# Favorite books read in 2020 ## Business **Sid Meier's Memoir!: A Life in Computer Games** by Sid Meier I think I first played the original Civilization sometime in the early 90s and immediately fell in love. Games are a new form of media, born the digital age, whose bounds have yet to be fully explored, but Sid Meier’s name will forever resound in history as an early innovator and creator of multiple genres. This is a heartfelt, honest, humble memoir of a career in the game industry and what it means to be a game designer, and more broadly, a creative and a businessperson. **The Art of Leadership: Small Things, Done Well** by Michael Lopp This is a heartfelt and brilliant book. The "small things" are like finely crafted gemstones -- faceted and polished to focus their light of wisdom. Each small thing manages to capture and distill an “unspoken truth” about what makes effective management and leadership (as well as the difference between them!) **No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention** by Reed Hastings The successor to the famed Culture Deck, this look inside how Netflix works lays out a different perspective on business as usual: instead vigorously arguing that freedom and responsibility go together and complement each other in innovative, margin-enhancing ways. **The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company** by Robert Iger Usually retrospective tomes by accomplished CEOs are not worth reading. This book is an exception, as Bob Iger takes an honest appraisal of his career and offers sound, thoughtful and dare I say humble advice throughout. **That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea** by Marc Randolph A compelling and inspiring book, framed using the creation of Netflix, but really containing lessons for anyone wanting to start something new. ## History **The Story of China: The Epic History of a World Power from the Middle Kingdom to Mao and the China Dream** by Michael Wood It’s challenging to summarize the history of China in a single volume, but this book makes a valiant attempt and serves as a great starting point for better understanding. **Lakota America: A New History of Indigenous Power (The Lamar Series in Western History)** by Pekka Hämäläinen A brilliant comprehensive history of one of the largest and most powerful Native American nations, the Lakota. Much, much more than the antagonists of Custer’s Last Stand, the Lakota and their history has been deliberately ignored for too long. This book is a powerful beginning toward rediscovering them. **Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World** by Tom Holland A fascinating history of Christianity’s impact on Western culture by a stored historian, from its earliest beginnings, to its collision with the rise of Islam (Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and Africa were once bastions of Christianity), to the Reformation, to the Enlightenment, and finally culminating in the modern day. Can a post-Christian society continue to energetically espouse a morality that is ultimately largely derived from Christianity? **The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power** by Daniel Yergin A brilliant journey into the creation of the multinational oil industry and its adventures and run-ins with government bureaucrats, Texas oil men, Middle Eastern sheikhs, and South American autocrats. Contains perhaps the best explanation of the 70s oil crisis that I’ve read. ## Science **The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn** by Richard Hamming Hamming is a giant in the field. His “You and Your Research” talk served as an inspiration in my computer scientist undergraduate research days. This book runs along much the same themes, albeit with a deeper treatment and a wider scope. **The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous** by Joseph Henrich It turns out 20 year old college students in prosperous Western countries are not actually valid as useful proxies for all of humanity. This book explains why. **The Origins of You: How Childhood Shapes Later Life** by Jay Belsky A fascinating read exploring the eternal nature v. nurture debate, informed by the latest research. Importantly argues from a perspective of children as their own agents (children are people too!), e.g. > To mix metaphors, or at least switch from one involving wet clay to one involving a chalkboard, the child is not simply a blank slate that others write on. Rather, at least to some extent, the child plays the roles of the slate being written on, the chalk doing the writing, and the person holding the chalk. ## Economics **The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World** by Virginia Postrel I wear clothes every day and have done so for my entire life. Yet, until I read this book, I pretty much took clothing entirely for granted. This book narrates a beautiful journey into fabric and textiles: how they’re made, where they come from, how they become clothing, whence the vagaries of fashion arise. Written with a love for the subject that shines through its pages. **The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations** by Daniel Yergin In some sense, this book picks up where The Prize, by the same author, leaves off. It looks at the future (and the past) as the world begins its transition away from carbon-based forms of energy. ## Humanities - **Very Important People: Status and Beauty in the Global Party Circuit** by Ashley Mears ## Science fiction **The Ministry for the Future** by Kim Stanley Robinson This is a challenging, and, at times, bleak book, but ultimately an incredibly thought-provoking look at a potential future of the world as climate change continues to accelerate. One of those books that sticks with you long after you finish reading it. --- From [@dominik](https://biblioqueue.com/@dominik/2020) on biblioqueue.