Top 5 Books I Read in 2021

Here is my annual list of five great books I read this year. No commentary.

For a list of all books I read this year, click below for my 2021 Goodreads Challenge:

Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Business/Science/Philosophy, Random House, 2012)

What if what challenges you makes you better?

It sounds like a cliché. Yet what Taleb believes is our trials and tribulations are not just helpful but actually necessary to progress as a person and as a society.

People learn from errors. So when disruption and disorder come along - and we have had plenty of that recently - challenges and mistake-making are inevitable. History tells us that as long as we can learn from our situations, we are going to come out of our predicaments as wiser and better people (and hopefully an improved society).

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Nature/Essays, Milkweed, 2013)

To be honest, I am not done reading this book; I still have 50 pages yet to read. The reason I have not blazed through it is that I want to savor every idea.

Kimmerer, a biologist and a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, offers a series of essays on our relationship (or lack thereof) with our environment. I’ve read other reports and books on the importance of this topic. What sets Kimmerer’s writings apart is how she humanizes traditional science, validates the knowledge of Native Americans, and ultimately weaves the two into a larger whole.

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkemann (Self-Help/Philosophy, Farrar, Straus and Girouz, 2021)

Productivity is so indoctrinated in our culture that overworked people may not recognize the problem that is staring them in the face.

What if we instead said “no”? We are seeing this right now with The Great Resignation, which makes Time Management for Mortals such a relevant book. Burkemann, a journalist who previously wrote “This Column Will Change Your Life”, skewers the self-help industry with humor and research while offering real strategies that can help anyone take back at least part of their lives from an economy that has little interest in your well-being. I will be coming back to this book frequently.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (YA Fiction, Balzar + Bray, 2017)

It is impressive how Thomas created such a complex and authentic world as a writer. What makes this book special is the empathy she has for all her characters; she goes beyond simple caricatures. There are no pure villains or true heroes here; rather, individuals and families struggling within systems that create unfair obstacles for communities of color.

Note: I recommend the audiobook of The Hate U Give.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (Literature/Science Fiction, Knopf, 2021)

In the future, artificial intelligence has progressed to the point where families can purchase a “friend” for their child.

The story is told from the perspective of Klara, an artificial friend who is assigned to a young girl. What is so ingenious about this book is how as a reader we discover what happens through both the limitations and the clarity of Klara’s observations. This novel is one of the most well-crafted books I have ever read.

What book(s) left a lasting impression on you this year?