Each year, I set a reading goal for myself and last year I wanted to read 30 books. I barely missed my goal in 2019 but I am still quite happy with the quality of books I was able to absorb even though I missed my goal.
The Books
- The Secret War: Spies, Ciphers, and Guerrillas, 1939-1945
- Without a Country
- The Snow Gypsy
- In the Garden of Beasts
- How the Scots Invented the Modern World
- * Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
- Napoleon: A Life
- Where the Desert Meets the Sea
- Supermarket
- Into Thin Air
- A Fire Sparkling
- The American Revolution: A History
- * Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow
- All the Birds in the Sky
- Exit West
- Matchmaking for Beginners
- * Radical Candor
- Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II
- * Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
- Digging to America
- * Rich Dad, Poor Dad
- Think and Grow Rich
- Billion Dollar Whale
- The Book on Rental Property Investing
- The Turnkey Revolution
- The First World War
- When to Rob a Bank: …And 131 More Warped Suggestions and Well-Intended Rants
- The Book on Investing in Real Estate with No (and Low) Money Down
The Best of the Bunch
There were some really amazing books this year and I’ve starred my 5 favorite ones in the list above. All of my favorites books this year were non-fiction books that challenged how I think about the world.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad challenged how I think about money and what a real asset is. Essentialism and Radical Candor deeply challenged how I think about work, balance, and relationships. Just Mercy is an incredible story about racism and the justice system in America and how that system behaves. And finally Home Deus is an eye-opening examination about where we’re headed as a society as we develop machines and enhancements that will further the gap between haves and have-nots.
I get a lot of joy out of reading and the money spent on these books is nothing compared to the knowledge and stretching I’ve gotten from reading them!