First published Dec 2020

All things considered, especially how crazy things were in the first 8 months, I'm pleased that I managed to read 43 books in 2020! I'd unreservedly recommend a few –

Among my non-fiction reads: "The Fifth Risk", a revelatory look into how unprepared Trump's administration was for the presidency; "Being Mortal", a doctor's compassionate insights into end-of-life care, that spurred me to seriously consider my quality-of-life preferences and care plans; "Why We Sleep", a scary but necessary kick-in-the-butt to prioritise sleep above work, play, and any other distractions; "Never Split the Difference", a gem of a book by a top FBI negotiator that gives you counter-intuitive, immediately applicable tips on how to negotiate well, in every aspect of life.

Fiction is, as always, a staple refuge of mine. I was very pleasantly surprised by Cormac McCarthy's "All The Pretty Horses" -- I liked it much more than "The Road", the only other novel of his that I've read before. ("The Road" is arguably his most famous novel; it won him the 2007 Pulitzer Prize and was made into a movie shortly after.) His writing is beautifully spare, yet very evocative -- a true "Western" that transports you to the people and horses in Mexico's borderlands. I have a soft spot for YA SF/Fantasy, however, it has been very difficult of late to find good ones. "The Hunger Games" is admittedly one of the better ones that I've read in the last few years; I'm happy to hear more recommendations.

But if I had to pick favorites for each type, it will be these below.

"The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers" by Paul Kennedy is remarkable. It's the best book that I've read this year, despite other excellent contenders. If you like "grand strategy", you will enjoy this book very much, even though Paul Kennedy wrote it more than three decades ago (1987) and in an entirely different context -- before the fall of the Berlin Wall, when Japan seemed ascendant, and China's economy had not yet taken off. I thought that time would have eroded his relevance, but it's a testament indeed that his analysis still sparkles light into these times. Perhaps this can be attributed to the sweep of his observational range: spanning 500 years and across domains as diverse and salient as history, statecraft, the military-industrial complex and economic growth. He ventures some "predictions" towards the end, but these aren't his best contributions -- his observations and principles gleaned from them are what's valuable.

What is his chief argument? That the test of world power depends on the ability of the state to control and reorganize its productive forces; a country's industrial and commercial pre-eminence ultimately underlies its military strength. Although geography, politics and culture will ensure that one state's solution will never be the same as others, a Great Power needs to balance between the competing demands of defense, consumption and investment to preserve its status and longer-term security. This is no small tome at 600+ pages, and is thoroughly researched. He does not tell, as much as show, how the rise and fall of empires and countries came down to this balance. Yet despite its academic precision, it's eminently readable and never dull. Today, we are seeing the (re)emergence of a bipolar world: a sharpening bifurcation between America and China, globalization in retreat, and greater insularity. Kennedy would have us ask: Who owns, develops, and deploys tomorrow's technology -- tech that strengthens a country's productive bases? Whose manufacturing capability is superior? And ultimately every state must ask themselves: what is my country's role in this global chessboard, and what are we content to be?

Liu Cixin's "The Three-Body Problem" and "Death's End", the first and third book of his "Remembrance of Earth's Past" Trilogy, I dare say, is going to be a classic in the years to come. The premise is utterly believable: a top-secret project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens -- and one responds, to invade Earth. This may not sound like a particularly unique opening, put this way. But you must give it a go, if you like Star Trek/ Star Wars/ Interstellar-type films or books -- the epic scope and close detail of humanity amongst the stars.

This trilogy is a staggering work of the imagination, a tremendous reach into time and space, with a fresh, revelatory view of the dynamics of interaction between different civilizations in space. Yet for all its great machinations (some plot twists are truly genius), it pulls us along into the protagonists' world too, and paints an intimate portrait of humanity forced to reckon with death and life. I'm looking forward to a film/series adaptation -- I believe there are already some ongoing projects (Netflix, Amazon), including a recent high-profile poisoning (!) case. It's too captivating and ambitious not to have a wider audience. Done right, I believe it can surpass many top-of-mind films/series in this genre. It's just that good. (You can try the original Mandarin novels if you want -- I gave up 10 pages in, though. My reading speed was too slow -- too many technical words for my O-Level Higher Chinese.)

All in all, enjoyed many good reads in 2020. My full list below. Happy reading in 2021!

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**Highly recommended (nonfiction: changed aspects of how I think or live; fiction: great mastery of plot, character, depth)

*Recommended (better than the norm but not to the extent above)

History, Politics, and Society

• "The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000", Paul Kennedy**

• "The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting Up a Generation for Failure", Jonathan Haidt, Greg Lukianoff**

• "Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams", Matthew Walker**

• "Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End", Atul Gawande**

• "The Fifth Risk: Undoing Democracy", Michael Lewis*

• "Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters", Abigail Shrier*

• "Lee's Law: How Singapore Crushes Dissent", Chris Lydgate*

• "A History of Western Philosophy", Bertrand Russell

• "Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World -- and Why Things Are Better Than You Think", Hans Rosling

• "Oil - A Beginner's Guide", Vaclav Smil

• "21 Lessons for the 21st Century", Yuval Noah Harari

• "Air-Conditioned Nation Revisited", Cherian George

• "To Catch a Tartar: A Dissident in Lee Kuan Yew's Prison", Francis Seow

• "Hard Truths To Keep Singapore Going", Lee Kuan Yew

Work / Business

• "Never Split The Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It", Chris Voss**

• "The Hard Thing about Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers", Ben Horowitz*

• "So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love", Carl Newport

Memoirs

• "Miracle in the Andes", Nando Parrado**

• "The Hiding Place: The Triumphant True Story of Corrie Ten Boom", Corrie ten Boom**

• "My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer", Christian Wiman*

Literary Fiction, Science Fiction

• "The Three-Body Problem", Liu Cixin (Remembrance of Earth's Past #1)**

• "Death's End", Liu Cixin (Remembrance of Earth's Past #3)**

• "Pachinko", Min Jin Lee *

• "All The Pretty Horses", Cormac McCarthy*

• "The Hunger Games", Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games #1)*

• 《活着》, 余华 *

• "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", Stieg Larsson

• "The War of the End of the World", Maria Vargas Llosa

• "On Chesil Beach", Ian McEwan

• "The Reckonings", Lacy M. Johnson

• "The Dark Forest", Liu Cixin (Remembrance of Earth's Past #2)

• "Catching Fire", Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games #2)

• "An Ember in the Ashes", Sabaa Tahir

• The Black Witch Chronicles #1 - #3, Laurie Forest

• "The Crescent Stone", Matt Mikalatos

Christian Essays / Writings

• "Streams In the Desert", Mrs. Charles E. Cowman**

• "I Stand at the Door and Knock: Meditations by the Author of The Hiding Place", Corrie ten Boom**

• "Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers", Dane Ortland*

• "The Final Quest", Rick Joyner

• "The Torch and the Sword", Rick Joyner

• "Say to Archippus", Henson Lim