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+title: Books Read in 2020
+date: February 02, 2021 22:35
+---
+<p>
+If memory serves me right, I read around 10 books last year. Here's the list,
+with a few words about each entry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<ol>
+    <li>
+        <p><b>Moby Dick</b>, Herman Melville. The Great American Novel. Haven't
+        actually quite finished this one, but I've gotten most of the way
+        through it, so feels more appropriate to include it in the 2020 list
+        rather than the 2021 one (I do intend on finishing this book).</p>
+        <p>Interestingly, despite its length, I found it fairly easy to pick the
+        book up midway after a longer pause from reading it. This might be due
+        to quite a different structure compared to the more modern novels I'm
+        used to. Though it happens mostly chronologically, it's not really a
+        linear, continuous story where you have to keep track of the plot and
+        characters. Instead, you're presented with short vignettes of whaling
+        life (and, sometimes, everyone's favorite cetology lectures).</p>
+    </li>
+    <li>
+        <p><b>Się</b>, Edward Stachura. A collection of short stories by the
+        Polish poet, one of his last published works before his suicide two
+        years later. The stories are mostly set in travels around both Poland
+        and the American continent.</p>
+    </li>
+    <li>
+        <p><b>The First Philosophers</b>, Robin Waterfield. Guess you could say
+        I'm finally starting with the Greeks (I did read The Republic the year
+        prior, reading it was an interesting experience but I'm sure a lot of it
+        went way over my head at the time).</p>
+        <p>Like Moby Dick, I haven't quite finished the whole book yet &mdash;
+        I read the first half on the presocratics, but will need to get back to
+        the part on the sophists at some point.
+    </li>
+    <li>
+        <p><b>Fight Club</b>, Chuck Palahniuk. Probably shouldn't talk about
+        this one much, but man, this is the first time in a while a book sucked
+        me in this strongly. A literal page turner that kept me awake late into
+        the night.</p>
+    </li>
+    <li>
+        <p><b>Antifragile</b>, Nassim Taleb. Very glad I finally got around to
+        reading something from Taleb.</p>
+    </li>
+    <li>
+        <p><b>Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance</b>, Robert M. Pirsig.
+        Another foray into philosophy, though definitely more modern than the
+        Greeks. It wasn't until I was about halfway through the book that I
+        found out it's mostly autobiographical rather than pure fiction.</p>
+    </li>
+    <li>
+        <p><b>Vagabonding</b>, Rolf Potts. I've published extended reading
+        notes <a href='<%= path_to "blog_book-notes-vagabonding" %>'>here</a>.
+        </p>
+    </li>
+    <li>
+        <p><b>The Sovereign Individual</b>, James Dale Davidson and William
+        Rees-Mogg. Widely popular amongst and recommended by Bitcoin/blockchain
+        fans.</p>
+    </li>
+    <li>
+        <p><b>Brave New World</b>, Aldous Huxley. Probably my favorite
+        dystopian novel I've read so far.</p>
+    </li>
+    <li>
+        <p><b>Thinking, Fast and Slow</b>, Daniel Kahneman. An interesting (and
+        long!) volume on how our brain's work.</p>
+    </li>
+</ol>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Interestingly, in the first month alone of 2021, I've already read nearly half as
+many new books. Granted, none of them were quite as long as, say, Antifragile or
+the Kahneman book, but still a welcome metric. Off to more reading, now!
+</p>