In 2020 I read 54 books. You can see them here. I wrote a summary with my highlights. I want to recommend the best and to remember them better.
I enjoy books about primitive societies and early history. I think you can learn a lot about human nature. The secret of our success describes how people got so good. The brains play just a small role. The ability to learn and imitate (aka culture) trumps the raw intelligence.
The book contains the best conservative argument I found anywhere. It describes how Indians of South America prepare cassava by a tedious process. It requires seven steps and multiple days. Cassava is bitter, so some steps are needed to remove the bitterness, but only half of them suffice. Why add work? Cassava contains cyanides. Without the steps, they accumulate and cause early death (in 30 or more years). Natives did it throughout history. Cyanides were discovered at the end of the 19th century. How they came up with the process?
The cassava example shows how potent is the evolutional cultural learning. I don't think that now we are eating something poisonous, but dismantling traditional ways of doing things can be hazardous. Aren't we creating causes for violence? Are we getting happier? The traditions that survived for a long time survived for a reason.
We are smart, but our advantage is a cultural learning. Think about a thing you discovered something. Hard, isn't it? We learned from one another to use cars, electricity, and computers.
Societies that were not well connected or their population declined experienced technological decline. People don't know everything, if some people disappear their knowledge too. For instance, a fire was discovered and lost many times independently. Maori lost a lot of the technology that they bring from Australia.
I read books prediction the future. They are mostly optimistic. They are, from the best:
Every one of them is very good and worth a read.
If you haven't read an optimistic book about the future, you should read it (even before seasteading). It persuades you that everyone will live in abundance in a few years.
The author gives reasons why people will live in floating cities. He convinced me that it would be awesome.
We will use oceans for agriculture (aquaculture), there will be technologies that can grow algae and raise fish. We will escape failed governments on the sea. There will be no bad laws, and we can always move if we don't like our government. We will use the ocean to bypass bad laws (immigration), we can get cured in a floating city.
I'm looking for the libertarian future of floating cities.
I read a lot of books (5) from Brandon Sanderson: Skyward and Mistborn series. It is perfect leisure reading.
I liked the first two books from the series subjective cosmology. It is a modern that explores breakthroughs in physics or computer science (so no starships, but craftily created world). It makes you think. A similar book is Dark Matter.
The Dune and 1984 are classics. Just read them.
The title of the best fiction books receives Šikmý kostel. Unfortunately, it is published only in Czech and Polish. And I'm probably biased because it's a book about my region.
The book is a chronicle of ordinary people. No heroic feats, no life-changing impact, they are gripping nonetheless. Moreover, the story happens in Karviná. In the nineteenth century, there was a city of 20000. Today, there is just a wasteland, artificial hills, and almost a jungle. When you drive around, you can see only a leaning church (the title of the book).
If you decide to read this book, be warned, you can laugh out loud. It's It's not you, It's biology.
The book is about evolutionary psychology. The author explains and makes fun of the male and female approach to reproduction.
Funnily, I read two different books about different topics called skin in the game.
One is about healthcare in the US. If you are super interested in the topic, you might enjoy it.
The better skin in the game is from Nicholas Taleb. It's good.
Dictionary of Khazars is a collection of weird stories. But it is written like an encyclopedia. You are exploring the magical world of Khazars. The book contains: a big religious debate, two men that live in each other dreams, and a lot more. You explore three perspectives: Christian, Jewish, and Islamic.
If you want to see Queen's gambit, famous Netflix series, do it before reading the book The Art of Learning.
In there, a chess prodigy (that needed to work, not just drug himself) explains what it takes to be world-class, not only in chess but also in martial arts.
It is a mix of autobiography with productivity tips. I strongly recommend it.
This prize goes to Impro. It is about improvisational theatre, how to create funny sketches. For that, you need to know how people communicate so you get a peek at psychology too. He points some dynamics in interactions that you have not noticed before.
It's old and about samurais. It's the book of five rings. It tells you how to be a good warrior and how people thought in the past.
I did not enjoy the book The life you can save much. It was not horrible. I read too many good books. I disagreed with arguments from the book and wrote about it here.
It is called Finite and infinite games. The author starts with definitions, what are games, what are your objectives, what are rules. Then, brace yourself for a twist.
I read many books about psychology, business, or self-help (these are labels on Goodreads). The modern ones are well written, have fun stories in them, and you learn something.
The most impactful was Predictably irrational. It examines quirks of human nature.
There are a lot of books that I did not mention here. Some of them are just too specific, or about investing, or so old that you know what opinion you should have.