---
title: 'My 2020 Reading List'
date: 2021-01-31
---

I set as a goal in 2020 the ambitious aim to complete 50 books over 52 weeks.  I didn't quite get there, but I did manage to complete 26.  In addition, I read parts of four others and read probably a 100 or more journal and long-form magazine articles from a variety of sources.  The four that I did not complete simply failed to sustain my interest. In general, I try to muddle through a book out of respect to the author's efforts.  But, I have come to realize <!-- more --> that sometimes the best use of my time is not to spend time on an endeavor that I found not interesting or relevant to my interests.  A couple of others, chiefly on electronics, I'm still working on, as they are detailed, and time-consuming.

For 2021 I have set a goal of 30 books (pushing up just a bit from 2020).  We'll see how I fare.

Here, though, are the books that I completed in 2020:


| Title                                     | Authors                                                      | Finished Reading |
| ----------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------- |
| Make It Stick                             | Brown, Peter C.; (III), Henry L. Roediger; McDaniel, Mark A. | 2020-01-03       |
| The Lost Valley                           | Scoullar, Jennifer                                           | 2020-01-04       |
| The Meaning of it All                     | Feynman, Richard Phillips                                    | 2020-01-08       |
| Payoff                                    | Ariely, Dan                                                  | 2020-02-11       |
| Seven Pillars of Wisdom                   | Lawrence, T. E.                                              | 2020-02-15       |
| Nightfall                                 | Asimov, Isaac; Silverberg, Robert                            | 2020-02-18       |
| Prelude to Foundation                     | Asimov, Isaac; DiFate, Vincent                               | 2020-02-22       |
| Foundation                                | Asimov, Isaac                                                | 2020-02-24       |
| What Money Can't Buy                      | Sandel, Michael J.                                           | 2020-03-02       |
| Integrity                                 | Carter, Stephen L.                                           | 2020-03-14       |
| The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke | Clarke, Arthur C.                                            | 2020-04-21       |
| Social Intelligence                       | Goleman, Daniel                                              | 2020-04-21       |
| Consider Phlebas                          | Banks, Iain M.                                               | 2020-04-30       |
| House of Spies                            | Silva, Daniel                                                | 2020-05-09       |
| A Confederacy of Dunces                   | Toole, John Kennedy                                          | 2020-05-18       |
| Enola Gay                                 | Thomas, Gordon; Morgan-Witts, Max                            | 2020-06-21       |
| The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek       | Richardson, Kim Michele                                      | 2020-06-28       |
| Where the Crawdads Sing                   | Owens, Delia                                                 | 2020-07-01       |
| Powers                                    | Guin, Ursula K. Le                                           | 2020-07-05       |
| The English Spy                           | Silva, Daniel                                                | 2020-07-10       |
| Lonely Vigil                              | Lord, Walter                                                 | 2020-07-14       |
| Typee                                     | Melville, Herman                                             | 2020-07-21       |
| Expecting Jeeves                          | Wodehouse, P. G.                                             | 2020-07-24       |
| Seizing the Enigma                        | Kahn, David                                                  | 2020-08-05       |
| Enlightenment Now                         | Pinker, Steven                                               | 2020-08-12       |
| A Handful of Men                          | Duncan, Dave                                                 | 2020-08-12       |
| Thinking                                  | Brockman, John                                               | 2020-11-06       |