2020 Book Share – Running Horse

I read a lot of great books in 2020, and excited to share the list here!

I typically read a mix of non-fiction and personal development books and that was the case this year.

My recent goal for reading has been to learn about topics such as ethics, economics, and politics — humanities areas I’ve skipped over while being so focused on art, science, and tech my entire life. I’ve also wanted to get more specific about my political beliefs and informed for the election this year. I started pursuing this process of filling in the gaps toward the end of 2019, and really proud of how better balanced I’ve become. I am better equipped to have (and stay engaged in) conversations about topics I was clueless about even a couple years ago. This is a path I want to continue going down.

Another aspect of developing my understanding on these topics is that by gaining more knowledge, I become less neutral, and that is meaningful as a means for making sure I am as considerate and impactful as I can be in my career in tech.

I categorized the books into the following groups: Environment, Ethics/Social Justice, Politics/Economics, Personal Development, and Art/Design. However, I imagine there would be other ways to group them, so please take the categories with a grain of salt.

A specific topic addressed by multiple titles here is systemic racism in technology. I was asked to research this topic for projects at work, so that specific topic is represented pretty prominently this year (alongside titles about racism more generally, which I had set out learn more about for the Democratic Primary debates early this year as well as during the social justice discussions this summer).

Thanks to everyone who has recommended these books to me! I gain a lot from others’ suggestions so I find joy in keeping the good karma flowing 🙂

Without further ado, here’s my 2020 reading list!

Environment

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, and Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

The Story of More: How We Got to Climate Change and Where to Go From Here by Hope Jahren

Ethics/Social Justice

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code by Ruha Benjamin

Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need by Sasha Constanza-Chock

Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy by Cathy O’Neil