Books Read In 2020

With the year changing from 2020 to 2021 I started to think back at the books I read during the past year. And how nice it would be to create an annual list to see what kind of books I did read.
As I only had the idea in the days between Christmas and New Year, I had to see if I could remember which books they were. Thankfully most of my books come from my local library these days, which made it easy enough to see my account's lending history online.

Here is my list for 2020 (in the order I read them in):

  1. De Meeste Mensen Deugen - Rutger Bregman

    Book by a Dutch historian (now also available in English titled Humankind) about how humanity is in essence good and even during hardship they will thrive. I did read this one at the start of the year before Covid-19 took off, and it seems even more relevant now.

  2. Broad Band - Claire L. Evans

    This book highlights a number of women who have played an important role in shaping the Internet to what it is today. From early examples like Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper and Katherine Johnson, to more recent innovators like Cathy Marshall (hypertext developer), Jaime Levy (UX designer), Nancy Rhine (founder of several early women's community websites) and Brenda Laurel (video game designer).
    Especially the latter group I hadn't heard of before, and it was interesting to read their stories.

  3. At Home: A Short History Of Private Life - Bill Bryson

    This book I read during the first lockdown of 2020, and it was mainly due to having run out of other books to read and this one was one of my wife's books sitting around on the shelf :-)
    But I do like most of Bill Bryson's books, and this one was also an interesting read about the history of various rooms in the home.

  4. Invisible Women - Caroline Criado-Perez

    A lot of things in our world are still only designed by men, and this book highlights some of the issues women encounter because of it. And it covers a wide range of areas, from car crash test dummies (not designed to represent the female body) to drug trials (some didn't test on women at all) and the clearing of snow on roads and pavements (they often favour routes men take to work).
    It was fascinating to read some of those not so obvious examples.

  5. Homo Deus - Yuval N. Harari

    I hadn't read any of Yuval Harari's books yet, but had heard of him. I picked this one rather than the prequel Sapiens as the content of it appealed more to me.
    It talks about the relationship of humans with other animals on the globe, and how we have gained the upper hand. The second part deals with things like religion, country borders and money that have made us stand out from other animal groups and got us to where we are now. And the final part talks about challenges for humans in the future like eternal life (due to better health innovations), politics and algorithms.

  6. Frankisstein - Jeanette Winterson

    After some serious non-fiction books it was time for something else. This book tells the story of a few different characters, including a transgender doctor, an AI professor and inventor of sex bots. While the main story is very contemporary, the author is connecting it back to Mary Shelley's book Frankenstein by including quotes and other interludes.

  7. Why I'm No Longer Talking To White People About Race - Reni Eddo-Lodge

    During the summer the Black Lives Matter movement came to the forefront after the death of George Floyd. I took the opportunity to educate myself a bit more by reading this book. It describes a lot of the experiences Black and Asian people have had in the UK over the past century. And it explores the links between class and race in UK society.
    Interestingly enough the author mentions a personal incident between her and Caroline Criado-Perez, whose book I read earlier in the year, about the lack of recognition of race in feminism.

  8. Breakfast Of Champions - Kurt Vonnegut

    To read a book by Kurt Vonnegut had been on my to-do list for a while as well. He is praised as one of the more influential US writers of the 20th Century.
    While the book deals with some big themes like suicide, mental illness and free will, the writing style makes it quite easy to read. And it's funny in places as well.

  9. 21 Lessons For The 21st Century - Yuval N. Harari

    Next it was back to another Yuval Harari book (pretty much because my library had it on the shelf). This one is a collection of essays about different subjects like artificial intelligence, the influence of automation on our workforce, universal basic income, immigration and fake news. Those all have some kind of influence on humanity in the 21st century.
    While I was aware of some topics already, it was still an interesting read. Especially the last chapter where Harari talks about meditation as a way of being conscious about the world around us and being able to make your mind up about things in your own time.

  10. Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M. Pirsig

    The final book I read during 2020 also took me the longest to complete. And that wasn't necessarily due to it being a not-so-easy read, but more due to the fact we had a newborn baby which removed most of my reading time.
    The book is a classic philosophy work and is written around a motorcycle trip the narrator makes across the US with his son. That part of it was enjoyable to read. The other parts that weave in and out of it are around the narrator talking about his past which at first is unclear, until about halfway through the book where things click together more. That part is quite heavy on philosophic jargon and thoughts, so it was quite a tough read to get through.

Out of the 10 books, 7 came from the library. Two were Christmas presents (titles I had specifically asked for) from the previous year. And one was a Christmas present my wife received.

Whether I'll be able to read the same amount of books this year remains to be seen, as our newborn baby has taken up most of my usual reading time (in bed before going to sleep). But hopefully once he starts sleeping through the night, and the local library opens again (after numerous lockdowns), I'll be able to read some other interesting books again.