2020 in books

Like the rest of the world, whatever plans I had in hand for 2020 disappeared like so much evaporating hand sanitizer. My research plans were no exceptions. I’m lucky that I was able to continue working remotely, and at first I naively thought it would be easier to be productive without needing to commute or even get dressed. Pretty quickly I realized that I was naive. This working arrangement brought on the special form of exhaustion that comes from the brain never fully putting down work tasks, never fully relaxing. A friend of mine quipped that it felt less like she was working from home and more like she was living at work.

I made a concerted effort to set aside time at home during which I absolutely could not work. Below are the books I read in 2020, listed in approximate order in which I read them. I liked all of them, unless specifically noted otherwise (in italics). I also singled out a few books I especially liked (bold).

One other note: I dislike the modern trend of long and descriptive subtitles. Call me old-fashioned (or maybe just call me Ishmael). One book I read this year even had the audacity to list two subtitles: “William Tecumseh Sherman: In the Service of My Country: A Life.” This is an insult both to elegance and to grammar. I omit subtitles in the books listed below.

• “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville

Having never read this I had some vague notion that it was a stodgy book, one discussed by serious scholars with pipes in mouths as a towering literary accomplishment. That may in fact be the case. But it’s also a fantastic story of external struggle with nature and internal struggle with oneself. To top it off, the book is filled with interesting whale facts. The writing is incredible and feels like American Shakespeare.

• “The Triumph of Injustice” by Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman
• “The Fish That Ate the Whale” by Rich Cohen
• “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker

Simply incredible. I had never read this nor had I seen the movie. I was floored from page 1.

• “William Tecumseh Sherman” by James Lee McDonough
• “The Fifth Season” by N.K. Jemisin
• “The Road to Serfodm” by F.A. Hayek

This book is from the frontlines of the capitalism vs socialism debate, back when that was still a relevant matter in the economic world. This fight has long since been over, so some of what Hayek argues forcefully seems axiomatic to the modern reader. When people bring up Hayek in a political discussion, they sometimes don’t realize that essentially all Americans agree with him to a significant extent. I liked this book, and so did Keynes!

• “Roots” by Alex Haley
• “The Obelisk Gate” by N.K. Jemisin
• “The Character of Physical Law” by Richard Feynman
• “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson

It’s not that I disliked this book, per se. It’s just that that the Muppet’s Treasure Island movie is unironically better.

• “All the Great Prizes” by John Taliaferro
• “The Rational Optimist” by Matt Ridley
• “A Room of One’s Own” by Viriginia Woolf
• “Bowling Alone” by Robert D. Putnam

Putnam lays out a strong case that American social capital (the collection of formal and informal relationships that make up a person’s social life) has been decreasing since the middle of the 20th century, and that this has had major consequences. One example: social isolation and loneliness are as damaging to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. It could even be that the modern American political divide is in part caused by decreasing social capital and community engagement. It’s a bit dry, but important enough to read anyways.

• “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger
• “CivilWarLand in Bad Decline” by George Saunders

A book of short stories, mostly about carnivals or theme parks. These stories are powerful, and you may want to keep a box of tissues handy (especially for “Isabelle”). There’s also an interesting “Author’s Note” at the end that is almost like its own story. I will be on the lookout for more Saunders.

• “The Woman Behind the New Deal” by Kirstin Downey
• “The Stone Sky” by N.K. Jemisin
• “The New Prophets of Capital” by Nicole Aschoff

This one does have some good stuff, but I was disappointed. I don’t like when a book takes for granted that I already agree with the main premise, and that is what Aschoff does here. She assumes her readers are already socialists, and doesn’t bother much with the opposite side of her argument beyond some half-hearted strawmen.

• “Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism” by Anne Case and Angus Deaton
• “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan

I never thought I would be so fascinated by corn. Pollan takes a deep dive into where our food comes from. I recommend this book to anybody who eats.

• “The Rise and Fall of American Growth” by Robert J. Gordon
• “Fortune’s Formula” by William Poundstone
• “The Triumph of William McKinley” by Karl Rove
• “The Narrative of Sojourner Truth” by Sojourner Truth
• “Evicted” by Matthew Desmond
• “The Federalist Papers” by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay
• “Common Sense” by Thomas Paine
• “In the Woods” by Tana French
• “Range” by David Epstein
• “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley
• “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” by Malcolm X with Alex Haley

X experienced more in 39 years of life than most do in double that. What is most interesting about this book though is that Malcolm X was so unafraid to change his mind. He walks the reader through his major philosophical reorganizations, which take place right up until the end the book. He cares more about being right than being proud, and that is a lesson worth learning even if one disagrees with his actual philosophy. Oh, and Malcolm spent much of his childhood in Lansing, which I was shocked to find out: I lived there for six years and never heard anybody mention him. It was far from the city’s proudest moment, though.

• “El gaucho insufrible” by Roberto Bolaño