My Favourites of 2020

2020 was a year like no other. As the pandemic affected every aspect of our lives, I found some pleasant distractions to keep me occupied. Most notably, I began reading graphic novels for the first time in three decades. However, there was no shortage of other wonderful books, blogs, and videos to spend time on.

What follows is the best of what I found and revisited in 2020. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. You can take a look at 2019’s list as well.

Books

• The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny
• Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (Audiobook)**
• Absolute Sandman (Volume 1, 2 & 3) by Neil Gaiman**
• A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles**
• Lives of Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius by Ryan Holiday
• The Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant**
• The Splendid and the Vile by Eric Larson**

Long Things That Aren’t Books

• Political Disney World by Tim Urban by Tim Urban**
• The Changing World Order (Chapters 1-9) by Ray Dalio**
• Do Elephants Have Souls? by Caitrin Keiper**

Courses

• How to Write with Flair by Shani Raja
• David Sedaris Teaches Storytelling and Humor by MasterClass

Podcasts

• WTF (With Nathan Lane)
• Econ talk (Rory Sutherland)
• The Tim Ferriss Show (with Tyler Cowen)
• Josh Wolfe - The Mind Financing The Future
• The 90s: Part 1, 2a, 2b, 3, 4, 5a, 5b, 6, 7, 8, and 9 via Ongoing History of New Music**
• Supernova in the East (Part 4) by Dan Carlin**
• Armchair Expert with Seth MacFarlane
• Radiohead - A History (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) by Alan Cross**
• King of Kings (Part 1 & 2) by Hardcore History**

Articles

• It’s 2020 and You’re in The Future by Tim Urban
• It's Time to Build by Marc Andreessen**
• History is Written by the Losers by The Scholar's Stage
• We Need a New Science of Progress by Tyler Cowan and Patrick Collison**
• How to Do What You Love by Paul Graham
• What's Different This Time**
• The Underpinnings of Sweden's Permissive COVID Regime by Nils Karlson, Charlotta Stern, Daniel Klein
• The Only Thing, Historically, That's Curbed Inequality: Catastrophe by Walter Scheidel

Movies, Documentaries, Music, and Videos

• How the Economic Machine Works by Ray Dalio**
• Behind the Curve by Daniel J. Clark
• The Last Dance by Netflix & ESPN
• The Most Intense Giraffe Fight You Will Ever See by BBC**
• Conservative Fairy Tales & Liberal Allegories? by Just Write
• Major Landslide Destroys 8 Homes In Northern Norway
• Casablanca
• Night on Earth: Shot in the Dark by Netflix:
• The Largest Star in the Universe – Size Comparison via Universe in a Nutshell
• Blood on the Tracks by Bob Dylan

Something That Made Me Think

“Real wealth is not about money.

Real wealth is:

-not having to go to meetings

-not having to spend time with jerks

-not being locked into status games

-not feeling like you have to say “yes”

-not worrying about others claiming your time and energy

Real wealth is about freedom. Money can help achieve these things, but there are plenty of people who make lots of money yet aren't free.”

- James Clear