Reading Archives - from Gnome to Goliath

Tin’s List of Best Books 2020

A list of the best books I’ve read in 2020 which are relevant to the topics in my blog – personal and professional growth, optimization and productivity.

Below is the list of the best books that I read in 2020. What a year has 2020 been! I mean did anybody see this coming back in January? I must admit, just like most of the people in the world, I had read the news about COVID-19 coming from Asia in Dec 2019. And, just like anybody else, I dismissed them easily. What a good lesson! But anyway, if there was anything positive out of 2020 it was that I got to spent a lot of time with my family. I hope that a lot of people could say the same.

And … I spent a lot of time reading. I broke my previous record of 30 books and I read 35 books in 2020 (woot!) I also read more than 10.000 pages for a second year in a row. I read early in the morning before the working-from-home madness would start. I read on the weekend during the quiet time.

In this article, I listed the best books that I read in 2020. This time I’ve broken the list down into genres. Not always the genre that the authors picked when they published their book, but the genre that I would assign to it.

This is my forth year in a row. These are my previous articles on this topic: Best books 2019, Best books 2018, Best Books 2017.

Gil’s List of Best Books 2019 (Non-business)

A list of the best books I’ve read in 2019 that are “non-business”. Covering a collection of spirituality, wisdom, philosophy, and psychology topics.

Once again, I would like to share my list of best books in 2019. You can find my list for 2018: here.

I concentrated on non-business books. Tin’s list of best books of 2019 can be found here.

Tin’s List of Best Books 2019

A list of the best books I’ve read in 2019 that are relevant to the topics in my blog – personal and professional growth, optimization and productivity.

2019 is almost over and it is time for my annual list of the best books that I’ve read this year. I spent relatively more time writing than reading (stay tuned for more info in 2020), but I still managed to hit my official goal of 22 and my stretch goal of 30. I also managed to hit a fun milestone that I set for myself – 10.000 pages in total (10.107 pages, which is about 1.000 less than my all-time record). The change this year is that I started commuting with a car to work which reduced my opportunity to read in transit, but I started arriving earlier and I could use the first hour of the work day for reading and writing.

Previous articles: Best books 2018, Best Books 2017.

In this article, I listed the five books that I would recommend out of my year’s selection (and one bonus). If you are interested, this is a link to my Goodreads account (link) where I diligently summarize my reading experience.

Gil’s List of Best Books 2018 (Non-business)

A list of the best books I’ve read in 2018 that are “non-business”. Covering a collection of spirituality, wisdom, philosophy, and psychology topics.

I cannot always read all of Tin’s books but I surely try to skim over most of them and dive into selected few. This year, I’ve also decided to share my list. But unlike Tin’s it will be just a list, do not expect rankings, tables, and any other sophisticated statistics.

I concentrated on non-business books (if you allow me to use this weird description). Tin’s list of best books of 2018 can be found here.

Tin’s List of Best Books 2018

A list of the best books I’ve read in 2018 that are relevant to the topics in my blog – personal and professional growth, optimization and productivity.

As I said in my 2017 best books post (link here), 2017 was a busy year for me. Now at the end of 2018, this blog is already 2+ years old and I am following up with my top 5 selection for 2018. I continued to read mostly highly recommended books (4.00+ rating on Goodreads) and I achieved a personal best of 30 books read (against a goal of 21 books).

I continued exploring alternative ways to read (buses, trains, airplanes). On weekends, I get up early and read until my wife and kid wake up. And most interestingly, I go really early to work and sit in a coffee shop for about half an hour before I go into the office. I also explored different techniques for reading fast, but in my opinion this defies the purpose of reading. So, I continue to read cover to cover, absorbing the whole content.

In this article, I listed the 5 books that I would recommend out of my year’s selection. If you are interested, this is a link to my Goodreads account (link) where I diligently summarize my reading experience.