focused mental state conducive to productivity. He is the former head of the department of psychology at the University of Chicago.

This book is created from interviews with a group of 91 exceptional individuals who have made a difference to a major domain of culture — one of the sciences, the arts, business, government, or human wellbeing in general. Some of these individuals are Mortimer J. Adler, Hans Bethe, Nadine Gordimer, Linus Pauling, John Bardeen.

In this book, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi reviews how these creative people work and live, and it ends with ideas about how to make life more like that of the creative examplers.

Conclusion

Reading is a time-consuming habit. Reading a bad book is very frustrating and consumes even more time, especially if you are like me and want to finish what you started. I hope I helped you with choosing the next book to read.

If you’re interested in other books from the list or want to find out more about the ones I’ve recommended, please do tell me. I’m always in the mood for a good discussion about good books.