The Books I Read in 2020

At the beginning of 2020 I set myself the challenge of reading a book every week of the year (this would be 52 books in total!).

As is the case with many of us when we make New Year’s resolutions, I unfortunately fell short of this ambitious goal. Nonetheless, I did make what I would consider to be a decent effort, reading 31 books by the years end.

Looking back, it has been a mixture of themes, including fiction, non-fiction, social commentary, sci-fi, politics, history and religion. When it comes to much of my non-fiction reading, I have aimed to read literature that is highly varied in opinion and analysis, as well as controversial. In the partisan world of ideas in which we live, I think the ultimate challenge is to regularly read that which you will disagree with or that provides food for thought outside what might be a commonly held narrative. it is then that you can build a better understanding of why someone might hold to a certain view - and you might even change your own mind on a particular issue! Going into 2021, this is something I hope I am able to get better at.

You can check out the full list of what I read in 2020, in the order in which I read - below. As with anything, some of these books were pretty standard whilst others were more intellectually stimulating. I have highlighted in bold my top recommendations. Do let me know your thoughts.

Books I read in 2020:

1. God's Undertaker: Has Science buried God?, by Professor John Lennox

2. 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, by Dr Jordan Peterson

3. The War of the World's, by H.G. Wells

4. Star Wars: Aftermath - Life Debt, by Chuck Wendig

5. Star Wars: Aftermath - Empires End, by Chuck Wendig

6. The Strange Death of Europe, by Douglas Murray

7. Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar, by Tom Holland

8. After the Party: A personal and political journey inside the ANC, by Andrew Feinstein

9. The Witcher: The Last Wish, by Andrzej Sapkowski

10. The Witcher: Sword of Destiny, by Andrzej Sapkowski

11. Dictatorland: The Men who stole Africa, by Paul Kenyon

12. The China Fallacy: How the US can benefit from China's rise & avoid another cold war, by Donald Gross

13. Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary story of the Special Forces who rode to victory in Afghanistan, by Doug Stanton

14. Walking to Jerusalem, by Justin Butcher

15. Politics: Cutting through the crap, by Bali Rai

16. The Social Media Gospel: Sharing the Good News in New Ways, by Meredith Gould

17. The Great Crash 1929: The Classic Account of Financial Disaster, by J. K. Galbraith

18. The Road to Somewhere: The New Tribes Shaping British Politics, by David Goodheart

19. Arabia: A Journey through the heart of the Middle East, by Levison Wood

20. The Abolition of Britain, by Peter Hitchens

21. The Case for Space, by Robert Zubrin

22. Brief Answers to the Big Questions, by Professor Stephen Hawking

23. Elon Musk: How the Billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is shaping our Future, by Ashlee Vance

24. The Rage Against God, by Peter Hitchens

25. Winter World, by A. G. Riddle

26. International Affairs: Volume 96, No 3 (Chatham House)

27. Ship of Fools: How stupidity & corruption sank the Celtic Tiger, by Fintan O'Toole

28. Permanent Record, by Edward Snowden

29. The Great Gamble: The Soviet War in Afghanistan, by Gregory Feifer

30. 1984, by George Orwell

31. The Solar War, by A.G. Riddle